Laying paving stones in sand or gravel?

When laying paving stones, the selected material for the bedding layer is essential. A direct comparison between sand and grit as bedding material makes it easier for you to choose for your project.

Laying paving stones: sand

Sand is one of the classics when it comes to the bedding for a paving layer. If you Cobblestones want to lay, you can implement the bedding layer purely from sand with grains in the following sizes:

• 0-2 mm (standard)
• 0-5 to 0-8 mm (low traffic load)
• over 0-10 mm (large paving stones)

These grain sizes are available under certain names, which at the same time define the type and are suitable for the paving layer. These include:

• Gravel sand
• Crushed sand
• Slab sand
• Sieve sand
• Construction sand

Paving sand, which is mostly gravel sand, is also offered. Gravel sand has established itself as an effective building material for bedding due to its gravel content. Crushing sand is often used when weed growth is to be slowed down. Washed sand is used in very cold regions due to its lower susceptibility to frost. Regardless of which variant you choose, sand has certain bedding advantagesyou should be aware of:

• problem-free processing
• can also be used for joints
• available quickly

But you also have to disadvantage accept sand as bedding material. The particular problem here is with the weed to address, because sand is broken through by the plants quickly and without problems. This means that the maintenance of the paved area is more expensive. Likewise, subsidence or shifting occurs more often if the paving stones were not laid properly. Other disadvantages are:

• lower load-bearing capacity than gravel
• Ants settle more easily

Laying paving stones: grit

Compared to sand, chippings are broken stones that hook into each other and thus provide a robust bedding for the paving layer. This is one of the biggest advantages over a sand bed. For this reason, you can use grit much better for driveways or the like. Further advantages of grit are:

• good drainage
• permanently non-slip
• no reductions possible

Chippings are usually available in the following grain sizes, which you can use for paving stones:

• 1-3 mm
• 2-5 mm
• 3-7 mm

Despite the advantages over the sand, there are disadvantagethat you shouldn't ignore when it comes to grit. These include:

• more expensive than sand (strongly dependent on the selected type of sand)
• harder to relocate

Note: It is therefore clear that both materials have advantages and disadvantages in their application. You should therefore always weigh up the loads that the paving stones are exposed to. However, you should not neglect the look and choose the building material that looks best with the stones.

Bedding costs

If you have decided on sand or gravel bedding, you must of course consider the acquisition costs for the material. Exactly how much you have to spend can be calculated and compared with little effort. In this example is from a area with the dimensions of ten meters long and five meters wide assumed that with Gravel sand in the grain 0-8 mm or Chippings 2-5 mm is filled. First you need to find the volume of the area for the bedding layer using the following formula:

• Length in m x width in m x height in m = volume in m³

the The bedding layer is three to five centimeters, regardless of the material high. For this example we are using a five centimeter bedding layer.

Note: Add another centimeter so that the paving stones are not too deep after compacting.

• 10 m x 5 m x 0.06 m = 3 m³

The volume is three cubic meters. Now you have to multiply the weight per ton of bulk material by the volume you just calculated to get the total amount required. Weighs on average Gravel sand in the grain 0-8 millimeters 1.5 tons per cubic meter,Paving stone with 2-5 millimeters 1.6 tons. You will receive the exact weight directly at the building materials warehouse or you look online in the product information after. You do the math as follows:

• Sand: 3 m³ x 1.5 t = 4.5 t
• Chippings: 3 m³ x 1.6 t = 4.8 t

Depending on the region and supplier, you have to start with a price of 50 to 250 euros per ton for gravel and grit calculate. The costs are calculated as follows:

• Total amount required in t x price per t = total costs in euros
• Sand: 4.5 x 50 to 250 = 225 to 1,125 euros
• Split: 4.8 x 50 to 250 = 250 to 1,200 euros

Note: Note that each grain has a different total weight and can be offered for different costs, depending on the type of sand or gravel. Because of this, some materials may require you to pay more or less than the example given.

Alternative: bound paving construction

In addition to the use of loose materials as bedding for your paved paths, the use of bound systems is possible. These are above all suitable for surfacesthat either exposed to high loads (entrances) are or not with intense temperature fluctuations have to fight. They are special systems that are structured as follows:

• Mortar bedding
• 3 cm thick
• Mixing ratio: 4 parts sand (0-8 mm) to 1 part cement

After the mortar has been mixed and applied to the base layer, you can lay the paving stones and fix them with the rubber mallet. Compared to the unbound bedding layer, this application also uses a mortar for the joints in order to fix the paved surface. These types of mortar can also be used for loose bedding, which results in a mixed construction method. This includes:

• Cement mortar
• Synthetic resin mortar

Note: The bound paving method also requires a solid base layer if the paving layer is exposed to high loads. In this case, you have to put on a layer of concrete or asphalt so that the surface does not sink.

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