No room for sub base under paving - Problem with storm water drainage

[knuttucks]

I am using 65mm pavers and have a problem with storm water drains. I want the top of the paving to be 2 bricks below damp course and have discovered the storm water drains are only 3 bricks below damp. I dont mind being a little higher but what do I do about the base. Do I just dig down around the pipes to put the 4" base and only have the 2" of sand above the pipe for the pavers to sit on? I can't lower the pipes as they cross boundaries and I would never get any fall. Advice would be greatly appreciated as I am sure this is not the first time this has been a problem. Thanks

[seanandruby]

i would dig each side of the pipe about 150/200ml so that you have a shelf either side. then concrete it so that you have 50ml concrete above and 150/200 each side then use 40 ml sand. cant you use 50ml blocks?

[knuttucks]

I already have the pavers they are reclaimed clay ones (I am paving a small area to the front of the house and down the side to join onto a patio at the rear that I did last year). I bought all the blocks at the same time so am stuck with the 65mm. The area will only be used for foot traffic if this makes any difference to what options I have. There is also a T connector with a joining pipe, should I concrete over that as well, I always worry incase I need to gain access? If I used 50mm concrete & 40mm sand the top of the paver would only be 75mm below damp proof, is this ok, I was told 150mm minimum?

[seanandruby]

75ml will just get you by. go to main index under DPC. good luck.

[mattpaint]

I had a similar problem with my drive. A 4� pipe ran around the entire perimeter of the house / garage area. The pipe sat on to of the concrete footings, so could not be dropped any further and the top of the pipe sat only 180 mm below the DPC.

I ended up cutting blocks into thinner slices (50mm blocks cut down to 35 mm thick). I concreted these into place over the pipe to hold them firm and help to transfer weight down to the footings beneath. Pipe joins / T’s were accommodated by cutting into the blocks with a small angle grinder to follow the contours of the pipe.

A lot of dust, time and noise but I got their eventually. As the blocks are up against the wall of the house they are unlikely to get any heavy loads – this would not be suitable for heavy traffic as the blocks are considerably thinner than normal and the some of the weight is pushing straight onto the plastic pipe.