Archives for February 2015

Project – paving at Nairne

June long weekend 2012 I started helping our second son with a paving project around their new home in Nairne.

 

June 2012 long weekend was rather cold!

June 2012 long weekend was rather cold!

It was a particularly cold weekend! Along the back was a retaining wall just 2 metres from the back wall, and this area could get quite messy when wet. We’ve all seen the signs, ‘Slippery When Wet‘! This area needed one! Or two! So we used the back door to work out our levels and make a start to this project.

 

Being a long weekend we couldn’t get base material delivered so I made 4 or 5 trips to Balhannah (about a 30km round trip) with my trailer to pick up material to get us started. On the Tuesday we were able to get a delivery that would keep us going for some time.

 

Paving at Nairne, the first break for photos.

Paving at Nairne, the first break for photos.

Once we had gathered our materials and tools together we were able to make a proper start. We used lengths of timber to level and screed about a metre or so wide at a time, and leaving enough room for a drain against the retaining wall (see photo).

 

The paving well advanced along the back.

The paving well advanced along the back.

Once the concrete border had been put in we laid some drainage pipe in the drain and then covered it with the blue scoria material in a good size to allow plenty of drainage. Any excess water should now drain away to the south of the block.

 

Paving on the East side.

Paving on the East side.

Over several trips back to Nairne the paving job proceeded and is now almost complete. In between my trips back to Nairne our son continued with work when he was able to. The work is now almost complete all the way around the home.

 

Enlarging the area at the front of the house.

Enlarging the area at the front of the house.

The next big job was to move the bank back further at the front to make a larger area for a BBQ and outdoor setting. Much of this area is also now complete, with just a small area towards the back corner to be completed.

 

Written and produced by,

David