Advice
Practical answers to the things people actually ring us about — what a job costs, what's gone wrong with the one you've got, and which parts of it you can sort out yourself.
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9 articles · page 1 of 3
Driveways ·
Why we're not the cheapest quote you'll get
Two quotes for the same driveway can differ by thousands without either being dishonest.
Includes: the published sub-base depths, the arithmetic behind the gap, and three questions to ask
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Driveways ·
There is no bad month to lay a driveway. There are bad conditions.
What stops work is frost in the ground, water on the base and how fast the material cools — not the month on the calendar. Here is what each surface genuinely needs, per manufacturer, so you can judge a start date instead of guessing at a season.
Includes: how to read a forecast for a start date, and the published limits for each surface
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Patios ·
The rocking slab: what's underneath a patio that moves
A slab that rocks, a slab that cracked under nothing much, and dark patches that appear after rain and never quite dry are all the same fault. You can diagnose it with your knuckles in about two minutes.
Includes: the tap test, and how to lift and re-bed a slab properly on a full mortar bed
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Repairs ·
The sand in the joints is the structure
Weeds in a block driveway aren't really a weed problem, and jet washing is what causes most of them. The sand between the blocks is what lets small blocks carry a car — here's how to put it back.
Includes: how to re-sand block paving properly, and how to jet wash it without stripping the joints
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