Tool of the week the builders bucket

Every Block Paver will have a range of buckets for use while paving made of sturdy hard wearing plastic they are an essential tool with an abundance of uses for repairs, installations, cleaning and sealing.

At Block Paving Maintenance’s our builders buckets:

·                       Come in 3 gallon / 14 litres Capacity.

·                       Are strong, tough, durable and hard wearing.

·                       Resistant to chemicals.

·                       Resistant to heat.

·                       Fitted with a strong wire handle and plastic carry grip.

·                       Come in 3 gallon / 14 litres capacity.

·                       Have internal markings moulded inside in gallons and litres for accurate measuring.

·                       Have a useful lip for pouring liquids.

·                       Water tight.

·                       Stackable within each other.

·                       Come in a range of colours with black as standard.

At Block Paving Maintenance we have found they are superb for taking the strain of most jobs involved in paving and can be used for a wide range of jobs including but certainly not limited to carrying:

·                       Tools.

·                       Materials such as sand, ballast, type 1 and kiln dried.

·                       Containing liquids such as water , sealers,  detergents, acid washes and plasticizers

·                       Blocks,

·                       Wet and dry cement.

·                       Used for accurate measuring.

·                       Removing waste, weeds and rubbish (waste carriers licence required).

·                       Up turned for use as a stool.

·                       Goal posts for football with the kids and (paving colleagues!).

So if your block paving and haven’t got a  bucket get one, even if its just for a quick game of football at lunch time!

Tool of the week the Hard Hat.

The first compulsory use of hard hats for contractors in a commercial setting was in 1933, for workers on the Golden Gate Bridge the policy instigated to protect the labourers from falling objects, in this instance falling rivets.

Not quite the setting that paving contractors find themselves in however when contracting on commercial or building sites they are a legal requirement.

Made to EN397 the European standard for industrial safety helmets. Hard hats consist of a hard outer shell made from a tough recyclable plastic high-density polyethylene (HDPE) with an inner suspension allowing a small space between the shell and head. This is designed to protect the head from injury from both impact with and by falling objects. The space serves as a shock absorber and the inner suspension ensures that when an object strikes the shell, the impact isn’t transmitted directly to the head.

The suspension is adjustable via a ratchet system allowing for adjustment for different head sizes including a sweat band making for comfortable use over protracted periods of time.

Any damage should result in the hard hat being discarded and replaced. Hard hats don’t last a lifetime and should be replaced in accordance with the manufacturers suggested instructions.

Hard hats come in a variety of colours including White, Yellow, Blue, Red, Green and Orange. Block Paving Maintenance uses this to denote the teams wearers belong to as well as our hierarchy. Block Paving Maintenance wears hard hats as standard when working on commercial paving sites as well as when required as part of their risk assessment when working on all commercial sites.

Tool of the week the Disc Cutter

At Block Paving Maintenance we use a Makita 12” disc cutter for the cutting of block paving, flagstones and bricks during the  cutting in on installations or repairs for driveways or patio areas. A disc cutter by another name can be known as a cut off saw or a con saw and is one of two tools used by block paving contractors to cut paving materials. The alternative to the disc cutter is the block splitter which is used solely for splitting of the same block paving, flagstones and bricks in the environment of installing, refurbishment and repairs. The disc cutter is the most versatile tool for working on driveways or block paving as they are also essential for cutting concrete, asphalt and many other similar materials, which the block splitter can’t do. However the main draw back is the enormous amounts of potentially harmful dust disc cutters can generate.

Block paving, paving slabs and kerbs all contain crystalline silica, and cutting these materials generates a fine silica dust. Exposure to this dust through inhalation can lead to potentially fatal respiratory diseases including silicosis, bronchitis, emphysema and lung cancer. Therefore it is extremely important to have adequate ppe in the way of a respiratory mask to prevent the inhalation of silica dust as well as the use of water when cutting in order to suppress any dust that produced. PPE should not only include suitable respiratory masks but eye protection and hearing protection along with suitable gloves and boots which are normally used by installers.

The average petrol disc cutters have a 60 – 100 cc unleaded two stroke petrol engine and generate between 5 and 10 hp They require regular servicing and attention to the correct two stroke petrol mix ( 4 stroke cutters are available)

Electric disc cutters can be battery operated although these don’t tend to be robust enough for regular cutting in on the average  block paving installation. Or mains powered 240 or 110 volt machines. Electric cutters are in effect large angle grinders being used specifically with a diamond blade for the cutting blocks or paving.

Petrol disc cutters have the edge over electric in that they can be used in wet conditions especially when the water needs to be self induced to suppress the dust. They are also generally more powerful than their electric counterpart.

Diamond tools work at their best when cutting wet. The introduction of water to the blade prevents it from overheating, which extends the blades life and also suppresses dust. However following any wet cutting any slurry from cutting must be washed off the surface of the block paving under repair or installation to prevent its staining.

Our current Makita disc cutter is a 64cc with 5000 rpm producing approximately 6.5 horse power. When cutting block paving for an installation or repair it gives a depth of cut of around 100mm The size of the blade is important in cutting as it gives the depth of cut with larger the diameter giving the greater depth. Diamond tipped blades compared to an abrasive blade on an angle grinder wear better offering a longer working life especially if used when cutting wet. An abrasive blade wears when in use gradually reducing the blade diameter and thus reducing the cutting depth. A diamond tipped blade doesn’t wear so quickly and therefore offers a more constant depth of cut, a benefit for the paving installer.

