The Brew Cabin

Was it wise booking time off work? It's abso-bloody-lutely guaranteed to persist it down all weekend now! ;)

Don't worry about the missing mat - it's not a problem with concrete pavers, other than the highly decorative types. For yer bog standard Driveline types or tumbled pavers, it makes no real difference.

Deciding just how 'high' to set the pavers depends on the bedding course. Some sands compact more than others., so, if I was to say to you leave them 5mm proud, you can be certain that would be either too much or too little. The only way to be certain is to do a test patch, but I appreciate this isn't always feasible on a one-off private driveway.

So, sticking my neck on the block, and assuming you are going to have a bedding course that's around 40-50mm thick, using a decent grit sand, then, assuming you go for the light compaction before screeding method, and you're using 50 or 60mm thick pavers, I'd risk saying you should leave them approximately 6-9mm high and this will compact down when you've done. Probably. Ish. :)

If in doubt, err on the side of caution - it's much better to have them 3mm high than 3mm low, as high blocks don't pond and they may well settle that last few mmm over the next 6 months or so.

I'll be thinking of you, when it's lashing down, and the wind's a-howling, and I'm watching Football Focus in front of the fire with a steaming mug of Bovril on Saturday! ;)

did i get my drive finished?......did i hell!!!friggin rain friday was ok got odd patch of subbase to correct level and wackered in checked all my edges then decided to leave linear drains untill saturday i do think it stopped raining all day but still manged to get dug out and set on base and mostly haunched in(was able to cover from rain) sunday just last length of drain to put in and connect to sw,when i exposed clay pipe i found it ran under my neighbours concrete path ,the only bit i can get access to is the first joint in the pipe which is the opening which takes the grate and then goes down about a foot then curved at the bottom and then curves back up about a foot then curves onto a joint which is mortared.I went to diy centres to find some plastic fittings to replace this but couldnt find anything practical considering the amount of pipework that i have exposed. i could really do with something that replaces the old pipe more or less exact but with an extra hole near the grate opening so a can tap in with my linear drains,any ideas where i could get such a pipe or any alternative?
cheers
paj

p.s. how was the bovril and football

That drain fitting sounds like a P-trap or something similar, possibly a grease interceptor. Can you get a piccie? Do you have a digital camera? If not, are any of the images in the drainage section of the site vaguely similar?

Whatever fittings you have, there will be a modern version that can be used to link your linear drain to the system, but it's hard to say just what from this distance. A piccie or even a sketch would be a great help.

The Bovril was a damned sight better than the footy. How we failed to score against Sgt. Wilko's bunch of journeymen defies explanation. And why Baros wasn't brought on is another mystery!

looked at then drainage section and it does look like the p-trap,manged to get to a builders merchants today and came home with a t-section and adapter for clay to plastic i may be able to cut just before bend on the bottom, fit the adapter then t-section and prob.fit a new grate on top.Looking at it though i will loose any fall from my linear to the t-section it could poss up rather than down.Do you think i may get away with this? i do have the fall over the 9mtr length of linear i have put in, maybe the overall fall of the water will compensate for the slight uphill at the t-section.Or should i shop around until i find something more suitable?

cheers
paj

How slight is slight? Are we talking 12mm? 25mm? 50mm?

You might be able to fettle the connections and get them to go in flat or with just a bit of fall, which would be the best solution, but, if it's a situation where you have no more than 25mm of backfall, you should be just about ok.

taken note of what the minimum backfall allowed,i was wondereing if there is such a thing as a flexible pipe which would then go from my linear to the t-section instead of having to use "fixed" pipe and joints this would help alot in gaining the fall required

There's not, as such, but one "fix" that I have used occasionally when the use of conventional fittings is totally impossible because of lack of space, is to use 100mm diameter flexible land drain, but to lay it on a bed of concrete, and totally encase it in concrete, so that the pipe itself acts as a 'mould', and the concrete seals up the perforations in the pipe.

