DIY: Paving With Mortar

Wear the long pants and long shirt or coveralls, and wear the work gloves. Cement can actually burn skin, so don't get any on your skin.

Dig out the soil with the shovel from the area where you will be laying your paving. Dig to a depth equaling the thickness of the slab plus about 1 1/4 inches. Make sure the entire area slants slightly away from the house. If you cannot achieve this angle, do not attempt to lay the pavement.

Lay down a weed-blocking membrane over the area where you will lay the slabs. This will keep weeds from coming through the pavement, which will make the pavement last longer and require less maintenance.

Mix 4 parts sand for every 1 part cement in the wheelbarrow using the shovel. Mix in enough water so that your slab will stand upright if you stick it in the mortar. Make sure the mix is not so hard that you are unable to knock the slab over. There should be no streaking.

Lay down mortar for the first slab with the spade. Use a few spadefuls. Make it approximately 1 1/2 inches thick. Smooth the mortar with the spade. Check the slant with the level. The mortar should slant slightly away from the house.

Lay down the first slab. Tap it gently with the rubber mallet to set it into the mortar and to set its angle away from the house, using the level to check the slant.

Continue with the other slabs in the same way, keeping the slope of all the slabs along a continuous plane.

Keep all the gaps between slabs the same width and all the lines either parallel or perpendicular. This is essential to having an attractive patio.

Wash off all the wet mortar from the surfaces of the slabs frequently to prevent it from hardening.

Surround the patio with a layer of mortar to secure the outside edges of the slabs.