Front Garden wall knocked down, postcrete poured over - ugly

Hi





I recently had a builder knock down the wall in my front garden because it was loose and I was worried it was going to fall on a passer-by. I advised I'd like to be able to drive over what's left but I must admit I didn't think it was going to look this ugly afterwards.

My house faces a main road but the job just looks really tacky. I was wondering what your thoughts on what I could do just to make it look a little better. My drive is blackish, and the front pavement is blackish as you can see from pics, and I'm guessing just painting it isn't the solution (or is it?).

Any ideas how I can blend it in so it stands out so much?

Thanks
R

 

Jesus Christ! Did he ride off into the sunset?

 

He was meant to be coming back yesterday - guess what never happened.

 

Maybe he got chased out of town by the Sheriff and his posse!

 

Bit of a bodge up by the looks of it, from the photos it appears that either side of the mess where the wall was is tarmac. You can buy bitumen repair in bags from diy stores, it might help to cover it up. But first I would round up the posse to chase the cowboy down.

 

rick111, Hi

Try trading standards?

Did you pay him?

Ken

 

Dig or chisel it out to a couple of inches below grade. Remove all loose material down to a sound base. Fill with a couple of bags of cold lay tarmac/asphalt. Tamp down flat and level.

Jay

 

What's wrong with it?

 

This is in Lancashire not Manchester tony!

 

Were are the travelling community when you need em.

 

I agree, what is wrong with it?

If the customer asked for it to be concreted over that's what he has got. I don't know of any black concrete on the market and I don't know of a magical way of instantly ageing concrete to make it look old.

Whilst I agree the contrast is stark what exactly did the customer ask for?

A better solution (aesthetically) would have been to cut out a measured section and fill it with charcoal block paviors but this would have cost double.

 

Thanks for the replies

There is nothing wrong per se, was just wanting to drop it a few shades so it wasn't so outstandish.

Thanks

 

The man could have added some black admix to the concrete, which would have toned it down a little.

But after a few months, the concrete will gradually get dirty and not be so noticeable. In the meantime, try putting some dark-grey Sandtex paint on it. It will wear off in parts, but the overall tone will be darker. I did that some years ago when gas fitters took some macadam up off our path, and no-one ever notices it now.

 

Thanks I'll go and have a look today.

 

He came back with black birch paint and rolled it on. Then I pushed some loose gravel and dirt over it and I'm happy with result.

Now it just looks as bad as the rest of my drive, lol.





Thanks all for your comments.
R