"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
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r.p.mcmurphy wrote:

hi all, i am looking for advice in how to lay a stepping stone type path
way for my garden. i am hoping to use reclaimed yorkstones or similar
and to have them at a level of the base other the grass so i can drive my
mower over them whilst cutting the grass. i have a pal who has a wacker
plate and i was thinking of just running the plate over the area i am
going to path and removing the turf to match the stones shape and
dropping the stone in. is this ok...or is it gonna be a lot more work?

Steve
Depends on what yuour soil is like. The 'pukka' job would involve going
down deeper and making up a bed of sharp sand with maybe 10% ecment thrown
in to stop it washing away. This ensures the load is spread evenly over
the soil. You can make oversize holes and tamp down to frgrass level wioth
a rubber mallet, and then fill around the edges with scrap turf.

In very unstable soil a real substrate of hardcore or crushed limestine
will make a base you can drive a truck over.

I'm on clay here, and simply laying slabs was OK for a while, but
ultimately they ended up sagging and crooked. So I went overkill last year
with deep substrates and sand. It's a bit of a decision as to how much
your soil will compact, and how long you want the things there.

i have dug down about 2 foot for footings for the new garage and the sides
didn't cave in or crumble, i think i have a clay type soil therefore. i
have a compactor plate so if i run that over the lawn and make sure its well
compacted...is it more likely to be ok? the only fiddly bit will be cutting
out the turf to the right depth all over before laying the stone.

Steve