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I'm finally getting round to sorting the delapidated patio at the back of our house. It is a strange shape, a combination of squarish patio with an 8% slope and a level-ish shed base separated by steps down needed for the sloping garden (a drop of about 1.6m at the end of the patio, with a further wall and drop a few metres later).
I tend to get carried away with projects so would appreciate some second opinions. My wife switches between being unable to make a decision on anything to saying "No" repeatedly, with nothing useful inbetween.
I want to do as much of the work myself and have done decking and small areas of flagstones before.
Funding whatever we do isn't an issue. We are likely to move in around 2 years' time, so something to sell the house is probably more important than our ideal.
There are some complications:
1. The patio was built on an annoying 8% slope, dropping some 45 cm over the 554 cm width. The tops of the concrete blocks are at an ideal height for a 1% drainage slope.
2. I don't want to replace the decrepit shed that I've just knocked down (it was the previous owner's workshop and we have 2 other sheds) and adding an extra step to meet a 1% slope will even further give the impression of a patio split into 2.
3. We have had an infestation of horses' tail, a weed difficult to kill off. I've started on strong weedkiller, but as it takes several years to kill off I need to build with surviving roots in mind.
For a design, I'd like to extend the patio's concrete brick wall to the full width of the back and put in new steps that will have to drop 1.5 to 2 m depending on the design. However, That may be overkill for us and I'm not happy with repeatedly lifting the weight of the standard Selco hollow concrete blocks I've just used on another job.
My main options are:
1. Wooden decking. The cheapest and easiest, not least because I don't have to fill the void under a level patio, but I don't like it.
2. Composite decking. More resilient than wooden decking, but also more expensive.
3. Stone patio. This is my favourite, but there are lots of options. Ideally, I'd like to have a levelish patio, which I think will require lots of concreteing to raise the level from an 8% to 1% slope.
I attach some images, one of a plan and 2 quick views. I won't be able to take an image of a cleared patio for a couple of weeks so hope these are good enough.
I tend to get carried away with projects so would appreciate some second opinions. My wife switches between being unable to make a decision on anything to saying "No" repeatedly, with nothing useful inbetween.
I want to do as much of the work myself and have done decking and small areas of flagstones before.
Funding whatever we do isn't an issue. We are likely to move in around 2 years' time, so something to sell the house is probably more important than our ideal.
There are some complications:
1. The patio was built on an annoying 8% slope, dropping some 45 cm over the 554 cm width. The tops of the concrete blocks are at an ideal height for a 1% drainage slope.
2. I don't want to replace the decrepit shed that I've just knocked down (it was the previous owner's workshop and we have 2 other sheds) and adding an extra step to meet a 1% slope will even further give the impression of a patio split into 2.
3. We have had an infestation of horses' tail, a weed difficult to kill off. I've started on strong weedkiller, but as it takes several years to kill off I need to build with surviving roots in mind.
For a design, I'd like to extend the patio's concrete brick wall to the full width of the back and put in new steps that will have to drop 1.5 to 2 m depending on the design. However, That may be overkill for us and I'm not happy with repeatedly lifting the weight of the standard Selco hollow concrete blocks I've just used on another job.
My main options are:
1. Wooden decking. The cheapest and easiest, not least because I don't have to fill the void under a level patio, but I don't like it.
2. Composite decking. More resilient than wooden decking, but also more expensive.
3. Stone patio. This is my favourite, but there are lots of options. Ideally, I'd like to have a levelish patio, which I think will require lots of concreteing to raise the level from an 8% to 1% slope.
I attach some images, one of a plan and 2 quick views. I won't be able to take an image of a cleared patio for a couple of weeks so hope these are good enough.
