However, you can get different sizes of trays, from specialist suppliers, but you will pay quite a premium for them. If poss, it's always cheaper to stick with a 600x600 than to hunt down and fork out 120+ quid for a 600x750mm tray.

Are you ok on the principle of corbelling, or do you need me to explain it further?

If I get the time later on, I'll see if I can come up with a better drawing, but for now, the basic premise is that each successive course of bricks projects out a little bit more, gradually reducing the opening to the required width.

You can use hydraulically pressed flags or edging kerbs, in place of the bricks, if you prefer.

I'm not trying to put you off, but working on a public highway is much more onerous than working on a private driveway, just in terms of the legislation - the work itself, ie, actually laying the blocks, is more or less the same, but the paperwork....it can make a grown man weep!

It's not possible to give an off-the-shelf spec for a public highway job. The LA will have a spec, but I should imagine it will involve 250-300mm of granular sub-base or a 150mm CBM3 base layer, and then an 80mm block.

Are you sure this is a public highway? If it's actually a private shop frontage, then the spec could be down to you and the Elf&Safety requirements are less onerous, but you need to check this first.

Have you been given a design/spec or is this a design and build contract? Is there an existing crossing of the footpath? Is it a full and proper contract (eg ICE or JCT Minor Works) or is it a 'quote and go' job?

I f they've put the job out to tender, they really should have a design so that all contractors are pricing the same work. If they are looking for a Design and Build project, then you will need to ensure any design you submit/construct is technically suitable and that you're fully insured with Contractors All Risk, otherwise....well, it can get a bit scarey if you're not familiar with commercial contracting and all the potential pitfalls.

I'm not trying to put you off, but I would strongly recommend you speak to a QS, a Highways Engineer or someone in the know who is familiar with the site. If you Design and Build, will you be liable for any defects? Will there be a defects period and a retention? Questions such as this ultimately affect the price of the job.

Give me a call if you're stuck - best between 12 noon and 4pm, or after 7pm, as that's when I'm at my best with the painkillers.

Assuming it is just an isolated dollop of softer material, once it's excavated, you can backfill with Type 1 material, compacting in layers no greater than 150mm until you're back at formation level for the rest of the paving.

It may be worth putting down a genuine separation membrane,such as Terram (not a weed membrane such as Plantex), and then building up your sub-base as per normal. I would probably take this route, given the existence of one identified soft spot and the uncertain nature of the rest of the ground.

You only want to be laying the block paving once, so you might as well get it right.

For a permanent solution, the only real option is to use a paving sealant, and for that, your paving needs to be in tip-top condition before you apply the first coat; that means clearing all the weeds, giving the entire pavement a damn good cleaning with the power washer (at a shallow angle, of course! ) and have all the joints topped up with jointing sand.

It really is just a matter of practice. Some lads and lasses pick it up in an hour; some can be at it a week and still not get it, but that's human nature for you.

I had to amend some paving on my driveway a couple of weeks ago, to make rooom for a new rose bush, and so I took a couple of pics as I was marking up the blocks for cutting - I had to get my son to cut them for me, as my knackered spine won't allow me to operate the splitter any longer, but at least I've not lost the knack of 'eyeing-in' the cuts.  

Here's one of the pics that was/is going to be added to the Cutting Blocks page, as soon as I get the time.

It should have been broken up into 'chunks' no bigger than 50mm and evenly spread over the exposed sub-grade as what we call a 'capping layer'. I suppose the contractor has elected to use it to replace some soft clay or other suspect sub-grade material, which is better than leaving the iffy stuff in place, but not as good as building-up with genuine sub-base material or using a geo-membrane.

Depending on how the excavated material is being disposed, it can be cheaper to send inert clay to the landfill, than to send old bitmac, as that is NOT inert and has to be treated as degradable waste, attracting a higher level of landfill tax. Some companies charge a standard rate for all waste; others charge less for inert. So, maybe your contractor is being a little bit clever (they'll probably call it "environmentally friendly" ) by sending the clay to the tip, rather than bitmac.

