Project underway & wacker advice

[henspeed]

Hi all

I have finally ordered 170sqm of pavers from a local precast firm for a fairly reasonable tarrif and have got underway.
First question is as follows:
I have existing hardcore as a drive and I want my new drive to be at the same level, I have dug a trench 250mm deep around the external perimiter and a trench 100mm deep around the perimiter of the house. It was my intention to concrete in the soldier course before getting a digger in to scrape back 100mm of the existing hardcore to give me my 50mm sand and 50mm block level, however I have been advised that I will likely mess up my soldier course with the digger, I dont see why this wont work and I would have the added advantage of using the soldier course to get me the correct level of hardcore and sand. your thought please

Second question has anyone got any experience with those hulk electric wackers such as the one in the link below? would this be fine for a block paving project?

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop....te-230v

Thanks in advance
machine mart

[msh paving]

Forget the electric plate total rubbish,I'm not 100% if you are a genuine person looking for advice as all the info you need is on the main site,come back with some pix and we can help you other wise i will delete the posting MSH

[henspeed]

I will post a few tonight at some point mate
The electric one is no good then?

[mickg]

the electric vibrating plate is not suitable for you driveway area of 170m2, it certainly is not capable of compacting the sub base to the required compaction and i would not of thought it would be able to compact the paving blocks.....but i have never used one I am only going off 35 years experience in the construction industry and when something looks shit then it normally is

In my opinion you need to excavate the existing driveway area before you start to install any edgings etc, as careful as I am whilst driving a machine you cant always stop surplus material from going onto newly installed kerbs edging or drainage channels, if someone sat behind the controls of the machine does not care then he will damage your new edge restraint very easily

you would use steel road pins or similar and nylon line to get your height of the soldier course anyway therefore you don't need to install them first

i take it you have already checked the depth of this existing hardcore and once you have removed 100mm it still has 100mm - 150mm of MOT type 1 depth remaining on all of the area because if its less than this depth or its not MOT type 1 then your newly laid driveway will not last very long

[henspeed]

I have around 250mm of hardcore from the existing surface to the rock it is laid on, therefore by removing 100mm I should be left with 150mm of hardcore on a bedrock base so I dont think the pavers are going to go anywhere. I take your point regarding the high chance of damage to the pavers excavating beside them and will hire in an excavator now to scrape the hardcore back, just need to figure out where to park my cars in the meantime.

Cheers

[rab1]

for that money you could buy a diesel whacker with gears (STOLEN). :O

[henspeed]

where could you lay your paws on one of those then?

[mickg]

yeah rab where, we would all have a diesel whacker if they only cost that much ???

[47p2]

Chipped diesel whackers are a lot cheaper than that up north

[rab1]

was working in edinburgh once and a diesel whacker plate was stolen, the two junkies that stole it sold it for a gram of smack to their dealer. that's where the police found it.

[henspeed]

Junkies will dell good stuff for cheap
I managed to borrow a vibrating roller for the time being so I dont think I will be buying now?
Not got any pics up yet sorry, been flat out working on the job
Got the site cleared, hardcore in and levelled
Digging out a trench arount the perimiter now for the edge course, blocks due to be on site at the end of the week

[rab1]

what normally happens, friday afternoon lads sitting having a few shandies and then the junkies descend with the steal of the week. once had some little shite try to sell me my employers impact driver back which was stolen 3 day previously.

just to make clear lads I'm not buying or selling this kit, only telling it like it is from personal experience.

[henspeed]

i hope you delivered a swift kick to the studs and reclaimed the impact driver.

[rab1]

put it this way, he wont be smiling in any more photos. ???