Getting rid of decking!

evoke

I've got a lot of decking in my back garden that was installed prior to when I purchased the house. It looks rubbish now and there's the occasional rat hiding under it.

Has anyone had their decking removed and garden landscaped with something nicer?

What sort of effort and cost would be involved? I'm just looking at order of magnitude at the moment.

peter_the_piper

You could always dismantle the decking and use the planks for raised flower/veg beds.

Davesnave

evoke wrote: »

What sort of effort and cost would be involved? I'm just looking at order of magnitude at the moment.

So are the people who might be able to help!


I'm not being picky when I say thatif there is no picture and no other quantified evidence, what chance has anyone here of answering intelligently?

This is a building job for a landscaper, so it might sit better in 'In my Home,' but I'd seriously consider re-working the question or providing pictures/plans, or you'll be told the same thing.

'A lot' of decking could literally cost thousands to alter into a paved area, if maintaining the same levels is important. It's costing me that, but my idea of a lot and yours could differ!

NeverInDebt

I am just about to get rid of mine around 2.8 metres by 2.8 metres. Having it replaced with natural stone (Tradestone Artisan Calibrated Paving Project). No idea of the cost yet waiting for it to come, a friend is doing it for us. I am reusing some of the decking for later projects ones that I can save. I have previously built some flower troughs which I have treated before hand these were new boards. I never throw anything out of I can help it

andrewf75

evoke wrote: »

What sort of effort and cost would be involved? I'm just looking at order of magnitude at the moment.

as others have said how long is a piece of string?

you could spend anything from a few hundred to multiple thousands depending on what you do and whether you do it yourself or pay someone to do it.

You could just smash it up take it to the tip (or re-use as suggested) and replace with lawn or gravel very cheaply or paving for a bit more cost, but anything fancy and it will be expensive.

phoebe1989seb

Agree that it is a piece of string question, but to give our recent experience -

When we bought our new (400 year old) cottage we inherited a death trap of a decked area that was also an absolute eyesore. We cut up the decking boards, laid some geotextile and covered with gravel. DH built some raised veg beds - not using the decking which was hideous and fairly rotten, that will get used in the chiminea, but with new, untreated oak sleepers - and now the area is both attractive and productive

The decking removed covered an area of just over 4m x 4m. We used two and a half dumpy bags of gravel.

There was an attached covered space of 2.5m x 2m that was also decked. We retained this as a seating area for days when the weather is not so good, laying an outdoor rug over the decking.

The gravel and weed suppressant probably cost less than £200. The rug was about £60 from Pikea. Admittedly the sleepers weren't cheap, but as a previous poster said, you could reuse your decking boards if they are in better condition than ours were. Obviously by DIYing the job we saved loads.....

Head_The_Ball

We purchased a 2014 built house in 2011.

It has a 10 x 11 metre rear garden, a quarter of which was badly installed decking, the rest being a poor quality lawn and concrete paving slabs.

We wanted a low maintenance garden so last year we had the whole rear garden cleared and landscaped with Marshall's Indian Limestone paving, gravel borders, artificial grass circles in the centre and a shed/summerhouse.

The cost was about £12,000 excluding the sundial, pots, artificial trees and furniture in the pictures.

We are delighted with the results.

We went from this:





To this:



We have added some artificial trees and other decorative items but this is the latest photo I have.

A year later it still looks as good as the day it was finished and our fake grass is still green whereas all our neighbours lawns have turned brown in the dry sunny summer weather.

Grenage

The cost of removal is a bit of elbow grease and some trips to the dump.


You can lay a lawn for next to nothing with seed, or pay for a patio etc. The price is the latter will vary heavily depending on size/materials/location/et cetera.


We ripped out about 20 square metres of it last year and put it all to grass and shrubs. Much more to our tastes.