Started at last

[Givitago]

After a couple of months reading this site and Tony's book (I owe you one when this is finished!) have got the mini digger in and started to clear the drive this weekend. Total area about 51 sq m, with brindle and charcoal Driveline 50 blocks being delivered on Thursday. Amazed at how fast an 8 ton skip can be filled with the help of machinery - swapping skips in the morning for the next phase of destruction! Best money I ever spent - 200 quid for a week for the 1.5 ton bobcat digger, and it's dead easy to control as well (after a bit of practice!) Question - I've now lifted the old tarmac drive which has left a lot of what looks like 803 / Type 1 underneath - can I just run the wacker plate over that before laying the Type 1 that's being delivered later in the week? I've tried to get all the bits of concrete out of it as they were quite big - so I think the surface left is quite sound. I'm digging up what was the lawn tomorrow - as long as I lay the type 1 to at least 100mm compacted all over am I right in assuming there will not be differential settling problems (between the existing 803 and the sub soil of the lawn area)? I'm taking pics throughout so can post them if anyone is interested.

[Tony McC]

Without seeing the old sub-base beneath the bitmac, I can't say whether it's good enough or not. You'll have to decide for yourself based on what you've read and seen on the website. However, will you have the space to get another 100mm of sub-base over it? Or have I misunderstood?

As long as the existing sub-base is genuinely sound, there's no point in excavating it only to replace it with summat that will take years to reach the same degree of consolidation.

[waynefeltham]

After a couple of months reading this site and Tony's book (I owe you one when this is finished!) have got the mini digger in and started to clear the drive this weekend. Total area about 51 sq m, with brindle and charcoal Driveline 50 blocks being delivered on Thursday. Amazed at how fast an 8 ton skip can be filled with the help of machinery - swapping skips in the morning for the next phase of destruction! Best money I ever spent - 200 quid for a week for the 1.5 ton bobcat digger, and it's dead easy to control as well (after a bit of practice!) Question - I've now lifted the old tarmac drive which has left a lot of what looks like 803 / Type 1 underneath - can I just run the wacker plate over that before laying the Type 1 that's being delivered later in the week? I've tried to get all the bits of concrete out of it as they were quite big - so I think the surface left is quite sound. I'm digging up what was the lawn tomorrow - as long as I lay the type 1 to at least 100mm compacted all over am I right in assuming there will not be differential settling problems (between the existing 803 and the sub soil of the lawn area)? I'm taking pics throughout so can post them if anyone is interested.

Hi there

Firstly welldone for having a go yourself, I'm still in the stage of deciding if it's worth my time/hassle vs cost of paying someone to do the job (which if I did pay someone I would have tarmac rather than block paving just due to cost).

Anyways, I'd be very, very interested in any pics so I can get some encouragement.

I've used a mini digger before to level my garden and I agree that they are quite easy to use.

My current worry is that I won't be able to get a consistent depth - did u have this problem at all, did it not happen or did u just manage to get around it???

My driveway is 85 sq meters so a slightly bigger project.

I'm also very interested in how many skips you filled as this is another bind for me...I'm considering getting a contractor to come along and excavate the site via a tipper truck but then I would really like to have a go myself but the logisitics of having multiple skips delivered and collected vs time I can take of work to do the job is an issue.

I've rambled enough but as I say, well done for getting stuck in!

Cheers


Wayne