This is only suitable for relatively short lengths, certainly not more than a metre, and should not be employed in areas that will be subject to vehicular traffic. Do you think this might help your situation?

managed to do the drain and i was hoping to start laying this weekend have been watching weather reports all week and things seemed hopeful for sat and sun.But now they say its going to rain sat afternoon and fine on sunday,my question is do you think it would be wise to start tomorrow and try to get as much down as i can before the rain and is it poss to work inbetween showers, should i get so many blocks down then brush sand in as i go along will this keep any rain getting to the bedding layer and then hopefully get the rest done sunday? not sure if i dont lay any blocks sat that i will get it all done sunday(approx 41sq mtrs) or do you think this is poss to lay in one day for an amatuer if get up at sparrows fart?. One last thing ,should i wait until i have all blocks in before wacking or is it ok to wacker in stages?(just a few passes).You will probably gather from all the questions that i am eager to get it all done and dusted, i just cant see an end to it with the weather being as it is and only having weekends to do anything.
cheers
paj
p.s. if you and some of your mates want to pop round and give an hand i will get the kettle on :)

Get cracking today. Work between any showers, but don't be messing about brushing-in jointing sand or wackering until you've the whole pavement laid. You may need to make adjustments to the alignment before you piece-in the cuts, and sanding & wackering can bugger that up.

You should be able to lay all 41 m2 over the weekend, but cutting-in could take longer, depending on just how much there is to do, how complicated are the cuts and how competent you are at cutting them.

If you need to get the car onto the drive come Monday, then concentrate on cutting-in around the parking area, and get that sanded and wackered before you finish. You can piece-in the pedestrian areas later in the week, or even next weekend, if necessary.

I'd love to come and help, but I can hardly walk today, let alone lay blocks, so I'll have to pass on your generous offer. ;)

didnt get anything laid over weekend got called into work at last minute and didnt think it was wise to start sunday as i have to work this week end too not leaving me time to finish.Anyway,resigned myself to the fact that it will get done soon and not let my impatience get the better of me and end up making a cock up of it.So all i have deciced to do with any spare time is to keep going over the sub base with wacker which leads me to my question.An area of the sub base(approx 4sq mtrs) doesnt seem to be firming up when i use the wacker on it, all it does is sink into it leaving rutts.I know the ground under this didnt have much clay in it and i also put the membrane down,is it possible i have too much "dust" from the dtp 1 in this area? i was thinking of getting some bags of chippings and wackering them in hoping it will help firm things up a bit, what u think?

cheers
paj

p.s neighbour across road had their drive done only took them one and half days, from taking concrete drive up to laying blocks,thought bloody hell! what am i messing about at

It's stamge that you've just one bit not forming up. Is it just loose/dry or is it squelching?

You've 4 weekends between now and xmas, and you can guarantee at least two of them will be crap weather, and one will involve some form of festive duty, such as shopping or visiting strange aunties, so that leaves you perhaps just one weekend to cover the ground in time for Santa. January and February are not months renowned for their kindness to paving contractors......the sooner you start; the sooner you'll be done. :)

Sod what the neighbours have had done; I'll bet they've not had half the fun you have over the past few weeks! ;)

i wouldnt say its squelching, the day after wacking it does go firm and so do the rutts, its when i go over again with the wacker that it becomes soft and a slight skim of water apppears(there is no water pipes in that area).Its also the area where the rain settles as puddles due to the rutting,is the chippings thing not a good idea or not necessary?.
cheers
paj
p.s oh what fun it is to do a drive on christmas daaaaay!!

It sounds as though the vibration from the plate is loosening the sub-base and the ground water. I've seen this happen loads of times and it does dissipate over time.

If you can get hold of limestone DTp1, that's usually a good fix for this problem, as it almost 'sets' once compacted in the wet. If not, leave if for a week and see if it's any better.

Your neighbours will really love you if you fire up the wacker plate on Xmas morning! ;)

managed to get most of bricks down, i think i will get it all down today but i wont get any cuts done.will it be ok to leave cuts,sanding and wackering until next weekend? will any rain that we have cause any probs because its not finished?. better crack on before it gets dark
cheers
paj

If there's no alternative, then you'll have to leave the cuts until next weekend. You might find there's been a bit of slippage and small areas near the free edges may need to be relaid, but the vast majority of the blocks you've laid should be ok, as long as you don't put that car on them, and you keep foot traffic away from those free edges.