Driveway Progress

The bobcat broke down at about 10.30 AM on Wednesday, the first day of work, which stopped progress for the rest of the day.  Happily, however, the crew was back at 8.00 AM on Thursday (yesterday) with the bobcat in working condition.

Scraping Up Old Bitumen

Aaron (in green) Conferring with Crew

Spreading Road Base into Carport

Road Base Down

A lot of progress was made yesterday, with 4 people on site at one point.  Aaron, the owner of the company, did a stint on the bobcat then later had a discussion with whom I think were the pavement layers to discuss the layout of the job. 

I had a short discussion with Aaron about the placement of the 40 mm plastic conduit that I had purchased from Bunnings.  The conduit will pass under the sections of the driveway as easements for future electrical wiring of, say, driveway lights.  There is no need for plumbing easements since I have extended the water system to all parts of the property.  One conduit will pass across the main part of the driveway, about half way down to the road.  Two full lengths of 40 mm conduit will be used, each 3 m long and connected by a joiner.  The ends will be blocked off with standard caps.  The second conduit will pass under the branch of the driveway leading to the under-croft parking where I keep the green Barina.  During the work the Barina will remain parked in its usual position in the under-croft below the verandah.  The ever helpful Treetops Montessori School next door has allowed me to park the X-Trail SUV in any of their parking spaces.

A load of road base was dumped into the garage.  The material appeared to consist mainly of bluemetal (ie granite rock).  It was spread along the carport and the approach to the garage, since these sections of the driveway had not been laid (by me) with proper road base.  Then a load of "cracker dust" arrived.  Cracker dust is the residue from production at the granite quarry.  Think of it as heavy sand made out of granite rather than silicone.  A 30mm layer of this cracker dust will form the bed upon which all bricks will be laid.  After the brick laying, clean sand will be swept in between the bricks. 

Note Conduit To Be Laid Under Driveway

Lower Driveway

Spreading Cracker Dust

Wider Approach to Garage Area

Down to Road

Wherever possible the bricks will be laid over the old bitumen.  Nevertheless bitumen at both the upper and lower parts of the main driveway have been scraped off, largely for leveling purposes.

I have been very impressed at what I have seen from ABM Landscaping's work so far.  They have the crew, equipment, know how, contacts and organizational discipline to make things go like clockwork.