The Brew Cabin

I have been getting quotes from a number of companies to look at paving my drive, and was half contemplating doing it myself, the problem is the companies whose work I went and looked at and I am happy with, insist on only laying pavers on a concrete base. They claim they dont want to be back in 3-5 years fixing problems.

From reading through your site I assume this is 'rigid paving'

Is this overkill and not warranted ?

assuming the drive will at worst carry a 4WD or a truck tipping topsoil for landscaping etc.

any advice appreciated.

It seems that Rigid Paving, which is what you're talking about, is more popular in Oz and the US than in Europe, and Britain/RoI in particular. Over here, more than 95% of all Block Paving is flexible construction and although it is reasonably problem-free, we do see settlement and rutting on some poorly constructed works, but then, we see spalling and bricks coming loose with rigid paving that is subjected to vehicle overrun.

Flexible construction is simpler, cheaper and faster than rigid paving, and so it grabs a large slice of the European market on cost grounds alone. Rigid paving is not often specc'ed for residential driveways, even those taking slightly heavier-than-normal vehicles, such as you describe.

Assuming you have a reasonable sub-grade, most British/Irish contractors would specify flexible paving, possibly using a geo-membrane between the sub-grade and a 150-225mm thick sub-base, and, assuming it was properly laid, there should be no problems for 10-15 years, ne'er mind 3-5 years.

But, as some acronym-lover once said, YMMV, and it's always best to follow local advice. If the local tradition is for rigid paving, then go with it, but it's probably worth getting a quote for flexible construction, just to see if it's any cheaper.

But to answer your question directly; I would say that rigid construction is overkill for the project you describe.

Thanks for the quick and detailed reply I still have a fair bit of time to look into it, so I will do a bit more investigation and see what turns up.

I have decided to give it a go myself, but I have one other small area to deal with, the entrance to our block was just a spoon drain so I had to make a driveway to it (I think its called a table crossing?)

Anyway it basically consisted of a bloody heavy pipe with concrete headwalls(which were also bloody heavy!!).

I dug a trench to create a crushed rock bed under the pipe then spread a further layer (about 120mm) above the pipe which is now compacting nicely).

My problem is there is only limited room to add aditional rock to form a thick base as the land slopes down towards the driveway and I dont want to end up with a hump or a lip before reaching the road. (excuse the artistically challenged diagram)



Should I attempt to add more rock and compact it and possibly build the property side up to allow for a thicker layer, or should I look at using concrete/bitumen for the crossover piece and only pave the driveway itself.

*we are building a home atm so I wont be paving straight away, I plan on leaving it as just a rock crossing till the have poured the slab, I am assuming the pipe wont compact any further than where the truck pouring the slab will flatten it too.

thanks

Sorry for the delayed response - been in Hozzy for some tests on me ticker.

How feasible is this.....?



...would it be possible to use a concrete sub-base over the pipe in place of the more usual granular material? I've shown the concrete sub-base extending 450mm beyond the excavation limits of the pipe trench, but actual site conditions may vary.

You could also use a 'hogback curve' to accommodate the levels. This involves a 'hump' over the pipe, rather than a flat bone from the top to the bottom of the drive. With a bit of careful setting out, this can actually look quitre natural and intentional - there's more about hogback curves on the Profiling page - take a look at the skeych for a transition ramp, which is the sort of thing I have in mind.