Reclaimed block paving?

[everest]

hi guys!

ive just done my extension and now im left with my old block paving which i laid back in 1990 so i dont want to pay out for more (theres 150m2 of the stuff already down! due to a flower bed being removed i need 12 mtrs of block paving but i need the 65 mm variety and since they were originally made in 1990 ish the price of materials has risen as the quality has dropped (same old, same old huh?) now i can only get 60 mm blocks but (and this is on my own house not a job) i dont want to comprimise on a diffrent block! so...

my question is does anyone have any idea of a reclamation yard that might be able to help? maybe you got a job coming up removing the early block paving? (i know ive not had to yet) .. any help would be great cos we all know theres nowt worse than finishing a job and it plays on your mind cos its just not right

all the best Dan

[everest]

yay im an apprentice again! its been a while!:p makes me feel young!

[Tony McC]

Some council depots stock the older 65mm blocks, just in case they're needed for the odd repair job around town, but they don't sell them off to private buyers, as a rule. Your only hope is to find someone locally that has the same type of block, the same colouring and the same age. I wouldn't hold me breath!

Incidentally, you're wrong about the price dropping as does the quality. If anything, the quality of blocks from the top manufacturers is better now than it has ever been, and the modern blocks are in a different league to those from the 80s and early 90s.

[everest]

hmmm i would disagree with the quality! now days you can get blocks that are only 40mm thick! now you cant tell me they cost more to manufacture?

but thanks for the info! i guess i will just have to keep trying..

[Tony McC]

The 40mm blocks are an exception. I'd never use them for a driveway, despite what the manufacturers claim, but for the 50s, 60s, and 80mm blocks, the actual quality of concrete, consistency of manufacturing, and fade-resistance of the dyes have all improved, and we also have a much wider range of blocks from which to choose.

Costs have dropped dramatically. I recall pricing block paving work in the early 80s and the blocks themselves were priced at just under 20 quid per square metre, and they'd need 2 weeks to get them to us. 20 years later, the equivalent blocks, now 60mm rather than 65mm, and with a smaller chamfer to the edges, are available on a 3-day delivery for less than 8 quid per metre!

[Pantani]

I have exactly the same problem. Bardon-Vectis list 65 mm blocks on their web site
http://www.bardon-vectis.com/index.html?block_paving.html&2
I am currently in the process of trying to get some.

I hope that this information isn't too late.

Good luck!

Paul

[Tony McC]

Things must be different down there on the Oyl o' Woy - even the pack sizes look strange. On the mainland, Charcon are the block-making arm of Agg Ind and their production is all either 50,60 or 80mm.

[dig dug dan]

I am laying baggeridge clay pavers at the moment. Brindle dragfaced square edge, and thye are 65mm!
Good job we didnt bring the crushed up to the level of the customers sample blocks. they were 50mm!

[Tony McC]

I asked Bardon Vectis to send me some info on their product range, particularly the 65mm CBPs and anything else we might not have on the mainland.

A Bardon Vectis envelope crashed to the floor in this morning's post, and I got my umpteenth copy of this year's Bradstone catalogue!

[Pantani]

I enquired about those Baggeridge clay pavers, and they're blooming expensive. I wend down to Butterfields (excellent builders merchants in Luton) on Saturday, saw a stack of concrete pavers, held my sample upto one, and it was exactly the same thickness. I said to a guy in the yard "I see you've got some 65 mm pavers here". He replied "Naa, they're 60 mm mate". They definitely measure 65 mm overall thickness, so I've ordered a couple of packs. Fingers crossed!

p.s. I believe that they're Toppave.

[Tony McC]

I know Butterfields reasonably well - always one of the more 'interesting' yards to visit when I'm in Lower Britain.

If these blocks are TopPave, then they must be 60mm units, as TopPave took over what was Marley, which were one of the first to switch to 60mm moulds in the late 1980s