§ 24-66. Sidewalk specifications.

All concrete sidewalks provided for in these provisions shall be constructed in accordance with the following provisions and specifications:

(1)

The subgrade shall be four (4) inches below the finish grade and unyielding. All embankments shall be thoroughly tamped with paving rammers having a six-inch square face, and weighing not less than twenty-five (25) pounds. Any soft or wet places appearing in excavation must be removed, refilled with cinders or gravel and tamped as provided for embankment.

(2)

All cement used shall be Portland Cement of a brand approved by the street manager. The same brand of cement must be used for top and bottom courses and for the entire length of the walk under construction if not over one (1) block long.

(3)

The street manager may at any time subject any of the cement used or proposed to be used to the test set out in the standard specifications for Portland Cement adopted by the American Society for Testing Materials, and no cement shall be used which does not comply with such standard specifications, whether of an approved brand or not. All sand used shall be clean and sharp. All quartz or granite screening shall be screened through a one-fourth-inch mesh. All gravel should be clean and not larger than one (1) inch in its greatest diameter. All broken stone must be hard and tough, irregular in form and not larger than one and one-half (1½) inches in its greatest dimension.

(4)

The walks shall be constructed in two (2) courses, the bottom course shall be three (3) inches thick after ramming and shall be composed, one (1) part of cement, three (3) parts of sand and five (5) parts of broken stone, or six (6) parts of gravel, measured by volume. The top or wearing course shall be one (1) inch thick and shall be composed of one (1) part of cement to one (1) part of sand, or one and one-half (1½) parts of crushed quartz or granite, measured by volume, mixing may be by hand or machine, but in either case the material must be turned often enough to produce a thorough and uniform mixture of the various ingredients before water is applied in sufficient quantity to make the mass thoroughly plastic, but no more, and the turning continued until each particle of the aggregate is coated with mortar.

(5)

The wall shall be constructed true to line and grade is established by the street manager, by means of forms composed of two-by-four timbers laid on edge and securely held by hooks. These forms must not be removed until sixty (60) hours after the walk is completed. After the forms are in place, the concrete for the bottom course will be deposited in sufficient depth to be level with the top of the form, and one (1) inch below the top of the form. Concrete for this course then rammed until compacted to three (3) inches in depth, or must be placed in the forms and rammed within thirty (30) minutes after it is mixed. Transverse joints will be made in this course at such intervals as the street manager may direct not greater than six (6) feet. These joints may be made either with three-ply tarpaper or felt, or by cutting with an edge tool, in either case the joints must extend entirely through and across the walk. Within thirty (30) minutes after the bottom course is laid, the top course shall be taken up and relaid with fresh cement. The mortar for the top course must be placed and struck within thirty (30) minutes after it is mixed.

(6)

When the top course is in place it shall be struck to an even surface by means of a straightedge down along the top of the forms. It shall then be floated with a wooden float. As soon afterwards as it begins to set it shall be troweled to a smooth surface with a steel trowel, pressed hard and marked off with a groover in such sized rectangular blocks as the street manager may direct. Care must be taken that these lines are straight and at right angles and that the traversed grooves coincide exactly with the joints in the bottom course. The top course must be cut through over the cross joints in the bottom course so as to give a joint entirely across the walk for the full depth thereof.

(7)

In warm weather, walks after completion shall be kept wet for forty-eight (48) hours and protected from the heat by planks or canvas, and in cold weather they shall be protected from freezing by canvas or sawdust. Any walk or part of walk constructed not in accordance with any of these specifications, or which shall crack or otherwise fail at any time within twelve (12) months from the completion thereof must be taken up and relaid by the contractor at his own expense within ten (10) days after notice from the street manager. Driveways into private property shall be constructed according to these specifications except that the bottom course shall be four and one-half (4½) inches in depth, and the top course one and one-half (1½) inches in depth. They shall be finished with a wooden float, not steel troweled, and marked off with a driveway groover into blocks twelve (12) inches lengthwise and six (6) inches transversely of the walk.

(Code 1967, § 34-51)