Laying Yorkstone is not difficult, but it is unforgiving. Get the sub-base wrong and the patio will tell you about it inside two winters. Get the joints wrong and water finds them. This is a practical guide, written by people who deliver Yorkstone every day, for homeowners and contractors who want to know what good looks like before they start.
Before you start
Two questions before anything else. First, are you laying for foot traffic or for vehicles? The sub-base requirement is genuinely different and skipping past it is the most common reason a patio fails. Second, what finish have you bought? Riven Yorkstone varies in thickness across each slab — you bed each piece separately. Sawn Yorkstone is calibrated to a uniform thickness and lays much faster. Reclaimed Yorkstone is the most rewarding to lay and the least forgiving — every slab needs its own bed depth.
A note on weight. A 600 × 600 × 50mm Yorkstone slab weighs around 40 kg. A 900 × 600 × 60mm slab is closer to 75 kg. Plan for two people on every lift longer than 600mm, and use slab tongs or carrying clamps on anything heavier than 50 kg. Lower-back injuries are the most common patio installation mishap by some margin.
Tools and materials
- Spirit level (1.2m minimum — anything shorter will lie to you over a 3m run)
- Rubber mallet (a steel hammer will chip the edges)
- Plate compactor (hire one — buying isn't worth it for one project)
- Sharp sand and cement (1:5 or 1:6 for the bedding mix)
- Hardcore or MOT Type 1 for the sub-base
- Slab tongs or carrying clamps
- String line and pegs
- Wide jointing brush and a pointing trowel
Site preparation
Mark the area with stakes and string. Dig out to a depth that allows for: 100mm of sub-base + 30–50mm of bedding mortar + the thickness of your slabs + about 25mm of finished height above the surrounding ground. For a 50mm slab, that's roughly a 200mm excavation.
Slope matters. The finished patio needs a 1-in-80 fall (about 12mm per metre) away from the house, so rainwater leaves the surface rather than ponding on it. Set this up at the excavation stage — trying to fake it later in the bedding mortar is misery.
Sub-base — the part that matters most
For a patio carrying foot traffic only, 100mm of compacted MOT Type 1 hardcore is adequate. Spread it in two 50mm layers; compact each layer with a plate compactor until it stops moving under the plate (usually three or four passes). The surface should ring slightly under the compactor when it's done.
For a driveway carrying vehicles, double the depth — 150mm minimum, 200mm if the ground is clay-heavy or recently disturbed. Some installers add a geotextile membrane between subgrade and hardcore to stop the two layers contaminating each other. Worth doing on anything that will see a car or van.
Common mistake: skipping the compaction step because the hardcore "looks fine". It isn't. An uncompacted sub-base settles unevenly under the weight of the slabs and the bedding, and your level patio becomes a bumpy patio within a season.
Bedding mortar
Mix sharp sand and cement at 5:1 or 6:1 — slightly damp, not wet. The mortar should hold its shape when squeezed in a gloved hand but not drip water. Lay enough bedding for two or three slabs at a time; mortar that's been sitting on the ground for an hour has started to cure and won't bond properly.
Trowel the bedding into a slight peak under each slab so contact happens at the centre first. Spot-bedding (five blobs under each slab) is a shortcut that creates hollow spots — water collects underneath, the slab eventually rocks. Full-bed every slab on a Yorkstone patio. The labour is the same; the lifespan doubles.
Laying the slabs
Start in one corner — usually the corner farthest from the access point so you don't have to walk across freshly-laid stone. Lower each slab onto the bedding, tap it down with the rubber mallet, check the level. Tap, check, tap, check.
Leave a 5–10mm joint between slabs for pointing. Wider joints look rustic and are forgiving of slabs with slightly variable dimensions (especially reclaimed). Tighter joints look formal and require accurate cutting.
If you're laying riven or reclaimed stone, mix slabs from multiple pallets as you go — pallets often have colour or texture variation. Drawing from three or four at a time produces an even spread across the finished patio.
Pointing the joints
Wait 24 hours for the bedding to cure before pointing. Two methods:
Dry mix: Brush a 4:1 mix of dry sand and cement into the joints. Mist with a fine spray of water — just enough to dampen the surface. The mix sets in place. Faster, cleaner, but slightly less weatherproof.
Wet mortar: Mix a stiff mortar (4:1 sand to cement, just damp enough to clump). Press into the joints with a pointing trowel. Tool the joint with a finger or jointing iron for a slightly recessed finish. Slower, more durable, looks better long-term.
Common mistake: spreading cement across the slab face during pointing and trying to wash it off later. The acid wash needed to remove cured cement will etch the stone. Cover the slab face with masking tape if you're new to pointing — peels away clean.
After laying — sealing and aftercare
Yorkstone doesn't need to be sealed. It has been weathering for hundreds of millions of years; a few decades of British winter won't trouble it. But a sealant will reduce stain absorption — useful under a barbecue, near a flowerbed, or wherever oily food might fall.
If you do seal, wait six weeks for the bedding to fully cure first. Use a breathable natural-stone sealant — never an acrylic one, which traps moisture and produces a white bloom inside two summers. See our companion guide on cleaning and sealing Yorkstone paving for the detail.
When to call a contractor
Honest answer: if the patio is larger than about 25 m², if it abuts a doorway or a step (water management gets complicated), or if you have any doubt about the sub-base. A bad sub-base on a small patio is annoying. A bad sub-base on a 50 m² patio is a wholesale relay.
Most of our customers fall into one of three groups. Capable DIYers laying small patios and paths. Trade contractors doing it for a living. And homeowners on larger projects who hire a contractor and use our trade account through the installer for a better price. Whichever category you're in, our stoneyard team in Cranleigh is happy to talk through the project before you order. Bring photographs of the site if you can.
