Reconstituted Stone Paving Project for long weekend -- HELP

[Bleedin Thumb]

Guys thank you all for your input and yes im very novice with this paving thing.

I understand that doing wet paving is harder than using paving sand however my only concern is to have stable paving which i dont have to touch again ever!!!
The stability of your paving is ultimately determined by your sub-grade and also your sub-base. The only time I would use wet mortar is when laying individual paving stones, stair treads or crazy paving of differing thicknesses. You can however use a moist tiling mix but IMO it's not necessary on roadbase.
So you mean i can just mix cement with roadbase and i dont have to wet it???
Just leave it like that then compact it??
No. you have to thoroughly wet your roadbase down to achieve adequate compaction - you know when you have the right amount of water on it as the compactor vibrates up a slight bit of surface water - almost jelly consistency - sorry hard to describe. Dry roadbase doesn't compact very well.
Also can you tell me the ratio of cement with road base, im thinking to have 5 to 6 tons of road base to be deliver.
If you use recycled roadbase - equal to DGB 20 from concrete recyclers or recycled resources you dont need cement as it goes off to a concrete like consistency - once again use sufficient water.
If you are adamant about cement stabilized road base order it from the yard premixed. Road base is very heavy and you dont want to be mixing it by hand. My guess would be 1 bag per tonne would be heaps.
So if i used paving sand then compact it before laying pavers and used sydney sand (or mixed with cement) for joints wont they wobble later on, i mean in the future?
Screed your bedding sand off perfectly smooth. I use rails bedded into the sand to get my levels, but describing the process would be too long winded. Ask your local nurseryman, paving supplier or building supplier they probably have a brochure.
I wouldn't use cement in your joints with the reconstituted stone (too likely to get a stain and you don't want to be putting acid on the pavers later on (another reason not to use mortar) there are specialty products for this.
Ring Tom Brockman from Paving Plus 9484 1855
Also what about the weeds and ants?? isnt thats a problem aswell if you lay the paving on sand?
Can be. If you already have a problem mix cement into your paving sand 2 bags /tonne. Do that yourself - roughly level your sand por cement powder over and turn it in with a square mouth shovel until the colour is uniform grey
If they wont then thats good coz thats way easiser than wet paving man

and yeah i wont forget the BEER!!! I'll have my Peroni

Again Guys thanks for all of your input, I will post before and after photos later

Al and myself seem to have opposing view on how to lay pavers- I'd hate to find out that I've been doing it wrong for the last 24 years.

[ozwinner]

Al and myself seem to have opposing view on how to lay pavers- I'd hate to find out that I've been doing it wrong for the last 24 years.

Arrhh. life goes on..

Al

[journeyman Mick]

While I've got no doubt that Al's had good results with his method the general practice that I've seen is to lay the paver without mortar. I've seen acres of the stuff laid like this at resorts. It's also laid like this for heavy use applications like aircraft runways, container terminals and the like. My local coucil recently redid our main street's footpath paving. They removed all the old paving, dug down and placed a slab. Over this they placed and compacted sand and then laid the pavers over this. This was to minimise problems with tree roots as we have quite a number of strangler figs growing in the main street.

If you were really worried about ants etc this is the way I would go as it would be far easier to get all your levels and falls right.

Not saying Al is wrong, he's just not as right as Bleeding Thumb or myself.

Mick

[ozwinner]

Its them bloody Northerners thats what it is...

Al

[Bleedin Thumb]

Yep I failed to mention my method is described as the Northern Paving Method whilst Al's is best described as _ _ _ _.






NB An excellent example of self moderation - I have refrained from using any derogatory language and not resorted to personal attack.

[latinkgb]

I must admit you both did confused me but i think i already have it all wrap up;

Excavate to 150mm - done
Put in road base mixed with cement then compact it
Put in paving sand, level it then compact it
lay in pavers

it sounds easy but ill see how i go on the weekends Good luck on me hahahaha

thanks guys for all your tips!!

[TARLOX]

you don't need to put cement in the road base