Smooth sandstone for yard - is it slippy?

[Anothernamechange3]

Hi, we’re getting our yard re-paved and need to choose between smooth or riven sandstone. We prefer the look of smooth but will use the flooring a lot to walk from the back door to the back gate, plus the dc like to kick a football or shoot at the netball hoop too. Will I regret getting smooth, does it get too sloppy in wet weather etc? It’s only a small yard about 20m2 paving plus borders round the edge, so price difference is negligible. Please could anyone who has smooth sandstone give me their opinion? Many thanks.

Sandstones vary. Some can be slippy when wet esp if they're smooth. It gets worse if the slabs are in the shade, as they tend to get a bit slimy, but that can be helped by regular cleaning- jetwashing, or proper scrubbing. Limestone is generally thought to be less slippy ( but is usually more expensive and the colours are different).

I don't find it slippy but it is importent to lay it with a good fall so rainwater runs off carrying dirt with it, and it does not stay damp. Half an inch per yard is the minimum.

Mine is fine but my neighbour laid it flat and it is stained with black mould. Powerwashing brightens it up for a while but erodes the surface.

Sloping away from the house of course

And the finished paving level must be at least two bricks lower than the DPC. Ignorant buffoons laying paving without digging out are a constant source of damp, and it is far more cost and effort to rectify it later.

When digging out is a good time to dig round drains and gullies to see if they are cracked and leaking. They usually are in houses built before 1945, and again it is far more cost and effort after the paving has been laid.

Thank you! We’re definitely getting it dig out and it will have a fall. It is an old yard (probably about a hundred years) I know from pulling up slabs to look that there’s currently paving, underneath that building rubble from when the house was remodelled to move bathroom upstairs and open up the kitchen, and then under that there is ‘another garden’ complete with its own very old stone paving and beds. So it will be interesting when it’s all dug up! (Rain water currently pools in a nice puddle helpfully outside the back door so I think it was a bit of a cowboy job done before we bought the house).

its reassuring to know the smooth sandstone should be fine if installed and maintained properly. I think I’m going to try and get somewhere to see slabs in person - bonus points if it’s wet when I go so I can properly test them.

@PigletJohn if the yard wasn’t paved properly before could this be contributing to me finding slugs in the kitchen at night? Since we’ve moved here we’ve done a lot to increase the ‘breathability’ of the house (knocking out/venting sealed fireplaces, replacing upvc front door with wood, trickle vents on windows etc) but I hadn’t considered the yard being a contributor before. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. We are getting the flower beds fully closed in with sleepers (currently there’s soil pressed against my neighbour’s kitchen wall (terraced house)) so hopefully we’re doing all we can to mitigate damp issues.

I don’t think we have dpc in most of the house (old caustic tiles in the hallway and floorboards in the living room, but the kitchen does have it as we had to lift the old quarry tiles and were told we’d need dpc in the replacement floor (I’ve always been nervous about this because I thought it was better to let the moisture out than trap it) but maybe this isn’t helping. I’ll make sure paving is lower than this if I can.

We have smooth and it’s lovely. Not slippy unless it has wet leaves on or gets a green buildup as a pp said.

It needs to be sealed (some sellers will seal it before delivery ) and resealed every few years. Otherwise you will get mould/staining.

Patio Magic is good stuff for keeping the green down - couple of times a year.

Thanks for this, is south facing so hopefully this won’t be too much of a problem

It could also be a broken drain (providing the slugs with food as well as damp) or pipe.

IME the glazed clay gullies and drains of houses built before 1945 are always cracked and broken, but somebody told me he found one that wasn't.

DPM goes under a floor, and might not be present in an old house.

DPC is in a wall, and should be present in any house unless very old. In London they have been compulsory since 1875. Other places may be later. It will be at least two bricks higher than where ground level used to be when the house was built. Ignorant buffoons commonly bury it with raised paving.

Slate lasts millions of years and does not wear out.

Silicone injections do neither. They also do not repair pipes, drains or building defects.