As long as you're getting an insurance-backed written guarantee, there's probably nowt to worry about.

Strikeforce
tel: 0207 359 3582
fax: 07092 118 736

or...

Scott Marsom @ Canvey Island 0800 975 7175

or...

Eurobright Construction Ltd.
36 Gresham Road, Custom House, LONDON. E16 3DU
Tel: 020 7473 5491
Fax: 020 7473 5491

or...

Graystone Paving
4 Sheldon Avenue, Clayhall, Ilford, Essex. IG5 0UG
Tel: 020 8550 7510
Fax: 020 8550 2822

Hope that helps.

Turning to the drainage, any water penetrating the pavement will become trapped between the concrete base layer and the paving layer, and so there must be some 'escape route'. This may be off the edge of the concrete, as you hope, but that, ultimately, depends on what the ground is like at that point. If it's solid, impermeable clay, then you could be making a problem for yourself: the laying course (the grit sand discussed above) [b]must[/b] be able to drain to perform properly.

With concrete (CBM) or bitmac base layers (DBM), it's usual practice to incorporate some form of drainage within or directly adjacent to the base layer to ensure the laying course is adequately drained. This may be a fin drain or a length of land drain, but some provision is made, otherwise the laying course saturates, becomes fluid under load, and the paving starts to move.

So; what's the ground like next to the concrete base? Will it provide adequate drainage or do you think you'll need to install a land drain?

As for B&Q, that well known firm of block paving specialists - I'd be much happier if they left the construction advice to professionals. If I promise not to sell cheap doors and light fittings, will they promise to leave off the crap advice?

The trouble with many of these 'suppliers', and some of the manufacturers, is that when they are asked for advice, because their insurers have scared the pants off them with regard to liability, they tend to go for a spec that is way, way, way over the top. They should stick to what they do best - flogging materials - and not try to be all things to all people.

Eejit!

There's a spreadsheet for calculating all these quantities on the Introductory Block Paving page.

Today is a washout, admittedly, but, as soon as we get a dry break, clear off any sloppy, cacky mud from the sub-grade, cover the exposed sub-grade with your geo-membrane, and get a covering of decent sub-base material down, spread, levelled and compacted as quick as you can. Once your sub-base is in, that will help protect the ground.

If you have spare geo-membrane, put that down as a walkway cover, so that the crap isn't walked into the house - if you've no geo-membrane left over, get a few boards or decking sheets.

You can get your concrete bedded soldiers/kerbs in as soon as you get a chance, but leave the laying course sand and actual block laying until you know you've a couple of dry days when you can crack on and get most of, if not all, of the ground covered. And concentrate on covering the ground - don't be slowing yourself up doing cuts or fixing steps: get the laying course covered and then you can cut-in and do the fiddly bits as and when you get a chance.

It really isn't the best time to be laying a driveway or a patio, but it can be done and, look at it this way - when everyone else is spending next spring/summer digging and stoning-up and laying, you'll be sat out in the back garden with your feet up and a pint in your hand!

Keep us updated as to your progress (or lack of it!)

The soggy bit really does need to be solid before you start any paving work. Usually, the DTp will help firm it up, but, if it's still spongey, dig it out and backfill again using clean DTp in layers around 150mm thick, compacting each layer as you go. That should cure it.

There's a rumour doing the rounds that we're to have a couple of dry days towards the end of the week!

...it seems to me that you are planning to dump all the surface water onto your lawn. Do you reckon it will be able to cope? Personally, I'd put in a gully or a linear drain in front of the garage base and then connect that to the SW system or a soakaway, as I never like to drain any area larger than 10m² onto a garden, unless it's exceptionally well-drained ground.

It's a polyurethene channel, rather than a polymeric concrete, but once it's laid on a bed of concrete and haunched-in, it will be grand. We've used it on a couple of jobs lately and have been happy enough with the results.

