Bloc paving and steps - Will my drive and steps be ok?

[blcky67]

i have just had my drive laid,roughly 44sqm in front of my house. part of the area was previously slabbed and chipped, the rest was grass and quite uneven. builder dug this area and said he didnt need type one laid as it was solid underneath. he has laid the drive and the blocks seem secure although it is a bit uneven where grass was. this area runs off towards drain where gutter downpipe is and he fitted a drain to this pipe. does what he has done sound ok? my house is 10yrs old and the ground is hard underneath the topsoil cover. he is building my step next. he has placed the kerbs in place but to fill in this area it looks like sand only maybe a little dry cement. will this sink when he puts the next step on? do the kerbs need to be cemented together? surely they will move when you step on them. i would be grateful for your comments on this. thanks

[dig dug dan]

well depends what he means by "solid" underneath. if he came a cross a pad of concrete, then fair enough, or if there was already type one, then great. But if it is just "hard compacted soil", then I am afraid he should be putting type one down(or crushed concrete), and at least 6" for a car drive.
Again, Type one (or crushed concrete) for the steps, then the sand.
The kerbs should be bedded and haunched on concrete also.
As for the drain, I generally try and persuade the customer to allow a new soakaway for the drive drain, as tapping into an existing one for the house can sometimes overload the soakaway as it would have been designed to take a certain volume from the house. When you add more to it, it can fail.
Although this is not always the case, i know many contractors who use existing soakaways, and it works out fine.
Better to have a drain, than none at all.

[blcky67]

well depends what he means by "solid" underneath. if he came a cross a pad of concrete, then fair enough, or if there was already type one, then great. But if it is just "hard compacted soil", then I am afraid he should be putting type one down(or crushed concrete), and at least 6" for a car drive.
Again, Type one (or crushed concrete) for the steps, then the sand.
The kerbs should be bedded and haunched on concrete also.
As for the drain, I generally try and persuade the customer to allow a new soakaway for the drive drain, as tapping into an existing one for the house can sometimes overload the soakaway as it would have been designed to take a certain volume from the house. When you add more to it, it can fail.
Although this is not always the case, i know many contractors who use existing soakaways, and it works out fine.
Better to have a drain, than none at all.

cheers mate. i didnt see the ground when he dug it out as i was at work. the sand was already laid when i got home. the blocs are laid now so wish me luck. when you build a step using mono blocs do the kerbs get cemented together or are they just embedded into the concrete/sand mix? will they not rock otherwise if they are not cemented together? they dont seem to be as solid as conventional steps

[dig dug dan]

kerbs are usually butt jointed and the concrete under them and the haunching should hold them. Providing this has been done, they should be solid after an initial set of about three days.
I am concerned about the block going straight on sand on top of this "unknown" hard ground, but as long as he is a reputable builder, i am sure he will come back to rectify and problems later on?!!

[lutonlagerlout]

how about a picture?
it sounds ominous ,the lack of subase
cheers LLL

[nelly05]

kerbs are usually butt jointed and the concrete under them and the haunching should hold them. Providing this has been done, they should be solid after an initial set of about three days.
I am concerned about the block going straight on sand on top of this "unknown" hard ground, but as long as he is a reputable builder, i am sure he will come back to rectify and problems later on?!!

Umm, even as a DIYer it does sound a little dodgy to me. Everything i have gleaned from this site would leave me to allow 100-150mm MOT1, especially if it is only soil. What seems like hard soil can soon be moved and become unstable soil.

BUT as stated above, if he is a reputable builder he wioll come back and rectify and problems.

Out of interest what price did he quote you for the 44 m2. That may give some indication of his efforts against cost.

Did he hire a skip? My driveway was 35m2 and we filled 1No 6m3 skip + a couple of trailer trips to the tip

Regards

[blcky67]

nelly he did hire a skip and it was full. only the part of drive that was grass before he didnt put type one in to.the rest was prepared a few years before for mono but this was lifted and slabs laid in place of them. i only park my cars on drive. it doesnt get traffic on it all the time, only drive on and drive off. the price for the drive was quoted at £2200. i doubt wether this guy is a reputable builder, so he may be hard to get back if there are any problems. i wish i had found this site before i considered mono blocking my drive. talk about naive!!!!!

[blcky67]

how long before i will get problems with my drive? hopefuly i wont get any. what should i look for incase i do?

[Dave_L]

Sinkage/movement of the blocks. Esp when it gets wet.

Fingers crossed.

[bobhughes]

Ruts where the wheels of your car go.