Comments on: Subgrade – What to Tell Your Contractor http://pavingblog.com Everything about paving for home owners Sat, 29 May 2010 21:29:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Steve http://pavingblog.com/subgrade-what-to-tell-your-contractor/comment-page-1/#comment-36 Steve Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:12:40 +0000 http://pavingblog.com/subgrade-what-to-tell-your-contractor/#comment-36 Barbara, I am dreadfully sorry your query got by me. If your pavers "dip" where the moisture is, then it is highly likely that the drainage system below them was damaged at some point. In cases like this, it can be hard to assign blame, frankly, because it could have been dry and unreachable by your contractor who put in the pavers at the time - therefore he could have completely missed it. All foundations have - or should have a drainage system - sometimes they actually separate over time - it just plain happens. The worst case scenario is that the material is therefore eroding into the pipe, leaving its original place and causing the slumping. The one good thing about a situation such as this is the removability (if that is a word, lol) of the bricks. They could be lifted and someone could check the area out. When moisture shows up, there is always a reason. Barbara, I am dreadfully sorry your query got by me. If your pavers “dip” where the moisture is, then it is highly likely that the drainage system below them was damaged at some point. In cases like this, it can be hard to assign blame, frankly, because it could have been dry and unreachable by your contractor who put in the pavers at the time – therefore he could have completely missed it. All foundations have – or should have a drainage system – sometimes they actually separate over time – it just plain happens. The worst case scenario is that the material is therefore eroding into the pipe, leaving its original place and causing the slumping. The one good thing about a situation such as this is the removability (if that is a word, lol) of the bricks. They could be lifted and someone could check the area out. When moisture shows up, there is always a reason.

]]> By: barbarahelenveal http://pavingblog.com/subgrade-what-to-tell-your-contractor/comment-page-1/#comment-35 barbarahelenveal Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:24:51 +0000 http://pavingblog.com/subgrade-what-to-tell-your-contractor/#comment-35 Could you please give me some advice. My drive, in front of the house and then up the side of the house, is block pavered. It has been down for some 6 years. It has a good compacted base (clay in this area) with the required amount of scalpings and grit. This last two years, however, I have been plagued with damp inside the hall, next to the front door, which is also the area I drive past each day to park my car (and reverse past of course) all very close to the house. The block pavers have dipped just a little in this area and I am wondering if this could be the cause of the damp on the inside wall. When it rains, however, there is no puddle in this area. The house was built in 1940 and has a slate DPC. The block pavers are some 10cms below the DPC. The only other thing I can think of is that the man digging out the drive in preparation for the block pavers accidently broke away the rendering covering the bricks on the corner of the house but he did repair this with cement. I would be pleased to receive your opinion. Could you please give me some advice. My drive, in front of the house and then up the side of the house, is block pavered. It has been down for some 6 years. It has a good compacted base (clay in this area) with the required amount of scalpings and grit.

This last two years, however, I have been plagued with damp inside the hall, next to the front door, which is also the area I drive past each day to park my car (and reverse past of course) all very close to the house. The block pavers have dipped just a little in this area and I am wondering if this could be the cause of the damp on the inside wall. When it rains, however, there is no puddle in this area. The house was built in 1940 and has a slate DPC. The block pavers are some 10cms below the DPC. The only other thing I can think of is that the man digging out the drive in preparation for the block pavers accidently broke away the rendering covering the bricks on the corner of the house but he did repair this with cement.

I would be pleased to receive your opinion.

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