Tool of the week the Steel Rule

All driveway and block paving installations will necessitate the need for measuring whether for determining the size of an installation in tens or hundreds of square metres or for the accurate cutting of blocks in millimetres when finally cutting in or carrying out repairs to block paving driveways and patios.

Any contractor regularly cutting or splitting block or paving slabs will have a rigid steel rule as a measure of choice. Made from steel and often graduated in either metric or imperial with a stout rigid edge. Its relatively indestructible and is ideal for the rough environment of a construction site or a pavers tool box.

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Its best used for measuring and marking the blocks or paving slabs with Pavers Marker when determining the angles and cuts when finally cutting in. The accuracy is determined by the Class of rule but accuracy of the rule for a paviour is not of prime importance since its relative to the same measure being used for the measurement and the cuts being measured and made from it. Prices can vary from the highly accurate and expensive to the cheaper which is more than adequate for the block paving world.

The breaker

A breaker is the generic term for the power tools used to break out concrete and hard standing areas or driveways particularly in the construction or repair of block paving driveways and patios. Other common names in use include jack hammer, pneumatic chisel, impact breaker or a Kango ( which is more a brand name in the same manner as a hoover refers to a vacuum cleaner).

The use of these power tools is a great deal quicker and less labour intensive in time and manpower compared to digging out a driveway by the old method of a pick and shovel. The range of tools has grown making the work including repairs considerably easier. Breakers come in all shapes and sizes from small hand held drills to the larger machines designed solely for the purpose of breaking out concrete. These can be electric or pneumatic hand operated tools or the larger hydraulically operated plant machinery used by commercial contractors.

It’s the small hand operated electric or pneumatic tools that are mostly used by block paving contractors to install driveways. At Block Paving Maintenance we use an electric breaker. As they are probably the most versatile they can be either 110 or 240 volt thus can be suitable for commercial or domestic paving contracts and don’t necessitate the need to drag around a large compressor as the pneumatic compressors require.

An electric breakers power is rate by the motors power in watts. The impact rate in rpm is the rate the chisel tool is struck or hammered by the internal machinery. Whilst the weight of the breaker bears on the point of the chisel striking the surface to be broken.

There are a range of different chisels or bits to give these machines the flexibility to engage in different tasks.

• Point or moil point - general breaking point for hardened concrete.
• Flat chisel – chiseling weaker concrete. 
• Flat tip or spade - for chiseling straight lines and breaking out larger sections in soft material like asphalt.
• Gauge - for breaking out channels for ducting.
• Rake or scrabbler – for finishing / preparing hard surfaces.

Breakers can be heavy tools to use and care has to be taken in using them. Personal Protective Equipment should be worn when being used this should include ear and eye protection along with boots and gloves. Vibration caused by the machine after prolonged exposure can induce a symptom known as vibration white finger.

Marking Slate / Pavers Marker for Block Paving.

Marking slate is used to mark block paving, flagstones and slabwork for cutting during installations or repairs. The “cutting-in” is typically with the use of a diamond tipped saw as opposed to a block splitter. Such cutting can produce extreme dusty and dirty conditions therefore making it essential that to mark block paving, slabs or flagstones clearly and precisely enough to allow an effective and accurate cutting to take place. Blocks will still need to be marked when using a block splitter but the clarity of the line is not as essential.

The disadvantages of some methods for marking paving:

·         Pencils (wear quickly on rough surfaces and don’t effectively mark    

       old or dirty blocks commonly found when repairing paving).

·         Chalk (Can't produce a defined enough line and  loss of accuracy 

       has an unfortunate knack of just disappearing completely when on site).

·         Marker pen (nibs wear out to quickly and not to be trusted to work in the dirty  

       conditions of paving repair and wet conditions).

·         Trowel or steel edge (doesn’t produce a clear enough line).

Through our own practise, trial and error when installing and repairing Block Paving Maintenance have found marker slate or to give it the true manufacturers name "Pavers Marker" to best suit our needs for marking blocks paving prior to cutting in.

The advantages we have found over other methods weve tried are:

•       Robust and tough enough to withstand building site conditions.
•       Long lasting and durable to last through many installations.
•       Produces a clearly defined marked line.
•       Different colours available allowing a contrast against coloured blocks.
•       Suitable for use in all conditions both wet and dry.
•       Works as effectively on old and dirty block paving and slabs as well as new.
•       No matter what kind of abuse its given it will always reappear at the bottom of the tool        bucket.!

The process of block paving cleaning or driveway cleaning can be simply broken down in 3 stages:

1.      The application of a weed killer should the driveway or patio be particularly weedy. Although it should be noted that heavily weeded block paving can be an indication of poorly laid paving and a substandard base and no amount of weed killer or cleaning will permanently reduce the weeds from appearing from underneath the paving.

2.      The clean firstly using a rotary surface cleaner to ensure the bulk of the driveway is cleaned in a systematic and uniform way. Then cleaning with a lance to remove those awkward uncleaned  areas that have been particularly awkward to get to with the rotary surface cleaner.Including the kerbs and edges and tight corners.

3.      The application of kiln dried sand once the driveway has dried sufficiently over several days to allow the sand to be swept into the block paving joints.

Here in our latest video Block Paving Maintenance detail the process of driveway or pation cleaning.