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The first stage is to remove your existing
driveway, this could be either concrete, tarmac or concrete
flags. The use of a mini digger which can be hired from
Hirebase
makes this easier and is normally completed within one day
with all the debris placed into a skip and taken away
If you don't feel confident driving a mini digger then get
someone to do this for you as removing the existing driveway
by hand digging will take much longer to do
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Cover the total area of your driveway with
a geotextile layer which helps prevent the intermixing of
the sub soil or clay and the hardcore yet still permits
water to flow freely. This is available from your local
Buildbase or Travis
Perkins Builders Merchants and is called many names
including terram, geotextile layer, weed control fabric
or weed control membrane
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MOT type 1 hard core is laid to the total area of your new
driveway to a minimum depth of 100mm, your hardcore now needs
to be compacted to give a stable sub base for your new block
paving, this can be achieved with either a vibrating roller
or a vibrating plate. On larger areas or where heavy vehicular
access is needed we always use the vibrating roller to ensure
the sub base is very well compacted |
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For smaller areas where the large roller can't
access a vibrating plate
is used to compact the hardcore. The compacting of the hardcore
is completed when we are satisfied that the sub base of
your new drive is firm and has no soft spots. If any area
is still soft it needs to be dug out and removed and replaced
with more hardcore which is compacted
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Any area of your block paving must be surrounded by a firm
edge restraint to prevent the blocks and the sand on which
they are laid from creeping, either the house walls, fence
base panel or new edgings along any side which require the
paving to be held in place. |
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Using a tight string line to keep the front
edge of the edging block in a straight line, the blocks
are laid on a semi dry mix of 3 parts sand to 1 part cement
and hauched front and back to hold in place
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Zone 2 grit sand is laid to the entire area approx. 30mm
higher than the finished height to allow for compacting.
Different parts of the country have different grades of
sand and as a rule of thumb get the coarse grit sand rather
than a fine grain sand.
Do not use building sand as it is too soft a type of sand
plus when it gets wet it turns into a slurry, over a period
in time the sand laying coarse will start to wash away underneath
the block paved driveway and the block paving will start
to loose its flat appearance and start to hold water in
the low area
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Using a spade in a swinging motion you need
to level the sand roughly to the correct height
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And continue over the total area until you have covered
all the hardcore |
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Once you have filled the entire area with sand
this needs to be compacted with your vibrating plate, you
will see the lines and your footprints going less and less
after going over your sand 2 - 3 times. Continue until you
don't leave any marks on the sand when you walk over it.
Its advisable to have your sand harder and higher
than to leave any low soft spots
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To get the finished height of your block paving we use
a block as a guide and push it back and forwards and down
into the sand until it is 5mm higher than the finished height
to allow for the final compacting once all the block paving
is in place
The finished level of block paving should be 150mm below D.P.C.
level |
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To get a perfectly flat bed for your pavers
to lay on you can use 18mm galvanised steel electrical duct,
the type what are used by electricians for putting cables
through, they are not expensive but are better than using
timber because the piece of timber or aluminum you use to
screed the sand will slide along them much easier
Using a tight string line to get the pole to the correct
finished height prior to screeding the sand, they are checked
for being level or falling towards any drains, 1:60 fall
is required, that's 1" in height to 60" in length
minimum fall to ensure any surface water disburses into
your drainage system or soak a way
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Once the steel poles are in place we begin to screed the
sand to the correct height prior to laying your blocks. When
the screeding is finished we remove the poles and fill this
gap with sand using a steel trowel to give a smooth flat finish
Do not leave the poles in the sand, they must be removed and
the gap filled in with sand |
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The next stage is to commence laying the block
paving, the full blocks are laid first to a straight line
either using a string line or an aluminum straight edge
and then continue laying the blocks until the total area
of your drive is completed.
The block can be laid either square to the house or on a
45 degree angle. On this drive the full blocks started at
the front corner of the house working towards the boundary
edge restraint. It was done this way so full blocks showed
all round the house and any cuts were only visible at the
garden side of the drive
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When you have completed the laying of your full blocks you
need to cut in the edges, this can be completed either using
a 2 stroke brick saw
with a diamond blade or a block
splitter. These can be hired from your local hire shop.
Using a straight edge or string line mark the width of the
border using a block as a guide and mark a line onto the full
block, cut off the surplus and put the cut block in its place,
Continue cutting the block paving pieces until all the cuts
are completed |
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When all the cut blocks are in place brush
all the driveway to remove any broken pieces of block or
dust to ensure they don't get down the joints between the
block paving.
Brush kiln dried sand over the entire area making sure all
the joints are full to the top prior to giving them the
final compacting with the plate vibrator, you can leave
surplus sand on top of the the block pave driveway so when
the vibrating plate passes over it will spread it about
filling any joint which may require more sand
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The vibrating plate is run over the total area 2 to 3 times
to ensure the blocks are fully bedded into place and any surplus
kiln dried sand is now removed |
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The driveway is now completed and ready for
you to use.
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Curved block paved border with edging detail |
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