DIY Paving

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Hosehead

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So after getting quoted something like R21-31,000 to excavate and pave my front yard by the paving contractors-, I paid R2400 to some guy with a bakkie & labourers to break up and excavate all old paving, concrete, and loads of boulders and stones, roots and trees. Now my front yard is like Ground zero and I must still compress the dirt and level it a bit then maybe pave or dump a truckload of gravel. Anyone know which is the cheapest option- pavers or gravel/tar chips/sandstone chips and where to source this?
 
The crushed stone should be cheaper than pavers and installation is simple. Just remember to lay down some sort of plastic to keep the weeds at bay before laying on the rock. I tried to keep the depth to about 75mm compacted and it lasts quite well. For compacting rent the required tools at tool hire such as Lambsons.

For standard gray cruched stone check with premix concrete companies, they'll usually sell the aggregate. To calculate how much you'll need is simply a case of calculating the volume of the hole you're trying to fill in.
 
slayerza said:
The crushed stone should be cheaper than pavers and installation is simple. Just remember to lay down some sort of plastic to keep the weeds at bay before laying on the rock. I tried to keep the depth to about 75mm compacted and it lasts quite well. For compacting rent the required tools at tool hire such as Lambsons.

For standard gray cruched stone check with premix concrete companies, they'll usually sell the aggregate. To calculate how much you'll need is simply a case of calculating the volume of the hole you're trying to fill in.
Click to expand...


Good tip. Thanks. The only thing is that aggregate is sharp on bare feet and dogs paws. Can one put an thin layer of decorative pebbles OVER the aggregate for visual and practical appeal? Also do you mean first mechanically compact the spread and level dirt THEN compacting 75mm of aggregate on top of this with plastic underneath?
 
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I gathered that the decorative stone should go over the top of the aggregate. If that is the case then compact the ground (using a wacker) then put in the aggregate and compact it using a heavy plate compactor (used for paving) apply the plastic for the weeds (try agricultural co-ops for the plastic as it is used to cover tunnels for farming) and place the decorative stone on top.

Using this procedure you'll have something that is nice to look at, easy on pets / humans and also takes the inevitable beating that a vehicle will place on the surface. You can also use some of the square paving / patio blocks rather than the decorative stone and there are cheaper stained concrete alternatives available.
 
If you place plastic sheeting on top of the compacted earth and aggregate then won't it be visible through cracks in the decorative stone? Maybe better to place it over the compacted dirt then aggregate over that and compact that? before sprinkling decorative stone to take away the eyesore of aggregate?
 
It's easy to do.

First off get that plastic ground covering. Cover the whole area you want to pave.
Then get river sand. Spread it out accross the whole eare and hire a Compactor. Make the river sand nice compact and level.

Once done, get a R 50 Zim labourer to pack the bricks in the figure you want. On the edges you just use a Angle grinder to make the bricks fit at the ends and edges :)
 
You all do know that by driving over the aggregate you are going to puncture the plastic ? Your best bet is to poison the earth or you can cheat and cover the ground under the aggregate with salt, buy industrial salt it comes in 50kg bags, nothing will grow there trust me.
 
Whilst driving over the plastic it does get small pin hole in it. However I don't seem to get any weeds, maybe because the stone is plugging the hole?
 
So plastic or no plastic?? I don't like Plastic. Will salt do the job? 100m2 so how many bags of salt?
River sand is great for pave stones but they're just too expensive. Looking at over R10,000 while sandstone aggregate looks to be the cheapest at R400 per bakkie load.
 
Salt might work, I have never tried it. I know that some of the more shady paving contractors use sand from the slimes dams of mines. Since it contains cianide pretty much nothing gets trough, although this is frowned upon buy the environmental guys.

I like the plastic since it is easy to apply and isn't affected by rain / water. The salt might be flushed away eventually.
 
The salt gets disolved into the ground thats the idea, nothing grows cause the ground is to salty. Instead of plastic get some Bidium its better as a seperation layer between the soil and the stone.
 
Try paving places, some of the nursaries might also have similar products. As for the quantity it comes down to volume, either go by the manufacturers spec or calculate the volume using an average thickness of 7-10mm.
 
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