BLOCK PAVING USED IN FARMS IN GERMANY AND HOLLAND?

[PostHarvest]

When a tractor dealership I worked for was modernised, they decided to block pave the forecourt. The owners were assured that compacted stone with sand blinding would be sufficient to take the paving blocks. Within 2 years the whole lot was so badly rutted that it all had to be taken up and relaid with concrete under the pavers. Without concrete they just couldn't take heavy traffic.

 

[Ffermer Bach]

When a tractor dealership I worked for was modernised, they decided to block pave the forecourt. The owners were assured that compacted stone with sand blinding would be sufficient to take the paving blocks. Within 2 years the whole lot was so badly rutted that it all had to be taken up and relaid with concrete under the pavers. Without concrete they just couldn't take heavy traffic.

I worked for a tractor dealership in Denmark, all the yards and the workshop floors there were paved, no problems whatsoever, but I am trying to remember (it was 25 years ago), I think the last workshop they built they had a concrete floor (then sealed).

 

[Av Gorritt]

The approach to our yard and part of the yard is done in setts , that would come from road works long before my time . They aren't sealed with tar as so many of the road setts were , and many people remark on them as a bit of history . We have lifted a few to do some alterations , and the ones we had over what we needed were keenly sought after , (at a price ! ) BTW , I wrote "Setts" - square ones , cube ones I suppose , and not "Cobbles " which are very different , but commonly spoken of when they mean the former .

 

[Farmer Roy]

Fûucck me - anything other than bare dirt is a luxury to me . . .

 

[DrWazzock]

When I went on holiday to Texel a few years ago I noticed a lot of block paving still being laid for minor service roads etc. Two blokes were putting the paving together at a bench on the back of a lorry and the whole lot was very slowly sliding down a ramp off the lorry in a 3m width as it slowly crept forward and without further manual intervention settled into the sand. It was impressive. The Mrs had to pull me away.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Funnily enough just watched 'Enemy at the door,' on talking pictures, opening with a view up a tree lined block paved road, somewhere in Belgium i think possibly.?

They just don't make telly like that any more.

yes in the Ardennes ,
a cobbled road used in the Paris- Roubaix as well

and sometimes in 'le Tour of course.

i forget allthis stuff these days ...

 

[glasshouse]

Fûucck me - anything other than bare dirt is a luxury to me . . .

You guys dont need concrete

 

[Lowland1]

We are having our workshop and another shed done. It’s a lot cheaper than concrete and we can pick it up and take it away if we have to

 

[daveydiesel1]

We are having our workshop and another shed done. It’s a lot cheaper than concrete and we can pick it up and take it away if we have toView attachment 1023412View attachment 1023413

Is it any good for heavy traffic? What was the price of it and price of readymix in comparrison?

 

[Danllan]

We are having our workshop and another shed done. It’s a lot cheaper than concrete and we can pick it up and take it away if we have toView attachment 1023412View attachment 1023413

Oh, the happy memory of dirt cheap labour...

 

[Lowland1]

Is it any good for heavy traffic? What was the price of it and price of readymix in comparrison?

We are doing 400 square metres for about £ 5000. We just did a similar area of concrete last month for a lot more plus there’s all the faff with the groundwork’s. Ready Mix is difficult for us to get when we put our potato store up a company used a batch mixer to do it all on site so this is simple two men and my forklift bringing the blocks in. As for heavy traffic all shop car parks here use it and most housing estates. The builder doing it suggested 60mm blocks for heavy traffic areas. I think if the foundation is good there shouldn’t be a problem. I hope.

 

[Ffermer Bach]

We are doing 400 square metres for about £ 5000. We just did a similar area of concrete last month for a lot more plus there’s all the faff with the groundwork’s. Ready Mix is difficult for us to get when we put our potato store up a company used a batch mixer to do it all on site so this is simple two men and my forklift bringing the blocks in. As for heavy traffic all shop car parks here use it and most housing estates. The builder doing it suggested 60mm blocks for heavy traffic areas. I think if the foundation is good there shouldn’t be a problem. I hope.

workshop I worked for in Denmark (25 years ago) had them in their yard and workshops.

 

[egbert]

I lay a few cobbles, and enjoy it.
some are in a 'historic' yard, where anything else would look all wrong,
some are on a track that takes very high traffic, but can't be shut off for concrete to set....it also has rising water issues after very heavy rain.
It's work brilliantly.

The cost is one thing, but the key thing is whether you want to be able to scrape it.

 

[Danllan]

The approach to our yard and part of the yard is done in setts , that would come from road works long before my time . They aren't sealed with tar as so many of the road setts were , and many people remark on them as a bit of history . We have lifted a few to do some alterations , and the ones we had over what we needed were keenly sought after , (at a price ! ) BTW , I wrote "Setts" - square ones , cube ones I suppose , and not "Cobbles " which are very different , but commonly spoken of when they mean the former .

Our old place in Herts had a few areas with flint 'cobbles', they are the local stone so they were used. A path outside the backhouse wasn't bad because quite small ones were set very close together, they were sausage shaped and sized, the ends pointing up.

Except for in a couple of small stores like that path, the others were horrible to walk on and work with. They were all somewhere between a golf-ball and a tennis ball in size, pretty round and lethally slippery when wet! Fine to drive over, but not for much else - I don't know why they were laid with such a bulbous top, maybe it gave horses more 'purchase'?

Fortunately the cattle sheds had thick chalk floors, the flint bed being pretty deep down. That was fine and they were scraped every year once the beasts went out, nothing but a thin layer of chalk being lost. But... I knew a place near Chesham that had cobbles in the sheds, a chum of mine lived there and it was his job to pick out the crap from between the cobbles after turn out. Lost contact long ago, but I guess he blessed the coming of pressure washers.

 

[ollie989898]

Often wondered about this as well. I've seen lots of small and big farms in the East of Europe that seem to use block paving as well. Very common in central Europe also. I guess it is a job that you can do with a gang of you for a few days and then it is done? There are machines that guys can sit on and arrange the blocks and then the lot slides down gently and lays them.

 

[Lowland1]

Often wondered about this as well. I've seen lots of small and big farms in the East of Europe that seem to use block paving as well. Very common in central Europe also. I guess it is a job that you can do with a gang of you for a few days and then it is done? There are machines that guys can sit on and arrange the blocks and then the lot slides down gently and lays them.

I reckon the blokes laying ours are much quicker than that however there’s a lot less bending with the machine.

 

[Lowland1]

Got the workshop finished and tidied up.

 

[ollie989898]

Got the workshop finished and tidied up.View attachment 1030148View attachment 1030149

Fair play to you, you guys know how to work. I hope you find your 4000 acres of veg land in the UK one day.