New driveway - Looking for ideas

[irishpaving]

Ah so he has heavy terram between the large stone and the fines. He is using the heavy grade terram which i love , great stuff. Are they tegula traditional.... I love the randoms and the choice of layout you have

[47p2]

Yes I did hear the name Terram mentioned. They are Tegula tumbled traditional, the layout was one from a catalogue and the guys hadn't laid it before so it took them a while to get the hang of, it's a 4 row pattern.

[47p2]

Looks fabbo - just wish my dogs were that coool - (schnauzers)

Took this an hour ago, he seems to like this piece of Caithness



A shot in the dark

[rab1]

the workmanship is first class and you also have the added bounus of a night watchman

[47p2]

He's an excellent night watchman Rab

[mickg]

from the link above our leader also goes on to say

"if a membrane is to be used, then it should be placed on top of the excavated sub-grade, between the bare earth (or capping layer) and the sub-base."

and I agree totally

I find when the geotextile membrane is installed on top of the MOT the sand laying course does not compress itself onto the top of the hardcore, you can compact it for hours and it will still be loose when you walk over it

there are circumstances where the geotextile membrane would be under the sand laying course but laying conventional block paving would not be one of them

[Dave_L]

I wouldn't worry 47p2, I certainly wouldn't question their methods - you'd probably get their backs up!

A dman fine job you've got going on there!

[47p2]

I'm going to have a discrete word with them on Monday and find out there reasoning behind it.

They have done some massive installations so I would have thought they knew what they were doing!!!

I shall of course report back their answer.

Thanks again to everyone for the input, without this site I would probably have used Jimmy What's-isname from Yellow Pages and regretted it for evermore

[lutonlagerlout]

I know we have said it before buts its nice to see a job where a lot of money has been spent to good effect
hats off to your contractor and i think he would be glad to be named here as it an only lead to more work for him (as it should be)
LLL

[47p2]

When I started reading this forum and getting answers from you guys I was astounded at the dedication and the quality of work you provide. Then reality hit the fan when the Yellow Pages guys came in and started telling me this and that which would 'save me money'

I never at any time asked anyone to save me money, I wanted something which was within my budget, something that would be a quality piece of work from a company that wouldn't try and take short cuts.
It was a tough task to find someone in my area, (I often wished I was further south as you guys do things the way I like "do it once, do it right") but I seem to have struck lucky, nothing is too much bother for them, there have been only a couple of minor changes to the original plans and they just keep saying that they will do whatever I wish.

I will speak with the owner tomorrow and I'm sure he will be happy to have his name on your forum.

[lutonlagerlout]

its "our " forum , and that includes you 47p2
everyone pros and diyers contributes in some way
it would be a boring world if we were all the same

LLL

[carlbeardsmore]

When I did my drive in Eaton Tumbled, ( Eatons version of the Marshall Tegular) I was paranoid about getting any straight joints in the random pattern.

I see from the photos that there are a few in your drive 47p2.

I would ask the lads to have a look at them as it does make a weak point in the paving.

Still a lovely job though.

PS. I wish Eaton had done those large pavers when I did mine. They look great.

[47p2]

I was paranoid about getting any straight joints in the random pattern.

I see from the photos that there are a few in your drive 47p2.

I would ask the lads to have a look at them as it does make a weak point in the paving.

The pattern isn't random, it's repeated every 4 rows but staggered. The joints haven't been lines up yet, that will be done before the sand goes in and the block whacked.

Thanks for your input

[47p2]

its "our " forum , and that includes you 47p2
everyone pros and diyers contributes in some way
it would be a boring world if we were all the same

LLL

Thanks LLL. At the end of the day I'm on here to pick your brain, to get your and others expert advice which I hope will save me being ripped off when I am having workmen doing the paving. The professionalism of contractors who participate on the forum is top notch, you freely give advice and guidance in steering us mere mortals from the sharks that seem to be cropping up whenever we turn a corner.

Before I read any of the advice on the forum I would have been happy for someone to come along and lay block on top of my concrete thinking it would have been a perfect base. The cowboys that even hinted it could be left in place were out of the equation before their quotes were even written.

I hate shoddy work, I prefer to do things myself then if it goes wrong I can only blame myself. My wife reckons I have OCD :p but I think it's the case that I hate doing things twice, so I therefore do it right the first time. I spent a long time researching this forum and asking questions before I attempted to lay my concrete garage floor, it was research that worked well for me as the floor turned out better than I expected.

The forum is a mine full if information and you guys who keep it all going have to be applauded.

[rab1]

that's the sad thing, 99% of all tradesmen want to do the job to the best of their ability but the owners of some companies want them to cut corners to save money and then you have the cowboys who just want to steal from people.