Edgings and kerbs
An edging is not decoration. It is the restraint that holds a paved surface together, and it is the single most skipped item on cheap paving jobs in this area.
Put one in properly and the paving stays where it was laid. Leave it out and the whole surface creeps outwards a few millimetres a year until the joints open.
Quoted per job
When people call us
- Block paving spreading outwards with widening joints
- An edging course that has tipped, lifted or come away from the paving
- Paving crumbling away where it meets a lawn or border with nothing holding it
- A path or drive with no defined edge, losing blocks at the sides
- A new patio or drive that needs the edge detail doing properly first
Why edgings fail
Almost always because they were bedded without haunching. A kerb or edging block sitting on a bed of mortar with nothing supporting its back face will tip the first time the ground softens.
Haunching is a wedge of concrete up the back of the edging. It takes minutes, it costs very little, and it is the difference between an edge that lasts twenty years and one that lasts two.
How we do it
The method, start to finish.
- 01
Line and level set
Strings and pegs, so a run is actually straight or a curve is actually smooth. Edgings show every error.
- 02
Trench and concrete bed
Dug to depth and bedded on concrete rather than sand, to the level the paving needs to finish at.
- 03
Haunched at the back
Concrete haunching up the back face of every edging, which is the whole point of the job and the bit that usually gets skipped.
- 04
Cured before loading
The concrete is left to go off before the paving is laid tight against it. Rushing this undoes the work.
Straight talk
Where edging is pointless
An edging will not hold back a surface that is failing from below. If your blocks are sinking as well as spreading, the base is the problem and a new edge is money on top of an unsolved fault.
Questions we get asked
Do I need an edging on a patio?
On a patio that sits against walls on three sides, often not. On any open edge — against a lawn, a border or a drop — yes, otherwise the perimeter slabs slide and the joints open.
Can you put an edging in without lifting the paving?
On an open edge, often yes. We dig alongside, set the edging and haunch it without disturbing the field. Where blocks have already spread, those few rows need lifting and resetting tight.
What does an edging cost?
It is priced per job because the length, the material and whether anything has to be lifted vary so much. It is usually the cheapest line on a quote and the one that saves the most.
Edgings and kerbs in Wythenshawe, Northenden, Gatley, Heald Green, Cheadle, Timperley and Altrincham.
Send us a photo of the problem.
Quickest way to get an answer. We reply the same day, and the quote is free either way.