I'm going to show you how to lay the base for pavers.
Before we can start to lay our pavers, we need to look at the tools and materials that
we require.
For a start we need a rake, we need a shovel, we need a wheelbarrow to carry our road base,
and we also need a plate compactor.
In addition we need our tools like our lump hammer, measuring tools.
We need a spirit level, we need a straight edge.
I've also got a drill and a hex head and hex screws, and we've got our form work of course
which is going to form around the perimeter of our area.
I'm going to lay 100 to 150 road base in this area behind me.
However, before I can do that I need to level this area and using a rake I'm is going to
start doing that right now.
I've just raked this area to a reasonable level.
Next I want to measure to the level of my road base.
My reference point is going to be the corner of this verandah here and that's where the
level of my road base will come.
Next, I'll need to measure along that wall to pick up the area that my road base is going
to come to.
Firstly, before I want to do that, I want to make sure that the corner of the building
here is square.
Because if it's not, when I lay my pavers later on, we're going to have pavers moving
this way.
So I'm just going to grab my square over here and check that we've got a square area here.
I've just measured the top and the bottom of that corner and the walls are nice and
square.
I'm now going to use this straight edge and this level to get a level on all along the
walls of this building and I'm going to use the top of this verandah as my reference point
to run my straight line all around the building.
Because we've got square walls, I'm going to measure from this point here, this corner,
which was the base line through to that corner there in the corner and then measure from
the corner to the end of the wall and that will give me the measurements for my form
work and for my nice square box.
Now that I've taken my measurements, I've rounded up to allow for any contingencies
and I'm now able to calculate the quantity of road base I need simply by working out
the length by the width and the depth of the road base.
I took my measurements and now I'm going to trace to that to my form work.
I'm now going to put my first piece of form work in and it's going to butt up against
the edge of that wall and I'll put a star picket in to hold it in place.
I want to make sure that this form work is going to be nice and level.
So I'm putting my spirit level on the top and just make sure that it sits straight and
level, and the bubbles in the middle.
Next I need to pick up from this point and put my second piece of form work in.
I've taken my measurement from that corner to the edge of that wall.
I'm going to trace for that now to this piece of form work here and that will allow me to
work out the distance between that corner at that point there and where it's going to
intersect with this particular piece of form work there.
I just want to make sure that my form work is square, so I'm going to use the square
here on the inside of the form work and make sure that I do have that perfect square.
And yes I have.
Next, I want to make sure that this piece of form work, which is going to stay here,
is nice and firm and in place.
I'm going to put some star pickets in.I'm going to remove this piece of form work and
put it in later on because what I need is a track to come through with my wheel barrow,
dump my road base, and then compact it with the compactor.
I want to make sure that this piece of form work here is going to be firm and stay in
place so I'm going to drop my pickets in various points along the board and keep it nicely
in place.
To make sure that my form work stays in place, I'm going to use these hexagonal screws and
screw the picket to the form work.
I can now remove this one here, ready to roll my road base in.
It's now time for the heavy work and I'm going to roll the barrows in and dump my road base
in this area here and then compact it.
We've got our road base in place inside our form work.
And what I'm going to do now is just continue to rake it over and then after that, just
to make sure that we've got a nice flat surface, I'm going to do a little bit of screening
and then check it with the level just to make sure that it's all nice and flat.
Handy tip, it's a good idea to wet the road base down.
Two purposes, one it stops the dust flying up, and secondly it helps the compaction.
I've just lifted the Pike compactor over onto the road base and we're going to start the
engine and start compacting.
Well I've just finished using the Pike packer to pack down and flatten the road by surface
behind me here and now it's ready for the paving side of it.
However, before I start my paving, I want to make sure that my surface behind me is
flat and even, and to be on the cautious side I'm just going to take a couple of levels
and make sure that it is absolutely flat surface so I end up with an excellent finish with
my paving.
Very good and looks like now we're ready for paving.