canalsiderenovation

Most definitely not! It was bad enough doing a concrete base for the shed/chicken coop.

It's a nightmare for us here. It's been a mix of gravel/bit of block paving from the beginning and even with membrane - the weeds, trees (we are surrounded by oak, sycamore and other trees) the wet (we are on a slight slope), it's awful. I just can't justify the cost though. We are getting some quotes for tarmac so we can compare. It's a large area - I'd guess close to 300m2.

We are in the process of of also getting quotes for tarmac and looking at if this can be made 'prettier' and establishing cost, e.g. how it compares to the £28k price of imprinted concrete. I'm worried about concrete cracking. I'm not a fan of tarmac though and really don't think it looks attractive!

Spotted it! We will continue with our research and it would be interesting to compare prices against other surfaces. I presume resin is even more expensive.

Thanks @joe90 that's good to know. The cost is huge but the thought of it being low maintenance is very appealing to us. My Aunt's had it down 15 years and it still looks as good as new. I think a lot depends on getting a good contractor - like anything really.

We are seriously considering imprinted concrete for our drive. The company is very reputable and we know someone who had them do theirs 15 years ago and it's still going strong. We have viewed some work and it certainly looks impressive. We have asked about cracks, thickness sealing etc and have been reassured that fibre mesh is used to reduce likelihood of craking and thickness would be 125mm. We also asked about it being slippy and he said he would add crushed glass to sealant (or something like this). We have a large area (probably close to 300m2) and we are expecting it to be around £27k and that's with three acro drains (we would need these either way with permeable or non permeable surfacing due to the fact we are on a slight slope and we naturally have water that runs from the nearby farm/over canal bridge). We know resin is likely to be more expensive plus edging etc and I think tarmac is going to look like a runway. Having got gravel and some block paving, the block paving is a nightmare with weeding and the gravel just turns to mush and is a nightmare. Anyone have any direct experience of it.

Try https://www.borderhardwood.com/

Well we may rethink the bricks, just won 3 pallets (36 sleepers) for just over £350. We only wanted 20 so I'm thinking now of creating a shape around it with the sleepers....

It's the kerbstones we hate and the shape doesn't help!

Anyone want any edging? Bugger to move it. Two pieces gone.

Naffer than its current appearance?

😂 We did have a proper narrowboat but sold it to fund the landscaping and to get things finally sorted - the hens and ducks used to jump on the boat too but after one hen had a brief dip into the canal they steered clear of the water! The Llangollen canal is of course the nicest canal on the network 😉

We have this tree which we call our bonsai bush (I know it isn't, but I've no idea what it is). Whilst it does look like it's been plonked in the middle of the garden we are reluctant to move it a) it's likely to die and b) it does add some character and c) the chickens shelter under it when it's raining! Unfortunately the sort of edging that has been plonked around it (we didn't do it) make it look particularly naff. It's been built up quite a bit which isn't really necessary as the roots are far lower so we can get rid of some of the soil and membrane and plum slate on top. We have cleaned up quite a lot of engineering bricks and I'm thinking now would be a good idea to try my hand at bricklaying! What do you think? Could a circular brick wall around this work? And can it be single brick? Tips for a complete novice on how to tackle this. Or just leave well alone 😬

Fab, we actually have some on the old railway sleepers on the embankment where our motorway crash barriers are. I suspect from the old railway that was dismantled in the 60s and the fact they are still there and intact (but partly buried in places) makes me tempted to go with the reclaimed ones. The place we have seen them have sent pics of reclaimed and hardwood.

Hiya We are waiting to do a raised border/bed due to some difficulty with levels in the garden. We are thinking railway sleepers. We want the old kind, the stuff that is unlikely to fall apart in 12 months. So far we have been quoted £25 for hardwood and £28.50 for reclaimed (8ft). What the difference and anyone know of any cheaper? I've seen the concrete ones too but no idea on pricing.

Our builder is working on laying our porcelain patio which is nearly finished and we have supplied all the porcelain. We need to sort out the grout too which we forgot about and an appropriate colour 😬 I'm thinking a grey colour would work well? Our tiles are a blue/grey granite effect? Anyone have any recommendations of what to use?

Ok then this may be a silly question so bear with. Builders due to start work on our double garage imminently. It's detached and will be about 60 metres away from the bungalow. There is a power cable already from the old garage that was demolished (power cable runs from the bungalow to garage underground). We were looking into batteries but I'm wondering if we should consider more solar on the garage, specifically in roof panels. On the bungalow we have 12 X 320w panels and Growatt 3600 and our Solic diverting excess to immersion and are also exporting any extra. I am presuming to add extra we would need DNO permission but I guess in terms of connecting the garage up to the bungalow for import/exporting it would be a nightmare and involve all sorts of issues to get to the inverter etc.

Am I the only one who sees a frog on the bottom part, it's body and two legs.

Motorway barriers with fencing attached, we have just done a small area to retain an old raised rockery area that was falling. Fencing to be secured onto it at later point. For info, my original post on the retaining wall idea ....

Our builder has suggested a composite decking type 'bridge' rather than a porcelain path which we really like the sound of. 50 odd samples of composite decking later and we really like the look of Trex Transcend. Feels far more sturdy than Millboard and in a couple of different colours we like. Anyone used it (middle pic sample loos dusty as it's what builder gave us).

That's interesting 🤔 I'll definitely keep an eye out on their website.

Local company, owner knows my parents so got a good discount and extra too which will come in for later down the line. Yes we didn't want them too high, by the time we have planted the lavender and it grows it will be just right.

@S2D2 we haven't got the porcelain laid yet but it will be below the blue brick inside and the height will be 50cm from the bottom of the blue brick. Ground needs building up levelling outside planters and the white render will match the walls yet but here's some pics. We also sorted our porcelain. All 100m2 of it with 'a bit extra thrown in' for £2200 (we are having another patio area with gazebo). It's like a smooth almost granite like effect.

@lizzie what did you use? We are having ours rendered and we contacted the Ecorend as we didn't really want silicone render but they do a monocouche render to match the house. We asked the render company for advice and they said; Planters are notoriously difficult. We would advise that these are tanked from behind with a waterproof membrane. This should reduce the moisture coming through from the soil/plats etc when they are back filled. I would also advise a coat of W2 Waterproof bonding coat to the front surface that is being rendered this again will help with any moisture from the back. Then apply a basecoat and leave with a keyed finish to receive the required topcoat of either Monocouche or SR15. What waterproof membrane did you use? Anyone else got any other suggestions? Like @lizzie our planters are open to the ground below so we are planning on some gravel for drainage in the bottom of the planters.

It was 129.9 for diesel recently, haven't been out today. It's been in all the national newspapers and TV channels in the past few weeks. Grindley Brook was famous, couldn't get out of our house down the lane as it was chaos at the petrol station (our access is through the forecourt)! Link to Scum article (sorry only one I could find at moment) https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thesun.co.uk/motors/22355533/petrol-station-slashed-diesel-25p-litre/amp/