Do you need a whacker for sub base?

[23vc]

Skinflint alert, doing my garage floor, if I spend a couple of hours ramming the MOT down with a sledgehammer, does that count as “well compacted” or is hiring a whacker plate an absolute must? It’s got DPM and a concrete slab to go over it.

 

[geraldandrea]

Any depth between 100mm to 200mm, I would definitely get a whacker plate if you want a good compaction done.

 

[nickjb]

I did my shed base with a sledgehammer. Much smaller area and that was really hard work. I hired a whacker for the garage. Really easy and did a much better job. Got a deal booking it online and it was £15 iirc. Well worth it

 

[23vc]

Whacker it is then, yeah I’ve used them before and they are much easier.

 

[^woody^]

I'll organise a whip-round for the hire charge, and thimble of petrol.

 

[Mr Chibs]

I can offer the first donation to the thimble of petrol, I'm offering a pipette droplet.

 

[23vc]

I knew crowd funding would work!

 

[scbk]

I'll loan you mine for the day, just let me know when you want to drop round to pick it up...........

 

[23vc]

I'll loan you mine for the day, just let me know when you want to drop round to pick it up...........

Haha if I could lift it on my own I’d take you up on that. Even the “1 man whacker” I’ve hired in the past is flipping heavy. But then I’m 9 stone so probably weigh about as much as the whacker.

 

[^woody^]

I've added bacon and sausage sandwiches and Big Macs to the just giving appeal.

 

[securespark]

I did a driveway extension where I were 20 years younger. Used a whacker and a vibrator too.

 

[DIYhard]

MOT Type 1 seems to be very variable in quality. I have found that hand ramming can compact the stuff reasonably well PROVIDED THAT there is a good distribution of particle sizes, and that it is not too dry. If the supplier delivers a load that is nearly all 40-60mm size with hardly any small material (it happened to me quite recently), a heavy roller is probably the best tool. When hiring a whacker plate, be sure to get the heaviest possible -- little ones that you can lift into the back of an estate car might be OK for compacting sand under a patio, but will barely tickle the surface of Type 1 hardcore.

 

[scbk]

MOT Type 1 seems to be very variable in quality. I have found that hand ramming can compact the stuff reasonably well PROVIDED THAT there is a good distribution of particle sizes, and that it is not too dry. If the supplier delivers a load that is nearly all 40-60mm size with hardly any small material (it happened to me quite recently), a heavy roller is probably the best tool. When hiring a whacker plate, be sure to get the heaviest possible -- little ones that you can lift into the back of an estate car might be OK for compacting sand under a patio, but will barely tickle the surface of Type 1 hardcore.

Don't want to be pedantic but if it's genuinely "MOT type 1" then it has to be within spec
http://www.pavingexpert.com/subbase.htm


A local quarry sells 40mm scalpings which is near enough the same, but a fair bit cheaper. Ideal for driveways, private tracks etc but doesn't meet the specs to be used on the highways.

 

[DIYhard]

Don't want to be pedantic but if it's genuinely "MOT type 1" then it has to be within spec

You are absolutely correct, it ought to be within spec. Having moved house to a new location, and being unknown to the local suppliers, I had to pay in advance, and just decided to get on and use the stuff rather than start arguing (obviously becoming something of a coward in my dotage), and of course I don't possess the sieves and scales required to verify anything.

 

[23vc]

Cheers all, I’ll go with the whacker