Need advice on setting concrete pavers (BIG ONES)

[garacuda]

Hey guys, I am planning on buying one of those carports you see everywhere and have a bunch of free concrete pavers I'm going to use for the "floor". This things are about 10' long by 1' wide and are 6" thick, with steel re-bar inside of them. I've already leveled the ground and added about 3-4" of dense grade gravel. I also have some "sand mix" I was planning on setting these pavers in, but now I'm beginning to wonder about that part. It was suggested to me (not from here) to wet the sand and then set the pavers, but it seems to me that wetting it just firmed it up so the paver didn't "nestle in" so well. So I stopped after the first one.

I'm just planning on parking my truck and maybe the mower under it and figured the pavers would make a good floor for that. I'm just not so sure about the best way to lay them. Should I just get some regular sand? This stuff I bought has a lot of lime dust in it and I was planning on brooming it in the cracks after I get them set in place. Some of them are shorter (4'-5') so I plan on staggering the joints as I set them. All are the same width and thickness. I have it planned to be about 20' by 22' in size.

I'm not I any hurry and am setting them in place with straps and my FEL on the weekends or maybe a few at a time after work. I'd appreciate any thoughts or ideas on maybe a better plan if anybody has one. Thanks!

 

[oosik]

Your system sounds good to me. As you set a "paver" you can lift it and reshuffle the gravel under it, if needed, to keep everything level & even. I would not use the sand until you are finished. Dump the sand on the pavers and move it around with a push broom to fill the cracks. I've never seen anything like you have there and its going to be a little more difficult to "level things up" - - as opossed to using standard sized stones. Those stones should be much more stable than standard sized ones.

 

[s219]

Wow, those are nice -- where did you get them? For something that big, you could probably use small gravel #8 or pea gravel. I set some huge flagstones last year, and started with paver base (stone dust). What a pain, though I can see how it would work for small pavers. Switched over to #8 and it went easier. It pretty much self levels and doesn't settle or compact like the dust did. Very solid.

 

[garacuda]

Wow, those are nice -- where did you get them? For something that big, you could probably use small gravel #8 or pea gravel. I set some huge flagstones last year, and started with paver base (stone dust). What a pain, though I can see how it would work for small pavers. Switched over to #8 and it went easier. It pretty much self levels and doesn't settle or compact like the dust did. Very solid.

I work for a commercial roofing contractor and these were on a roof that we replaced. We ended up with over a 100 and I laid claim to them. I don't expect them to lay like a poured floor but I'm hoping they won't settle or crack after I get them down. I suppose I could just poke some of the sand into the tunnels on the bottom as I set them. It's a slow go but it's the kind of stuff I enjoy doing. They called the sand mix a #10 sand.

I thought I would run this by some of you guys that may have some experience with this sort of thing and see if I'm missing something. I guess I'm overthinking the thing.

Here's what they looked like on one of the smaller roof sections.

 

[orezok]

FWIW. I would lay them in concrete sand and then get a flat plate vibrator on top of them. The vibrator should somewhat distribute and settle the sand. Vibrator shouldn't hurt a 6" slab.

 

[garacuda]

FWIW. I would lay them in concrete sand and then get a flat plate vibrator on top of them. The vibrator should somewhat distribute and settle the sand. Vibrator shouldn't hurt a 6" slab.

I'm not sure I know what one looks like, is it similar to a tamper, with a gas engine on the top? Sounds like a good plan. After it stops raining and dries up a bit that is.

 

[forgeblast]

We would use the tamper (I have done that by hand too) to compact the gravel. Then we had 2 10' sections of 1'' black pipe that we would put the sand down using a board (2x4) to screed. Then we would tamp them down after we ran some type s mortar around the edges to hold it all in place (pavers (the small kind). We didnt wet the sand before hand. We also after tampering would brush/broom sand into the joints.

 

[orezok]

Flat plate vibrator

 

[s219]

FWIW. I would lay them in concrete sand and then get a flat plate vibrator on top of them. The vibrator should somewhat distribute and settle the sand. Vibrator shouldn't hurt a 6" slab.

Won't that just rattle your teeth? I used a plate compactor on my barn floor before pouring concrete. Whenever it went over something rigid/hard, it would shake the heck out of the whole joint and sound like a rock going through a wood chipper (loud and wrong sounding). It was great on the soft sub grade material, but not on rubble or the footings.

 

[orezok]

Won't that just rattle your teeth? I used a plate compactor on my barn floor before pouring concrete. Whenever it went over something rigid/hard, it would shake the heck out of the whole joint. It was great on the soft sub grade material, but not on rubble or the footings.

That's the idea!