Paving, hardstanding and walling
Natural stone and porcelain, laid on a full mortar bed over a sub-base dug to the depth the use actually needs.
Three things, done properly
Patios and terraces
Sawn stone, riven slate or vitrified porcelain, laid on a full wet bed with the joints brushed and slurried — not five dabs of mortar under each corner.
Drives and hardstanding
Dug to 150mm for cars and 250mm where a van turns, compacted in two lifts, over geotextile on anything soft. Depth is in the quotation in writing.
Walling and steps
Dry stone where it should be dry stone and mortared where it should not. Coping stones bedded, not stuck on at the end.
Materials
What it is, where it came out, what it costs
Prices are per square metre for the stone alone, supplied. Laying is quoted separately and depends on what is under it.
Silver grey graniteShap, Cumbria30mmFlame-textured£68
Buff limestoneHartley, N. Yorks22mmSawn six sides£54
Blue-black slateBurlington, Cumbria20mmRiven, natural cleft£81
Porphyry settsReclaimed, Lancashire100mmAs-found, brushed£47
Grey porcelainCastellón, Spain20mmVitrified, R11 slip£39
Self-binding gravelBreedon, Leics50mm laidGolden amber£16
Natural stone varies between pallets from the same quarry — that is the material, not a fault. We lay from three pallets at once so the variation is spread across the whole area rather than pooling in one corner.
Below ground
The part that fails is the part you cannot see
A drive fails from underneath. These are the depths we dig to, drawn to scale against each other, and they are in the quotation in writing.
Patio, foot traffic100mm
Type 1 sub-base
Plus 40mm of full mortar bed. Not five dabs of mortar under each corner, which is what lifts.
Drive, cars150mm
Type 1 sub-base
Compacted in two layers, not one. A single 150mm lift never reaches the bottom.
Drive, vans and deliveries250mm
Type 1 over geotextile
Geotextile stops the sub-base pumping down into soft ground over a wet winter.
A written quotation with the depths in it
Measured on site, priced by the square metre, and itemised down to the sub-base depth so you can put it next to anybody else’s and compare like with like.
- Buff limestone, 22mm
- 40m² · £2,160
- Type 1 sub-base, 150mm
- 9 tonnes · £486
- Laying, jointing, disposal
- £3,240
- Total, inc. VAT
- £7,062
Priced from a site measureNorthstone Paving · Kendal · Checkatrade 8814402