Patio: Is this a bodge?

[emmab543]

Hello! Any advice would be very welcome as I'm going to be having some awkward conversations today

Last week we had a sandstone patio (partially) laid. Ive kept the kids and dog off the patio for 48hours as advised. Last night (a couple of days after being laid but before pointing) I noticed some of the stones were rocking/easily lifting. After lifting some of the loose stones I've found the mortar bed to be the consistency of crumbly sand with lots of voids. I'm in about to have a conversation with the installer about next steps...they're insistent the whole patio doesn't need relaying (whereas I believe it does). I've got a feeling that if the first and last stones laid are lifting then all of them in between must be!

 

[JP_]

well, if wobbly, then not right!

 

[Mike13]

looks like it was laid by a caravan dweller, those dabs look pretty slim, it just will not last. you will find the slabs going two tone over time, look at the pics on my thread about lousy workmanship

 

[Mike13]

The clue to how bad it was done is the fact that quite a lot of the flat parts is going brown with silt from run-off water getting between the sandstone and the cement, it was only being held in place by at most20% or so of the surface. look to bottom right for the clean patch of cement, that is where is actually stayed stuck, in the bottom left stone there are only a few wisps of white, the rest has a layer of silt.

 

[emmab543]

Thank you. After a heated conversation the contractor agreed to dig out the mortar and relay. Initially he was suggesting the slabs be glued back down with an SBR/ slurry mix which I didnt think was appropriate. We've lived through some major renovation/building work in the past but this little patch of patio has created the most stress