Garden lawn levelling

jonnydeppiwish!

Is the slope going away to the house or towards it? If away, do you really want to be levelling it and increasing the potentially of more water closer to the house?

piperm87

Hi all. Thanks for the comments

I had a measure up today and i over estimated slightly. Its about an 8 inch drop with the slope coming towards the house. The far left corner is the higest point then it drops going right and also towards the house.

Next doors Garden is higher than ours so id need to build a retaining wall for the fence should i lower the garden. I have a considerable amount of garden on the front which id like to get rid of and tarmac over so id like to use that to lift it up then go over with top soil before turfing. Atleast if i use that i wont need to pay for a grab truck to collect it. 

We wont get a mini digger down the side of my house so that option is out aswell im afraid. Im just not sure whether id be better off dropping soil over the old grass or whether i need to cut and rip it up before putting the soil down 

TELLIT01

You may want to check with your local council to see what they allow to be used for hardstanding.  Some won't permit it at all and others will demand that the surface be porous.  Better to know before you do the work than have them knock on the door after the event.

piperm87

The driveway slopes away from the house with a storm drain outside my neighbours house which is (again) on a downward slope. Our driveway is tarmac at minute and the water runs down to the storm drain. 

Not sure if this makes a difference ....

For reference it does say permeable surface on my council's website which would mean an mot 3 sub base i suppose

FreeBear

piperm87 said: For reference it does say permeable surface on my council's website which would mean an mot 3 sub base i suppose

I did a sub-base of crushed concrete, a layer of sharp sand, and then (relatively) cheap block pavers. As my drive slopes towards the road, I installed a linear drain across the front to go in to a small soakaway. Even with the heavy rains we had towards the end of last year, there was very little runoff into the road.

As long as you can intercept the bulk of any surface water and drain it away within your boundary, you don't need to get too hung up on the design & installation of a high permeable surface.

piperm87

Thanks freebear. I'm more concerned with the rear garden at minute. Id probably just put some mot down over the front garden once its dug off and just drive over it for the forceeable future.. i really need to crack on with getting the house finished once the gardens done so the driveway would have to wait until the end

Nobbie1967

piperm87 said:

Hi all. Thanks for the comments

I had a measure up today and i over estimated slightly. Its about an 8 inch drop with the slope coming towards the house. The far left corner is the higest point then it drops going right and also towards the house.

Next doors Garden is higher than ours so id need to build a retaining wall for the fence should i lower the garden. I have a considerable amount of garden on the front which id like to get rid of and tarmac over so id like to use that to lift it up then go over with top soil before turfing. Atleast if i use that i wont need to pay for a grab truck to collect it. 

We wont get a mini digger down the side of my house so that option is out aswell im afraid. Im just not sure whether id be better off dropping soil over the old grass or whether i need to cut and rip it up before putting the soil down 

You can just dump the new soil over the old grass, but I’d probably give it a cut on the lowest setting first just to reduce the possibility of any sinking as the grass rots. Best to do it in several layers and go over it after each layer pressing your heels in to compact it. Saves it sinking too much later.

piperm87

Nobbie1967 said:

piperm87 said:

Hi all. Thanks for the comments

I had a measure up today and i over estimated slightly. Its about an 8 inch drop with the slope coming towards the house. The far left corner is the higest point then it drops going right and also towards the house.

Next doors Garden is higher than ours so id need to build a retaining wall for the fence should i lower the garden. I have a considerable amount of garden on the front which id like to get rid of and tarmac over so id like to use that to lift it up then go over with top soil before turfing. Atleast if i use that i wont need to pay for a grab truck to collect it. 

We wont get a mini digger down the side of my house so that option is out aswell im afraid. Im just not sure whether id be better off dropping soil over the old grass or whether i need to cut and rip it up before putting the soil down 

You can just dump the new soil over the old grass, but I’d probably give it a cut on the lowest setting first just to reduce the possibility of any sinking as the grass rots. Best to do it in several layers and go over it after each layer pressing your heels in to compact it. Saves it sinking too much later.

Thanks, it would make life easier to be fair. it is due a cut so i will get that done before starting. I'm sure it'll be fun... NOT!