Seeking advice.

[Ben1]

Hello,

We laid a domestic use driveway for a client 3 month ago with ‘Ascot Cobble Sets’.

The sets were laid on:
100mm Type 1 road stone. - compacted with a whacker plate.
25mm Sharp sand - compacted with a whacker plate.
25mm Sharp sand - screeded level.
Laid Ascot Cobble Sets on screeded sand.
Brushed in kiln dried sand over sets/in joints - compacted with a whacker plate.

Edgings:
Ascot Cobble Sets - laid on 150mm haunched concrete bed.

The Ascot Cobbles are a natural stone with irregular/en -even edges *see link:
http://www.pricespaving.co.uk/sets_cobbles.html

We were recently contacted by the client - to say some kiln sand has settled & there is some joint movement (not sinking). We expressed to the client when we finished the job that we would come back and re apply the kiln sand.
We have since been contacted by the client again - the client has been in contact with two builders, on their advice is now insisting that all sets should be removed and laid into a concrete bed - which was never discussed or agreed upon at the start of the job.

The client has also been in touch with trading standards and is sending us a letter.

In 25 years we have never come across this kind of situation before (un happy client / trading standards)
We are keen to resolve any problems the client has - do any one have any advice on what we should do?

Forgot to add - we have observed a tractor using this drive way.

Thanks.

[lutonlagerlout]

really you are supposed to wack all the sand then screed it off,but the thing i cannot work out is how you laid them on a screeded bed anyway when they vary from 30-50 mm thickness?
sorry ben but i reckon they should have been laid on dry concrete too,what did the manafacturer say?
regards LLL

[surreyhillslandscapes.com]

had a look at the website, says that cobbles should be laid on a sand cement mix then pointed with a dry mix of the same, saying that We've just finished one using natural sawn sandstone setts, depth can vary between 40 to 50mm and the width can differ between 5mm on account of the band saw blade flexing when they cut the slab (so the rep said anyway) We laid them on a lightly whacked sand screed then kiln dried and wacked as usual, the manafacturer states this is how they should be laid and apart from them being a massive pain in the arse to keep straight we've had no problems, but we haven't had a tractor driving on ours... I would wait and see what the letter says before you do anything

[lutonlagerlout]

to my mind nothing less than 60 mm is good for vehicles,if you gave the guy a detailed spec ben you should be ok, but it all sounds pear shaped
LLL