Articles

Lay-it-Straight Paving

Words by Frank Gardner

From Australian Handyman Magazine

From demolishing the brick edges to planting a new garden, this paving job took just four days

The owners of this backyard wanted to create simple square lines with new paving – no more curved edges and no curved garden wall. The new 400 x 400mm pavers would be laid in a stack bond pattern to minimise joint lines. The layout also creates a formal effect that makes the area look bigger and uncluttered.

Before ordering road base, paving sand or pavers, calculate the area to be paved (see Diagram 1). Multiply length by width for rectangular areas. For triangular areas multiply half the base length by perpendicular height. For sand and road base also multiply by the depth. If road base is 5m long x 5m wide x 0.1m deep = 2.5m3.

BEFORE

No more curves. It was time to get rid of the old garden wall and circular grass area.

STEP 1

Demolition time
The brick edge was demolished with a lump hammer and bolster and the 200mm deep footing removed. Cobblestones were lifted with a mattock and taken to a concrete crushing plant for recycling. Palm trees were dropped with a chainsaw.

STEP 2

Set the paving height
Drive pegs in at corners and mark the finished paving, sand and base heights. Allow fall across the paved surface for drainage. (We allowed 15mm for every metre to the lawn area.) Transfer heights using a water level or straight edge and spirit level.

STEP 3

Excavate the area
Set stringlines from peg to peg at top of the base level. Excavate at least 100mm down from the set line. Set taut stringlines across the area from the perimeter lines to check excavated depth. Fill low areas and remove high areas to achieve a level surface area.

STEP 4

Compact the base
Fill the excavated area to the set base height by barrowing in sufficient road base. Use a screed board to level the surface then compact using a compacting plate. Hose to settle dust.
TIP If the base is solid the paving will look good for years (see Diagram 2).

STEP 5

Set the screed rails
Cover road base with bedding sand to a depth of 30mm. Set the perimeter lines to the finished paver height and lay a pair of screed rails in the sand. Set the rails below the lines by a paver thickness. Check the set rails fall in the correct direction.