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I did some more digging this afternoon, nearly 4 hours of it 
Again interspersed with numerous breaks, I ache a lot now The good news is that one side of the footpath is now pretty much ready to start the next phase of works - concreting the edge blocks in to place 😊 There is a bit of soil still to dig out around the edges, but with torrential rain forecast tomorrow I didnt want the water washing the sand out from under my new slates so figured I'd leave some soil there to protect it
As you can see I've created myself a rather fine pile of soil and rubble, good job I moved all the paving blocks round the back really I'm unlikely to make any progress for a few days now as the forecast is a bit grim, but once things dry out I'll crack on 
Again interspersed with numerous breaks, I ache a lot now The good news is that one side of the footpath is now pretty much ready to start the next phase of works - concreting the edge blocks in to place 😊 There is a bit of soil still to dig out around the edges, but with torrential rain forecast tomorrow I didnt want the water washing the sand out from under my new slates so figured I'd leave some soil there to protect it As you can see I've created myself a rather fine pile of soil and rubble, good job I moved all the paving blocks round the back really
I'm unlikely to make any progress for a few days now as the forecast is a bit grim, but once things dry out I'll crack on
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Yeah but a mini digger wouldn't have been as good a workout
I started laying the drive today - I've been checking the forecast for days and today was the first dry spell for a while so didn't want to miss the opportunity! Out came the mixer then 4 mixes of concrete later the heavens opened
I managed to cover what I'd done and get the electric mixer back indoors before any damage was done fortunately but how frustrating
Once the rain had stopped I took the covers off again to check, seems we've avoided catastrophe
It's due to rain tomorrow but Sunday is looking hopeful for another day of concrete mixing and block paving
I started laying the drive today - I've been checking the forecast for days and today was the first dry spell for a while so didn't want to miss the opportunity! Out came the mixer then 4 mixes of concrete later the heavens opened
I managed to cover what I'd done and get the electric mixer back indoors before any damage was done fortunately but how frustrating Once the rain had stopped I took the covers off again to check, seems we've avoided catastrophe
It's due to rain tomorrow but Sunday is looking hopeful for another day of concrete mixing and block paving
I've been doing some groundworks and measuring up in the rain this morning It's due to stop in the next few hours, so hopefully if there aren't too many puddles I can spend some time this afternoon and evening mixing and laying
I've trenched for the edging along the back and marked the end slab where it needs a bit nibbling out of the corner...
Also knocked a peg in to the ground to mark the finished driveway height at the back, then used it to work out the first edging slab cut for the side...
As you can see, if I were to lay the blocks with no edging you'd be able to see the earth under next doors boundary slabs - not ideal I knew this would be the case so bought some 915x205x50 edging slabs to cover what I can. The first slab I've marked up to cut will follow the top profile of the neighbours slab until it gets to 140mm above my finished drive level. At this point I'll just bed the slabs onto the same concrete bed as the paving blocks so they cover most of the mess. Depending how it looks when it's done I might have a word with the neighbours and ask if they mind me painting the side facing us black but we shall see, plenty to do before that becomes a priority 😄
It's due to stop in the next few hours, so hopefully if there aren't too many puddles I can spend some time this afternoon and evening mixing and laying I've trenched for the edging along the back and marked the end slab where it needs a bit nibbling out of the corner...
Also knocked a peg in to the ground to mark the finished driveway height at the back, then used it to work out the first edging slab cut for the side...
As you can see, if I were to lay the blocks with no edging you'd be able to see the earth under next doors boundary slabs - not ideal
I knew this would be the case so bought some 915x205x50 edging slabs to cover what I can. The first slab I've marked up to cut will follow the top profile of the neighbours slab until it gets to 140mm above my finished drive level. At this point I'll just bed the slabs onto the same concrete bed as the paving blocks so they cover most of the mess. Depending how it looks when it's done I might have a word with the neighbours and ask if they mind me painting the side facing us black but we shall see, plenty to do before that becomes a priority 😄The rain stopped around 3pm so I got back out and cracked on 😊 I've just come in, pretty pleased with the days progress
I didn't quite get all the way around but decided to save some for tomorrow, my feet are killing me If the weather holds tomorrow I'll finish the perimeter off and cut some blocks to fill in the corners 😊
I'm really pleased with how the boundary edge looks now - I don't think I'll need to paint it, seems fine as it is! The time spent measuring and marking out in the rain this morning was time well spent, the cuts went as planned and everything slotted together nicely
Heres the corner nearest the path where I followed the top profile of the neighbours slab at first then followed the line of the drive:
And heres the back corner where it meets the raised bed - I'll fill the gap between the drive and the bed with some sort of aggregate at some point, either shingle or crushed stone to match the drive.
