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Victorian Restoration > Episode 9: Work on the Driveway and Finishing the Deck

Working With Unilock Tumbled Concrete Pavers

Project: Victorian Restoration, Episode 9, Part 2

New pavers are laid down in the driveway outside the barn. Brian Kallmeyer and Nick Pastore (from Unilock) explain how to properly install the stone. Out back, Bob gives Charlie Tomaszewski a hand building a brand new mahogany deck. Upstairs in the main house, veneer plaster is being applied in the bedrooms. Finally, new barn-style doors are installed in the converted dairy storage building.

Part 1: Building the Backyard Deck
Part 2: Working With Unilock Tumbled Concrete Pavers: Bob meets with Brian Kallmeyer (from Unilock) to discuss the company's tumbled concrete pavers. The product starts out as a high-density (minimum 8,500 PSI mix) concrete paver. The density is achieved by taking a pretty dry mix, with good aggregates, such as local granite, which is put in a 3-story machine that presses it to a very high compaction and compression point.

Originally, to tumble the pavers, installers would just throw the fresh, shiny, square pavers into an old cement mixer and roll the pavers around. Since then, the process has become more complex, and the resulting product is easy to work with. Unlike the natural stone it duplicates, these pavers have been made in a mold, so they are dimensionally stable.

Nick Pastore, certified Unilock installer, finds the Unilock product easier to install than natural stone, because all the pavers are uniform, and have smooth edges.

To prepare the bed, Pastore first put down a 12-inch compacted gravel base. Then he laid a regular washed sand bed on top of the compacted gravel. He uses 1 1/2-inch aluminum electrical conduit on top of the gravel base to establish a proper height (setting the conduit to any pitch he may need to achieve).

Next, Pastore removes the conduit, fills it in with sand, trowels over it, and begins setting the pavers into place. The pavers are laid and tapped into place.

Settlement is the biggest challenge. A well-compacted base is the best defense. Pastore has used a vibratory plate compactor to tamp everything down. In tight areas, there's a lot of handwork with mallets to be done, but, in larger areas, they do it all by machine.

In the last step, the polymeric joining sand is swept over the entire work area and the compactor is run across it one more time. Because a modular pavement will want to creep outward, Pastore's crew uses a PVC edge restraint with spikes that are driven into the ground to hold the restraint in place. The edger only picks up the bottom half of the stone, allowing the landscaping to come right up to the pavement, creating a contiguous surface.
Part 3: Patching With Plaster
Part 4: Replacing the Barn Door

Located just five miles from downtown Boston, Bob's scouts discovered a Victorian-era house in a neighborhood of family homes on tree-lined streets that was past due for a full-scale renovation.

The home's new owners, a work-at-home family, have set goals to modernize the home's floor plan, update the building's mechanical and electrical systems, and add home office and work spaces for two busy professionals.

Also from Victorian Restoration

Episode 1 - Initial Tour
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Description:
This ambitious restoration project involves renovating a Victorian home, as well as a former dairy barn also on the property. In its new configuration, the barn will include two offices and an art studio. After a brief tour of the city, Bob meets with the home's new owner, Rikk Larsen, and contractor Charlie Tomaszewski, to discuss the work ahead.
Episode 3 - Moving the Entrance and Kitchen Layout
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Description:
Contractor Charlie Tomaszewski and crew are hard at work moving the front door of the main house to accommodate a new entranceway. In addition, Tomaszewski is using an air-driven palm nailer to finish up work on new support beams.<br> <br> Bob meets homeowner Julie Graham, who is working with Faith Allen from Merillat to create the new kitchen layout. Across town, Bob tours the Isaac Royall House.
Episode 4 - Electrical Systems and Wiring and Upstairs Framing
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Description:
Bob gets an update on the progress taking place at the Victorian renovation project. Rough electrical work is underway, as is the home's data and video wiring, which will form the backbone for the advanced communications, security, and entertainment systems. Workers are framing a new addition, and are also at work on the second floor, where a Kohler tub and new Pella windows are being installed.
Episode 5 - Roof Work and Lighting
Episode 6 - Skylight Installation, Roofing, and Painting
Episode 7 - Barn Insulation, Video Wiring, and a New Balcony
Episode 8 - Blueboard Installation, Landscaping, and a New Garage Door
Episode 10 - Flooring, Glass-Block Walls and Floors, and Water Filtration
Episode 11 - Landscaping Begins, Flooring Continues, and Water Heater Installed
Episode 12 - Cabinets, Countertops, and Closets
Episode 13 - Final House Tour

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