Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2013 1:54 pm
We have just had a new gravel drive and other landscaping to the front of the house. The contractor has not quite finished the job yet but Christmas intervened and now the boss is on holiday - we knew this would be the situation.
A couple of problems have become clear in the meantime.
The membrane is appearing under the gravel and also the edges of the membraneare sticking up at various places in the drive.
The membrane was laid on top of the base layer (sorry not sure of the right terms for these) and then the gravel laid directly on top. This was not as it was explained at the outset - they said they would put some more of the base layer type of stuff on the membrane and compact it, but when challenged on that, they said they were only going to do that if there was any left over.
The weather was very bad before Christmas and they were clearly running out of time - in fairness they say they are coming back to finalise (and compact and 'top up' the gravel among other things) everything at the end of the month, but before this I would like to know particularly about the situation with the membrane.
I have read the info elsewhere on the site about the use of/need for (or not as the case maybe). I could see info about membranes being laid at a much lower level but am not sure if the way they have done it is a complete no-no. If it is reasonable to lay it at the level they have done should it be pinned down in some way to prevent it sticking up at the edges of each sheet - this occurs at the edge of the drive and also in the middle of the drive where individual sheets end - not a good look!
There is also an area on the drive which had major pools of water after the recent rainfall - I am assuming this should have been ironed out when they were doing the sub layer.
I believe the company we are using are reputable and will resolve any issues, but it would be really helpful to me to know how this ought to be done before I talk to them.
Thanks in advance.
A couple of problems have become clear in the meantime.
The membrane is appearing under the gravel and also the edges of the membraneare sticking up at various places in the drive.
The membrane was laid on top of the base layer (sorry not sure of the right terms for these) and then the gravel laid directly on top. This was not as it was explained at the outset - they said they would put some more of the base layer type of stuff on the membrane and compact it, but when challenged on that, they said they were only going to do that if there was any left over.
The weather was very bad before Christmas and they were clearly running out of time - in fairness they say they are coming back to finalise (and compact and 'top up' the gravel among other things) everything at the end of the month, but before this I would like to know particularly about the situation with the membrane.
I have read the info elsewhere on the site about the use of/need for (or not as the case maybe). I could see info about membranes being laid at a much lower level but am not sure if the way they have done it is a complete no-no. If it is reasonable to lay it at the level they have done should it be pinned down in some way to prevent it sticking up at the edges of each sheet - this occurs at the edge of the drive and also in the middle of the drive where individual sheets end - not a good look!
There is also an area on the drive which had major pools of water after the recent rainfall - I am assuming this should have been ironed out when they were doing the sub layer.
I believe the company we are using are reputable and will resolve any issues, but it would be really helpful to me to know how this ought to be done before I talk to them.
Thanks in advance.
.