Hilux 4x4 Forum

We want to pave a section in front of our house, probably about 90m2.

It will be a "fun" project as the road is higher than the house.


I have a few options :

1) create a rain water gutter along the house, below the weep holes. Then build a wall of about 300 to 400mm, create slope towards the road.

This way the paving will slopw away from the house, and the bulk of the rain water wont enter the gutter along the house.

BUT, this means a LOT of material must be carted in to raise the ground level .... probably 10m3+ ...

PS - this will match the best with the existing driveway to the garage.

2) again start with the gutter, but this time slope from the road down towards the house. Less fill material, much easier build.

.... will be a pain to marry with the driveway .....

this may require some re-working of the drainage to ensure it can cope with heavy rains .... add a blocked drain and I may well regret this approach .....


PS - I am considering using the same 50mm clay-brick pavers as the driveway, just to keep the feel the same ... OR, a complete break from this to a totally different look and feel ....


I would appreciate your input, thoughts and feedback, both on the slope and the type of pavers.


REFERENCES - I would really appreciate references of paving companies you have used in the Bellville area. Easy enough the get a list of names of google, but would prefer to work with a company that comes with good references ....

any idea of the going rates for paving ? Based on the baked clay brick pavers.

Tough to say when you have not seen the actual site, but my 2c - keep water AWAY from dwelling. A couple of loads of filler is cheaper than sorting out damp later on. Contact a builder in the area. They usually have subbies that cart away or supply filler. Said filler is usually from another building site where it was in the way and needs to be taken to a dump. Those rubble removers are only too happy to drop you a few loads close to an existing building site for a small fee, rather than having to cart it off to a dump (here in JHB they have to pay to dump at dump sites).

Thanks Mickey

I will contact the builder that did the garage for me a few years back. Actually a decent builder.

YES, I will personally do the rain gutter to make SURE the water does not get close to the house.

Damp is not something to play with.

Any references for decent paving guys around here ?

Need somebody I can trust to fill and compact properly ...

not to mention the retaining wall....you also don't need a 10m3 landslide towards the dwelling.

I think the question is whether you'd be able to do a proper retaining wall for option 1 or effective drainage for option 2.

I'd be more inclined to go for option 2, but not paving, I'd turn it into a desert garden that also acts as a huge bio filter and harvest the rainwater. Uncharted territory but it would be awesome if you could pull it off...

edit: just thought of this: http://www.deranco.co.za/retaining-walls/ had similar issues with my 2nd property in PE. There is a supplier in CT http://www.terraforce.com/suppliers-ins ... tern-cape/

Normal flat paving with grey cement pavers start at around R200 in P-town.

Thank you Stef. Been thinking of either the terraforce, or the large cement blocks for this purpose. Possibly a wall the have a neat finish, then the concrete blocks, all on a foundation. Fortunately the lift is "only" about 300 to 400mm, thus not a dangerous height.

I do have a little concrete mixer and may well do this prep work myself and make SURE that it is over engineered

Thanks Thabo

Must say, I like Stef's idea of a desert garden.
I assume you do currently have garden and lawn.

We did away with all our lawn. Sidewalk is all succulents and indigenous plants.

Rest of garden consists of walkways paved with recycled pavers, odds and ends, each section marking a change of plant theme. It is still a work in progress, and it goes quite slowly as the builder who built here (we did not buy new) seems to have filled the yard with old bricks and then covered them with about 5cm of topsoil. So whenever I feel strong, usually after some serious rains, I take the pick and fork and go and turn a section of soil, working some of our own garden cuttings in, even if it hasn't composted properly yet, and removing wheelbarrow load after wheelbarrow load of bricks and half bricks and chunks of concrete...

Here's the thing - most of our garden consists of recycled stuff, from the pavers to the actual plants which had been pinched here, split off there. We've reached a stage where we can comfortably split off plants in our existing collection without hurting the look of the pillaged area. But it is all done with predominantly indigenous plants, and many, many succulents.

Our problem is that our property slopes away from the house, to the rear wall. And over time, what with the trees getting bigger, the lawn struggled, and the soil started drifting down towards the boundary wall. I struggled with the lawn, and not allways having time to mow once a week, it simply wasn't successful, especially in the increasingly shady areas. So we basically turned it into one big flowerbed, with the walkways laid out in such a way as to act as terraces and retaining walls. And it has cost us very little in financial terms. As to the hodge-podge paving, initially it looked not only odd, but cheap. But now that the plants are settling along the paths, you no longer notice the brickwork, there is simply too much else to draw the eye.
It certainly is not a manucured garden. I destest manicured, artificial gardens. It is wild, and it works for us, and our drainage towards the rear wall has improved as was seen with our recent heavy rains.
I am waitigbfor my 5000 litre watertank to arrive (slab is ready, tank must be positioned, and roof gutters connected) after which we are doing away with our designated veggie patch too. In future we'll be planting our veggies in between the rest of the plants.
It's all hit and miss, but it has worked for us. A lot cheaper than paving, but a heck of a lot more work in the long run. And much, much more rewarding for us

Mickey I (we) are not gardeners .... Between my day job and sideline I am working 60+ hours per week. Simply dont have the time for a proper garden

Our aunt in Onrus has a garden as you describe - NICE !!

I DO love a decent rose garden, but that is about it for my gardening "skills". Our regular travels meant that I could never keep up a proper garden.

Add a feline neighbourhood ... and my rose garden became the "sand pit".

