The Brew Cabin

We're putting down a base for my new 12'x8' workshop. The base is to consist of 3" of Type with an inch of course sand and then paving slabs. Hopefully should be sturdy enough for all the junk that will accumulate in there!

Anyhow.... The Type1 arrived yesterday and we filled hole ready for compacting today. However.. it snowed lightly overnight and now the type1 is wet. We've run the compactor over it and it looks ok, but we're not 100% sure if it is ok. We're wondering is the voids will have filled themselves in properly with the fines being wet. Any advice gratefully accepted!

Ric

In an ideal world, granular sub-base material would have a perfect moisture content and all the voids would fill when the vib plate or roller was run over it, but we don't live in such a world, and we have to do the best we can in the weather we have. So, you;ll be relieved to know that, as long as it's only a light dusting of snow, and the sub-base material itself isn't frozen, then the wet will make no real difference to compaction.

If it were my job, I would use a blinding of the grit sand over the compacted sub-base before placing the rest of the sand. If you scatter a light coating of sand over the sub-base, and then rake, shovel or brush it around to fill all the voids, this will minimise any risk from bedding material settling into these voids at a later date.

Good luck! :)

Excellent, thanks Tony. The sub-base does feel nice and firm when walking on it and it doesn't seem to be moving at all. We're just off to shovel the sand now, so we'll do the blinding as suggested.

Many thanks
Ric