There’s nothing run of the mill when it comes to Dany Maclean and his unique paving designs. As a valued customer of The Paving Experts, we caught up with Dany to take a look at his spectacular landscaping skills and find out which mortars and grouts he achieves them with.
Dany Maclean is a Northumberland landscaper who is transforming outdoor areas into patio works of art across the North East.
Based in Ashington and with a preference for porcelain paving, Dany runs D Maclean Garden Designs and has refined his trade into a very stylised way of working that is unique to him.
Read on to discover a few of Dany’s techniques, watch videos of him in action and find out what grout he uses to achieve his signature finish.
Unique designs for porcelain paving
Despite what you may think after watching his videos, it’s not just a click of a finger that transforms these patios.
In fact it’s a complex job to do this type of work and you need to be a talented landscaper to do it.
One of Dany’s recent jobs was creating some lovely bespoke Greek-style steps for a client.
The porcelain steps were custom-cut from 600mm x 600mm porcelain tiles.
Dany says, “It took just over four weeks for this patio transformation.
“What a thing of beauty. All planned and custom cut into the greek style pattern from 600×600 slabs of porcelain.
“They were a challenge but the outcome was well worth it.”
Dany shares that the borders were all double custom-cut and mitred on every angle.
“Cloudy grey cladding on the walls cut on a 45 changing direction on every angle to meet in the middle of the steps.”
Unique paving designs grouted with Flowpoint
When grouting his patio transformations, Dany likes using Flowpoint slurry grout.
Watch the video below to see Dany cutting, prepping and grouting the Greek-style porcelain patio with Flowpoint.
When it comes to grouting in warmer weather, Dany shares that he’s incredibly diligent preferring to start work at 5.30am to avoid the warmer temperatures.
By doing so, he extends the setting time for the product by working during the cooler time of day.
Custom-cut ardesia pavers with Italian padoak
Another job completed earlier in the year – when the weather was much cooler but unfortunately also much wetter – was this curved patio and step feature made from ardesia pavers and Italian padoak cobbles.
Ardesia 600mm x 600mm was used on the bottom section with custom-cut ardesia on the outer border.
Dany then cut 1,200mm planks into 300mm x 100mm strips for the edges.
“All coping on the wall was cut on a curve from Italian padoak,” explains Dany, “and bonded vertically with oyster quartz cladding.
“The purpose of the random layout of the step is that it’s feathering out from ardesia to padoak on the top section.
“The top section is also layed in padock with custom cobbles and borders with vertical clad and coping.
“Step stones were equally measured and staggered, with rounded corners.”
Essential equipment for curved edges
Dany walks us through creating professional curved edges in this video.
He uses a level and full-contact bed for the base and applies a quality slurry primer, such as Pro-Prime, to secure pavers in place.
After custom-cutting slabs to a precision using a tile saw and blade, Dany uses a Grabo Pro to lift the cut pavers and place them effortlessly in their required spots.
It’s essential the pavers are placed precisely. The Grabo Pro allows this to be done without knicking the edges of other pavers or smearing unwanted primer on other surfaces.
Northumberland garden designs
A special thank you to Dany for sharing his photos and videos with us.
If you’re looking for an exceptional landscaper who can handle even the most complicated of paving designs, Dany’s the man for the job.
Visit Dany’s Facebook page to find out more about his business, or call Dany on 07511 808979 to arrange a quote.
Contact us to share your designs
If you’re a customer of The Paving Experts we’d love to share the professional finishes you’re achieving through using our products – and also give a special shout-out to your business along the way.
Get in touch to share your project, what products you’ve used and include some photos and any videos.
If you have any questions about these unique paving designs, please add them to the comments below and we’ll get them answered promptly.
