We were asked to pave a small courtyard to a terraced house in Lipson, Plymouth. The existing courtyard had been concreted and this gave a good solid base to put the paving down on.

There was also an outhouse consisting of a single skin block wall with a corrugated roof.

The corrugated roof was part plastic and part asbestos.

This was going to be demolished to give more room in the courtyard. But before we could do that a company that specialised in asbestos removal were called in to dispose of the asbestos in the proper manner. Once that had been done, the out house came down and we were ready to start paving. The courtyard was split into three levels. The upper part consisted of two levels with steps leading down to a lower area outside the back door to the house. We first started putting the paving down on the lower level.

A silver grey Indian sandstone was chosen and this was laid in a completely random pattern. Once the lower section had been paved we turned our attention to the upper levels.

When all the paving had been laid it was time to point all the joints in with a sand and cement mortar.

After this the courtyard was given a thorough clean down.

All the paving was laid to falls ensuring there are no puddles when it rains.

The walls were tidied up and given a couple of coats of good masonry paint.

All the paving is laid down on a continuous sand and cement bed.