Redoctober

We have a fairly large driveway area covered with 20mm chippings. No membrane was used on the advice of the landscaper. He said it was a waste of money as the stones would tear into the membrane and allow the weeds to flourish regardless. We don't suffer from weeds and I think that is due to the preparation of the sub base. Yes, the odd one will appear but they are quickly and easily dealt with. As for existing growth, weedkiller would do the trick but I think the answer lies in the sub base preparation. Get that right and save yourself the cost of a membrane.

Blimey, good luck with that! I completly agree with you and sympatise too, as we all know the female species can be a true force of nature at times😁 This dilemma you have - or build up of pressure before you yield - has beed discussed here at home, and somewhat unsurprisingly, Mrs W favours wallpaper in a cloakroom too! That said, we don't have it in ours thankfully. So how did I win the day? Time is a great healer and I'm not entirely sure how the discussion ended in my favour but the points you raised were certainly at the forefront of my case.

Sadly no idea - The stone mason owned it and brought it along on the day it was needed. But I think @Redbeard has found a similar thing. Not sure if it has the "scoop" on it mind. Try this - https://www.google.com/search?q=Mini+Dumper+Power+Barrow+Lumag+Germany+MD500HPROS+500KG+Self+loading+shovel&oq=Mini+Dumper+Power+Barrow+Lumag+Germany+MD500HPROS+500KG+Self+loading+shovel&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQRRg8MgYIAhBFGDwyBggDEEUYPdIBCTEyMjlqMGoxNagCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

sorry late to this thread and probably too late to save your back - but maybe look to hire one of these😁

Yes, we too watched the programme and I couldn't quite ubderstand what it was purporting to be. It certainly didn't feel like a permanant residence, for many reasons, including the list you have mentioned. It just felt like either a holiday place or at worst, a "posh bothy".

This is a key element too - all in the preparation. As for a woven geotextile membrane, we were advised against having it by the landscaper. His thoughts were it would only get torn over time - the sub base we had down with the 20mm on top would be good enough and I have to say he was right. No weed growth as such, just what gets blown in. Easy maintance all round.

We have a fair expanse of lawn too - It was never "accurately levelled" at the onset of the turf going down, just raked and pulled by the landscapers to a level, which seemed about right ! Given our location, we were happy for this to be the case, as it didn't need any accuracy as such . Yes, since mowing it, I do notice a very slight gradient but nothing that causes us an issue or is obvious to the naked eye. We didn't have to worry about drainage as such. Since the lawns have been down, we have never experienced any standing water, due to the decent soil it sits on I suppose. As for any slope, I suppose it depends upon your situation, how level you want it to be and how obvious a slope would be / sit, in the overall scheme of the garden? Another photo to hopefully help and put things into context.

We have quite an area of "driveway" and opted for 20mm granite chips. In my view they work much better than any smaller stone, as they do stay in place better. Anything smaller would be too easily distributed I feel - see photo for our set up - Occasionally, / rarely, I will rake them over but other than that, job done.

Hi @BHACHA16 We moved from MK to our current location some 7 years ago. From what I can recall of MK, land / plots are scarce and come at a premium. Your introduction raises many questions, which if answered, may assist you and other members, to provide you will more informed details. Have you secured a plot? What size house or you planning? How much of the work are you intending to do yourself? What is your preferred construction method? etc ..

welcome @Stratman you are certainly in the right place. It is interesting to read that you have designed your house along similar lines to one you have previously lived in. This is exactly what we did. We found that our exisiting house layout worked well for us and would do so in future years, so opted for a similar layout with additional bits. You may wish to read thriough my blog which charts our progress back in the day. Be mindful though some of the "figures" are no doubt well past their "best befre date" as we completed our project back in 2018. That said, the process remains pretty much the same I would argue. Anyway, good luck and keep us all posted.

I don't think there was any meaning in his suggestion, other than simply trying to offer me a way, that would re-assure me that the mositure in the slab had been dealt with. I did employ this method and it seemed to provide me with that re-assurance I needed prior to tiling etc. 👍

When we had ours put down, the UFH guy suggested a way of seeing whether or not the moisture had gone. He said tape down a large square bit of plastic sheeting to see if any "mositure" apperared on the bottom of it overnight. He also recommended using a particular progrmme on the UFH system which ran the heating for a period of time - warming the slab up nice and slowly - reaching a peak of around 40C - before coming back down.

Needed for sign off ! How close to the threshold were you? I have known people who have "been allowed to leave a gap" somewhere in order to raise the figure in their favour. But that said, your feeling has hit this debate square on the head. It does carry weight though, as you have lived without such a thing for a good few years and one could argue, your lifestyle hasn't been affected by it not being in your life. No one can really argue against the benefits of such a system, it boils down to whether or not the individual considers it a worthy investment, on balance.

@bmj1 for our Indian sandstone slabs outside, I have used "easy joint" - comes in many colour ways. It has done a very good job since it has been down, so worth the investment I feel.

Likewise, I'm in full agreement. In fact we have them in our house - Kitchen / hallway etc. and they look a treat with the finished grout. Not sure how you will "grout" them in outdoors though. Have you considered what product you will be using for that purpose?