do I need hardcore or not?

dboswell

We have just had our old path taken up. Unfortunately, it had been broken by tree roots over time with the tiling twisted.

The builders have cleared the roots and said that the old path appeared to have alot of sand and only 1 inch of cement making it weak.

They propose to put down a 4 inch cement base to tile on without hardcore using a cement-sand mix of 4:1. They said this will be strong enough for foot traffic.

Will a hardcore base make any difference when it comes to the strength of the path and root damage over just 4 inch cement?

Is there anything else we can do to strenghten the path from future root damage. The trees are council owned and have preservation orders.

themacster

If they have TPOs you need permission from the local authority to do any work to them, and that includes cutting roots! They may require you to only use a 'soft dig' to create your path, you really need to check with the council what they want - there are a lot of requirements for working near tpo protected trees.

ormus

you dont need hardcore for foot traffic. by cement mix i presume that you mean concrete?
to add extra strength, then use a wire/rebar mesh, embedded inside the path.

keystone

dboswell wrote: »

Is there anything else we can do to strenghten the path from future root damage.

Nope - tree will be much stronger than any path you put down I'm afraid.

However you do have a course of action available to you TPO or not. If the tree is damaging your path then you may complain in writing to the tree's owner (in this case the council) and put them on notice that the tree is causing an actionable nuisance, including whatever evidence you can gather which will preferably include an authoratative report that the tree is responsible and ask them to abate the nuisance.

Edit - Sorry you can't. Just reread the lead post and I see that the evidence has already been destroyed.

Cheers

dboswell

along with our neighbours we have consent from the council.

a rebar has been mentioned

iamcornholio

Hardcore is not required for a path and it wont make any difference at all to the paths protection from movement due to roots

You really need a 'flexible' paving such as brick pavers, as this will allow a fair degree of movement without cracking or significant distortion, and then if after a few years, some ares do move, then they are easy to take up, level off and re-lay. Your builders should know this - shouldn't they?

Incidentally, TPO's or not, you should be aware that the owner of the trees is responsible for any damage which the roots cause, and you may like to recover your costs from them

dboswell

iamcornholio wrote: »

You really need a 'flexible' paving such as brick pavers, as this will allow a fair degree of movement without cracking or significant distortion

we are cleaning and relaying our victorian path