Hopefully the rain holds off long enough for the concrete to go off a bit so I don't have to run out and cover it later
I didn't quite get all the way around but decided to save some for tomorrow, my feet are killing me
If the weather holds tomorrow I'll finish the perimeter off and cut some blocks to fill in the corners 😊I'm really pleased with how the boundary edge looks now - I don't think I'll need to paint it, seems fine as it is! The time spent measuring and marking out in the rain this morning was time well spent, the cuts went as planned and everything slotted together nicely
Heres the corner nearest the path where I followed the top profile of the neighbours slab at first then followed the line of the drive:And heres the back corner where it meets the raised bed - I'll fill the gap between the drive and the bed with some sort of aggregate at some point, either shingle or crushed stone to match the drive.
Hopefully the rain holds off long enough for the concrete to go off a bit so I don't have to run out and cover it later
Top job again……The rain stopped around 3pm so I got back out and cracked on 😊 I've just come in, pretty pleased with the days progress
View attachment 598396
I didn't quite get all the way around but decided to save some for tomorrow, my feet are killing me
I'm really pleased with how the boundary edge looks now - I don't think I'll need to paint it, seems fine as it is! The time spent measuring and marking out in the rain this morning was time well spent, the cuts went as planned and everything slotted together nicely
View attachment 598395
And heres the back corner where it meets the raised bed - I'll fill the gap between the drive and the bed with some sort of aggregate at some point, either shingle or crushed stone to match the drive.
View attachment 598394
Hopefully the rain holds off long enough for the concrete to go off a bit so I don't have to run out and cover it later
Bit of a nuisance, the new blocks have been delivered in rather an unfortunate place
In other exciting news, the custom slate pieces should arrive tomorrow! Hopefully after work I'll get a chance to finish the steps and raised bed off 😊
Since the working area of the driveway now has blocks in it I'll turn my attention to prepping the other side, digging some more soil out and getting as much of it taken away as I can... That way I can start laying blocks on the other side using these new ones first so I dont have to cart them all round the back like I did the first lot
In other exciting news, the custom slate pieces should arrive tomorrow! Hopefully after work I'll get a chance to finish the steps and raised bed off 😊
Since the working area of the driveway now has blocks in it I'll turn my attention to prepping the other side, digging some more soil out and getting as much of it taken away as I can... That way I can start laying blocks on the other side using these new ones first so I dont have to cart them all round the back like I did the first lot
So the slate has arrived 😊 It's raining so I've not been able to mix any mortar up and lay it, but I did place it in position to see how it looks...
Pretty pleased with that! The new stuff is a bit dusty from being machined, I expect it to darken up a bit once it's been rained on but my wife says she quite likes the different shade so we'll see
What I have cunningly hidden in the photo above is the fact that, actually, it doesnt fit
The capping around the raised bed has been cut 150mm wide but I ordered 120mm... This means you have to shuffle it all along and cant have any mortar joints in order to get the corner in the right place. In turn that leaves a bit of a problem at the other end...
Bugger I've emailed the company - the simplest solution would seem to be for them to cut a small piece to fill the gap, rather than waste the lot and cut it all again. I'd be happy with that and would likely get it resolved sooner so we'll see what they say
Pretty pleased with that! The new stuff is a bit dusty from being machined, I expect it to darken up a bit once it's been rained on but my wife says she quite likes the different shade so we'll see
What I have cunningly hidden in the photo above is the fact that, actually, it doesnt fit
The capping around the raised bed has been cut 150mm wide but I ordered 120mm... This means you have to shuffle it all along and cant have any mortar joints in order to get the corner in the right place. In turn that leaves a bit of a problem at the other end...Bugger
I've emailed the company - the simplest solution would seem to be for them to cut a small piece to fill the gap, rather than waste the lot and cut it all again. I'd be happy with that and would likely get it resolved sooner so we'll see what they say
bikingdad90
Guru
Probably a good thing having a joining piece as it can be sacrificed through expansion and contraction and be replaced on the cheap instead of having to do the whole capping.
