In all turf projects that are undertaken the single most important thing is to have a nice solid base to lay the turf on. In this article I will explain to you how best to prepare and compact a suitable gravel base for a general landscaping Synthetic Turf install.

The most important thing to do when preparing to lay a gravel base is to ensure that the excavation is done to the correct levels. The recommended depth for a base is between 75mm and 100mm thick. The best way to measure the depth is by using a measuring tape along the edges and then using a straight edge or string line to measure down in the middle areas of the excavated area. It is also very important to ensure that when you do get down to the correct height that the material on the ground is nicely levelled and kept intact so that there is less chance of the material below contaminating the gravel base.

The gravel base will need to be compacted in 50mm lifts. I recommend strongly that a base gravel (base b) should be used for the sub base and then compacted with a vibrating plate with water. You may need to build this material up to within 30-40mm of finished height to allow for a top coat of a finer material. In any base the rate of compaction should be 95%. To get to this point the average gravel base area will be vibrated 3-4 times.

A very important tool that I recommend using is a hand stomper, this is used for areas that are impossible to get to with a vibrating plate. I use a tool that weighs 25kg and is cut into a triangle on one end and a square piece on the other end.

The next layer of material to be placed on the base will be a finer/cleaner product which is called crusher dust. This material is designed to be used for the final layer of compacting as it will stop any of the bonier pieces of base gravel from coming up and causing any potential lumps in the base. I would recommend spreading a layer of the dust (about 15-20mm) and then watering and vibrating. Then one final layer which can be used to make all levels good. Using a trowel for the edges and a hand smudge for the middle parts of the base. For a standard 35mm landscaping product I recommend a depth of 10-15mm below the finished heights, this allows for the turf backing to be hidden and less likely to be lifted up as well as when the turf is infilled with kiln dried sand the heights should be very close to flush with the edges that you are working to which will them limit the chances of any trip hazards.

The final step of laying a compacted gravel base is to roll the base with a hand roller, this should weigh between 50-100kg. Water is required to pack down the final layer of the base whilst the roller is being pushed and pulled over the entire base. This helps reducing the chance of the roll of turf making scuff marks in the base when positioning heavy rolls of turf. If it is possible to leave the base for 12-24 hours, that is the ideal amount of time for the base to firm up prior to laying the synthetic turf.

Written by Jade Child

www.taturf.com.au          jade@taturf.com.au        @taturfguru

Today I had a crack at a funny one.

I pulled my truck over on the midlands highway and let rip. Follow the link below or follow me on Instagram @skipchild36.

Scream at top of Lungs

My latest thing to tick off my list was to eat a large lemon – #14.

I knew one of my old clients had a lemon tree that produced some large lemons so I called him up and picked out some massive lemons.

Anyways all went well, a little sour. Check out the video on YouTube.

Today was a pretty simple thing to tick off my list. Holding a plank for 10 minutes. Its a great core work out. I would only usually do something like this for a few minutes at a time or a maximum of 5 minutes. I did this challenge at about 7pm after dinner. It certainly worked the muscles during the exercise.

I have finally made a start on ticking off some things from my list.

I completed #26 today which was – work a 16 hour day.

I was up before 5am, I had a large project to do out of town at Scottsdale. So it was about 1 hour away. We worked there until the job was completed and that was about 5pm. I then did about 1 hour of sand bagging to hustle out some more hours and then jumped on the computer to do some paperwork and send out some invoices. It was a tough day but with the right food and plenty of water the body can do anything.

I have finally finished my list of crazy things for me to do in the month of October.

Check them out here.

1. Nudie swim
2. Swim in public pool with clothes on
3. Park run in funny costume
4. Yoga in undies
5. No speaking for 24 hours
6. No driving cars for 24 hours
7. Scream at the top of my lungs
8. No screen time for 24 hours
9. Bet $500.00 on roulette
10. Street performance
11. Visit a fortune teller
12. Stay awake for 48 hours
13. Eat a large onion
14. Eat a large lemon
15. Drive the bobcat to Coles
16. Go for a 5km run at Midnight
17. Get in the newspaper
18. Eat McDonalds all day
19. Paint toe nails and not wear shoes for a day
20. Ride 100km in one go
21. Run 20km in one go
22. Swim 1500m in one go
23. Read out the weather on the radio
24. 3 minute cold shower
25. Give someone a 30 minute massage
26. Work 16 hours in one day
27. Spend an hour with my goats
28. Hold a plank for 10 minutes
29. Volunteer
30. Eat 30 weet-bix in one go
31. 500 push ups in a day
32. Go to Coles wearing pyjamas
33. Go on the footy trip
34. Shoot 50 free throws
35. Get on a podcast
36. Write another LIST

What is on your list?

I recently found a guy on Instagram called Seb. He runs an Instagram account called 100 Things.

Check him out here

https://www.100things.com.au/

I am inspired by what he does and I have decided to have a crack at a few things like him in October 2019.

