The Brew Cabin

Posted: **Thu Dec 14, 2017 1:00 pm**

Hi!

Im a newbie here, and pretty new to paving and patios.

I am making a small, round, decorative sitting area in quite a fiddly/tight sloped spot in a garden.

I excavated and then put in wooden pegs to get the levels for the top of MOT subbase... but at this point I didnt put in pegs/markers to get the levels for the final top surface.

Now I am in a situation I need to mark out the final levels, and the only place I can do that from is the subbase layer, as the edges are banked around 2/3s of it.

It seems I need to find metal pegs with some form of looped top to string through to hammer into the subbase to get the levels.

I have looked around and cant find anything suitable for the job.

So basically Im asking is it possible to get such metal pegs somewhere?

I know I may not have followed to correct workflow, but I cant see much more other option now than metal pegs, other than making some sort of wooden frame that I can temporarily fix into place.

Any help would be much appreciated

Posted: **Thu Dec 14, 2017 1:22 pm**

In the trade, we tend to use short-ish lengths of 10mm or 12mm reinforcement bar, because theyu are chgeap and easy to obtain. You can buy dedicated line pins from places such as York Survey Supply but they are a bit more expensive (not much, to be honest)

Posted: **Thu Dec 14, 2017 3:43 pm**

Thanks tony, that helps a lot

Posted: **Thu Dec 14, 2017 5:21 pm**

Just tie your string to bricks or broken flags or something. Use the same for packers to get your levels.
With the building game, you use what you have around you

Posted: **Thu Dec 14, 2017 5:42 pm**

I found it handy to cut a little notch in pins so string line has something to grip into and get string good and tight. Can be done easily with angle grinder or stihl saw.

Posted: **Thu Dec 14, 2017 6:51 pm**

KAMIKAZEE DIY wrote:I found it handy to cut a little notch in pins so string line has something to grip into and get string good and tight. Can be done easily with angle grinder or stihl saw.

Trouble is you always need different highest so you would end up with lots of slots. You have to wrap the string around a certain way, so it holds it self.
Your right about wanting it tight, you can always bang pegs in further away from the job, then put the string on your packers with something on top to stop string moving

Posted: **Thu Dec 14, 2017 7:02 pm**

What your describing are road pins aka lamp irons. Can get them from most sheds.
They are actually banned on a lot of sites because of guys going through services causing serious injury and death. You need to be 100% sure there is nothing below to cause the above. As said by digger is a safe option.
Good luck.

Posted: **Sat Dec 16, 2017 11:20 am**

A simple half-hitch will be enough to hold a string line, even on relatively smooth line pins, as shown here

The Brew Cabin

Metal pegs?? - Marking out an area with metal pegs