Recommend Me: Block Paving Workers

All the tarmac people do is go to the suppliers, pick it up, spread it out on your drive and roller it, not complicated.

Like anything prep is the key, Like LP said, levels are the one of the most important things, get them right it makes the laying of the blocks a doddle.
Id allow 25-30 of sand personally not 50mm, get the level to about 10 mm higher than it needs to be then whack the crap out of it.
I have never used the rubber mat on the whacker plate tbh, i just throw some a scattering of kiln dried sand down and never had a problem.
I used to charge around £50-£70 per metre when i offered this as a service, id sub it out now though tbh.
50 blocks to a metre for standard blocks.

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by specialone

Id allow 25-30 of sand personally not 50mm, get the level to about 10 mm higher than it needs to be then whack the crap out of it.

50mm of sand is the recommended level for vehicle traffic. 25-30mm would be for foot traffic according to the books I read. There is a standard for this, but I don't know the name. My attitude was that sand is quite cheap and a subsiding drive is an expensive fix. So I went min 150mm DTp1 (limestone crusher run) and 50mm of sand. Agree on whacking seven bells out of it though, plus - its fun!

Originally Posted by specialone

I have never used the rubber mat on the whacker plate tbh, i just throw some a scattering of kiln dried sand down and never had a problem.

Even on riven faced blocks? Even with the rubber mat I did get some damage to the block faces.

Originally Posted by Luckypants

50mm of sand is the recommended level for vehicle traffic. 25-30mm would be for foot traffic according to the books I read. There is a standard for this, but I don't know the name. My attitude was that sand is quite cheap and a subsiding drive is an expensive fix. So I went min 150mm DTp1 (limestone crusher run) and 50mm of sand. Agree on whacking seven bells out of it though, plus - its fun!


Even on riven faced blocks? Even with the rubber mat I did get some damage to the block faces.

Nope no damage to blocks mike.
I know they recommend 50 mm for vehicular traffic but id rather put more roadstone in tbh, that stays put once compacted.
If you really have to use 50mm of sand id whack it first before final levels cos you might find it will whack down more than you'd hoped it would.

Originally Posted by Luckypants

Rent or borrow a mixer, I found that one mixer load took me about 1.5 hours to haunch and lay blocks on to for the boundary. Same principle for blocks or tarmac I reckon.

Ha, I didnt see it reading that way.
I didnt mean by hand as in with a shovel, I was implying by hand would be with a mixer, this would be as opposed to having a ready mix delivery.

+1 on the depth mix, the spec I handed to estimator yesterday was that similar to a block paved vehicular crossing to kirkless council spec, expected to withstand dustbin wagons etc - driveway traffic therefore shouldnt be a problem.
Just watched a vid on the whole thing and tbh it is looking quite a lot easier than I thought. I've seen on sites many times the machines laying out the herringbone and just assumed that by hand this would be a nightmare... doesnt seem to be the case.

Originally Posted by specialone

Nope no damage to blocks mike.
I know they recommend 50 mm for vehicular traffic but id rather put more roadstone in tbh, that stays put once compacted.
If you really have to use 50mm of sand id whack it first before final levels cos you might find it will whack down more than you'd hoped it would.

The stuff I've just read suggests,
75mm MOT - Wacker,
75mm MOT - Wacker,
50mm Sand - Wacker, Screed, Wacker, Screed, Wacker and Screed
Lay Blocks,
Spread Kiln Dried Sand,
Sweep,
Wacker,
Sweep,
Wacker
Sand and Sweep (Repeat 2 weeks later).

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by Owenski

The stuff I've just read suggests,
75mm MOT - Wacker,
75mm MOT - Wacker,
50mm Sand - Wacker, Screed, Wacker, Screed, Wacker and Screed
Lay Blocks,
Wacker,
Spread Kiln Dried Sand,
Sweep,
Wacker,
Sweep,
Wacker
Sand and Sweep (Repeat 2 weeks later).

Is what I did, with the step in red to rattle the blocks level onto the bedding sand before sweeping in the jointing sand.


Phil - fair play mate, you are the professional here. I was stating from my one DIY experience. Hire of the rubber mat was £2.50+VAT per day extra on top of the wacker plate, so I went with it.

Mike, I'm not slagging off the whacker matt mate, I've never used or needed one that's all, so couldn't say ya or na.
For that cheap it's probably worth it though.

[tinpants]

Originally Posted by Owenski

The stuff I've just read suggests,
75mm MOT - Wacker,
75mm MOT - Wacker,
50mm Sand - Wacker, Screed, Wacker, Screed, Wacker and Screed
Lay Blocks,
Spread Kiln Dried Sand,
Sweep,
Wacker,
Sweep,
Wacker
Sand and Sweep (Repeat 2 weeks later).

Originally Posted by Luckypants

Is what I did, with the step in red to rattle the blocks level onto the bedding sand before sweeping in the jointing sand.


Phil - fair play mate, you are the professional here. I was stating from my one DIY experience. Hire of the rubber mat was £2.50+VAT per day extra on top of the wacker plate, so I went with it.

The idea of putting the kiln dried sand on before wacking is to allow the wacker to vibe the sand into the spaces between the blocks thereby locking them together. I've done literally acres of block paving in the course of my business and also do tarmac and stamped concrete.

2 layers of type 1 GSB in 75mm increments is what I'd recommend with the geotextile on top. I used to use sharp sand to lay the paviors on but switched to stone dust as it binds together better post wacking. Just make sure you keep it dry as it turns to porridge in the rain - it'll be fine once its laid though.

As regards costings, it all depends on the blocks you opt for, but I would say that if you went for something like Marshall's Driveline 50, you shouldn't be paying much more than £70 per sq m laid. The price of £5000 for 50 sq m is way OTT IMHO. I would be expecting it to sing "God Save The Queen" whenever I drove on it for that price!!!!

Hope this has been of some assistance. If you need any more help / advice then drop me a pm.

[MisterTommyH]

Originally Posted by Owenski

Ground make up is clay with a certain soft spots, next door has a transit van which he currently parks on his drive adjacent to mine and he shovels bags of hardcore out every few months as the van causes some serious rutting.
I will be using geotextile, MOT 150mm MIN that much is certain!

If it's clay it's frost susceptible. We'd usually recommend a 450mm min build-up in that situation.

60 block paviours; on
50 sharp sand; on
150 type 1; on
6F/2 laid in max, 150mm well compacted layers (down to min depth of -450mm); on
terram 1000.

HTH

Edit: Of course it's only a drive so that might be a bit OTT, but you did say the transit next door causes rutting......worse in the winter is it?

Oh, and dig out the soft spots and replace with 6F/2

Dave preston.

He has the accent, heritage and will work for beer.




Plus hes a pikey.