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Come on, get this house finished pronto so we can get more installments on the van!
Slate company are very sorry, and grateful I'm prepared to keep the slate they've sent. They're cutting the small bit and will send it asap
I decided I may as well lay the bits I've got today since the weather is rather pleasant, if a little warm for laying black slate - it got rather hot in the sun
First job was to cut the tiles to size - I had decided on a last minute whim to make the front strips of slate wider than they needed to be and cut the tiles back down to give the thinner strip a larger bed, I was worried them coming loose over time or causing a trip hazard. I found out my old cheapo electric tile cutter had a deep enough cutting depth to whiz the 15mm tiles through which was handy! Here they are all measured, cut to size and layed out...
I took around 20mm off the tiles so its clear from this view that there wouldn't have been a lot of the front strip to bed down otherwise - glad I made that decision when I ordered them
Next job was to mix up some SBR slurry as a bonding layer - slate is non-porous and doesnt like sticking to mortar, as I discovered when a few of the tiles I laid a few weeks ago started moving
I added SBR to cement in a ratio of about 1:2 and mixed it in to a thick brushable liquid slop 😄 Great fun, but you have to be careful with this stuff as it sticks like the proverbial I wore gloves and set out the slate before I started so I didnt have to touch it with potentially messy hands once I'd started applying it. It also goes off super quick, you've got about 10-15 minutes before it's gone off so I had to mix 3 loads in the end to get it all done Here are the slabs with the bases coated...
I also did the wall capping slate pieces at the same time...
With that done I whipped the mixer out and made up some mortar, also adding the black pigment I'd experimented with before to try and achieve a dark grey mortar. We'll see how succesfull that's been when it has finished curing in a few days The slabs and wall strips went down easily enough although I took my time getting it right. Still needs a wash down once the mortar has had a few more hours to go off but looking pretty good I think 😊
I had enough mortar left to cap the wall too 😊
It's nice to be putting finishing touches to some areas now
I decided I may as well lay the bits I've got today since the weather is rather pleasant, if a little warm for laying black slate - it got rather hot in the sun
First job was to cut the tiles to size - I had decided on a last minute whim to make the front strips of slate wider than they needed to be and cut the tiles back down to give the thinner strip a larger bed, I was worried them coming loose over time or causing a trip hazard. I found out my old cheapo electric tile cutter had a deep enough cutting depth to whiz the 15mm tiles through which was handy! Here they are all measured, cut to size and layed out...
I took around 20mm off the tiles so its clear from this view that there wouldn't have been a lot of the front strip to bed down otherwise - glad I made that decision when I ordered them
Next job was to mix up some SBR slurry as a bonding layer - slate is non-porous and doesnt like sticking to mortar, as I discovered when a few of the tiles I laid a few weeks ago started moving
I added SBR to cement in a ratio of about 1:2 and mixed it in to a thick brushable liquid slop 😄 Great fun, but you have to be careful with this stuff as it sticks like the proverbial I wore gloves and set out the slate before I started so I didnt have to touch it with potentially messy hands once I'd started applying it. It also goes off super quick, you've got about 10-15 minutes before it's gone off so I had to mix 3 loads in the end to get it all done Here are the slabs with the bases coated...I also did the wall capping slate pieces at the same time...
With that done I whipped the mixer out and made up some mortar, also adding the black pigment I'd experimented with before to try and achieve a dark grey mortar. We'll see how succesfull that's been when it has finished curing in a few days
The slabs and wall strips went down easily enough although I took my time getting it right. Still needs a wash down once the mortar has had a few more hours to go off but looking pretty good I think 😊I had enough mortar left to cap the wall too 😊
It's nice to be putting finishing touches to some areas now
Everything was painted black below damp course when we moved here. I probably wouldn't have chosen to have it painted otherwise, but this was the easiest way of blending new and old 😊
