driveway project - picture heavy!

[Steve]

Here are some pictures of my garden / yard - my little quiet corner of Doncaster.

I am totally redoing the driveway - my plan is to do it myself using 2x2 slabs with paving bricks between, possibly a feature pattern in the middle too. It needs digging down so the surface is 4 inches lower than now, so I can get my car onto it. So I'm going to be removing quite a bit of soil from here.

I dont know how to tackle the concrete patio area. My original plan involved decking, but there isnt really much clearance below the back step, without digging out the concrete - which I really dont want to get into! So I thought seeing as the concrete is sturdy, I could level it somehow and lay a patio similar to the driveway. Any suggestions? Could I use some kind of self-levelling, to make the slabs really easy to lay?

I also have a query about drainage - the coalhouse has no drainage for its roof! The gutter just drops water into that green bucket (It looks like there used to be a pipe into the concrete under the kitchen window from the coalhouse, but its long gone, possibly to a 100-yr-old soakaway). The adjacent manhole drains into a foul sewer - not a combined - so am I right in thinking I cannot tap into this for a gulley? There are no gulleys at present - just the soil stack leads to this manhole. I could slope the patio to here too, for surface drainage. The drive will drain onto the pavement (I hope, if not I will put a gulley at one end, or a long drain)

The concrete area where the bins are - I suspect there was a small brick shed built here at some point, but there was a rotting wooden one there when I moved in. If I pepper this with holes, or break up the concrete and leave in situ, could I put a raised bed here using the soil from the drive?

And what would YOU do with that coalhouse?!?! The thought has stuck me to flatten it! But I have a feeling this would involve consultation with the neighbours - who rent their house, so this could be a nightmare.

Photos:

 

[Deluks]

You can lay the slabs on a mortar bed, and use a level to ensure it's level as you go along. You shouldn't go right up to the house wall though. Leave a 200mm strip and fill this with gravel/dashing spar.


If you've not got a combined sewer then you probably can't drain your water into the the foul. I seem to remember you live in a floody part of the country, so defo not. Have a nose about and find out where the other houses rainwater goes.
Stick a proper end on the gutter and get a water butt. If you get one with some sort of filter you could use it for washing the car, Or nick some milk crates from work and bury them at the bottom of your raised bed and fill with stone, then run a pipe into this as an overflow from the gutter.

Pepper with holes sounds like a plan. If you've an SDS you can do it without having to hire a biggie, start with the small bits and work your way up to at least about 20mm.
Or, if you've a grinder, grind a diamond grid into it and smash the life out of it with a sledge hammer.

The coalhouse? has been raised before. I'd tidy it up and make it a useful storage/utility area. You can use it for your filing cabinet

 

[Steve]

Deluks, thanks for your reply.

With regard to your recommended gap next to the house. Would it be just as well to install a "long drain" here between the coal house and the side gate? Unsure of the correct name, I mean the long grids that you might find along pavements in urban centres. This would be very useful, as I could then drain the coal house roof onto the pavement with the house roof (into the purpose-provided gulley).

Or did you want me to leave a gap for the DPC? 20cm seems a lot thats all, it'd look a little bit odd.

Thanks.

 

[Steve]

I had a day off today, so I broke ground on this. Well, I actually dug quite a bit!

I have taken off the slabs, and made good a large square area. The area will eventually slope gently across the whole area towards the pavement.

At the gate, I have removed the rotten wooden threshold (and it was very rotten!), and taken out the "internal" bricks of the top course. I will remove the outer bricks when I get the paving blocks to replace them - dont want anyone tripping on the pavement.

Here are some photos for your perusal!

I think the whole lot will be paved in the end. Apart from the grass. Might introduce a couple of feature bits and a couple of flower beds.