Block paving - Block paving

[digerjones]

took these today

[digerjones]

heres 2 drives i did a few years ago, please be kind

[lutonlagerlout]

are all 3 yours dylan?
i see the old charcoal and brindle is a nationwide phenomenon
nice tidy work
LLL

[digerjones]

i hope your taking the iss. just the last 2 are mine.

[dig dug dan]

Phew! that first one deserves the "smallest slips and darts on a drive ever" award:D

[digerjones]

its horrible, i walk past it going to my mothers. never seen owt like it. think it was raining when i took them, so looked slightly better. dont think they have even put kiln dried sand on.

[digerjones]

looking at the 3 drives, takes me back to the discussion of either using edge kerbs onto footpath or not. my drives have kerbs the other dose'nt. i counld'nt imagine the 2 i have done without edge kerbs.

[Dave_L]

Yep, definitely better with a PCC edger to the back of the footpath. Way stronger and neater.

[lutonlagerlout]

constructive criticism time mate

1 on your first drive,would it not have been better to run your blocks off of that 12 m straight line to the right hand side?
1 half block every 3 rather than a load of cuts all the way up

2 curves: if you use curves a lot they have to be curves,if I use a curve i would rather a long sweeping one
when does a wiggle become a curve?

i only say this because i struggle with freehand curves,especially where a centre of arc cannot be found due to bushes buildings etc

but experience has taught me that wiggly curves are impractical on driveways
1 swooping concave curve works because as people park it gives them a bit more room to get out of their car

like this


having said that the construction looks good,very nice inboard cutting there and no dips that I can see,plus they are both in the same street???

good news travels fast


cheers LLL

[digerjones]

curves, on my 2nd drive if i had'nt done curves what would i have done. on my first drive i can'nt remember why i started by the back door, there must of been some reason. any i was going to fall drive from front of garage door down to road, but there was just not enough fall. so it falls from garage door to down spout, then 1/2 way embetween down spout and road i built a slight hump. so from there it falls to the road and behind this it all fall back to down spout.

[lutonlagerlout]

like i say constructive criticism
every possible mistake that can be made with block paving I have made.
this site taught me the value of spending a bit more time setting out to make the job easier
on the second one could you not have had 2 sweeping curves from the road all the way to the straight area?
say a 10m radius and a 12.8 m radius
the radius for that little wall i built above was around 5 M
I just find it easier working to a fixed spot than trying to eyeball curves

in fact i made a bollox of my own edgings at home trying to eyeball a curve,

cheers LLL

[digerjones]

every drive is different, each to there own, what looks best? who says, must be my artistic flare or lack of it. i would do it like you with a pin and radius but sometimes theres stuff in the way.

[GB_Groundworks]

when i set this one out took a while to find might central point equidistance from the porch and the gates and avoiding protected tress etc, so set my centre point marked and dug the footing for the sweeping walls then it was about 4 months till we did the fountain so then having made a point of driving a pin in 400mm and spray lining it etc i couldn't find the pin. months of cranes and 3cx running around etc and constant scraping off of the car park etc and it had gone walkies. so then had to re find the origin off my curves that took some head scratching.



that first drive is a joke those slips at the front

[lutonlagerlout]

must have been a big set of steps for those pics giles :;):

and dylan each to their own,but i would say that it is good to have an open mind to new techniques

the first drive i block paved in 1987 we used scaffold poles for screed bars,roughly 60-75mm of sand
mind you it was 90 mm blocks in those days

I have done probably 80% in brindle with a charcoal border and it is getting to me now
familiarity breeds contempt as they say

cheers LLL

[haggistini]

i have read this page no end and im still strugling to understand it

http://www.pavingexpert.com/setout05.htm