Thus now it is just the two palm trees and the lawn.

This is an OLD photo from 2008 - Paving the front would also mean that the fencing will be removed, with no way around the side of our property. I will just add extra burglar bars to the front windows. Should result in a cleaner, though sterile, appearance

PS - 8 years later the palm trees are much taller :) Maybe I should try harder to keep these palms .... may just give a nice touch.


This was one of the last homes in the area, thus just under the lawn is the building rubble of the area .... at least this can be the only reason that we simply can not get the lawn to grow properly. paid a princely sum for roll on lawn. At the back it is THICK, no amount of watering helps in the front. Trailer loads of compost and topsoil made no lasting difference to the front lawn. We spent more than 10k over the last few years on that lawn ! The only long term gardening solution would be to cart out the rubble and bring in proper top soil .... dont even want to know what that would costs


So the current water restrictions is the excuse I have been looking for for some time to pave up the front.


Without the cats I was considering a veggie garden in one area, that gets some afternoon shade most of the year


The irony is that I have just started a miniature veggie garden at the back. Started with some tomatoes and lettuce. Want to add some strawberries. For now it is two of the fibre-cement blom-bakke. Did get a nice from a friend, he made a stepping rack for rain gutters. He has a veggie garden in this. I may just expand our veggie garden in this fashion ... but lets first see if I can manage to get one tomato fully grown.
PS - note the modification to the gutter downpipe, to drip feeders ...

I have also just installed a 1500 liter tank -

Also do not have green fingers...I plant whatever grows with little effort, and I seem to have at least a aptitude for growing lawns LOL. I've had great success with Dietes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietes., both in PE and up here in GP..split them, grew them from seed, and does not require a whole lot of water

My latest "project"
The whole area was a raised "flowerbed" with a wendy house & scrapyard, overgrown with weeds.
The lawn at the back I planted in spring 2014; did all the cement and leveled the rest since then, new grass planted end Oct; pic take 5 Nov, actually a lot greener after the rains.

"bit" of sweat later ....

Laser level to figure out the paving levels, to make sure the water always drains away from the house : And then it was time to cast in the gutters next to the house ... So finally I am ready to get paving contractors to quote on:
1) filling and compacting .... probably 12m3 !!
2) paving ...

Any paving companies you can recommend in our area ???

google gives names ... I prefer recommendations from satisfied clients ....

Chris I had Jasper Compion from Fixit Paving at my place. He dis a very nice job, for a very competitive price. They re-paved my enite driveway to also incorporate the car-port.

Jasper Compion - jasper@fixitpaving.co.za

Dankie Thys

My neighbour's nephew works for a paving company, so gives me the guys contact details. Tells me what a good guy he is .... So I phone and leave a message,,,, phone again .... "Sorry, I am on leave now ..."

OKAY, we all deserve a bit of leave. But then send somebody else from your company, OR suggest a date in next week to meet for the quote ....



Saw some add-boards for a local paving company. Guy rocks up in a GOOD condition IFS !! What a way to make a good impression. You can SEE this guy is an old hand and knows his way around a tricky site .... writes a figures on a scrap piece of paper. Comes in a works out the quote, writes it up and hands over the quote immediately. I feel very possitive about this guy !!


Third company sends one of the lackies out in a busted old Isuzu .... this guy is way out of his depth with the many angles - actually measures the triangle on BOTH sides of the bay window .... then at the last second realise that the old border around the old fence wont cut in nicely with the new paving - uhm, wat nou .... Only thing "pro" about these guys is the bit in their name.



Did I mention that IFS won me over even before the guy got out ?


Langenhove het gesê: "Meet n ambagsman aan sy gereedskap. Hy gaan nie beter na jou goed kyk as na sy eie gereedskap nie."

ChrisF wrote:
Langenhoven het gesê: "Meet n ambagsman aan sy gereedskap. Hy gaan nie beter na jou goed kyk as na sy eie gereedskap nie."

net so...en dan kan mense nie verstaan hoekom ek kwaad raak by die werk nie...ystersae wat so "ge-tension" is dat jy hom nie met die hand kan los draai nie, en dan word dit permanent so gelos in die kas of as die tuin tegnikus my skroewe draaier gebruik om bossies op die paving mee uit te krap

maar jy mag nie kwaad nie word anders is jy mos 'n rasis

Stef wrote:

ChrisF wrote:
Langenhoven het gesê: "Meet n ambagsman aan sy gereedskap. Hy gaan nie beter na jou goed kyk as na sy eie gereedskap nie."

net so...en dan kan mense nie verstaan hoekom ek kwaad raak by die werk nie...ystersae wat so "ge-tension" is dat jy hom nie met die hand kan los draai nie, en dan word dit permanent so gelos in die kas of as die tuin tegnikus my skroewe draaier gebruik om bossies op die paving mee uit te krap

maar jy mag nie kwaad nie word anders is jy mos 'n rasis

Mens maak jy my nou nostalgies vir die dae met n overall ....

Daai dae wat n appie nog die plantroom vloere moes mop, dan die tools reg- en wegpak, en dan die bakkie was .....


Ons peetkind is nou 5 jaar oud. Hy sal GOU vra hoekom is die kar vuil .... en net so gou uitwys as daar sand onder in die swembad is .... As n kind die basiese goed kan raaksien, watter verskoning het die res ?

LOL janee die basiese goedjies bly mens by ne....