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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 9:45 am
by orson
I'm doing a small patio in the rear garden of a Victorian terrace house. I had a real surprise when clearing the old "concrete" area as about three inches down were the start of the footings for the building, however these are extremely wide and step down four courses. They must be three feet wide at the base. My problem is that in order to get sufficient bedding under the edge course of blocks I need to raise up the level of the entire patio and certainly then not be 150mm below dpc. Told the owner about this and my only option would appear to start the edging course about 60mm from the building, the owners don't want this as I have to agree it will look naff. They want the edging against the building and ignor the 150mm below DPC. Anyone got any ideas how to get around this problem. Also I am going to use the old concrete as a base for the sub base, any thoughts?
Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 6:15 pm
by seanandruby
Photos please.
Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 11:13 pm
by Tony McC
Slice the edge course blocks into slips.
Remember to use water suppression when cutting, and charge the client handsomely for your very clever solution to THEIR problem which could not have been foreseen when you priced the job.
Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 10:58 am
by orson
Tony, thanks for the advice. Got back on site last week (13/08/08, clients on holiday!!) ground conditions here are very odd!! Cleared the remainder of the concrete and bagged it all up, underneath were about 2 inches of 'clinker' (an old type of oversite obtained from town gas plants in Victorian times), cleared and bagged all that lot as well. Afer this we hit the usual London clay (very close to the surface, but bearing in mind the depth of the footings, to be expected), only problem is that its not the true level of the clay, this stuff came out about 4 inches thick and beneath this was a further layer of brick rubble, hoggin etc. If the Victorians did sub bases for paving this stuff would be it!! This is very solid but appears to drain poorly. As I am now approximately 25/30 cm below my finished level I don't need to go any further down, do I ? Also, do I need to use a geotextile on this job, all the old concrete is going back in as a "sub" sub base, and there is to be no drainage as the nearest drain run is yards away with a kitchen extension and land in other ownership between us and it. Any advice is welcome on this one!!!