Need new paving and patio but can't afford it

moneyistooshorttomention

As per the title.

It's necessary and quickly, but I cant afford it.

Has anyone got any suggestions for "make-dos" until I can afford it?

What has anyone else done in these circumstances?

RAS

Do you have any local tree surgeons or garden maintenance folk with shedders?

They might be happy to tip some chippings for nothing.

Poppie68

We got some paving slabs off Freecycle, maybe worth a look to see if there is any in your local area or put a wanted ad on there..

DaftyDuck

Weedproof membrane, then sand and gravel, or woodchip on top, plenty of pots to make it homely. Slate chip looks good too.

However, get onto freecycle, freegle or whatever your local one is called, and look for paving slabs, crazy paving or whatever. If you can't lay it properly, stick membrane down, slap slabs down on a little sand, plant thyme, Corsican mint, creeping savory etc in the cracks, and wait for spring to come. Plants will help stabilise the slabs, smell good, and make a poor job look better.

Then, drink enough gin or vodka, if you have any, and all will be peachy again.

moneyistooshorttomention

DaftyDuck wrote: »

Weedproof membrane, then sand and gravel, or woodchip on top, plenty of pots to make it homely. Slate chip looks good too.

However, get onto freecycle, freegle or whatever your local one is called, and look for paving slabs, crazy paving or whatever. If you can't lay it properly, stick membrane down, slap slabs down on a little sand, plant thyme, Corsican mint, creeping savory etc in the cracks, and wait for spring to come. Plants will help stabilise the slabs, smell good, and make a poor job look better.

Then, drink enough gin or vodka, if you have any, and all will be peachy again.

Daft questions of the day time from me then being:

Would I mix the sand and gravel together presumably? In, say, 50/50 ratio? Errrm...isn't there more than one type of "sand" available from builders merchants and, if so, what type do I want? (or could I just borrow a man and a van and head off to the nearest beach and grab some sand from there?). Would such a path be tough enough for regular walking on?

Hmmm...also giving thought to what I would use as path edging that would be simple/cheap enough for me to manage. Am not planning on using upturned empty booze bottles....a certain lack of supply of enough, coupled with wondering whether sun might catch them and whoops-a-daisy as regards safety...

phoebe1989seb

Lol at Dafty :rotfl:

Money, you can't go nicking sand from the beach Freecycle or similar is a good idea, or else you may pick up a bargain on eBay (my fave shopping destination - you wouldn't believe how much of our stuff originated on the bay ), but getting it to you could be an issue as, iirc you don't drive, do you?

We had to tackle a large terrace earlier this year and to have entirely paved it over would have not only looked awful - too much hard landscaping isn't a good thing imho - but would have cost a(nother!) small fortune, so we decided to get sandstone for the two seating areas and gravel the remainder around our raised veggie beds and reclaimed brick pathways. We found that by visiting a local supplier we could get the decorative stone chippings delivered in bulk quantities for a much better price than buying it by the smaller bag......:D

DaftyDuck

Money, the sand would go down on top of the membrane, then gravel on that. Stops the gravel piercing the membrane instantly, and holds it in place. Not needed if you use wood chippings.

No, you shouldn't nick it from a beach (but I have a beach at the bottom of my garden - and a wheelbarrow, so that'd help! ). You wouldn't really want salty sand on your garden anyways. I do "steal" shells and beachwood and rock and shellfish and .... but not yet sand.

Stick a photo up of the area... it might generate some clever thinking.

Presumably you want seating on the area... what aspect is it? If sunny, simple crazy paving (Freecycle again) with herbs in the gaps (thyme, low mints, chamomile, etc).

welovemarmite

I am doing the upside down bottle idea to replace a rotten log retainer. Put the word around the village and my porch is getting full with wine bottles!

moneyistooshorttomention

DaftyDuck wrote: »

Money, the sand would go down on top of the membrane, then gravel on that. Stops the gravel piercing the membrane instantly, and holds it in place. Not needed if you use wood chippings.

No, you shouldn't nick it from a beach (but I have a beach at the bottom of my garden - and a wheelbarrow, so that'd help! ). You wouldn't really want salty sand on your garden anyways. I do "steal" shells and beachwood and rock and shellfish and .... but not yet sand.

Stick a photo up of the area... it might generate some clever thinking.

Presumably you want seating on the area... what aspect is it? If sunny, simple crazy paving (Freecycle again) with herbs in the gaps (thyme, low mints, chamomile, etc).

