Screeding Gravel With Blade.??

[JDGreenGrass]

I am putting down a cobblestone patio. In the past couple of days I have taken the area down beyond grade and I now have to bring it up to level or, up to level with a slope for run-off, I should say.

The gravel has to be good and flat at which point the sand will go down for finish gradeing before laying the bricks.

Can I put some screed boards down on edge and use my rear blade to screed the gravel.?? Or, will the blade catch the boards and move them out of place.??

I am going to then compact the gravel before the sand goes down.

 

[leonz]

About your patio;

Do you have a lock valve unde the seat for the rear mount hitch to keep it locked?

You can always use 2 heavy C clamps and a 2 by 8 doubled up to prevent it from splintering or a 4 by 4 or 6 by 6 block. the wood blocking would be better though.

The problem is the cutting edge and the blade angle; You may be better off just renting a pad tamper and doing it that way with a rake to do the preliminary leveling with a water level or story pole.

You will be able to make quick use of the pad tamper for the sand bed after you have the stone leveled and tamped down.

 

[DaveOmak]

This is what I have built. I had the shoes bent at a machine shop. The channel has a slot cut in it with a plasma torch and a washer installed over the slot to prevent binding. It can be adjusted up/down by loosening the nut. The shoes can be adjusted for final tweaking by use of the top link. This modification has worked better thab I expected. Gravel, dirt, snow, it works perfect.
I think it would work very well with the top link disconnected in the float position also.
I welded some wings on the ends of the blade to act as a box blade also.

 

[JDGreenGrass]

About your patio;

Do you have a lock valve unde the seat for the rear mount hitch to keep it locked?

You can always use 2 heavy C clamps and a 2 by 8 doubled up to prevent it from splintering or a 4 by 4 or 6 by 6 block. the wood blocking would be better though.

The problem is the cutting edge and the blade angle; You may be better off just renting a pad tamper and doing it that way with a rake to do the preliminary leveling with a water level or story pole.

You will be able to make quick use of the pad tamper for the sand bed after you have the stone leveled and tamped down.

I have an adjust ment valve under my seat. Is it a lock.??...

I plan on turning the blade to use it convex style. I'm going to try it and see what happens.

 

[leonz]

I have an adjust ment valve under my seat. Is it a lock.??...

I plan on turning the blade to use it convex style. I'm going to try it and see what happens.

I am sure it is the needle valve that locks the depth control for the three point hitch. You should have no worries about screeding with the rear blade.

 

[JDGreenGrass]

I am sure it is the needle valve that locks the depth control for the three point hitch. You should have no worries about screeding with the rear blade.

I am putting down a cobblestone patio. I am probably a week away from getting things prepped for the inch or 2 of sand that will be finished grade. I'll try using the tractor and blade to get the gravel "perfect."

I'll check back.

 

[BeezFun]

When I worked concrete we had a wide railroad timber that we hung from the hooks on the back of the FEL. Chain length was setup so that when you went backwards the timber was captured right under the front edge of the bucket. With the bucket in float it did a pretty good job leveling gravel. We always did the final screed by hand, I'd suggest that for something as small as a patio you might do it by hand as well. Probably won't take near as much time as setting up form boards.

 

[JDGreenGrass]

When I worked concrete we had a wide railroad timber that we hung from the hooks on the back of the FEL. Chain length was setup so that when you went backwards the timber was captured right under the front edge of the bucket. With the bucket in float it did a pretty good job leveling gravel. We always did the final screed by hand, I'd suggest that for something as small as a patio you might do it by hand as well. Probably won't take near as much time as setting up form boards.

That's a neat tip right there.:thumbsup:

I will certainly be doing the final grade of sand by hand. It's the gravel layer, or under base, that I plan on screeding with the rear blade....to a point at which I will have to go to hand to fine tune it.

The patio is roughly 12' x 18' with a down slope for run-off on the 12' length of 1 inch down every 4 feet. Or, a total slope of 3 inches over 12 feet.:confused2:

I am enjoying the project so far but nothing happens fast. Stones were delivered last night along with the finish sand. I have all the materials so from here on out it's just a matter of putting time into it.

Let the fun begin....anyone coming over to help me out.??...

 

[rozer2050]

Sir good job its very impressive.


Screeding