The Brew Cabin

Posted: **Tue Aug 18, 2009 10:11 am**

Hi All

What a great web site!!!!!

And thus I have decided to do my own block paving!!

I have the following layout.

I was thinking of doing the pavers against the borders and the house first and then setting them against the terrace , just in case that the terrace/border/walls arent square or parrelel to each other, or how would you do it?

Here is a photo of the compacted hardcore that has been down for 4 years, the trouble is i have added some small decorative shingle over teh top last year, if i compacted this with 20mm of grit sand then put my 50mm screed of gritsand over that would it be sufficient? or should i geo textile over the shingle? I read on the site here that geotextile should only be used under the subase.

I was wandering if the terrace wasnt exactly square with the concrete borders would it be a pain if i need to cut the pavers

The pavers i would be using will be 12 X12 cm by 60mm.

Thanks for all the replies as its important for me that the pavers done start sagging after 12 months.

Tim

Posted: **Tue Aug 18, 2009 12:40 pm**

uh oh!!

Posted: **Tue Aug 18, 2009 2:15 pm**

bodgeitandscarper wrote:uh oh!!

Thanks for that.

Posted: **Tue Aug 18, 2009 5:32 pm**

Perhaps I should rephrase what i am asking in order to be taken seriously.

The area has been excavated 200mm about 5 years ago and DP1 has been added but not compacted with a wacker. I did not have the money to do anything at the time so left it, and in order to just freshen it up i put a sprinkling of 10mm shingle on it.

I will if needs be scrape off the shingle and wack the Sub base down .

The question is do i srpread a 20mm screed of grit sand down and wack that in to the sub or can ii just go straight ahead with a 50mm screed and wack that?

Just checked the terrace is 90 degrees to the border I did yesterday give or take 3mm it is also parrelel.to the wall on the right.

Would you lads lay the edging course and then work ouit in order to have equal cuts either side of the edgings, or would you start laying full and cut against the wall?

Bear with me guys Im a chippy not a ground technician

Posted: **Tue Aug 18, 2009 6:21 pm**

Hi RS. If the gravel is low enough then just wack it and get the paving in. You'll need to remove any vegetation first and there's no need for any membrane. Lay the paving to square to the house it will look odd if it runs off at all. A pro wouldn't need to lay and edge course because it's retained on all sides but you would be best to lay one against the house to make it easier to screed and get it looking good. Use a snap line on the wall to mark your levels then lay to it.

Posted: **Tue Aug 18, 2009 6:49 pm**

Thanks alot for the help Pablo!!

I was figuring that I would use a laser level to get the level perfect against my borders and wall. then lay the edging course all round the perimeter and then using the screed ruler ( not to sure what its called in pro terms) to drag the sand off as stated in the index of this site.

Im a chippy by trade so cutting all the angles is not a real problem, its just the question of is the house 90 degrees on the bay window section?
This is not really a layout for a begginer im sure

Anyway im gonna listen to you guys and do my best and take my time.

Cheers

PS Whats the best way to get the edging course level? with a simple taut string ? and if yes does this go along the edging cement or on top of the block? Ive tried to find a how to on this on the site but havent found everything.

Posted: **Tue Aug 18, 2009 8:51 pm**

RSVr

Just also have a check where your dpc and stay 150mm below

Posted: **Tue Aug 18, 2009 10:15 pm**

those edgings look unusual are they french?
make sure and remove all vegetation, might be an idea to use a strong weedkiller too,
are the edgings parallel to any brickwork?
if not its best to go in a diagonal stretcher bond so the cuts dont catch your eye
all the best
LLL

Posted: **Tue Aug 18, 2009 10:32 pm**

lutonlagerlout wrote:those edgings look unusual are they french?
make sure and remove all vegetation, might be an idea to use a strong weedkiller too,
are the edgings parallel to any brickwork?
if not its best to go in a diagonal stretcher bond so the cuts dont catch your eye
all the best
LLL

Hi

LLL

Yeah i moved here 5 years ago.

They are french borders 20cm by 6 i haunched them in 8cm by 20cm so they aint gonna move lol.

All the borders are parralel with the walls.

So how would you start this project?

Start from the left handside working towards the house?

Thinking about it i really should do a edging course all the way around the borders and house in order to get a level screed using a plank of wood with notches cut out at 55mm ( im using 60 mm blocks)

I paid 16 euros a Sqm for 60mm x 12cm x 12cm contrete pavers.

In some respects the French are waaaaayyyyy behind other europeans on building products and on other things like direct feed boilers that they ahve been using for 20 years or so are way head.

Posted: **Thu Aug 20, 2009 2:12 pm**

My working sequence would be...

1 - remove all vegetation and douse with a good weedkiller

2 - regulate sub-base to ensure it's 90-100mm below finished paving level when compacted

3 - lay edge courses to house walls and boundary edgings on weak sand/cement bed

4 - spread, compact and screed to level laying course material

5 lay paving square to house, cutting in as required against either or both edges.

Posted: **Thu Aug 20, 2009 2:46 pm**

Thanks alot Tony

Just finishing the pergola over the Terrace so Im gonna attack the block paving next week. I have left about 6 weeks in order to finish 30m2 lol

The bedding screed is it best to compact that aswell and then leave 5mm of loose sand on top of that? or do I need to compact the screed bed at all?

Posted: **Fri Aug 21, 2009 11:28 am**

Screeding

Posted: **Sat Aug 22, 2009 2:57 pm**

Well here are some cough cough Progree Pics cough cough

I suppose I spent 6 hours doing the borders lol jeez its hard work to get straight and level.

I must be doing something wrong in order to take so long, I lasered the site and marked the levels on the walls of the house and the borders and then i pinged a Cord line on the walls to where the edging screed is going to be, and then mixed a weak cement mixture like tony said and placed one block one end of the run and another the other end of the run. I then ran a string from the top corner edge of the blocks to each other in order to have a level and straight reference point.................this sounds great but i then didnt take into account that the blocks have to be level in all sense so I had to dissamble 10 of the blocks in order to get them level FFS.

So after P!Ã¹:ssing about for a further hour I managed to get

1 the blocks parrelel to each other
2 square with the house
3 lose my rubber mallet
4 shout at the dog

Hear are the pics anyway.......;all in all im happy with the end result.

ps The pergola you see in the background is what I did yesterday..........

PPS the pre compaction method do i still have to leave 4 mm higer than the finished level after I have passed the screeding board?

Posted: **Sat Aug 22, 2009 6:42 pm**

Nice job on pergola. Just wondering if you have drainage anywhere along the edgings.

Posted: **Sat Aug 22, 2009 6:51 pm**

irishpaving wrote:Nice job on pergola. Just wondering if you have drainage anywhere along the edgings.

Thanks Irish

Errmm hadnt planned of any drainage Tbh relying on run off to the border edges.

Any other suggesions or help would be appreciated.

ps another shot of the pergola

The Brew Cabin

A noobie - A few questions please