I'm looking to replace a patio that the previous owner of my house placed in the front garden. The garden is around 9'x17' and the patio sits in the middle at 7'x15'. The patio wasn't dug down to be level with the garden so it sits around two inches above the level of the garden. It also has a hardcore base of around 6 inches.
It's ugly and I want to get rid of it. Ideally, I'd like to turf the whole area. The patio slabs came up easily but the hardcore base has been more of a problem. I couldn't crack it with a sledgehammer so I called someone to quote for removing it and it came back at quite a lot.
My question is, could I leave that hardcore base in there and turf over it if I covered it with a couple of inches of topsoil? I understand drainage could be an issue but thought maybe it could be OK since the hardcore doesn't cover the whole garden, there's a border of around a foot running right the way round.
I'm not green fingered so please go easy if I'm being a bit ignorant here! If this isn't possible I might have to look for some other solution, like filling the area which woodchips and creating raised planters.
It's ugly and I want to get rid of it. Ideally, I'd like to turf the whole area. The patio slabs came up easily but the hardcore base has been more of a problem. I couldn't crack it with a sledgehammer so I called someone to quote for removing it and it came back at quite a lot.
My question is, could I leave that hardcore base in there and turf over it if I covered it with a couple of inches of topsoil? I understand drainage could be an issue but thought maybe it could be OK since the hardcore doesn't cover the whole garden, there's a border of around a foot running right the way round.
I'm not green fingered so please go easy if I'm being a bit ignorant here! If this isn't possible I might have to look for some other solution, like filling the area which woodchips and creating raised planters.
