Paving, Drainage and Hard-landscaping in Britain and Ireland
https://ext.pavingexpert.com/brewcabin/
Hi Billy here. Back after 18 months of cancer treatment, well on the way to recovery. As Tony says, this requires years of trial and error, but as a starter, he needs a vibrating table and a mixer. If the moulds are Harristone or of equal quality, he could make a go of it. If still interested I will take him thro a simple but successful regime, wait for your call.Tony McC wrote:Billy used to or still does manufacture.
I regularly get asked about recommending a concrete recipe for making paving. Occasionally it's someone such as the OP who has acquired the moulds from eBay and assumed they can save money by knocking out their own stuff, which never, ever turns out to be true. Economies of scale alone mean that you can't make good paving in your back garden for less than it is made in a dedicated plant. However, over the last couple or three years, it's been 'overseas' enquirers who are either setting up in their own country or looking to import into Britain.
I have to tell them all the same thing: there is no guaranteed-to-work concrete recipe. All of the successful manufacturers have spent a small fortune in developing a recipe that works for them, with their moulds and other kit, using their aggregates, with their preferred cements, their local water and all to suit their chosen market. There is no way they will give away this knowledge, especially not to a potential competitor.
Finding the recipe that works for you is a matter of trial and error, and it's no exaggeration to say that you can easily churn out 50 batches of flags or blocks or whatever before you find the recipe that works. Making fence posts and base panels is a bit easier as there is no colouring and they aren't subjected to trafficking, which is why so many small manufacturers stick with fencing and don't venture into paving.
A few years back, there was a rogueish type on eBay flogging crappy moulds and an A5 sheet of 'instructions' on how to make your own paving at a fraction of the cost allegedly. I had quite a lot of correspondence about that scam, and one woman in particular became quite stroppy when I explained all of the above, with her insisting that I was part of a conspiracy with the big manufacturers to deter people from having a go themselves. The last I heard, she'd bought a bulk bag of building sand (WRONG!), a bulk bag of Cotswold Chippings (WRONG!) and a half-pallet of cement. No plasticisers, no colour, no mould oil....no frigging hope of it working!
I assumed that her sudden silence following a fortnight of almost hourly emails indicated that she finally got the message.
Hi Thanks for the friendly "welcome back", makes me feel like family. I'm still in Cape Town, and the company has barely survived the cancer/economy onslaught. So each day is still tight rope walking. Still hope to return to the UK, as, for all the negatives, I still want to busk on the Thames Embankment once more, and drop a line in the river near Eltham. (AND, oh, for a pint of Sussex bitter, or London Pride, or even John Smiths extra Smooth!Tony McC wrote:Yeah, good to hear from you again, Billy.
Are you back in production yet?
theres a man who values the proper things in lifeTheVictorianCobbleCo wrote:Tony McC wrote:Yeah, good to hear from you again, Billy.
Are you back in production yet?
Hi Thanks for the friendly "welcome back", makes me feel like family. I'm still in Cape Town, and the company has barely survived the cancer/economy onslaught. So each day is still tight rope walking. Still hope to return to the UK, as, for all the negatives, I still want to busk on the Thames Embankment once more, and drop a line in the river near Eltham. (AND, oh, for a pint of Sussex bitter, or London Pride, or even John Smiths extra Smooth!
HiBob_A wrote:Found him Leeco but he hasn't been on here lately
http://ext.pavingexpert.com/cgi-bin....d8d7025
That might of been meTony McC wrote:Billy used to or still does manufacture.
I regularly get asked about recommending a concrete recipe for making paving. Occasionally it's someone such as the OP who has acquired the moulds from eBay and assumed they can save money by knocking out their own stuff, which never, ever turns out to be true. Economies of scale alone mean that you can't make good paving in your back garden for less than it is made in a dedicated plant. However, over the last couple or three years, it's been 'overseas' enquirers who are either setting up in their own country or looking to import into Britain.
I have to tell them all the same thing: there is no guaranteed-to-work concrete recipe. All of the successful manufacturers have spent a small fortune in developing a recipe that works for them, with their moulds and other kit, using their aggregates, with their preferred cements, their local water and all to suit their chosen market. There is no way they will give away this knowledge, especially not to a potential competitor.
Finding the recipe that works for you is a matter of trial and error, and it's no exaggeration to say that you can easily churn out 50 batches of flags or blocks or whatever before you find the recipe that works. Making fence posts and base panels is a bit easier as there is no colouring and they aren't subjected to trafficking, which is why so many small manufacturers stick with fencing and don't venture into paving.
A few years back, there was a rogueish type on eBay flogging crappy moulds and an A5 sheet of 'instructions' on how to make your own paving at a fraction of the cost allegedly. I had quite a lot of correspondence about that scam, and one woman in particular became quite stroppy when I explained all of the above, with her insisting that I was part of a conspiracy with the big manufacturers to deter people from having a go themselves. The last I heard, she'd bought a bulk bag of building sand (WRONG!), a bulk bag of Cotswold Chippings (WRONG!) and a half-pallet of cement. No plasticisers, no colour, no mould oil....no frigging hope of it working!
I assumed that her sudden silence following a fortnight of almost hourly emails indicated that she finally got the message.
