The Brew Cabin

I am about to lay my own block paved drive, I have got to the stage where I am ready to order the blocks, what I would like is to incorporate a circle pack from a well known manufacturer but have been told that these only come in the 50mm thick size. I would have like to use 60mm blocks on my drive as I drive a range rover and I am worried about the extra weight Could I use the two different sizes ?

You can use a 50mm thick circle feature within a field of 60mm blocks, but it's a bit complicated.

There are two posible methods - circle first of circle last. If you know where the circle is to go, then this is the simplest method to use. You simply prepare the screeded bed and lay the circle and then use the outer ring of the circle as a level guide to prepare the screeded bed for the 60mm blocks. You have to exercise a degree of caution or those outer blocks get dislodged and you have to re-lay them, one at a time, to get the levels right. For this reason, it's best to use a notched screeder bar with a long extension, so that there's 50-100mm between the outer ring of circle blocks and the screeded bed for the 60s. This is where you'll have to cut-in, anyway, so you can prepare each bed individually as you work your way around doing the cuts.

However, if you need to lay the 60s first and then fit the circle accordingly, screed everything for a 60mm block, but leave a 'hole' in the blockwork where the circle is to go. You'll have to add more sand to the bed, obviously, and use the laid-but-not-compacted 60s as a level guide for screeding, which makes things awkward.

Which method do you think you'll use? I can give you a fuller methodology if you identify which of these two is your preferred option. Alternatively, have you considered obrtaining a 60mm thick circle feature from a different manufacturer, or even using a different block type?

Thanks very much for the information, I will probably put the circle in first and work from there, I have not as yet come across any 60mm circle packs, maybe I havn't looked hard enough, anyway thanks once again!
Exellent site by the way.