The Brew Cabin

Tony:

After a long time spent doing other things since my argument with that angle grinder last autumn, I am now pressing on with my block paving path. I have just laid the blocks on the next 10m stretch and due to layout errors for which I can only blame myself :), about 2-3 m of run suffers from a gap between the fixed soldiers. Please see the close-up view:

and a wider shot to put it in context:

At its widest (just the other side of the downspout), the error is 8 mm, and the path between soldiers is 1.5m. At present the pattern is laid tight against the grass-side soldiers.

Please could you advise on the best corrective action? Those I can think of are:
1. Do nothing - apply lots of sand and hope the whacking will distribute the gap.
2. Use the half block opportunities in the pattern to cut long halves to physically lock the pattern tight to the soldiers, albeit for only one part in four of the run.
3. Lever the soldiers loose from their bed and slide them toward the pattern to fill the gap, filling behind then with mortar.

As usual, very grateful to tap into your experience.
Kind regards - Mike -

Howdo Mike - long time, no hear! Good to see you back. :)

Option 1 results in wide joints which aren't critical on a pathway such as this but you could end us with a handful of blocks right on the sightline that are 'skew-whiff' and stand out like the proverbial thumb that met the lump hammer.

Option 2 will more or less bring about the same result as option 1, but with fewer skewed blocks.

Option 3 would seem to be the most logical but that outside edge course, against the grass, should be straight, assuming you've laid it to a taut string line, so any amendments to the alignement will look worse than the few skewed blocks in Options 1 and 2.

The best solution is the one you missed - option 4 - lever over the blocks on the internal soldier course, the one against the house, as it's all but impossible to get a sight line along there. Create the 'take-up' gap between the wall and the back edge of the soldier course and pack that full of jointing sand.

It's quite probably deviation in the wall that has resulted in the error in the setting out, so kep all the eror in one spot and you'll not be able to notice them. :)

Thanks for that Tony! I'd actually intended my option 3 to be your option 4 :), but maybe didn't express it very clearly. OK, so that's tomorrow's tasks clarified!

Like the new site, BTW. You were just putting the finishing touches to it when the winter hedge-laying distracted me last year.

I'll send some pictures when the job's done. Cheers for now. - Mike -