Clay pavers

[local patios and driveway]

Ok lads, is it odd that ive never even seen clay pavers let alone worked with them in my area, but ive had a good offer one them and want to know more about the diffrences working with the clays. Are they more prone to cracking when compacting at the end? How do they bond when laying the threashold etc, any other tips or tricks?

Going to do my driveway in them and see how it goes first but them seem great for £7 a meter

[lutonlagerlout]

£7 is cheap
normally around £25
because they are fired not cast they are not 100% true
I normally use a line every 600mm to keep them aligned
obviously you need a mat to wack them
LLL

[local patios and driveway]

Right, i had wondered that, left mine somewhere years ago. Will have to get one. I thought the price was cheap too. The do a blue brindle that looks great, will suit a granite sett edging a treat

[mickg]

like Luton says size is the issue through being fired in a kiln and the sizes of the blocks are not uniform so its difficult to keep to a straight line as the laying progresses, even with a string line every 4th course you will still get the blocks looking like a dogs hind leg when you eye it through

the plus side though is you will have a stunning driveway what will look as good as new 10 years later, a few years ago we lifted and relaid a clay driveway what had been down 10 years, took 2 days to wash 65m2 one block at a time in a bucket using a stiff brush and when it was completed it looked brand new

the rubber mat is optional, I have never used a mat on clay paving just leave plenty of kiln dried sand on the surface after you have brushed it in to the joints and this will act as a cushion for the vibrating plate but if you feel it needs the neoprene mat then use one - test a small area before you continue on the rest of the driveway

[local patios and driveway]

Mick, thanks for the advice, so fit is key, as is kiln dried. Will get cracking in a few weeks see how i get on

[mickg]

you could also be fortunate and the paving be consistent in size, on the relay we did I bought a pack of red clay paving to use as a border and we scraped all the old small cuts and re cut the driveway and they were a nice shape and size

[local patios and driveway]

The supplier has said they are a great fit but he is probably just saying that, i assume they dry and shrinkmat differing rates innthe manufactur process.

[lutonlagerlout]

with concrete products they are made in moulds to the exact size
with clay it is made 10% bigger then shrinks 10% in the firing process
so its always slightly hit and miss
I really like the buckingham brindles and blenheim blues from baggeridge but i hear they have stopped making them now
LLL

[local patios and driveway]

Yeah im looking at a blue brindle. Looks nice to me but maybe a bit commercial for my gaff but as long as its a little different then im happy

[Mikey_C]

I used blockleys clay pavers on my drive and in time, when the place looks less like steptoe's yard and fix all the crap bits I'm sure they will look good.

see blocks here

[haggistini]

Laid over 2500m2 of those in the last year good luck lpad