Useful tips: how to put a stone block?

How to put a paving stone yourself and whatmaterial to choose? Today, paving stones are becoming more popular due to their strength, durability, modernity and a number of advantages, which include convenience, maintainability, environmental friendliness and durability. This coating is perfect for paving a sidewalk, path or a summer patio, thus changing the familiar look of a country house. The owners, who decided to decorate the homestead territory with this material, first of all ask themselves the question: "How to put the paving stones?" This procedure is quite laborious, requires the presence of certain skills and tools. First of all, you need to choose the rock. Most often it is granite, gabbro or basalt, as it is these rocks that are considered to be the most durable and high-quality. It is important to choose the stone that will look most harmoniously in the given territory, calculate and draw up the project of the site, choose the method of preparation of the foundation, on which the material will be laid and determine the level of laboriousness of the work.

Necessary materials

Then you need to check if you have the necessarytools or purchase them in any construction shop. You should also collect information on how to put the paving stones. Before starting work, you need to make sure that there are pavers, measuring tape, rubble, sand, water source, hammer, shovel, sawn timber and tamping. One must be prepared for the fact that something else may always be needed in the process of work. When drafting, you need to understand the operating conditions of the future coverage, namely whether it will play the role of a pedestrian zone, parking for cars or become a travel area for freight transport. This determines the choice of the basis for the stone, the necessary materials and technology.

Ways of laying

How to put paving stones correctly? There are only three ways of laying the material: fan-shaped, in-line and arbitrary. An important point in any method is the exact implementation of the technology. First, you need to evaluate the scale of your plans. If a small track is planned, the novice builder will be able to lay it out independently, and if it is a question of a larger territory, it is more expedient to involve professionals in this process. Then, the area is marked with pegs and a rope stretched over them. The plan must necessarily provide for the diversion of water with these gutters and the necessary slope, which is not more than 5 mm per meter, for unimpeded drainage of the liquid. If you do not give proper attention to this issue, later the water will collect under the coating, washing away the base and destroying the masonry.

How to lay paving stones? Prepare a place before starting work

In this issue, theload on the stone, on which the thickness of the lining depends. Before work, remove the upper soil layer to such a depth that it will quietly accommodate a layer of sand, gravel and the material itself. The type of substrate for the material depends on the expected load. There are three of its types: under the footpaths with moderate movement, a sand pillow is used; for tracks with increased movement of pedestrians and cars, gravel-sand coating is used; for a base under lorries make a pillow of concrete. After choosing the base, the ramming process begins, which can be done with improvised tools.

Secrets of stacking

The last and most important question is layingthe stone itself. During this process, you need to do everything as carefully and not hurry. It is necessary to start working with the main elements, moving to less significant ones, because the external appearance of the masonry depends directly on this stage. No less important issue is how to put paving stones in the rain. In the rainy period, this can not be done strictly. Just as you can not fill the seams with a sand-cement mixture to prevent the destruction of the coating. After all, when the temperature changes, the stone changes its volume, so the coating must have the ability to be depreciated.