I am building a patio surrounded by perenial flowers along with a fountain...I am laying "Chat" (a small limestone rock) for a base for stone pavers...This is the first time I've tried "Chat" as a base so my question is: Once the chat is leveled to the forms, should I spray water on the "chat" to make it firmer and somewhat harder before I lay the pavers? Also should I tamp the "Chat" before I lay the pavers?
Thanks
I am unfamilier with what chat is, but I asume it is another name for crushed up stone etc, I know when we did our paving, this had to be compressed, (hired a Thing with a big plate on it and it was like a heavy hammer) sorry the technical terms mean Zilch to me, once this was hard packed (to prevent any dips and hihg lumps, then we, sorry husband just layed the pavers, then we spread sand cement mix into the cracks so they would not move, it still looks great 15 years later, had to redue the sand cement mix a few years ago, but thats the easy bit, I know some friends who just used sand on it's own in the cracks and theirs is also OK, we were told the solid bed below the pavers was every bit as important as the top pavers, Could you borrow a book from the librery, they have a load of good ones on patios/pathes and yard constuction that will help you do it well, be a shame if you had to redo it again for the want of some proper guidence, By the way, honestly, I did help my husband with this job, I kept telling him what was wrong, then when I got that real meen look, I went inside and made another cup of tea, before I was buried under the pavers, so it was a LONG job, Good luck, hope it goes well, it looks good so far anyway. WeeNel.
You can water it down to get the stone to settle or rent a jumping jack to compact it. Either way the stone needs to be settled in. I just used a hand tamper, watered the base down and left it there for a week. Releveled a little bit and tamped.
