The Brew Cabin

Posted: **Wed Jun 13, 2012 10:59 am**

Having poured over this (brilliant) site at great length I can't find an answer to my worries over this intended construction,so here goes with my first post. Apologies if overlong but trying to be comprehensive.
Built gravelboard formwork for footpath originally intending to infill with gravel but later decided block paving more practical/attractive option. 50mm. thick Drivesett Tegula blocks chosen to fit between boards in the 700mm. space with 15mm. to spare overall which I propose to fill with fine sharp gravel to contain blocks when whacked. Boards are laid level side to side with part of path with no fall in length. Concern was how to introduce crossfall and maintain blocks proud of edging and by how much, without them spreading. I will have turf to one side of path and 20mm. gravel to the other. Have not actually laid block paving before and as this is not the conventional way of containing blocks I'm a bit concerned that my 'brilliant' idea may not work as I can't find an equivalent construction ! Any thoughts ?
Hope nobody's got a headache now !

Posted: **Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:22 pm**

You are 'making do' rather than 'do it right, do it once'

Remove the timber, lay edging blocks properly and give path a slight fall towards the grass

Posted: **Wed Jun 13, 2012 8:10 pm**

It can be done, i have done it before for a customer that was low on funds, he decided to cut costs and instead of concreting edge courses in a curve we used 2x2 pegs and 6x1 tanalised boards, did this two years ago for a garden path, and it is fine, i see the bloke regularly, bit of a bodge IMO, but he was the man with the money right?

could you not re-set the boards, to achieve some fall?

Posted: **Wed Jun 13, 2012 9:55 pm**

I have seen *landscapers* read grasscutters ,do curved paths with 6 by 1 tanalised path edging
looks like a dogs hind leg IMHO
i can and will get a picture of this
I did 75m of indian stone 6 year later not 1 has moved
they did 4 flags as a step and all 4 are wobbling

back on track though ,the timber will expand and contract at different rates to your blocks and you will lose the KDS
maybe if you laid the blocks on a screeded 4:1 cement :grit sand mix it might work a bit better
but basically its wrong wrong wrong
sorry
LLL

Posted: **Thu Jun 14, 2012 10:03 am**

It is wrong, very wrong, but if it must be done, then use a camber to create crossfall to either side of the path.

It's still wrong, though!

Posted: **Thu Jun 14, 2012 4:33 pm**

Yep its wrong, just thought id say ive done it, and it seemed to work ok....sort of, but if you can, edge courses concreted in would be far superior.

Posted: **Thu Jun 14, 2012 6:10 pm**

Thanks for replies gents. Appreciate my idea is a bit amateurish but the gravelboards took weeks to install solidly with 2x2 pegs @1m. cs.,(pegs cut off 50mm. below top edge) along with those curves, so they will stay but you've given me food for thought. What if I bedded the the path edge blocks solidly in 75mm. of concrete with one side 10mm higher than the other for crossfall with the blocks proud of the gravelboard so grass and gravel will cover it ? Then laid the infill blocks on the suggested screeded grit sand/cement bed. Would the infill blocks just be tamped down into bed or have to be wacked? They would be 3 blocks wide as only 360mm gap between fixed ones. I could then use a pinch rod to maintain correct gap to accommodate curving blocks.
Many thanks

The Brew Cabin

Block paving curved path - Laying blocks Â between timber shuttering