How to Lay a Driveway

Step-By-Step With Fairport

1. Preparation – dig down 400mm and lay the following:

DPC stands for damp proof course

Remember to slope / fall the drive way away from the house so as to not incur water ingress. If you need to slope it to the use insert a drain 1 cm fall every 60cm

2. Edge Restraints – they hold the block pave drive way together and allow the block pave to take the weight of cars/ vans. You will need to backup the edge restraint by placing concrete behind the block to strength the edging and stop the blocks from moving sideways and holds them in place, stay 25mm from the top of the edging stones.
 

3. Sub base – Rake level the crushed stone to and then compact it with a Fairport vibrating plate to 150mm its is better to do more passes than less 8 should be adequate compaction is vital so as to avoid driveway subsidence in the future
 

4. Sand – apply 40mm of damp sand to the subbase use gritty Sharpe sand, soft sand use for mortar is no good, slightly compact the sand with one single pass of the vibrating plate.
 

5. Screeding – use the edge of the block as a level guide and scrape off the excess sand. The sand needs to be completely smooth to allow you to lay the blocks, the blocks should be left 5mm proud.

6. Laying the blocks – Use an edge as your start point ideally parallel or square to the house to act as an alignment guide.

7. Block cutting – once you have laid the blocks you will be left with gaps at the edge, here use a Fairport Block splitter to cut the blocks to size to allow you to finish the drive way.

8. Jointing – Sweep the dive of any debris, then use a dry kiln jointing sand and soft brush to brush the sand between the joints leave excess sand on the surface ready for compaction

9. Compaction – use a Fairport vibrating plate to compact the drive, the compaction will vibrate the block into the sand Sharpe gritty sand and shake the kiln dry sand firmly into the joints.

4 passes with the plate will be enough to complete the job.