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Road base for brick and sand walkway?

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Road base for brick and sand walkway? Peter Seibel 07-17-2008
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Posted by Peter Seibel on July 17, 2008, 11:13 pm
> >> Those instructions call for "engineered road base" to be put under the
> >> sand. I went to a big masonry supply store today and bought six sacks
> >> of 1/4 minus gravel. I now realize that I probably wanted 3/4 minus--
> >> that seems, based on some Googling, to be more like what is used as
> >> actual road base. So my question is, what are the consequences of
> >> using the 1/4 minus gravel that I have (and can't return)?
>
> Go to a aggregate yard and get a 1/4-1/2 =A0yard of "3/4 minus" =A0or roa=
d base
> if thats what they callit.
> Cost: less than $ 10.00
> Save the 'bags' for some other project

Yeah. That's basically what I did. Actually the way I ended up with
the "1/4 minus" is purely due to my stupidity--I went to the big
masonry supply place and asked for road base and they were going to
sell me 3/4 minus and then when I looked at the 3/4 minus and 1/4
minus I decided I really wanted the 1/4 minus. Then I got home and
Googled around some more and realized my mistake. So today I went to a
landscaping supply place and tried to buy 3/4 minus and almost got
sent home with *more* 1/4 minus. The guy there said it didn't make
much difference for a walkway (i.e. not going to be driving on it) and
the 1/4 minus would be easier to work with. But since I already have a
bunch of 1/4 minus I held out for the 3/4 minus this time. Whatever.
I'll probably end up doing more sections of this walkway so I'll
probably use it all in the end.

Thanks, everyone, for your help.

-Peter

P.S. Around here (San Francisco Bay Area) it seems that all this stuff
is a bit more expensive-- a quarter yard of 3/4 minus is more like
$30 than $10. And a bit more on top of that if, like me, you don't
have a pickup for them to dump it in and you have to buy it sacked.

PexSupply Save 10 468x60
Posted by on July 18, 2008, 8:16 am


>
> > >> Those instructions call for "engineered road base" to be put under t=
he
> > >> sand. I went to a big masonry supply store today and bought six sack=
s
> > >> of 1/4 minus gravel. I now realize that I probably wanted 3/4 minus-=
-
> > >> that seems, based on some Googling, to be more like what is used as
> > >> actual road base. So my question is, what are the consequences of
> > >> using the 1/4 minus gravel that I have (and can't return)?
>
> > Go to a aggregate yard and get a 1/4-1/2 =A0yard of "3/4 minus" =A0or r=
oad base
> > if thats what they callit.
> > Cost: less than $ 10.00
> > Save the 'bags' for some other project
>
> Yeah. That's basically what I did. Actually the way I ended up with
> the "1/4 minus" is purely due to my stupidity--I went to the big
> masonry supply place and asked for road base and they were going to
> sell me 3/4 minus and then when I looked at the 3/4 minus and 1/4
> minus I decided I really wanted the 1/4 minus. Then I got home and
> Googled around some more and realized my mistake. So today I went to a
> landscaping supply place and tried to buy 3/4 minus and almost got
> sent home with *more* 1/4 minus. The guy there said it didn't make
> much difference for a walkway (i.e. not going to be driving on it) and
> the 1/4 minus would be easier to work with. But since I already have a
> bunch of 1/4 minus I held out for the 3/4 minus this time. Whatever.
> I'll probably end up doing more sections of this walkway so I'll
> probably use it all in the end.
>
> Thanks, everyone, for your help.
>
> -Peter
>
> P.S. Around here (San Francisco Bay Area) it seems that all this stuff
> is =A0a bit more expensive-- a quarter yard of 3/4 minus is more like
> $30 than $10. And a bit more on top of that if, like me, you don't
> have a pickup for them to dump it in and you have to buy it sacked.

You could also mix the 1/4 and 3/4.

Posted by Rudy on July 18, 2008, 1:15 pm


> P.S. Around here (San Francisco Bay Area) it seems that all this stuff
> is a bit more expensive-- a quarter yard of 3/4 minus is more like
> $30 than $10.

Highway Robbery!!..its about $20-25 a yard here



Posted by HerHusband on July 17, 2008, 12:06 pm
Peter,

> I'm laying a brick path more or less per the instructions here:
> http://www.cornerhardware.com/howto/ht023.html
> Those instructions call for "engineered road base" to be put under the
> sand. I went to a big masonry supply store today and bought six sacks
> of 1/4 minus gravel. I now realize that I probably wanted 3/4 minus--
> that seems, based on some Googling, to be more like what is used as
> actual road base. So my question is, what are the consequences of
> using the 1/4 minus gravel that I have (and can't return)?

> I guess I'm unclear on the exact purpose of the road base so I
> can't figure out whether finer base is going to be better, worse,
> or indifferent.

The gravel base serves a couple of purposes.

1. Drainage. Any water that works it's way down between the pavers can
drain away, reducing problems with frost heaving in the winter.

2. A solid base for the pavers. If you laid the pavers directly on dirt,
you could get settling that would result in an uneven walkway. By
compacting the gravel base you get a nice solid foundation for your
pavers.

I usually use 5/8" minus rock around here and it has worked well for me.
The important thing is the "minus" which includes the fine dust and
smaller stones. When you compact the gravel base, they work their way in
between the larger stones locking everything together into a solid base.
For example, you would never be able to compact river rock or pea gravel.
It would move around as soon as you stepped on it.

I don't think the 1/4 minus will compact very well, but it might be
adequate for a short walkway (I'm assuming a short walk if you only
bought six bags). You could always buy bags of larger rock and mix them
together, but that's a lot of work. Or, save the smaller rock for some
other project and buy new bags of 5/8" minus or better. (Landscape supply
stores will usually have a better selection than a masonry supply, though
it's usually not in bags).

> it'll be under a couple inches of sand.

The sand is only there to set the pavers in and make up minor differences
between the base and pavers. You shouldn't have more than 3/4" or so of
sand under the pavers.

Good luck!

Anthony

Posted by Peter Seibel on July 17, 2008, 12:31 pm

> I don't think the 1/4 minus will compact very well, but it might be
> adequate for a short walkway

I'm puzzled by this--wouldn't the finer grained 1/4 minus compact
*better* than 3/4 (or 5/8) minus. Or do you need some larger bits to
hold things together?

-Peter


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