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Albert Lee
09-20-2016, 5:27 PM
Good day to you all.

How many of you have interest/hobby in civil works say paving/digging?

I recently wanted to pave a section of my property, its about 40m2/430 sqf, I first engaged a few tradies to give me a quote, it was around $3000. after hearing what they will do and I thought to myself, well, I could do this myself. just need to hire a compactor..

I hired a 56kg compactor from local shop, thought I only needed it for a day, but endup not using it for half of a day cos the base course took much longer to unload and transport from front of the garden to the rear, I had to return the compactor after only using it for 2 hours the next day, and I still have more basecourse to compact, the rental costed $150 for a day, I thought to myself, I am going to buy a compactor - just like wood working machines, you can spend $150 on a mitre saw, or you can spend $1500 on a mitre saw, the compactor is the same, you can spend $400 on a 90kg class compactor, or you can spend $2000 on a proper 90kg class compactor.

At the end I bought an Atlas Copco LF75, its 92kg, its made in Belgium, its an overkill, but it will last me a long long time, I will use it for my new house as well, might even start a hobby business in paving/compacting.

As for the pavers, I can either use concrete or granite pavers, granite pavers are obviously more expensive, but they will look better than concrete over time. I am lucky I have a pallet mover to move the 4 pallets of pavers from the front of the garden to the rear, each pallet weighs over 1100 lb!

I've used 180 cubic f of basecourse. The calculated volume was only 90 cubic f. I compacted the fill 5 times to ensure I have it done properly.

after I have done this I showed to a friend of mine we came to an idea if I have a small digger I could start up my own landscaping business lol

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Really should have removed the weed before laying the basecourse but oh welll......

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Mike Henderson
09-20-2016, 6:43 PM
Good on you that you can and did tackle that job. That's too much heavy work for me. I'll stick to woodwork.

You did a good job on it.

Mike

[The problem I've had with purchasing special tools like your compactor is where to store them.]

[I hope to visit your country one day.]

Kevin Womer
09-20-2016, 8:12 PM
Great job, As Mike says I too will stick with woodworking.

Albert Lee
09-22-2016, 5:44 PM
Thanks Mike! one thing I dont particularly like about is wood splinter get into finger...

(I stored my compactor in my garden shed next to the lawnmower, come for a visit and you wont want to leave! peaceful and far far away from the chaos and politics)

Albert Lee
09-22-2016, 5:45 PM
Same here... I am still recovering from laying the pavers a week after its done. lol leg still sore.