Masonry Magazine February 1995 Page. 51
More and more specialized high
More and more specialized high efficiency tools which make installation of paving stone and retaining wall systems more profitable are being developed each year.
many large capacity machines that can properly prepare your base and at a much higher square foot efficiency. These machines also come with a larger price tag and when considering your purchase you should compare variables.
Product Installation-This is the final phase of the installation process. Up until this point all the tools that have been used are normally available through local sources, but some of the tools that we will discuss are specialized and may require a little research.
During the process of installing the first course of a retaining wall stone you will immediately discover whether the base was actually installed level and smooth. When you place the stone on the base it should be level in all directions, if it's not. you will have to correct the base so that the stone is level. This correction can be accomplished with a thin layer of torpedo sand for deficiencies of Va in. or so, some manufacturers will allow 4 in. but when I get to a variance of this size I prefer to correct with road mix.
Once that first stone is down you should continue laying stones that are level in all directions and also insure that all stones being laid are maintaining the desired and established grade.
As the wall height increases all design concerns (whether engineered or non-engineered) should be addressed and the wall should be backfilled and compacted in lifts with the motorized plate compactor.
The design of some wall plans require cutting and possibly shaping the wall stones and copings. This portion of the operation is accomplished with the use of a gas powered cutoff saw which is equipped with a diamond blade (the blade should specifically be designed to cut the retaining wall stone).
Laying paving stones can be a bit tricky, but if you insure that your layout is plumb and square and watch that the pavers are being laid in straight, you shouldn't have any major problems. A very helpful method of insuring straight paver lines is snapping chalk lines on your screeded sand.
When you begin laying you must consider how to get the pavers to your work area. Your pavers are normally delivered in a cube. They can be stacked in a wheelbarrow and then restacked at the point of laying or you can purchase a paver transportation cart which is capable of clamping on to an entire column of pavers (400 to 500 lbs.) and moving them to the laying area. This tool might be considered by some as optional, but I find that one person on a cart can keep three workers laying.
Cutting of pavers again becomes a matter of personal taste. The guillotine cutter is a tool that manually cuts a paver, but it's only good for larger pieces and not precision work. The cut that this cutter produces is jagged and uneven. Cutting with a diamond blade is a very accurate and clean method which allows both wet and dry cutting. Prior to any cutting of pavers, you must insure that the diamond blade is specifically designed for paving stones (which are very hard and dense) and that if you are cutting dry your blade must be laser welded and intended for dry cutting.
Diamond cutting can be accomplished by using a gas powered cutoff saw or a sliding table saw (electric or gas). The sliding table saw requires that stones be marked, cut on the table and then put into the installation, while the gas powered cutoff saw has the ability to cut the marked stones on the ground and directly within the installation. The cutoff saw sounds wonderful, except you will find that there are very few employees who have the skill to perform a consistent and accurate cutting operation of this nature.
Once all pavers and cuts have been installed, it's time to compact the pavers into the bedding course and get the pavers into lock down state. Compaction is accomplished using your compactor, but the inherent nature of your compactor creates a situation where the compactor can scratch and scuff the pavers. This problem is easily remedied with the use of a paver pad, which is a special pad that mounts to your compactor to protect the pavers.
Required Product Installation Tools
| Tools | Helpful Hints |
|---|---|
| paver transport cart | specialized tool to pickup a full column of paving stones w/o banding. |
| sliding table saw w/diamond blade | gas or electric, can cut both wet and dry, used to cut pavers. |
| hand held gas cutoff saw w/diamond blade | gas, can cut both wet and dry, used to cut both pavers and wall units. |
| guillotine cutter | cutter for pavers and copings, not good for small pieces-cuts rough. |
| paver pad | specialty pad that mounts on compactor to protect pavers. |
THE ABOVE LISTED TOOLS are the final basic tools to install both paving stones and retaining wall systems. Some of them are tools that can be compared to one another to accomplish the same task. These decisions are a matter of personal taste.
MASONRY JANUARY/FEBRUARY, 1995 51