Driveway sub base. Is this suitable.

[Bouba]

I have a guy who claims to lay my driveway for the cheapest price. He is not a cowboy (as he claims) but says he is able to cut costs by doing lot of work himself.

Driveway size 20m2.is is going on back garden on clay soil.
Total cost quoted £450 excluding materials.

So far he has spent 2 days and dug 200mm below the level. He has filled approx 150mm with broken class b engineering bricks(he sourced this from another place he was working). He said he wants me to hire a machine to compact so he can lay the blocks.

Is this a suitable material for sub base. He has broken the bricks but they are so soft because,when he used a hammer it smashed in so many pieces easily.

Please advise or should i be worried. Do not want my drive sinking later.

Thanks. [/b]

 

[limerockconstruction]

Does he wear spurs and have a horse that he rides to work?

 

[Bouba]

No neither. But did not get the joke.

Is the sub base sufficient of class b red engineering bricks.
Thanks.

 

[limerockconstruction]

It was the inference that it sounds like a cowboy job to me.


I build houses and flats and things and don't really dabble in drives that often, but to only skim out 200mm and fill with broken bricks doesn't sound enough to me.

Your cost seems way to cheap to me, it would indicate that the people doing the job are either not experienced enough to charge a more relative rate, or that they can't be arsed about the job.

Sounds like a cash job to me!!

 

[r896neo]

He is able to cut costs by doing work himself ?? As opposed to who?

Are you getting block paving?

The broken brick in some scenarios may be ok as a filler to bring up levels but they are not at all a suitable sub base on their own

A block paved drive needs minimum 150mm of compacted type 1 sub base. Then 30mm ish sand bedding and 60mm or 80mm blocks.

450 quid is miles too cheap. 1000 would be a decent price.

Where did he put the excavated material? 20 sq metres at that depth dig would eat up a 10 t skip at 150 quid ish

Why are you paying for his equipment hire?

What will you pay for next?

I don't think this is going to end up costing you 450 quid....

 

[Bouba]

Thanks. Yes it is a cash job.

He is filling broken bricks to a level of 150mm and wants to compact it. The excavated soil has been taken away by him in his van(God knows where). He made 2 rounds and got rid of the soil.

He just wants me to hire the compactor which i got quoted £50. Another 300£for the material .so all in around £800. Mark for the whole project.

Thanks.

 

[limerockconstruction]

When you deal with tradesmen for cash on jobs like this you will get no guarantee or come back. Thats why they ride to work on their cowboy horses and wear cowboy spurs....perhaps they've got a jaunty cowboy hat too?

This is not a good arrangement for you to get a solid driveway. Its too cheap and the quality won't be good enough.

If you don't have a sound base your car will sink.

 

[r896neo]

As i said broken bricks alone is not a suitable sub base. Unless they are in tiny pieces it will create voids and your sand will filter into the voids leaving subsided areas.

Again, you need 150mm of properly compacted type 1 sub base, perhaps you could get away with 100mm on top of the bricks but why compromise and take a risk? He has supplied inadequate materials.

Also putting 150mm of type 1 on top of your bricks may take you too high in relation to dpc and or the road

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The excavated soil has been taken away by him in his van(God knows where). He made 2 rounds and got rid of the soil.

He has a van which can carry 3-5 tonnes of soil?

BTW - you had a legal duty of care to check that he had an appropriate waste carriers licence, and could be fined if he did not.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

You should keep to one topic for the same topic.

Apologies for resurrecting an older thread.

Similar situation. Have a driveway of rectangular shape. Total area 20sq metre.

The cowboy who was doing my drive has been sent back on his horse off the job. He had dug around 200mm and layed about 100mm layer of red broken class b engineering bricks and some type 1.

I do not want to use block paving. Is there any aggregrate I can use for long term trouble free driveway. I was thinking of using white pebbles with some limestone slabs on a sharp sand bed.

Would this work or end in tears few years down the line.

 

[Bouba]

Ban all sheds: i was looking on search for answers and the other thread was discovered. Could the admin please merge it if they wish.

 

[sss1978]

I thought for a while I was going to have a gravel, however you'll probably he hard pressed to find one done well which looks good after a while. Out of interest is the cost the reason you want gravel or you've seen it elsewhere?

I didn't want the common blocking everyone has done (which often looks bad a year later as there are so many cowboys around!)

I ended up going for Kingspave cobble, 25ms2, total cost DIY around £1100 for blocks, skip, mot type 1, sand etc took around 10 days for me i.e 1 person and it looks good

 

[Bouba]

I have block paving in the front. Grey pavers, though not sunk but faded and looks old after year only. As the driveway is at the back i was thinking maybe 2 strips either side of 60cm each and then some white round pebbles with black paving in the middle.

Price wise I have a similar budget

 

[Bouba]

Please check album. If i add 60cm of block paving strip for wheels will it be good or am I missing something and being over optimistic.

 

[sss1978]

When you say driveway at the back.. (I didn't see this before!) do you mean a patio area? are you saying it's for a car or for people walking on? It makes a difference to the advice being given.

For your front block paving I recommend polyurethane driveway sealant myself. Neighbours paid someone to do their block drive at the same time as mine and theirs looks bad now. cowboys used some cheap sealant and it looks awful and grass has started growing in places