7 Tips for Laying Block Paving on a Slope

Block paving on a slope can be a little tricky to do but here are some tips or you can say some things that you need to keep in mind while doing the job so, you don’t have the problem further down the road while using the driveway.

Excavation according to the slope

It is very important that you dig the ground according to the slope ensuring a minimum depth of at least 250mm across the entire area that needs to be block paved.

The uniform excavation is important because of the importance of the sub-base for the strength and stability of the block paving or driveway.

As paving on a slope is quite tricky to work with, if you dig out less than what is minimum required for the block paving less sub-base will go into it instead of enough which isn’t good for the stability of the pavers.

Drainage is Important

We all know that how much it’s important to comply with the drainage legislation for driveways after the flood crisis in 2008.

If you’re going to have a sloped driveway, there shouldn’t be any problem of water pooling over it anyhow. All the water that’s going to come on the block paving has to go somewhere because of the slope.

But you can’t let the water just go anywhere. If you don’t want permeable paving you need a proper drainage system installed to manage all the water on your driveway.

But the drainage becomes highly important in the case of a sloped driveway because the water is either going on quickly run on the road or into your home depending on where the slope of the driveway is.

Hence, a good drainage system is recommended for a sloped driveway even if there’re permeable pavers to prevent violating legislation or flooding into your house in case of heavy rainfall.

Compact every part of the slope

As I’ve said earlier, doing a driveway on a slope is a little tricky job so, there are high chances that you may miss some spots in the sub-base or sand bed to wack or compact.

It gives room for the pavers in those spots to sink when you drive over them or the sub-base sets down automatically after some time.

It’s recommended to use a membrane under your sub-base to support it from going further down into the soil. Compact the sub-base into two parts, for example, add and nicely compact the first 75mm of type 1 and then add another 75mm layer and also compact it for a nice compacted sub-base.

Rough Pavers for Extra Grip

It’s always better to use rough materials (slip-resistant) for outdoor surfaces. In other outdoor paving surfaces like porcelain, for example, we can ensure to get the least slippery option by seeing whether it’s R11 rated or not but that’s not the case with block pavers.

A steep driveway is naturally going to be more slippery than any other average sloped driveway or paving. It gets even worse when the block paving has algae and moss grown over it which are the common guests for the block paving.

You can actually reduce it by using rough pavers for your sloped driveway. Marshalls do this type of pavers called Drivesett Argent Granite Block Pavers which you can check out on their website here.

Screed Downslope

The gravity is the reason to screed the sharp sand downslope because it’s easier to pull down and level out the sand compared to pulling upwards.

Once you screed out the portion from your driveway you can start laying the blocks, and the next tip is for that.

Start Uphill

Most people who do block paving on a slope lay the pavers uphill or upwards to the top of the slope. Start at the bottom meaning start at the lowest point and lay upwards.

If block paving is not your everyday job like if your doing it for yourself or even if it’s your first or one of the first few paid jobs for someone, it’s recommended to start at the bottom of the slope and then work upwards. The simple reason is blocks will move if you lay them down the hill.

It’s recommended to lay upwards because think about it, whether it’s easier to lay block pavers up the slope or down the slope. Obviously, up the slope, because you carry the support from block to block to lay till the top of the slope. It ensures that you’re laying the blocks tight to each other without leaving any gaps because of the slope.

Sometimes you may see someone laying blocks downhill for some reason. For example, the other day, I watched this video of making a very steep driveway where the person laid the pavers from the top to the bottom of the slope and he had to do that for the pattern of the driveway to work.

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