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Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 6:08 pm
by Tony McC
I appreciate it's more expensive to use, say a 200mm kerb rather than a 150mm FT edging, but it's not exactly breaking the bank, is it. FT edgings cost a couple of quid per metre, while the boot kerbs are a tenner or maybe 12 quid. On a 3m wide entrance that's only 30 quid or so difference....on a 5 grand job?
So: if cost is a problem, leave the damned things out all together and lay the threshold soldier course on 150mm concrete.
I know I might not be convincing many to my way of thinking, but no-one has yet given me a sound argument for why a FT edging *should* be included.
Oh! And Mick's still locked out - going to try a new id to see if that will quieten the gremlins before he goes back to his normal id.
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 6:20 pm
by msh paving
Just to throw another angle at this does the path edging kerb fit between the gate posts? and owned by the home owner or sail past and be given to the council in case the footway is patched up in 20years time ,myself i very hardy ever put a pcc kerb in block laid on concrete look far better how often do you surround a complete drive with pcc kerbs MSH :p :p :p
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 6:52 pm
by jonsey24
In the case of my driveway the edging blocks that are butted up to the public tarmac path are laid opposite way to the driveway, the driveway is laid horizontally in a staggered effect across the front of the house, i asked for the last course of blocks that meet the pavement to be laid in the opposite direction to create a nice finish.
The row that meet the pavement are nice and secure where the car doesnt go over them but where i pull the car on and off the path there are about 4 - 5 that have come loose, having the frost the other week didnt help as ice got into the joints obviously expanded then contracted when it melted and has removed some of the jointing sand. I am going to ask the contractor to come back and re lay this course of blocks again in a bed of wet cement and try again to see if they hold, its not a major issue as none of the blocks on the path are moving just this last course.
The fact that this course of blocks has a very slight slope when laid to tie in with the public footpath doesnt help matters.
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 6:59 pm
by colordrives
I agree with Tony here I always bed a header course on a 150mm deep concrete bed and do a tar strip to the pavement side to neaten things up, ft edging is an additional hassle I don't see the point in in 95% of cases. In addition to that most of my work is in clay pavers and I don't want no nasty cheap concrete rubbish dragging the look down.
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 10:29 pm
by lutonlagerlout
robbing an image from this very site
i still fail to see how the haunching on the pavement side can be achieved
I have been pulled by the council for this and they do not want any work carried out on their side of the boundary,even a bit of bitmac or replacement slabs,this leaves a block bedded on concrete but with no haunching unless the block is laid 100mm back from the pavement,but then what fills that gap?
if you follow the letter of the law its almost impossible to achieve a functional edge
LLL
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 11:07 pm
by msh paving
lutonlagerlout wrote:I have been pulled by the council for this and they do not want any work carried out on their side of the boundary,even a bit of bitmac or replacement slabs,
I have had exactly the same thing Tony, no how no way will council let you work on there footway, no bagged bitmac patching MSH 
Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 7:04 am
by seanandruby
a bit of dry pack works wonders in a small gap :;):
Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 11:27 am
by Tony McC
If there's absolutely no way you can haunch on the public footpath side, then you have at least a couple of options:
1 - use an sbr mortar to bed the threshold blocks onto the concrete bed - they'll be going nowhere after that!
2 - set back the threshold by 150mm and use that space for haunching and accommodation works.
If you can't haunch a soldier course, then you can't haunch and edging kerb. It doesn't matter what paving unit is being used at the threshold, if the council say 'no encroachment', then one of the two options above are the only viable options.
However, if using a sbr mortar, that's an additional argument for use of a 200mm wide soldier course, as you have 200mm of the block base in contact with the sbr/concrete, whereas a FT edging has a footprint of only 50mm. 
Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 2:56 pm
by colordrives
I often cut back into the pavement to allow for a tar strip, not bagged crap I might add. Never have I been pulled by the council over that in 20 years. In addition to that can the advocates of never touching the pavement please explain how they deal with pavements that are utterly buggered ie sunk all over the place. Do you put the edging in high or follow the dips in the pavement?
Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 4:03 pm
by lutonlagerlout
guess what?
you have to pay the councils men to come and fix it
£700 last time
LLL
Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 5:08 pm
by colordrives
That may be the case with the council where you are as I am sure you know different councils different attitudes and what would the point be in redoing something that is for the benefit of all involved as long as it has been done properly. We are not talking about tarmacing the entire pavement here simply a strip to tidy things up if required. Your council sounds unreasonable to me.
Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 5:13 pm
by mike builder/landscaper
our local highways inspecter is always driving about but he never bothers us at all. we always cut the footpath back to allow us to form a straight edge at the start of the drive and reinstate it properly. lll is right though were not supposed to touch there property. unless you have the appropriate insurance and street work certificates.
Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 10:14 am
by lutonlagerlout
when we did this job last year
i noticed a guy walking up an d down the other side of the road,next thing he had a camera out
anyway he was from highways ,and i was committing the heinious crime of replacing broken flags on the footpaths
big yellow card and volkerhighways men had to come out and redo the lot
thats how it is in sunny luton
LLL
Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 3:35 pm
by mickg
I must say thats certainly over the top Luton, I have never been pulled for cutting a 50mm straight line to make good the pavement up to my brand new flat top edgings what define the edge between the new block paving and the tarmac pavement
A comment I must make for the nay slayers on flat top edgings, if they are not needed then why does every major house builder in the UK use them ?
ps....i can login in again but only using a proxy
Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 5:29 pm
by lutonlagerlout
as mentioned before mick a lot of folk in luton have made impromptu crossovers with disastrous results
this is the seed they have sown
LLL