Basically, rather a lot of summat-or-other is needed in various areas. Paths round the house and patio also at back of house. The patio area is south-facing and hence my plans for seating there to make the best of it come nice weather (nice weather....WHAT nice weather? you should just see the weather here at some points:rotfl:. Its a revelation to me I tell you. But there are months of nice weather and I have visions of me sitting outside with a glass of something nice toasting having a proper garden at last. Thyme and camomile are possibilities. Mint would be only if it were confined to a pot. One of my first acts here was tearing up loads of mint that had been allowed to do its own thing and it certainly had...and ivy...and some brambles.

Crazy paving looks like something I should go googling for photos of to see what some of it looks like.

I'm thinking generally along informal type lines. I don't like "formal"...particularly in gardens.

Those paths around the house that need replacing are the biggest financial hurdle to think of a way round.

Idiots question again: does crazy paving need to be set on top of a sand base?

grannyjo

It all depends on how long you want paths etc to last. On one area we have concrete base then paving on top- it should last for at least 20years but it was expensive. Another area is cheap freecycle paving slabs - put on the lawn- then cutting out underneath them- making sure it was level. If not level I threw some building sand down to level it off.After 15 years they have sunk a bit, so I have lifted them and put more sand underneath. We made sure it finished off below the lawn level so we could run the lawn mower over it. I even made my own stepping stones by mixing sand and cement into a mould- and others with a hole in the ground as the mould. Then another area - we cleared away the top inch of soil, then put down gravel- but that was comparitively dear about £120 a ton I think. The gravel eventually got thinner and bedded into the soil, so we had to buy more gravel- but this took 10years. If we do more,the weed barrier stuff would be better. If you google cheap paths you might find other ideas. One is a sort of marl path where gravel is bedded into the top layer of soil and stamped in. It sort of binds together. Gravel can be difficult to walk on. I put some paving slabs on top of the gravel and wriggled them about until they sank in a bit. That worked really well. The woodchip idea is a good one as tree trimmers have to pay quite a lot to use a council dump- but it disintegrates to a morass after a couple of years and cats tend to like it for their toilet.. If you had large logs, you can cut circles off them about 2ins deep and use them for for stepping stones or arrange them in a pattern, the width of the path you want. As an emergency you could lay down the things people lie on, on a sandy beach, made of cane I think, or old carpet strips. I've even read about sheets of newspaper- thick layers about 10 deep, put down and they melt into each other- saw this in a gardening magazine.
As for edging, you could use 2x1 wood, or small branches- or pebbles- stones etc. I filled small plant pots, half full of sand and cement to make 3ins deep edging roundles. I also used bricks. I've also used - used scaffolding planks £3 each (ebay) - mainly for raised beds. I've seen thin branches, tied with strong string along the edges of paths.. If you lower the level of a gravel path (possibly with paving stones set in) the gravel will stay put and you could make a lavender edging or similar. I find If I cut off lavender tips about 4-5 ins long and set them in soil at least half take and grow to small plants. I've also used geraniums as an edging as they are really hardy where I am. Permanent structures are expensive to move. -Oh I also collected lots of stones from the garden, and made a mosaic out of them- again bedded into a sand and cement mixture. The advantage of short lived solutions is that you can rearrange them . The better the foundation, the longer your path will last, but if it is only for people walking you don't really need foundations- at least I have found this. Obviously you can buy good solutions, but I have tried to think of the cheap ideas. Good luck

grannyjo

Crazy paving may be laid on sand or on 5 cm mortar bed for a firmer finish. To lay, start by installing the foundations. Clear the site and use string lines to mark out the area to be paved. Define an edge and mortar them firmly. Lay the paving down fitting the pieces together like a jigsaw. Keep the gaps small. Level the central slabs with the edging pieces and ensure they do not move. Fill the joints with a stiff, crumbly, almost dry mortar and scrape of any excess mortar before it dries.




Laying crazy paving is a great way to add an interest piece to your area. It starts out the same way as you will go about laying paving: excavate and have good, hard-packed soil. The following steps would be a bit different though. You can find the instructions here: http://www.intergardening.co.uk/features/surfaces/materials/slabs-tiles/lay-crazy-paving.html




Crazy paving refers to the crazed manner in which the stones are laid in a pavement. When it comes to doing crazy paving, one can choose one of two methods. You can choose to use screed bedding whereby you use material that is of regular thickness. The other method is individual bedding. This involves preparing each a bed for each piece as it is required. The bedding material may either be chiselled out or hollowed to fit the paving piece. Next the piece is fitted in and consolidated using a rubber hammer.