I suggest 4 DTp 1 to 2 grit sand to 1 cement, and don't make it too wet - in fact, for bedding, don't add any water - there should be enough moisture in the aggs to initiate setting. You'll need to wet it up a bit for the haunching, though, but again, don't overdo it with the water.

Don't worry about getting a water-tight joint, though - the concrete bed and haunch will more or less seal them, and then, after a couple or three weeks, the silt/detritus will have filled any gaps the concrete missed.

Don't worry about the missing mat - it's not a problem with concrete pavers, other than the highly decorative types. For yer bog standard Driveline types or tumbled pavers, it makes no real difference.

Deciding just how 'high' to set the pavers depends on the bedding course. Some sands compact more than others., so, if I was to say to you leave them 5mm proud, you can be certain that would be either too much or too little. The only way to be certain is to do a test patch, but I appreciate this isn't always feasible on a one-off private driveway.

So, sticking my neck on the block, and assuming you are going to have a bedding course that's around 40-50mm thick, using a decent grit sand, then, assuming you go for the light compaction before screeding method, and you're using 50 or 60mm thick pavers, I'd risk saying you should leave them approximately 6-9mm high and this will compact down when you've done. Probably. Ish.

If in doubt, err on the side of caution - it's much better to have them 3mm high than 3mm low, as high blocks don't pond and they may well settle that last few mmm over the next 6 months or so.

I'll be thinking of you, when it's lashing down, and the wind's a-howling, and I'm watching Football Focus in front of the fire with a steaming mug of Bovril on Saturday!

Whatever fittings you have, there will be a modern version that can be used to link your linear drain to the system, but it's hard to say just what from this distance. A piccie or even a sketch would be a great help.

The Bovril was a damned sight better than the footy. How we failed to score against Sgt. Wilko's bunch of journeymen defies explanation. And why Baros wasn't brought on is another mystery!

You might be able to fettle the connections and get them to go in flat or with just a bit of fall, which would be the best solution, but, if it's a situation where you have no more than 25mm of backfall, you should be just about ok.

This is only suitable for relatively short lengths, certainly not more than a metre, and should not be employed in areas that will be subject to vehicular traffic. Do you think this might help your situation?

You should be able to lay all 41 m2 over the weekend, but cutting-in could take longer, depending on just how much there is to do, how complicated are the cuts and how competent you are at cutting them.

If you need to get the car onto the drive come Monday, then concentrate on cutting-in around the parking area, and get that sanded and wackered before you finish. You can piece-in the pedestrian areas later in the week, or even next weekend, if necessary.

I'd love to come and help, but I can hardly walk today, let alone lay blocks, so I'll have to pass on your generous offer.

You've 4 weekends between now and xmas, and you can guarantee at least two of them will be crap weather, and one will involve some form of festive duty, such as shopping or visiting strange aunties, so that leaves you perhaps just one weekend to cover the ground in time for Santa. January and February are not months renowned for their kindness to paving contractors......the sooner you start; the sooner you'll be done.

Sod what the neighbours have had done; I'll bet they've not had half the fun you have over the past few weeks!

If you can get hold of limestone DTp1, that's usually a good fix for this problem, as it almost 'sets' once compacted in the wet. If not, leave if for a week and see if it's any better.

Your neighbours will really love you if you fire up the wacker plate on Xmas morning!

The sand packing will hold the blocks sufficiently for foot traffic in the short term. It's a pity you can skive off work for a day - it's perfect cutting-in weather today.

With all the rain we've had recently, it comes as no surprise to hear that water is pumping up through the joints when you run the wacker plate over the blocks. You need to minimise this for two reasons...

1 - the water indicates that the bedding course is saturated and will become fluidised when vibrated which can cause movement or settlement of the paving from desired level

2 - the water brought up through the joints carries silts and muds and can cause long-term staining of the block surface if allowed to dry. If mucky water bubbles up, wash off the blocks with a watering can and fine rose using the minimum possible amount of clean water.

Try to give the blocks at least 48 hours after heavy rain before wackering to allow the bedding course time to drain. That'll be May, then!

All the best!

