Hi all, we moved house a year ago and have managed to get the inside sorted, but the gardens are doing our heads in - very depressing because I'm currently not in a position to throw wads of cash at landscaping, so have to try to do most of it myself.
So I have some questions that I'd be hugely grateful if anyone could answer....
Firstly, does anyone have any idea of what it might cost me to hire a mini digger with a driver to level out my sloping garden? This is a part that I will spend some money on if it make life easier - size to level is about 45 feet wide by 30 ft deep, plus some trenches for retaining wall footings. Any advice appreciated on this...
The garden slopes down towards the house and rises slightly across its width on one side. I want to level it out by removing excess from the back and scraping it all forward to raise the front slightly. I would like to build a front retaining wall probably 3 blocks high - I'm told that this needs to be built double skinned with concrete blocks. I also want a low flight of wide steps from the patio up to the lawn - what is the best or easiest way to make these?
What level should I start out at, bearing in mind I have to do the patio as well? I've hammered in a post that is where I think the lower wall should start and the patio runs down to, and I'm told that a series of posts dotted around will give me my levels...
The existing wonky 'patio' is the original from 1964 it seems, and is laid on ash and clinker with about 30mm of sand that the slabs are set on. It's completely knackered and dangerous so needs redoing. How deep do I need the type 1 and sand to make a reasonable base?
We have soak-aways that remove rainfall water, but I don't know where these go and how deep they are - I really want to install one of those long grill drains at the foot of the new wall where the new patio will slope down to so there's no standing water - how do I hook this up to the existing soakaways?
The biggest question of all is: where the hell do I start with all this??? On paper it's not a huge job, but I'm not a landscaper, so it causes me a headache trying to figure it all out - any advice on all or any the above would be massively appreciated.
So I have some questions that I'd be hugely grateful if anyone could answer....
Firstly, does anyone have any idea of what it might cost me to hire a mini digger with a driver to level out my sloping garden? This is a part that I will spend some money on if it make life easier - size to level is about 45 feet wide by 30 ft deep, plus some trenches for retaining wall footings. Any advice appreciated on this...
The garden slopes down towards the house and rises slightly across its width on one side. I want to level it out by removing excess from the back and scraping it all forward to raise the front slightly. I would like to build a front retaining wall probably 3 blocks high - I'm told that this needs to be built double skinned with concrete blocks. I also want a low flight of wide steps from the patio up to the lawn - what is the best or easiest way to make these?
What level should I start out at, bearing in mind I have to do the patio as well? I've hammered in a post that is where I think the lower wall should start and the patio runs down to, and I'm told that a series of posts dotted around will give me my levels...
The existing wonky 'patio' is the original from 1964 it seems, and is laid on ash and clinker with about 30mm of sand that the slabs are set on. It's completely knackered and dangerous so needs redoing. How deep do I need the type 1 and sand to make a reasonable base?
We have soak-aways that remove rainfall water, but I don't know where these go and how deep they are - I really want to install one of those long grill drains at the foot of the new wall where the new patio will slope down to so there's no standing water - how do I hook this up to the existing soakaways?
The biggest question of all is: where the hell do I start with all this??? On paper it's not a huge job, but I'm not a landscaper, so it causes me a headache trying to figure it all out - any advice on all or any the above would be massively appreciated.
