Rigid block paving query - Block paving

[bradley756]

Hi, I am hoping someone could help me with a little dilema that I am having ? I am constructing a set of ramps leading into a garage which will house plant and machinery, customer would like block paving ramps, I am concerned that we may have channelisation if i use a flexible method. So I was thinking of using the rigid method but the blocks will only be jointed with silca sand as it needs to match surrounding blockwork. Do you think that this would be ok ?

[lutonlagerlout]

avoid like the plague bradley
properly constructed block paving is fine,its flexible in name only
as long as your bedding course is 25-35mm of grit sand and its well compacted there will be no problems
if you go rigid all sorts of problems can arise,
cheers LLL

[bradley756]

Thanks for your reply, would be a lot easier for me to do flexible, when you say problems with the rigid do you mean that they tend to come loose a lot of the time ?

[lutonlagerlout]

IME if you go rigid you have to get the whole job cuts wacked and down in a day, if any blocks spall or crack it is a proper pain in the rear getting them out,if you use 60mm blocks 25mm sand and 150mm type 1 any movement would be minimal

i would normally only go rigid where there are issues with high invert levels with drains and a sub bases cannot be used
the biggest causes of rutting is nearly always poor sub base or way too much sand I.E. 50-70mm and i have seen this many times
LLL

[Pablo]

Agree with LLL but I would add that the only bit of plant that ruins block paving are forklifts in which case I'd use 80mm block. The solid tyres and lack of suspension put massive point loading on it and can cause a lot of damage. A rubber tracked digger and anything below 7.5 tons would be fine on 60mm blocks as long as level transitions into ramps etc were nice and gradual. If they're to sharp then the impact from heavy machines can be quite damaging.

[lutonlagerlout]

oww yes forgot about the dreaded forktrucks
good thing with flexible if a block does sink or break it can be replaced in 10 minutes
with rigid its a total nightmare
i mentioned before about a c35 loading bay I did at a factory
6 months later it looked like it had been shotblasted
due to numbnuts on forktrucks
LLL

[seanandruby]

.......i suspect poor old ''numbuts'' was only doing his job

[lutonlagerlout]

when the maintenance manager limited the speed they all moaned but lost pallets went from 15 to none in 6 months
most fork truck drivers i encounter seem to take great pleasure in speeding around,not to load you they just like speeding around
LLL :;):

[seanandruby]

on one hand they tell you to slow down ( H& S) , and on the other they expect you to get the job done quick. When there are lorries waiting some of the lads don't get a break, at every ones beck and call. Plus it is a heavy machine so damage will occur.

[haggistini]

14 ton tracked machine has been going over our "granite" driveway unpointed moving jumbo sacks no probs