Block paving & brick driveways in Macclesfield
Block paving works on a principle that is worth understanding, because it explains everything that goes wrong with it. The blocks are not glued or mortared down. They are laid tight on a thin bed of sharp sand, vibrated in, and locked together by the friction of kiln-dried sand packed into every joint — and the whole assembly only holds if it is pressing against a properly restrained edge. Take the restraint away and the blocks slowly walk, the joints open, the sand washes out and the drive goes wavy.
That is why the edge course is the single most important detail on a block drive and the first thing to look at on one that has failed. It should sit on a concrete bed with a haunch of concrete up the back of it, right along every free edge. A block drive whose border is bedded on sand looks identical on the day it is finished and is visibly moving inside three years.
The BS 7533 series is the standard behind all of this — it covers pavements built with clay, natural stone and concrete pavers, and it deals with the layer design, the laying course, the jointing material and the edge restraint. It is not obscure trade detail: it is the difference between a drive that stays flat and one that ruts under the front wheels.
The other thing block paving does better than any other surface is come apart and go back. A sunken corner over a settled trench, a stained area by the bins, a strip that has to come up so a cable can go in — all of it lifts, gets sorted underneath and gets re-laid with the same blocks. Nothing else on this list can be repaired invisibly, and on a drive that will need a duct or a chamber getting to one day, that is worth real money.
Block paving & brick driveways — every job, in detail.
6 jobs in this category. Each has its own page explaining what's involved, what your contractor checks and — just as importantly — when a job can safely wait.
Block paving driveway
A block paved drive laid the way it is meant to be: a compacted stone base, a screeded sharp sand laying course, blocks laid tight to a pattern, an edge course bedded and haunched in concrete, and kiln-dried sand vibrated into every joint. The edge restraint is the part that decides how long it stays flat.
Read more →Block paving repair
Broken, sunken, stained or displaced blocks lifted and put right — usually with the original blocks, so the repair is invisible. The important part is establishing why they moved, because in most cases the answer is somewhere else on the drive entirely.
Read more →Lifting & relaying block paving
Taking up an area — or a whole drive — that has gone wavy or settled, correcting the base beneath it, and relaying the same blocks properly. It costs a fraction of a new drive because the expensive part, the blocks, is already on site and usually perfectly serviceable.
Read more →Sunken block paving
A dip in block paving means the layers beneath have lost volume, and the shape of the dip usually tells you which one. It is lifted, the base is excavated and rebuilt properly, and the same blocks go back — with the cause dealt with rather than covered.
Read more →Clay paver driveways
Fired clay pavers rather than concrete blocks — a through-body colour that does not fade, a harder wearing surface, and a look that suits older brick and stone properties. Laid on the same flexible build-up as concrete block paving, with the same absolute requirement for a restrained edge.
Read more →Permeable block paving
Block paving that lets rain through the surface and into the ground rather than shedding it to the road. It looks much like a conventional block drive, keeps a front garden inside permitted development with no application, and needs a different base underneath — which is the part that makes it work.
Read more →Not sure which one you need?
Describe it in your own words on the quote form. Your contractor will work out what the job actually is when they ring you back — usually the same day.
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