The quickest way possible while achieving strength and weatherproofing is the answer Mike so yes machinery, dowels or dominos. hand cutting those joints would make the cost prohibitive I'd expect.
Yep, it's the quickest way to learn!.......I've done the same as you with the overhead clamps btw, resulting in a nasty bloody gash, only did it once.
40 years as a professional joiner and I don’t think I would have done it any other way (including the 'fix'). The old joiner who was my dad’s tradesman (and was fast and loose with a gnarly walking stick to the back of your head if he thought you weren't listening) told me the difference between a good and bad joiner wasn't accuracy in cutting joints as with a bit of practice and patience any fool could cut wood but what made the good joiners were how they dealt with the mistakes they made. Because we all make mistakes however, not all of us can rectify the mistakes to a decent level without starting again.
Oh yes. Add in an upstand to take BOTH edges out of the equation, and life suddenly gets very interesting.
I planed a couple of bits up to suit, and threw them away afterwards. I'm not expecting to have to do anything quite like that again.......but if I do I'll just plane up another packer. And yes.....the kerf. It was working that out that made the joint work.
Thanks Dan, much appreciated. And very interesting, too. I never thought to mitre the corners.
I can't tell you how much comments like yours and Dans mean to me, coming from pros. Thank you sincerely.
Great job with your garden and your level of hard landscaping and design is exceptional. Bet you will be glad seeing it all tie in. Watching with interest.I've got quite a busy programme of work in front of me on the house this spring and summer, and the major job is to do the external works around the sunroom. This includes retaining walls, patio, ramp, and some edged planting areas. Let's have a look at what it looks like now.
Looking south, and moving southwards in order:
Looking north:
Looking west, towards the front of the property:
Looking north east:
The first job is to put an Acco drain outside the back doorstep, to enable a flush threshold to be used. When I did the main drainage works 6 or 8 years ago, I left a "Y" to connect the surface water from the sunroom and it's roof into the rest of the sytem. I marked it with a piece of wood, and back filled. So, I removed the dangerous temporary steps, and dug down the piece of wood to find the joint and set myself a depth:
I'd wrapped it in a plastic bag to keep the muck out:
I made the necessary joints:
(and yes, WD40 is a great lubricant for putting plastic drainage together). It falls quite steeply, but it's only taking surface water, not solids, so that doesn't matter.
Then backfilled with shingle:
To avoid a little strip of brick showing outside my aluiminium level access threshold, I took an off-cut and marked where the outer edge would come:
I'd have loved to have just taken an angle grinder to it, but the room is in use, so filling it with dust wouldn't be a good idea. I sacrificed an old hardpoint saw instead:
And then chopped off the shoulder of the bricks with a cold chisel and lump hammer:
I then cast up a concrete base for the Acco drain:
After that went off overnight, I mixed up a strong mortar and carefully bedded the gully into place:
I then spent a few hours digging away all the loose stuff and vegetation, spreading some hardcore, marking out levels, and then casting a sub-base of concrete:
Note the gully by the corner of the steps, and the adjacent level mark (which marks the top of the paving, not the concrete sub-base level:
There's another gully on the other side of the steps:
The level at the threshold is about 30mm above the level at the front of the steps, falling some 1 in 35 away from the house. Here's the Acco and adjacent level mark:
Here's a minor cock-up from the time I did the screed in the sunroom. I forgot to run this 'phone line (in a hose as a duct) in and under the floor. It runs out to the workshop so that I can have a 'phone out there. There's a chance of an alternative route, so I laid it out under the walkway/ patio area:
The concreting was held up by the explosion of my wheelbarrow tyre whilst the barrow was empty and un-used. It scared the life out of my dog, who was napping nearby, and it flung rubber 2 or 3 metres. I had to fix two puntures in the other barrow's tube before resuming. Anyway, it got done, and I just had time to begin the most complex part of this job: laying out the line of the curved brick retaining without having access to the centre point of the arc. I laid out a centre line the length of the garden, and put a peg on it in a random but useful location. This is the pivot point of the formwork/ pattern I'll make:
The two angled strings are the datum lines, mirrored about the centre line, so that I can take a pattern on one side, then flip it over, line it up with the other string, and use it to set out the wall on the other side.
The greenhouse is definitely my wife's territory rather than mine, but I do have a clue what's growing in there. Firstly, we have 26 tomato plants, which is at least 10 more than we need. We have cucumbers, peppers (capsicum), chili, ginger, melons and one or two other things I can't remember at the moment, plus some hydrangeas..........and dozens of seed trays full of stuff for planting out. It's just had a major clear-out as a whole lot of stuff in trays and pots has now been planted out in the garden, or moved to the cold frames. My pride and joy, though, is a grape vine, which is planted outside and trained in through a hole in the wall, and this year, it's 4th year, it is producing scores of bunches of a white seedless grape. I'll maybe grab some photos later of that and the veggie patch if I remember.
I've just realised. You probably think my sunroom is a greenhouse. Go back to page 100 or before, and follow the progress of the sunroom. This is my greenhouse, from 5 or 6 years ago when I built it:
I followed your greenhouse build . I'm getting long in the tooth but not ready for the pasture. Lol.I've just realised. You probably think my sunroom is a greenhouse. Go back to page 100 or before, and follow the progress of the sunroom. This is my greenhouse, from 5 or 6 years ago when I built it:
I don't think there's a lot to be gained by doing that. The stone would only be 6 inches wide, with 4" of it hidden under the aluminium threshold strip. The way I've done it you'll see mat, threshold strip, mortar, drain, mortar, stone, working from inside to out.
Failing that a couple of spare wheels.
Makes sense Mike. I wouldn't risk theory either. It's not much comfort if it ends up failing and I've fixed a couple for other people.
One wheelbarrow is never enough, you need two at least, I have three.
Great product, use it on all my interlock projects.
Good point Mike, I always wet point when the stone is mortared down. I will add a bonding additive . I like my mix when squeezed in hand will stay clumped . You can really pack a joint this way. Too wet a mix is a nightmare to work with.
With the resin stuff you sweep it into the joints with jointing interlock concrete paving stone. You must get all the dust off the pavers. Then i will use a fine water mist to set the dust. One pass making sure not to create run off. Then a second pass when surface is dry.
Exactly as you describe. I try to form a sausage-shape of the mortar and drop that as neatly as I can into the joint, and then smooth it down with a pointing tool. If it gets on the surface of the stone I leave it to dry a bit before sweeping it up and sponging off. If you try to clean up too soon it just smears and makes an awful mess.