Lay a Pation ?

[armanimick]

Can anyone tell me how to lay a patio.

Existing areas is half concrete and half soil.

Should we get in the experts ?

Whats the horly rate in London these days

[gucciman]

like all things if you've never done it before then your efforts probably won't look as good as if the experts do it. saying that its not easy finding a reputable builder and they don't come cheap.

i recently had a patio laid in birmingham using reconstituted flagstones type slabs of different sizes and laid randomly, included a 3 ring circle, all joints pointed, cost me �1200

if your going to do it yourself then you can slab over the exisiting concrete and build the level up over the soil to match the concrete with hardcore and sand. i would recommend laying the slabs using the 5 point wet mortar method rather than laying on a dry bed of mortar.

the pointing is very time consuming and boring, the pros do it in minutes. and if your doing a large area then you may want to hire a cement mixer.

[buildersmate]

For good impartial advice on paving look here. This job certainly falls into the category that can be done by DIYers. Its about the preparation underneath that is important. You don't want quotes on an hourly rate basis for doing the job - you want a price for doing the job using your selected material finish to a reasonable tradesman standard. Get 3 quotes if you can and compare on price and standard - ask to see a recent job. There are lots of cowboys in this market since it is so easy to get into. http://www.pavingexpert.com/home.htm