Keep an eye on me on Instagram and on this site for my list.

Cheers

Adventure to Uluru with my sister KATE

Uluru was a rock I really wanted to see again, my parents took me to the rock when I was about 2 years old. I cannot remember a single thing from that trip so thought that this would be a nice little adventure.

We set off on a Monday morning leaving home at 415am it was going to be a 530am start but our flights were cancelled and had to depart from Devonport. I thank Belinda my travel agent who did some re organising on the Sunday prior to our departure to make sure everything was perfectly in place for us to have a great trip. This is a good reason why I employ a travel agent to plan and book my large trips. Belinda sorted everything I just sat back and watched the cricket.
We arrive in Alice Springs at around 11am we caught a taxi to our hotel with an Indian taxi driver which I was pleasantly surprised about. We checked into our hotel the Desert Rose Inn which is in Railway terrace, just back from Anzac Hill.
We headed to the CBD to check it all out and spotted bike hire and some mountain bike tracks so we had a crack at that. We covered 25km on the tracks and around the city. The tracks were fun and challenging I would definitely recommend doing them. It does get hot so take plenty of water. The tracks start at the site for the telegraph line which linked up Adelaide to Darwin and beyond. Some interesting facts and also worthy of a visit. This place is about a 10-15 minute ride from the CBD.
Tuesday morning our bus picked us up at 610am for our tour.
We covered about 470km on day one. The bus was comfortable and the time went quickly with a good book. On the way we stopped at the most central place in Australia. This was called Erldunda. We made it to our camp site for lunch which was chicken cooked on the BBQ with some nice salads. We pushed on from there to get to the Kata Tjuta. We did a quick one hour walk, very pretty place to see.
We then watched the sun go down behind Uluru while having orange juice or a wine, the tour company also supplied cheese and bickies which were literally inhaled by us as we were all very hungry after a big day. Back to camp for dinner, we had snags, kangaroo meat, some steaks, salads and some bush crumble for desert. Our tour guide informed us that we would be departing at 545am for the sunrise at Uluru which meant waking at 445 so it was an early night for me I think I was asleep by 9pm. We slept in some permanent army style tents, they were really good they kept the weather out and were quite cosy.

Wednesday started with an 11km Walk around the base of Uluru, this was really special. There was no chance of us climbing the rock as it was closed due to a 20% Chance of rain and I can totally understand the rules here now with the way they close the rock and suggest not to climb the rock. It is really steep and 35 people have died whilst attempting it.
We had an aboriginal guide take us around some of the sacred sights and tells us some stories. Dion didn’t say much mainly just mumbled but when I asked him if he played footy he came out of shell and started talking freely about his beloved North Melbourne. The thing that surprised me the most about Uluru was the amount of vegetation it had at the base of it and also all through the outback. I had a vision in my head it would be all sand and dust but it is a lot different to that, amazing how the world works and how nature finds plants and creatures that can survive in these types of locations.
Lunch was back at the campsite we had some beef burgers which went down nicely and then headed toward Kings Canyon which is the place for our second nights accommodation. The tour guide had promised us a nice pool to have a swim. We had a swim and visited the Thirsty Dingo Pub where we had a few ciders and chatted to our SWISS and Uk touring friends. I found a nice boomerang and a kids book which I bought for Zara as her teacher has asked to hear all about my trip back at school the next week.
Dinner was at 7pm we had a chicken dish with damper cooked over the fire. Very nice, shower and then a 9pm bedtime for me ready for another early start to see Kings Canyon.
Awake at 445am to be at the start of the walk at 610am the main reason is to beat the heat as it was forecast for 42 degrees on the Thursday and to also see part of sunrise during the walk. The walk we did was 6km we visited many viewing points of the canyon and checked out the garden of Eden where there is a watering hole. There were a lot of other tour groups around this area at the time we were there. It was still a very peaceful and unique spot to check out until one of the guys on the tour lit up a cigarette. Yuck.
The walk started of really solid with plenty of stairs, similar to the zig zag track in Launceston. But overall it was quite an easy walk.
Back to the campsite for an early lunch, we had some Mexican.
Our bus departed kings canyon at 11am we stopped at an aboriginal souvenir shop in Mt Ebenezer, nothing really tickled my fancy just the 42 degree sun was nice. I met an aboriginal man called Gary who had a chat to me about his local football team and suggested the players drank too much ‘piss’ and then back to Alice Springs to our Hotel.
A quick kick of the footy on a rugby field and then some dinner at sporties. I am still shocked that all of the staff in the restaurants are European or even Asian. I really did expect this place to be ran by Aussies.
Last morning before we caught our plane I did a steady 4km jog around the town, this is a great way to see towns and cities that I visit and I will continue doing it. We bought a few souvenirs from a shop in the mall and then headed to the airport.

A great trip and would recommend seeing it all for yourself sometime soon.

Living is all about working out what you want to do and then take action to achieving those things you want to do.
Life is for living!!!