Front Garden...

R6TTJ

Hello,

Was hoping I could get some advice. In our front garden we have a grass and flower bed area, this is all raised from the ground by about 4ft. I am looking at getting a digger and one of those grab trucks to come and remove the grass area.

Reason for doing this is because im finding it difficult to get my Petrol lawn mower onto the grass. By doing this it will also create space for 2 cars to park (gives you an idea of the area of grass).

My drive currently has cotswold stone chippings on, once the digger does its job and the grabber takes all the soil/rock I want to put the same chippings down...

The question I have is... once the soil/rock is taken do I just cover the area with chippings? or do I have to do something to avoid the area dipping into the ground when cars ar parked? Like put concreate down or something... We moved into the house with the rest of the drive already done hence the question..

I hope this makes sense and thanks for any help

DRP

Dig down about 20cm, fill 10cm with hardcore, whack it down, cover with chippings of your choice.



pavingexpert.com is the place to go!

R6TTJ

Thank you :beer:

This looks quite easy!

chappers

Also bear in mind the grab truck could probably pretty much level it off for you, might need a bit of work by hand around the edges and can probably supply the hardcore for you too, something like crushed concrete would be nice and cheap. .

R6TTJ

This is very helpfull thank you

I have been sitting here trying to work out how to level it out and what is best to use for hardcore!

I will start to call around to get a price for a grabber, digger and a man to do the work.. would you normally have to ask them to level it out (in other words do they charge more)..

phil24_7

For the hardcore, it's worth contacting some local skip companies as they may have a stone crusher on site. This will be dirt cheap compared to companies that specialise in this type of product as it is waste they would have to pay to dispose of. The local council may also have crushed up ashphalt etc they would be happy to part with.

Regards
Phil

chappers

If the grab man is any good he should be able to get you a pretty level surface, but if your going to get a man and machine in he will get it level enough that it shouldn't leave much work.
As said skip companies or the grab man will have access to cheap hardcore, either crushed concrete or as mentioned road planings.
Not sure where you are but I normally pay around £10 a tonne for crushed concrete and probably less for road planings, compared to type 1 hardcore that would be twice that if taken as a whole 20 tonne load or probably £40-50 if bought in a bulk bag.
The one thing to bear in mind with sometimes, with crushed concrete and in particular road plannings is they will compact down a lot more so you may need more than if you used a decent hardcore.

wrightk

As others have said paving expert is the bible when it comes to driveways,paths, patios etc

As you are planning to use the space for vehicles to park on beware of any advice on here that suggests the use of 'hardcore'.

There is a difference between hardcore and a proper 'sub base' which will be called mot type 1,803, 20mm to dust etc etc depending on where you live

Shop around for the sub base. We have a local quarry here which sells it for £18 a tonne or various other companies at around £35 per bulk bag

The point of having a sub base is that once it is compacted the fines in it will make it a 'tight' base that will not sink or move over time (unlike what others suggest by using old hardcore/crushed bricks etc). If you want to save money save it on the top layer not on the base that will support whatever weight is on it!

moneyistooshorttomention

I understand the law doesn't allow new non-permeable stuff to be put down any longer in gardens and believe that applies even to replacing existing "hard ground coverings".

Something I have been following because I'm still awaiting enough money to rip up tarmac in my garden and gather I couldn't replace it with something non-permeable if I wanted to (which I don't).

Reasons - so that the ground will drain okay.

wrightk

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I understand the law doesn't allow new non-permeable stuff to be put down any longer in gardens and believe that applies even to replacing existing "hard ground coverings".

Something I have been following because I'm still awaiting enough money to rip up tarmac in my garden and gather I couldn't replace it with something non-permeable if I wanted to (which I don't).

Reasons - so that the ground will drain okay.

planning portal;
If the surface to be covered is more than five square metres planning permission will be needed for laying traditional, impermeable driveways that do not provide for the water to run to a permeable area.

From driveway expert;
'Although the new regulations call for permeable paving, they do allow for non-permeable driveways to be installed as long as there is adequate provision for drainage within the property. This means that rainwater should be dispersed somehow, perhaps into the ground via a soakaway or into tanks for reuse within the property'

phil24_7

If your replacing like-for-like, who will notice?!?!