More frost damage threads!

[red5]

Hello,

I'm not a professional installer just a punter who would appreciate the comments of those "in the know" in case someone tries to pull a fast one on me.

Background is driveway installed Sept 2008 by a Marshalls Approved Installer. Drivesett Tegula was used. I do not have any info on spec of sub-base used.

Where I live we have only just thawed out on the surface following about 4 weeks of prolonged frost and heavy snow fall.

I kept the driveway clear during the snow and regularly salted it to prevent the ice from forming. The driveway seemed to be coping quite well until the final few days of the thaw when the driveway was either lifting approx 10mm in certain areas or dipping in others as a car would pass over.

It looked pretty ruined to me however over the last couple of days things appeared to have calmed down. A gate that previously would not open because the driveway had lifted will now open and whilst there are still some undulations across the driveway it is nowhere near as bad as it was.

My question is can I expect the driveway to more or less return to its pre-winter state or should I be expecting to have repair work carried out in the Spring because whilst it may look okay just now the damage has been done under the surface and I just can't see it ??

Thanks.

[Tony McC]

If the have was limited to 10mm max, then you'll probably get away with it.

The biggest threat from frost heave is not movement of the sub-base but fracturing of the concrete haunching/bedding to retainer edge courses, which is why certain parts of northern Europe and North America use concrete-less restraint systems. However, with 10mm heave, most concrete will either remain intact or will re-settle with sufficient interlock to allow the edges to continue to provide restraint.

The test will come over the next 6 weeks or so. If you notice any joints opening up close to edge courses, or any obvious re-alignment of the edge courses at free edges, then it may be worth investigating the haunching for significant cracks and/or movement. Once an edge course has been identified as 'failed', the sooner it is repaired, the less remedial work is required and so the costs are minimised.

[red5]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I can confirm that so far the edging to the driveway has remained intact but will keep my eye on it as advised.

My car appears to be acting as an improvised roller/compacter bringing the driveway back to it near original state !