The depth of frost has another effect: when it's only just 'crusting' the surface, then running the wacker over a paved surface won't do any harm, but, if there's a deep frost, the bedding layer can be solid, and rattling the blocks with a wacker plate can result in them chipping and spalling.

If I were you, I'd just brush in some sand and leave the wackering until we get a thaw.

I'n't winter fun?

Spreading the sub-base - use a rake to get it roughly level, then consolidate it with the wacker plate and check the level with taut string lines. You're looking for +/- 15mm It's worth spending a bit of time getting the sub-base right, as it has a major bearing on the long-term looks of the finished driveway.

Lay the soldiers on a lean mix concrete, roughly 6parts gravel to 3 parts sand to 1 part cement. There's a calculator on the Concretes page to help you work out just what you need, if you know the quantity of concrete required. You can work this out quite easily - multiply total length of soldier edging, by (width +100mm) by 100mm thickness. This gives the bedding, and for the haunching, it's length X 100mm X 50mm. If you have Excel on your computer, there's a spreadsheet you can download that works it all out for you.

For the laying course, the calculator I provide is set up to calculate the volume/tonnage of sand required to give a compacted thickness of approximately 50mm, so, you should need something like 7.5T - order 8T and any surplus can be used for knocking up concrete.

Wackering - you'll find that the blocks go down so far and no further. It usually takes 4-6 passes of the plate and then the damn thing starts bouncing around like billy-o. It's time to stop if that starts happening!  :)

I'd love to publish a book version of the site, but I can't get any publishers to make me a sensible offer. They either want me to pay for the privilege (and we're talking a 5 figure sum!!!) or they want to stick a certain so-called TV-celebrity's grinning fizzog on the front and pass it off as his work. Over my dead body!

1 - Housebricks - we have severe reservations about using facing bricks (as we call them in Britain) for footpaths, as they can often crumble to mush in our damp climate. It may be different in your part of Terra Australis, or the bricks you have in mind may be eminently suitable, but it's worth checking with a local contractor/builder, if possible.

2 - construction - Large depths?? 200mm?? That's nothing, and it really is the minimum you should consider if you want the path to last more than a year or two. Given you've a reasonable sub-grade (the sand you mention) you could get away with just 75mm of a sub-base, but anything less just isn't competent. Then, you need at least 30mm of laying course sand, plus the thickness of your bricks, which may be 75mm or thereabouts, I'm not au fait with Australian bricks, but I assume they're not too dissimilar to the Boral bricks that are currently being imported to the UK, and they are 75mm (I think)

So, 75mm sub-base + 30mm laying course + 75mm brick = 180mm. If your sub-grade is as sandy as you inply, then such a dig is an absolute doddle: you shouldn't even break into a sweat!  ;)

I recently bought a 3 pronged blow torch - approx £50 and a large gas bottle - approx £30. Wait until there is no rain !!!! even if the ground is still wet. Blow torch the paving keeping around 6" above and in no time at all the blocks will be dry enough for sanding. A 40m² drive takes approx 20 mins to dry - depending on how wet. After brushing in sand and compacting, go over again with blow torch and give it one final sand - the heat will keep on drying the silica sand.  I've just managed to get 4 drives sanded yesterday - they have been waiting for 3 weeks. The best £80 I've spent in ages !!!  It means that I can get all my work done in one go and I dont have to keep returning to jobs and not making money - which is why we are all doing this for - certainly not for the love of it especially in our climate, although looking at a finished driveway still gives me a tingle even after all these years.

Contractor in Cumbria

Yes some of the water rises to the surface after compaction - you have to dry the blocks again and give it a final sand. You are not guaranteed to completley fill all the joints but at least most of it will be done - What I do is leave a bag of Silica Sand with the customer at the end of the job and tell them to brush it in when the ground is completley dry.

You have to try something in this weather or you will never get any jobs finished.

The key issues are to minimise the risk of water or damp entering the building and to reduce or eliminate the chance of thermal bridging (heat loss).

