You could pick up a pack of blocks fairly cheap and just replace the section that is suffering.
Lets say you pull out ten a day then before long your drive will be back in good shape. Sounds like you have had a good read and have a fair bit of knowledge in the process.
I wonder if a member from one of the manufactures had their drive done and had this problem would they stick to their principle and say "that's OK it is only differential drying"
its all to do with the aggregates used
obviously those blocks are more porous than the others
as said a pack of blocks costs £150
so for maybe £350 including labour it could be remedied
the contractor should have mixed his packs,but in general it isnt his fault
push hard for a pack of blocks gratis
LLL
ps the wheel that squeaks gets the oil
I wouldnt be happy leaving that with a client having paid me a good few thousand pounds. Shame on the supplier, insist on a new pack and swap them yourself, put the old ones on ebay explaining the issue someone will buy them and you wont need to get rid of them
Hello my name is Julie, we came across this site by chance and I have been reading it a view to solving my driveway dispute with the block manufacturers. At the beginning of Feb we decided after doing up our new bungalow at a substantial cost that the finishing touch would be to have the driveway done ....in either tarmac/pattened border edge or block.My Husband won out with block as I wanted the tarmac as a neighbour has this and its really nice. We obtained 2 quotes and went with the slightly cheaper one at £4,200. They started on the Monday prepareing the ground and Tues started to lay the block finishing on the Wed. We came home to the completed drive but noticed that one half was a total different colour being much lighter,the contractor said he knew we wouldn't be happy and had took photo's and spoke with his supplier at the builders merchants. He said they would send down a rep to take a look.The upshot of this was that the block manufacturers agreed the block were different and so they said they would replace the light half of the drive.So 5 weeks from when it originally was laid the bad half was lifted and a new lot put in........however all thought the colour is now the same these new blocks are holding moisture and so do not dry out the same as the 1st original block....tjhis looks awfull and my drive looks like a patchwork quilt until they eventually dry out, this can take many hours. On a completely dry night and day they look fine. What I would like to know is do we not have any statutary rights? it has caused us untold arguments between ourselves as I originally wanted tarmac and so I tend to get at the other half by saying this wouldn't have happened if we had had the tarmac. All the block people say is we will leave it another 2 weeks and ring you back to see if they have started to dry out as they need time to settle. I can only liken it to having your wall papered with paper from 2 different batches.........it is annoying and spoils what should be a lovely looking drive. Thanks for letting me get that of my chest. Julie.
The good news is that the damp-retaining blocks probably will cure further and get to a point where they dry out more or less the same as the original blocks.
However, It's fairly obvious that the installation has been wrong on both occasions. The blocks should have been drawn from a *minimum* of three packs and randomised prior to laying. This is standard practice for competent contractors.
Had this been done, the plaer blocks of the original installation would have been mixed in and given the whole pavement a more mottled appearance which can be quite attractrive. I'm surprised this wasn't picked up by the manufacturer's rep.
But it wasn't, and they then supplied a second batch of block, which are extremely unlikely to be a batch contemporaneous with the remaining originals, and so could well weather or cure slightly differently. Again, the WHOLE area of the body blocks should have been lifted, the new blocks mixed with the old, randomised and then re-laid to ensure there is no risk of banding or colour patches as the blocks age.
So, although you've been 'looked after', there's a real risk that it won't ever be a completely satisfactory job and that is because neither the manufacturer's rep nor the contractor seemed to be aware of what constitutes best practice for block laying.
Thank you so much for that response.......that was my argument to them,I said had they lifted the lot and done it all together I would not have had such an obvious separation of the right half to the left half. They keep ringing me every 2 weeks and ask me the same question 'how are they drying now' and I reply with the same answer.........when its a dry warm day or a wet one they all look ok ,but when there is moisture in the air or after rain they remain an eyesore for a long time.....which really annoys me. I will push for them to re-lift and do the whole lot again ............so fingers crossed. Once again thanks for your reply to me. Julie.
Great idea Tony, my Son keeps doing this for us as I am not very technical :p I so wish it hadn't happened to us as it seems to be on our mind everyday ....the 1st thing I do is open the blinds and take a look to see how it is. It looks really nice on a wet day as long as it stays wet !!!! and on a day when it is very sunny and warm with no moisture........so in winter it will probably look fab as most days here in UK we have the rain. I have had a response from the block makers and they say you are very well respected in this field......but say I hadn't told you the full facts !!!! not too sure what these facts are........however it seems fairly straightforward to me........They accepted that we had originally got 2 separate batches from 2 depots and after visiting on site and taking some block away they said they were testing them and doing a colour match.....after about a month they agreed to pay our contractor for labour and supplied the block for half my drive......even if they had lifted the whole drive and mixed in these new porous ones it would have still left my drive looking a mess. It is a fairly large drive and we have a large frontage in a corner of a cul de sac so pretty obvious. I feel like crap having to cause anyone such bother but at the same time it has caused untold stress on me and my other half as well......and we have argued constantly over it. Plus it galls me that it has cost us £4,200 to boot. I told the contractor and also the builders suppliers that even if we were offered half our money back if we would make do with it as it is...........that I would not accept........it isn't about that its about getting a nice looking driveway and improving the front of our home..... which was why we had it done in the 1st place. Anyway as you say at least they are keeping in touch and have not just dismissed us. I will keep you all informed on any progress . Julie .
So, if the manufacturer has given the contractor replacement blocks FOC and a handful of dosh for putting it right, have they also admonished them for not following basic installation best practice by randomising blocks prior to laying?
If I was the contractor, I would have seriously bollocked the contractor because all of this could have been avoided if best practice had been employed. The manufacturer is now taking an unnecessary financial hit and is actually compensating an incompetent contractor!
Even when blocks come from different plants, randomising will reduce any visual discrepancy. That some blocks are dampies is another matter and it falls to the discretion of the manufacturer over whether to replace or not, as the blocks may still be prefectly fine and meet all the tech requirements, but are aesthetically less than ideal.
But it's the fact that the manufacturer, surely, must know that the contractor ballsed up and yet they are still giving them money to do the same all over again. That has to be wrong!
I can only say that they admitted that the 1st load where from 2 different sites, not certain how it would have been avoided Tony......even if they had been scattered here there and everwhere they were so different they would still have looked awfull.It was a wet day and there was a lot of dust from grinding.....we never noticed till it was all finished and washed....the contractor took photos and went back to the builders merchants to let them see..... and after liasing with the manufacturers they sent their own technical guy out on site and he took some away and tested and they agreed to replace the ones which were (wishy washy) the reps words not mine. However the replacements hold water and as we are talking about 3-4 packs had they been mixed in all over the entire drive I feel it would have looked even worse than now. The colour match is perfect and the drive looks good when totally dry ..........which isn't that often given our weather !!!. Never the less........had the original drive been done with a batch from one depot this problem wouldn't have arisen, and in trying to right the wrong we are left in a similar position to the original.........albeit slightly better. Thankyou once again Tony .....I have to say the builders merchants from where the block were purchased have been very understanding and pleasant to deal with and we have no complaints with them. As an afterthought what makes a brick defective ? as in what is a fairly normal length of time befor a brick drys out after being wet ? I assume there will be a degree of variance from batch to batch .....but a rough idea?.I shall try and get my Son to put the pictures on here for me....ones from the original drive,and ones from the drive now with the damp ones.......I cant do this myself ...sorry. Once a again thanyou for your time. Regards Julie..
Sorry for delay in posting the pictures Tony, my Son will do it for me but he is in the process of moving house and has been a bit busy......but as soon as... I will get him to do it for me. Julie.
