Yard floor ideas

[SSW83]

Hi all,

I live in a terraced house with a small back yard and I'd like to do something with it to make it useabale for sitting out if we ever get any nice weather.

The floor of the yard is the thing that's got me stuck. I have attached some pictures to show the problem. About 80% of the concreted floor is sloped towards the drain by the wall (and has been painted green at some point), and the other 20% is not sloped, as I have been told there was an outside toilet there. This has obviously been removed, but has left a lip between the two sections of concrete. This whole thing looks a bit naff, and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on making it look nicer. I was thinking of decking the section where the toilet was, but would I have to break up the concrete for that?

Just point out, I have jet washed the floor since the pictures were taken.

Thanks for reading.

 

[London Mike 49]

You could do some research to see if this https://www.google.co.uk/imgres?img...fTTAhVlK8AKHTCQBBQQMwg6KA0wDQ&iact=mrc&uact=8 type of coating is suitable for your yard.
Just an idea

Mike

 

[r896neo]

Most important question first is do you have clearance to lay something on top?

I.e how far is it from the yard floor to the door threshold and can you locate your dpc? If so how much clearance beneath dpc do you have?

 

[SSW83]

Thanks for the replies.

To be honest, I was just thinking of leaving the concrete for the most part, and painting it, and/or putting down some artificial grass (we have a 1 year old who loves running around). While it's not the nicest thing to look at, it is a relatively good, flat surface, so the little one won't trip over it.

The bit I wanted to change is where the outside toilet used to be. In my mind I wanted to deck that area and stick a little bistro table and chairs on it, but not sure how I would go about that. I should also point out, that when I power-washed the yard at the weekend, the water collected in this section and didn't drain away for hours. I guess this could be a problem with having wooden decking.

As for the dpc, it is the second course up.

 

[Ian H]

You might be able to find the old outside toilet drain to help take that water away.

I'd go with decking and fake grass too.

 

[SSW83]

You might be able to find the old outside toilet drain to help take that water away.

I'd go with decking and fake grass too.

That's a good idea. I'm not sure how I would do that though. Regarding the decking, would I have to break through the concrete in the corners to anchor it down, or could I just sit it on the concrete?

 

[Ian H]

If you can see an odd circle of mortar where the outside toilet is you might be lucky and be able to chip it out to reveal the pipe, lots of people just put a grid over the open pipe. Quite often the outside toilets drop down into an interceptor trap so you wouldn't get smells venting from the main sewer.

I reckon you could sit in on the floor, fix your corners in those post clamps first then get your joists level as you fix to them.

http://www.google.co.uk/shopping/pr...TnbOGfl2V-zo0MC4WRzB77nBOyXuJk5iWbBoC7f3w_wcB

 

[SSW83]

I'm not able to spot a circle of mortar. I'll have a word with a few neighbours, see if they can shed light on where the pipe was, roughly.

And thanks for the info regarding the decking. Looks like I'm going to be busy for the next few weekends.