The simplest solutions from a paving contractors point of view are to leave a 10mm gap between the step and thehouse wall, to use a preformed integral drainage threshold unit (such as 'ReadyStep') or to use a linear drainage channel. For what you're doing, I think the 10mm gap between your step and the actual building itself is the best option. The relevant documentation recommends this gap be at least 125mm deep, which takes you back down to, more or less, two courses below dpc, and it may be necessary to install some form of drainage at that level to deal with any surface water.

The new page I mentioned above won't be finished until the middle of next week at the earliest because of other committments, but I'll post a reminder to this thread as soon as it's available.

You have certain fixed points, such as the dpc level and the threshold level at the footpath/roadway, so these dictate what's possible. I find the quickest way of dealing with this scenario on a private driveway is to establish the soldier edgings/kerb, making sure they are aligned and profiled correctly and then to prepare the bedding layer by using these edges as a guide. Keep standing back from the screeded layer, and checking its profile, levelling or feathering as required to create an acceptable profile.

Only when you've 'sculpted' the bedding layer into a decent looking profile should you start the block laying. Unless there are severe changes in falls, it should be straightforward enough, covering the ground with all the full blocks and then cutting-in as required. However, if you do have sudden or pronounced changes in level, then keep checking the alignment of the blocks as you lay, to keep an eye on any pattern drift that may develop.

The key thing is, as ever, the preparation of the bedding layer. If you get that right, the blocks will follow, with the minimal of persuasion. An extra 10 minutes spent preparing the screed can save hours of frustration later.

The reasons are...

• the thickness of blocks varies between jobs
• the thickness of the bedding layer varies
• the 'compactibility' of the sand varies depending on type, source and moisture content
• the degree of compaction is affected by the size/power of the vib plate

Do a test patch to see what works on your project.

your local expert is wrong, I'm afraid. It is a requirement of all block paving that the blocks themselves are consolidated into the bedding. Part of the reason for this is to accommodate the slight variations in thickness that occur with all blocks. If the bedding layer is solid, with no give, then the blocks will remain higgledy-piggledy.

BS7533 Part 3 gives 3 possible ways of screeding in preparation for laying blocks, and the method we find to be most successful is that described on the screeding page of this site, namely, level sand out generously, lightly compact with 2-3 passes of plate, screed to level+6-9mm, lay blocks, then consolidate blocks down to final level. We find this method results in fewer incidents of settlement than any other.

There's nowt to stop you working in the rain, but heavy rain should be avoided, as it messes up the bedding layer. Also, you can't do the dry sand jointing in the rain - obviously. Light rain or drizzle is not normally a problem, unless it's in for the day, as we say, and then it does more damage to your spirits than it does to the actual paving!

However, in 12-18 months, the new will have mellowed and, if you power wash the lot then, there should be less of a difference.

On projects where the new absolutely must blend in with the old, then the only viable solution is to lift some or all of the old and mix them in with the new before relaying. This gives a very mottled appearance at first, but it begins to blend in within a couple of months.

you were right in sending the cold caller away. No-one should ever agree to work being carried out by an unknown firm, especially one with such negotiable prices and wanting an immediate decision.

For 90m² of that type of paving in Cumbria, expect a fair price to be somewhere around £4,500 +/- 300 quid. From what I've been told by local contractors, 50 quid per m² seems to be the going rate up there, for straightforward jobs. Obviously, you pay extra for kerbs, recess covers, drainage, etc.

To find a reputable contractor in your town/area, then, seeing as you're planning on using the Marshalls' blocks, give their Approved Contractor Service a call - 0870 120 7474.

Get at least 3 quotes, in writing, and make sure you see previous work done byy them.

Good luck!

The fact that this contractor insists on seeing the job before quoting is yet further evidence of his professionalism, so it's all looking good. When he does come to carry out the site survey, you need to ask about ...

• construction method
• drainage
• guarantee - is it insurance backed?
• time to complete
• written quotation and/or contract
• advice on colour scheme

Have a look at the Finding a Contractor page for more advice and remember you can come back here with any other questions you may have.