Uses, Types and Applications
Edgings and kerbs
Edgings and kerbs can significantly improve the final appearance of a paving project, lending it that 'finished touch". All flexible block or brick pavements, and tarmacadam, MUST have an edging or a kerb, to prevent the pavement moving or crumbling at the edges. For block or brick paving, establishing the edge courses (also known as edge bands or soldier courses) before laying the main paving, will help to guide screeding levels.
Materials
Existing walls can be utilised as a solid edging, and thereby reduce the number of edging units required. However, with block or brick paving, it is better to continue the edge courses around the entire perimeter of the pavment, to ensure a 'framed' look to the finished project. Almost anything can be used to construct an edging. Timber boards , bricks , cobbles , manufactured edgings , road kerbs ...the list goes on and on. The one feature common to all edgings is that they are rigid, fixed supports, and are often critical in the strength and competence of a pavement. Good construction of the edging will prolong the life of any paving.
See the Edgings Galore!! page for a gallery of the many different types of manufactured edgings available in Britain and Ireland.
Mowing strips
Mowing strips are simply narrow bands of paving, usually around the perimeter of a lawn, allowing the mower to pass over and mow the entire lawn without leaving edges uncut, as when tight against a wall. There is a wide range of pavings suitable for this purpose, and because they are utilitarian, rather than structural, there is not the same need to construct them as rigidly as the edgings discussed above.
Construction
3 basic types of construction are considered on separate pages;
Most types of edging or mowing strip will utilise one of the above methods.
There is also a separate page featuring a gallery of the many types of edgings , a page dealing with Road Kerbs in all their various forms, a page covering Profiling and Alignment of concrete bedded units and a page illustrating a simple sawtooth edging suitable for use in the garden.
Related pages on this site