help with my garden

cgcockcroft

any ideas on what will make the best patio? should i use paving slabs or decking? i have 2 manhole covers which are slightly raised which creates a slight problem. is decking difficult to look after?

Doozergirl

Decking can be slippery when wet and will need some maintenance, but the effect of covering those manholes will be much better. That said, the block paving on our drive has a special cover whic h the block paving fits in to and you never notice it. It isn't all that hard to lower a manhole apparantly, but I'd be leaving that job to someone else!

It really annoys me when they are raised. We rented a new build house last year and there were three right in the middle of the garden and they were really high! The kids were always tripping over them. Just sloppiness on the part of the builder. If it were my own house I'd have got them out to sort it.

danielfulshaw

Doozergirl is correct - you can buy a drain product that accepts any paving surface. Look at Marshalls paving sold by Jewsons, Travis Perkins etc and you can buy these everywhere. As for lowering the sides of the manhole to conform to the surrounding height of the land it shouldn't be a problem as long a sthe shaft is very shallow say, for a rainwater gully. I did this job for my parents when I was 16! You just remove the cover and bash away at the cement holding it on, remove the require number of brick courses (carefully!)and check that , once you have allowed for the depth of the cover it will be level with the surrounding soil. Then you just need to cement on the new cover. The Marshalls product is quite deep because it has to allow for the paving to sit inside the cover recess so only worth doing when you actually come to pave.

cgcockcroft

thank you thats definatley food for thought, only problem now is find someone to do it!