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Lifting AND moving, placing paving slabs painlessly.


ToughButterCup

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Time was when I could lift as well as move paving slabs with a bit of muscle, a maccho attitude and a sore back. Yoof, wasted on the young innit?

But time also flies. And I'm not even going to pretend I can do that now.  And @epsilonGreedy-like, this is DIY MAX. So a two man slablifter is off the menu.

 

One of these bad-boys is what I want, what I really really want .  But notice the cheeky little pop-up at the top of the webpage...

Quote

You are currently prevented from ordering and seeing price- and stock information. Please contact customer service.

Bastard.

 

Lifting tongs won't cut it too small, suction cups: two-man.

 

Whats needed here is a combination of @Onoff's creativity and attention to detail,  @Construction Channel's what-could-go-wrong attitude and @pocster's fookitImdoingitanywayism and @Temp's extensive knowledge of Internet content to come up with a simple design which allows me - on my own -  to

 

  • SAFELY pick up a proper big-boy paving slab
  • move it across the site
  • lay it in almost the right spot
  • supply the correct dose of Parcetamol after a session of slab laying.

 

What could go wrong, Ed. ?

Edited by ToughButterCup
Edited to defeat the censor....
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Always used a wheel barrow with the skip removed.  You still have to lift it onto the frame but it's really easy to move to where it needs to go to. Stand it up straight beside the frame then push it over side ways onto the frame and slide it into place centrally. 

When you get to where you are laying it then lift it off and let it rest on its edge straight up and walk it left right left right until it's in its spot then lower it down. Means half the weight is always on the ground. 

Or get some polish guy with a strong back and a weak mind to assist.

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7 minutes ago, ToughButterCup said:

You Bad Man ....?, an' you a member of  Tinternet Police.....

Most of the polish guys in my work could bench press the barrow with the paving flag on top. Some seriously big guys. And some of the nicest guys I know I should add.

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It is a job I HATE

 

You level the ground, you compact it, you lay some sand, you level the sand, you lay the slab and it WOBBLES. So you lift the slab., try again levelling the sand taking account of the wobble and you lay the slab again.  It does not wobble but it is not level with the adjacent one.

 

You might have guessed I don't have a natural flair for this job. 

 

No wonder Tommy Walsh uses 5 blobs of sloppy cement and tap it down until level and no lip......

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15 hours ago, ProDave said:

It is a job I HATE

 

You level the ground, you compact it, you lay some sand, you level the sand, you lay the slab and it WOBBLES. So you lift the slab., try again levelling the sand taking account of the wobble and you lay the slab again.  It does not wobble but it is not level with the adjacent one.

 

You might have guessed I don't have a natural flair for this job. 

 

No wonder Tommy Walsh uses 5 blobs of sloppy cement and tap it down until level and no lip......

My next job paving and I am seriously looking at paving pedestals for the majority of it so no laying/lifting etc

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44 minutes ago, Pete said:

My next job paving and I am seriously looking at paving pedestals for the majority of it so no laying/lifting etc

These are the way to go . Also look at their ‘frame’ systems . Will undoubtedly cost more but makes the job easier 

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On 19/04/2021 at 18:49, ProDave said:

You level the ground, you compact it, you lay some sand, you level the sand, you lay the slab and it WOBBLES. So you lift the slab., try again levelling the sand taking account of the wobble and you lay the slab again.  It does not wobble but it is not level with the adjacent one.

 

Not done it but isn't this what the rubber base for a wacker plate is for? I assumed it was for bedding in and leveling paving laid on sand? Or is that only blocks?

Edited by Temp
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If the paving slabs are stacked on edge on the pallet then I think a regular two wheel sack trolley would work for moving them around on site. Just "walk" them off the pallet onto the trolley.

 

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Bit late to the party here. But have you already bought the slabs? If so why did you choose those and can you return them. 

 

The simplest solution here is to either get a slab you can lift/lay or concrete a path and draw some lines in it if you really do want the council slab look. 

 

They're bastards to lay at the best of times. 

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Me and a mate had to lay 120 of those 2'x2'x2" slabs once on x3 21 storey tower blocks in the Old Kent Road (Avondale Estate). 40 on each block. The lifts were so small we could only get me and him in the lift, facing each other, with 3 slabs stood vertical on a sack barrow. The lift stopped at either 19 or 20 depending which lift you got. We then had to handball the slabs one or two floors to the roof.

 

 

It was a job spec'd by the council and they wanted them laid on "2 layers of waxed building paper" on a "sharp sand / cement bed". The problem was it was an asphalt roof. We were extending the paved area on each roof. The rest of the roof was gravel chips on asphalt that had sunk into the asphalt over the years. First we had to use a flame gun on a gas bottle to loosen/scrape the embedded chippings from where the new slabs were to go. Ended up lifting a lot of the existing slabs to get an invisible "join", old to new.

 

Then there were the lengths of 7"x4" RSJ to go to the roof and we had no crane..... ?

 

No wonder my back is bad!

 

 

Edited by Onoff
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1 hour ago, Onoff said:

Me and a mate had to lay 120 of those 2'x2'x2" slabs once on x3 21 storey tower blocks in the Old Kent Road (Avondale Estate). 40 on each block. The lifts were so small we could only get me and him in the lift, facing each other, with 3 slabs stood vertical on a sack barrow. The lift stopped at either 19 or 20 depending which lift you got. We then had to handball the slabs one or two floors to the roof.

 

 

It was a job spec'd by the council and they wanted them laid on "2 layers of waxed building paper" on a "sharp sand / cement bed". The problem was it was an asphalt roof. We were extending the paved area on each roof. The rest of the roof was gravel chips on asphalt that had sunk into the asphalt over the years. First we had to use a flame gun on a gas bottle to loosen/scrape the embedded chippings from where the new slabs were to go. Ended up lifting a lot of the existing slabs to get an invisible "join", old to new.

 

Then there were the lengths of 7"x4" RSJ to go to the roof and we had no crane..... ?

 

No wonder my back is bad!

 

 

This explains why you’re such a lazy (expletive deleted) now 

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2 hours ago, Onoff said:

Seems to be out of stock everywhere I've looked though...?

 

Yes: but I have a mechanical genius mate who will adapt/ adopt / improve one of my old sack trucks with me. 

(He's just built himself a  4 foot square laser cutting machine - his workshop is about half the size of our house....Phhhhhhh. Talk about jealous.)

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15 minutes ago, ToughButterCup said:

 

Yes: but I have a mechanical genius mate who will adapt/ adopt / improve one of my old sack trucks with me. 

(He's just built himself a  4 foot square laser cutting machine - his workshop is about half the size of our house....Phhhhhhh. Talk about jealous.)

 

?I was going to suggest making one. You must post pictures of the finished article. 

 

All I can say is mind what fingers you have left. Those bfo slabs are somewhat unforgiving! 

 

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