Paving a patio - anyone DIY?

[JoanDarc]

We’re extending at the side of our house along with knocking down a huge conservatory at the back. We’ll need to pave the area on the conservatory footprint, which makes up the bulk of our lower level patio. Will be around 50sq m, I would also want to replace the pathway around the house.
Has anyone done this then themselves?
Any tips? Landscaping costs round here seem to be insane.

My SiL did, but then he’s brilliant at doing any sort of DIY properly. It certainly saved them a lot of money.

If you have no experience then I’d think that YouTube is your friend, plus of course being prepared to take the necessary time and trouble, buying any necessary tools/materials, and not cutting any corners.

Yes we did it several years ago. TBH it was backbreaking & we vowed never to do it again, but with current trade prices now being what they are, I think we would still do it.

We have done this. Big tip is to pay attention to drainage.

no i got my builder son to do our patio and i was worth every penny but ours didnt have a base to start with my son had to dig the footings and do the concrete base for the slabs if theres a base it probably is DIY territory the path at the side depends on whats there already

50sqm? That’s pretty big!
Would probably depend on my/partner/friend’s strength and fitness levels.
You’d need a few tools.
But I think overall you would save a bomb. I heard somewhere that of all DIY tasks, landscaping is where you save most money (in terms of labour vs materials costs).
We will be doing ours next year - probably about half the size of yours though.

Thanks for comments so far, really don’t want to do it ourselves but option is to either leave it for a year or else do a DIY job to get some of this summer. I’m hoping it’s an easy enough process to follow, albeit time consuming and physically exhausting, as opposed to really complicated. Appreciate its very physical work, thankfully we’re both fit for it.
I’ve priced up paving and looking up to £3k materials, to get a landscaper in think we’d be £15k plus based on other projects I know of locally.

I've done this with FIL's help and expertise. It was HARD and I was much younger and fitter then. It sounds stupid but I had no idea just how heavy a paving slab was. Every single one was back breaking. It didn't help that access was tricky so they were delivered to the front of the house and we then had to get them slowly round to the back.

It's do-able but take your time (several days ideally), get the base right, and if you can get someone to show you the right consistency for your mix that would be good too.

My husband does all his own DIY , he’s just nearing the completion of a patio and path in our garden , he’s just finishing the planters and borders . We decided to use a rustic block paving as frankly he’s getting on a bit and I don’t want him killing himself with large slabs . It looks much better than a professional would do because my husband is a perfectionist and if it’s not right it comes back up , the only problem is it does take him a long time .

I did a 6x12ft area (secondhand slabs, free off Facebook Marketplace, as a base for a rabbit enclosure).

Fucking knackering. DH helped but he ran out of steam
Took a whole weekend - Saturday digging and levelling the space, Sunday laying the slabs. The last couple of rows were definitely a rush job as started running out of daylight.

Honestly? I did a pretty crap job. It's not particularly level, and I think I should have dug down further and laid a proper sub-base. Fine for the rabbits, keeps foxes from digging in, but if I was doing a patio I think it would have taken 2-3x longer making sure every piece was laid correctly.

Whatever you do it won’t be as bad as previous owner did for our current patio - laid on top of a wooden base for some reason- which is obviously rotting - and now the slabs are all over the place and getting dangerous . Even DIY we won’t have the time or money to do it until next year. Think getting a couple
Of friends involved will help. BBQ at the end?!?

We have just been quoted £3300 for 30sqm 600x450 Black slate affect slabs, our builder is charging £70 per sqm which seems to be the going rate in this area(S Wales) hope that helps.

My husband did ours last summer. It was a lot of hard work and took longer than expected so we had to extend the rental on the cement mixer we hired but ultimately saved about 6 grand. He usually hates DIY but just followed a few different you tube videos. It looks amazing. He said attention to detail was key. Good luck.

DH did ours with DFIL and a friend (DFIL is a retired builder). It was about half the size of yours. Backbreaking work, all the materials had to be wheelbarrowed from the front of the house. They also had to work carefully around an existing soakaway. Would pay someone else next time.

The biggest advice from me having just done a shared drive maybe 25m², is not to rush it.
Don't take a week off work to do it in one go because you'll be knackered after a day. It's like taking up marathon running from nothing.
Our way was do one weekend to break up/dig the existing up. One weekend to throw it a in a skip.
One weekend to place and compact the hardcore base to level.
About 4 weekend to do the slabbing including a weekend to fit the concealed inspection cover.
And another weekend to do the pointing up.
I hurt my back rushing with a hired breaker. So i actually bought a second hand cement mixer so i wouldn't rush with the base and slabs.
And the final tip is don't mix up the base or the pointing mix wet as it will go everywhere and stain your slabs.

For me the deciding factor would be access and shifting materials. If you can get a wagon around the back to tip and make drops then the job is infinitely easier. You'll need several tonnes of sub base, plus a few major bags of sand, cement and all of your pavers. That's a lot to barrow should it be the case.

Yes, we've done it. Similar size to you as well. In the evenings after working full time and putting two kids to bed 😂 It was knackering but we felt like we'd achieved something at the end. Hire a cement mixer, buy a long spirit level and wear decent gloves or you'll wreck your hands. Very do able though! YouTube is very helpful.

First thought was you will have the conservatory foundations so a firm based to pave. But I suspect drainage will then be your issue.

Can I ask what people used to grout between slabs? I've been looking at Sika FastFix setting compound but it seems so expensive.

I have just done it. Firstly hire a compactor and put in a really good subbase of mot1. Then hire a cement mixer mixing a large patio by hand will be backbreaking. Most important to have spacers to get consistent gaps and a decent set of levels of different lengths. And make sure you mark out well and it is square. Always drain away from house or onto a gully and if not going into the gully consider a French drain like arrangement to stop the land from waterlogging next to the patio. It is a relatively straightforward job and if you are going to do more landscaping it may work out better to buy a cheap cement mixer.

Thanks everyone, your comments have been really helpful. Our builder has suggested paying the couple of apprentices at weekends to help move the slabs to the back of the house, they’ve been real heaters so think the small outlay will be worth it. I also have access to a cement mixer and tools so lucky there.
It sounds like the best approach is to be methodical but no rush to complete in one go. Both of us are relatively fit so will look on it as an opportunity for some functional strength training lifting slabs! 😜

You don't need anything fancy, we had sandstone slabs so we used 4:1 building sand to cement, with plasticiser and buff mortar dye powder. Looks great, you have to mix it quite dry and pack it in firmly. Slow but it's cheap and reliable.

One thing I would do differently if I was doing if again is to have flat slabs and pay meticulous attention to levelling. We have a period house with an old fashioned garden so we went for riven slabs which are a bit uneven, they do look nice but dirt gathers in the dips and all patio tables wobble which is really annoying. Our new table has levelling feet which you can adjust but as soon as you move it slightly it's wobbly again. Same with out freestanding parasol, the base wobbles.

YouTube is your friend here.
Have a look for The Carpenters Daughter, she has a couple of videos of slab laying. One was a patio and the other was a path round her house.
There are many other YouTubers available of course lol 🔨