LOCATION: Concord
LANDSCAPING WORKS COMPLETED: Retaining Walls, Recycled brick paved driveway and entry path, Recycled brick garden edging and Turfing
RETAINING WALL MATERIALS: Recycled Brick, cement mortar, ag pipe, geo-tech fabric and recycled aggregate
DRIVEWAY AND PATH MATERIALS: Recycled brick, road base and paving sand
TURF MATERIALS: Turtle nursery turf underlay, Sir Walter buffalo turf
This Concord Landscaping and Paving Project involved transforming an under utilised area of turf to the front/side boundary of the property. It was turned into additional off street car parking. The family with young adult children purchasing vehicles wanted to minimise the amount of cars parking on the street. They also wanted to level the turf to their front yard. The key design criteria was to keep with the heritage nature of the dwelling and the area.
The works involved cutting and demolishing the front masonry boundary wall to allow cars to pass. Approximately 12 tonnes of turf and soil was excavated and carted away for the new driveway.
The first major construction process to occur was construction of the low height brick retaining wall. We decided to construct the wall out of recycled brick which met the design brief. The wall was only a few courses high but allowed us to raise the levels of the front lawn to near level. A small step was incorporated into the wall so that the clients could step down onto the driveway.
Approx 7 tonnes of road base was brought in, which we compacted in layers to provide a strong foundation for the pavers. Once the road base was compacted close to finished levels, we brought in 1.5 tonnes of paving sand. It is screed to the perfect level to lay the recycled brick pavers.
We went with the recycled bricks as part of creating a sustainable project but also to meet the heritage theme. The bricks were laid in a diagonal basketweave pattern with a soldier pattern border. We ensured that all edges were haunched to ensure no movement would occur from vehicle movement. Once completely laid, we spread a paving sand layer to fill all the gaps. Finally, we passed over it with a compactor to ensure the bricks were locked in and held together tightly.
To finish off this project, we laid a recycled brick on edge garden border. The brick garden edge was set on a mortar bed. We then brought in 1 tonne of turf underlay which we spread level. A fresh layer of Sir Walter Buffalo turf was laid to complete this project.
