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Recycled cement slab patio question
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Posted by natapoth CT (My Page) on Sat, Jul 29, 06 at 7:40
| I love this forum, though I've not posted a question here(except maybe once along time ago). Mostly I read and get ideas. Anyway you folks are brillant! Now I do have a question.
Over the past month and half I have been working on putting in a patio that I made using cement slab pieces from a building that was torn down. The pieces are about 6" to 8" inches thick, oddly shaped (most of them are about 12" x 6" diameter and needless to say weigh a ton! What I did was I built a frame (12' x 16') first, then I put in about 6" or so of stone dust, then I proceeded to place the cement slab pieces (not an easy feat at my age - 52) in a mosaic design leaving approximately 2" to 3" between each slab.
The bottom of these slabs are all very uneven so it took quite alot of levelling to get them all right. Anyway, now I have a dillemma. What do I put between these slabs? At first I thought I would put a layer of really small tiny rocks (they call them native stone here) and then put a layer of smoother pebbles on top of that so the surface would be more comfortable to walk on. I figured that if I packed them in really good all would be well.
But now I'm thinking that maybe it would be better to mix a little bit of dry cement in with the pebbles to keep them stable. Then again, I though maybe it would be better to mix the rocks/pebbles AND the cement (wet) and then proceed to fill in the joints with that.
I'm really not sure what to do as this project as been quite a chore...bones aching and muscles screaming...I just don't want to have this turn out badly.
I don't think putting stone dust or sand between them is a good idea because the joints are too wide and will run out on the first rain. I did build in adqequate drain run off with some slopping and draining on two ends, but still....
Any suggestions would be VERY appreciated as I like to finish this off and atleast enjoy a few weeks of all my labor befor summer is over. BTW, so far the cement slabs look absolute great. Thanks so much !!! Marie
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Recycled cement slab patio question
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| I put the outside edges together first and then filled in the middle. It might seem backward but I wanted the outside edges fairly smooth. I also tried to fit the concrete pieces together as close as possible. The link shows part of it at the base of the front steps. I used the largest pieces I could move with a bar to begin with, and then gradually used up the smaller pieces. Yeah, it's work! I'm 62 and in reasonable shape. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Patio walkway
RE: Recycled cement slab patio question
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| I'm not a stone expert. Given that you live in CT, you will experience a lot of frost heave. So do NOT try to fill in the cracks with a wet cement mix. The frost heave will heave and crack it all and you will have a mess. Better to go with dry stone with good drainage. Then after the winter heave is over, it will settle back in place. If you go to a stoneyard, they should be able to recommend which size stone fill. |
RE: Recycled cement slab patio question
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| Thanks for the replies. Yep, I'm thinking the same thing...frost heave...that's why I've stopped dead in my tracks before I make another move filling in the spaces. I was also thinking, along those lines...what if I were to use a mix of the small (native) pebbles (to describe them they remind me of just a bit bigger than large brown rice) and blended that with some stone dust and THEN went ahead and filled in the cracks? Would that work? The reason I keep harping on this is because I really would like to have a somewhat firm, stable fill between the slabs. I went to CT Stone here and looked at the variety and purchased a few samples to give it a shot with just the stone/pebble by themselves and the medium size pebbles seem to move around too much for my liking, even if I pack and tamp them in. Soooo, would adding some stone dust to a mix of the tiny, rice size pebbles work? M |
RE: Recycled cement slab patio question
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| The most effective solution I have actually seen (have done none of this sort of thing) in public gardens here is soil filled and planted. You'd need to consult a garden center or some such to find what (if anything) would work in your climate. Here in the coastal South we seem to have a problem of keeping things from growing more than getting them to grow. But these little itty-bitty plants and soil do seem to hold the concrete "stones" very well. From memory it does seem like these areas I've seen are shaded most of the day. David |
RE: Recycled cement slab patio question
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Hi,
I did the same thing with recycled sidewalk slabs. It turned out great. I used crusher dust in the cracks. At the time I lived in Saskatchewan, so I also had the frost heave concern. I don't know if there's another name for crusher dust, but it is more coarse than sand and you spread it then water it and over time it becomes packed down. I found this worked very well and it looked nice, too.
Cheers! |
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