laying a concrete drive way

i knock in a wall to create the driveway and will use this for the hardcore[/QUOTE]


This may be a useful way of getting rid of the wall blocks, but it won't be enough for the hardcore.

I am curious now about this...are you interested in the advice and recommendations about getting the job done in the best way, or are you firmly decided that you will do it all yourself and you just want step by step guides to doing it? Quite apart from planning (which will apply either way) have you costed all the materials and equipment you will need to buy and hire, as well as whatever labour costs are involved, against the cost of a proper quote to have it all done for you? What is your time worth to you...and your back!? Maybe your budget simply doesn't stretch to the full outsourced job, and if so that's fine, but I would still strongly recommend that you spend a few bob to save a lot of time. If you can't afford teh few bob, consider delaying the project until you have (ie, either do it right or don't do it at all).

Get the planning issues resolved first. Then, get either lots of guys with picks, shovels and barrows for earth moving (versus a mini-digger for a few hours), then build teh frame yourself (or get someone to do it who has all the wood, tools, experience, etc), then buy all the hardcore, cement, gravel (there is sand in gravel!) and hire a mixer, and spend a long, long time mixing and laying, etc. (versus a delivery of 1.5 cubic metres - it only takes a phone call). Then level, tamp down and walk away.
 
Get the planning issues resolved first. Then, get either lots of guys with picks, shovels and barrows for earth moving (versus a mini-digger for a few hours), then build teh frame yourself (or get someone to do it who has all the wood, tools, experience, etc), then buy all the hardcore, cement, gravel (there is sand in gravel!) and hire a mixer, and spend a long, long time mixing and laying, etc. (versus a delivery of 1.5 cubic metres - it only takes a phone call). Then level, tamp down and walk away.
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Could hardly have said it better meself !:)
 
If you're going to do this yourself you'll probably need to buy or hire the following extra tools (in addition to the excellent breakdown by oopsbuddy):

Whacker plate (to compact hardcore)
Level and line pins for setting out
Rake, shovel, tamping beam, bull float, finishing and edging trowels.

When you're finished you'll probably need to cover it over with polythene to protect it from the weather. Still want to do it yourself?
 
Olly64,
In Dec 06, you put your name on housing list...
Earlier this month,you were looking at downgrading your car to buy a house....

So i take it you are not doing this work on your property but on Friends property? relatives? nixers?

You may end up creating a mess (from planning? to bad workmanship?) of somebody else property if you are not willing to consider some if the recommendations..
Anyway, good luck with your project.
 
you can read me like a book bacchus, its not my house, its my girlfriends but she has no where for my car only on the street, and i am on waiting list for affordable housing but this could take years, she lives in a corporation house
 
Back to the planning....can you make changes like this to a Corpo house...without their permission?? Only trying to help!!
 
Olly64 you are after getting great encouragement from this lot about doing the job yourself. I have laid concrete several times and it never did my back any harm in your situation you do not need a whacker plate to compact the filling your only going to park your car on it not a jumbo jet. You must intend to do a lot of digging if you are going to use concrete blocks for filling. Dig down to the subsoil then put down your screeds use enough filling so that you will have 4-6 inches left for concrete up to the right level. When you have the concrete mixed pour it and use a screed ( a length of 6*3 timber the width of the driveway) to level it off you need two men for this job. When you mix the concrete don't put too much water in it just enough to make it workable.
 
Johnny1 said:
Olly64 you are after getting great encouragement from this lot about doing the job yourself. I have laid concrete several times and it never did my back any harm in your situation you do not need a whacker plate to compact the filling your only going to park your car on it not a jumbo jet. You must intend to do a lot of digging if you are going to use concrete blocks for filling. Dig down to the subsoil then put down your screeds use enough filling so that you will have 4-6 inches left for concrete up to the right level. When you have the concrete mixed pour it and use a screed ( a length of 6*3 timber the width of the driveway) to level it off you need two men for this job. When you mix the concrete don't put too much water in it just enough to make it workable.
Click to expand...

If it's big enough you may also need to put some frost gaps in it ie cut a straight line in the concrete every 5m or so with a grinder to stop it cracking. One thing you also need to allow for is the more you take out of the ground the more you need to put back in......
 
thanx johnny and irishfire thats brilliant advice, its drying out niceley in this good spell of wheather so i might attempt it over the weekend, if the whether holds
 
just to update, i have now completed the drive way but i was blessed, a neighbour gave me a big help, he works on the buildings and advised me on everything, he mixed the concrete and even had his own mixer, and to be honest i would have been lost without him, he even finised of the sides with a special troul, and it dried out grand in the good weather
 
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