Complete garden landscaping.

[daiking]

Forgot to look at the stream. Wife decided that with spare turf she would crack on with the small jungle at the front on the house. Overgrown grass, horsetail and a forsythia. Fair play she did the hard work although I'm not sure just how thorough she was at removing the existing grass and horsetail. I did recently spray it.

 

So I get home and the bit she hasn't done has a FIBC 2/3 full of soft sand on it. So guess who had to decant enough sand to move the bag, then refill the bag before putting the last bit of turf down. God it looks a mess - 3 day old turf - but nothing lost for trying. Think I've over watered the back lawn last night so I might give it can miss or take it easy this morning. 

 

Currently battling the lurgy which is mix of cub camp and a bad reaction to a large number of insect bites. It doesn't help. Been getting bites ever since I started spending time next the garden - May time - and camping in the woods didn't help either. Already had a course of antibiotics in June for it. Was given an antihistamine, lozatridine (?), but I don't take it because it gives me mood swings - usually a bad mood. Need to ask the pharmacist for an alternative.

Edited July 18, 2017 by daiking

[daiking]

Voila

[jack]

3 hours ago, daiking said:

Was given an antihistamine, lozatridine (?), but I don't take it because it gives me mood swings - usually a bad mood. Need to ask the pharmacist for an alternative.

 

Cetirizine is another modern antihistamine with similar results/dosage etc. Give it a try in place of loratadine. 

[daiking]

43 minutes ago, jack said:

 

Cetirizine is another modern antihistamine with similar results/dosage etc. Give it a try in place of loratadine. 

 

I will have to because I've taken it this time and because I'm a bit under the weather anyway, the drowsiness has hit me. When I'm my normal self, the grumpiness is probably just my way of showing very mild drowsiness.

[daiking]

11 hours ago, jack said:

 

Cetirizine is another modern antihistamine with similar results/dosage etc. Give it a try in place of loratadine. 

 

Went to the docs today, been given 10 days meds this time and advised to take a couple of days rest from work. So no gardening (except watering) for a few days.

[daiking]

So, back to this. I now need to

 

lay a landscape fabric and spread bark over approx. 20m²

Make a shed base for an 8x6 shed on this bark area...

Set up the kids play house on this bark area...

Sort out the rear side return so I can artificial turf it.

Lay that ducting for external electrical supply (partly under the barked area, doh)

Sort out foul water drains

 

Leaving the big job of the patio and its retaining wall.

 

Not much to go at when I've got 1001 inside jobs too over the next few weeks.

[Nickfromwales]

Light at the end of the tunnel now though . 

[daiking]

40 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

Light at the end of the tunnel now though . 

 

That's still a train.

[Onoff]

6 minutes ago, daiking said:

 

That's still a train.

 

There's a train both ends of the tunnel here!

[daiking]

3 hours ago, Onoff said:

 

There's a train both ends of the tunnel here!

 

Not to worry, yours are stationary.

[daiking]

So this is where the patio will be. As high as possible under the bi fold sill, coming out 4ish metres with 1m ish retaining wall. All that material you see is backfill.

 

One builder told us that any patio would soon be a mess as the backfill settles - which is can understand but I was expecting to put a proper concrete slab on it anyway. Instead he suggested a suspended patio on block and beam. Waiting for a quote back for that but sounds expensive. Could a ground bearing slab be put on the backfill?

Edited July 27, 2017 by daiking

[PeterW]

5 minutes ago, daiking said:

Could a ground bearing slab be put on the backfill?

 

Yes ... assuming you get some decent hardcore onto it and a heavy wacker plate. Do it in stages and you can compact pretty much anything. 

 

Ideally you want the retaining wall in place to keep the soil from moving - when is that planned to be built ..?

[Ferdinand]

2 hours ago, daiking said:

So this is where the patio will be. As high as possible under the bi fold sill, coming out 4ish metres with 1m ish retaining wall. All that material you see is backfill.

 

One builder told us that any patio would soon be a mess as the backfill settles - which is can understand but I was expecting to put a proper concrete slab on it anyway. Instead he suggested a suspended patio on block and beam. Waiting for a quote back for that but sounds expensive. Could a ground bearing slab be put on the backfill?

 

Do you decent ground conditions there now or is it already full of rubble?

 

If so why not cast some concrete piers in situ first using shuttering or moulds.

 

Or drill wide - say 300mm - 'post holes' using a hired auger, then put an 8" pipe down the middle but not the bottom to the height of your patio support. Fill the pipe with a wettish mix which will come up the side to give a wide base, and you have a post from which you can cut off the pipe if you wish.

 

Or hire a couple of people to do it.

 

Then fill around your structure with your rubble or whatever, and build the patio on the piers.

 

You can buy such moulds off the shelf if you look.

 

Or design your patio to be relayable easily.

 

Ferdinand

 

Edited July 27, 2017 by Ferdinand

[daiking]

2 hours ago, PeterW said:

 

Yes ... assuming you get some decent hardcore onto it and a heavy wacker plate. Do it in stages and you can compact pretty much anything. 

 

Ideally you want the retaining wall in place to keep the soil from moving - when is that planned to be built ..?

I've watched the extension being built, I realise the wall will need to be built first.

[daiking]

26 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

 

Do you decent ground conditions there now or is it already full of rubble?

 

If so why not cast some concrete piers in situ first using shuttering or moulds.

 

Or drill wide - say 300mm - 'post holes' using a hired auger, then put an 8" pipe down the middle but not the bottom to the height of your patio support. Fill the pipe with a wettish mix which will come up the side to give a wide base, and you have a post from which you can cut off the pipe if you wish.

 

Or hire a couple of people to do it.

 

Then fill around your structure with your rubble or whatever, and build the patio on the piers.

 

You can buy such moulds off the shelf if you look.

 

Or design your patio to be relayable easily.

 

Ferdinand

 

My wife is generally against the idea of a suspended patio. She would be happy with lots of earth and lots of concrete. She doesn't understand that the earth will settle over time. And when it's down, it's down. No lifting. It needs to be permanent - hence sorting the drains too. 

 

She is looking at a vitrified porcelain paving stone on top.  I do the want to be wrecking that to dig it up in the near future or have it crack over a dodgy sub base.

[bassanclan]

It sounds like the ideal situation for decking!

[Ferdinand]

11 minutes ago, bassanclan said:

It sounds like the ideal situation for decking!

 

Or plastic decking.

 

I cannot see how something with up to a metre of fill can't move, short of leaving it as a rubble pile for a year or two to settle. Presumably the management will not spprove of that.

 

I think your slab may have to be self-supporting and reinforced.

 

F

Edited July 27, 2017 by Ferdinand

[daiking]

17 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

 

Or plastic decking.

 

I cannot see how something with up to a metre of fill can't move, short of leaving it as a rubble pile for a year or two to settle. Presumably the management will not spprove of that.

 

I think your slab may have to be self-supporting and reinforced.

 

F

 

17 hours ago, bassanclan said:

It sounds like the ideal situation for decking!

 

Decking is out of the question. Partly because of less than solid feel but mostly because of unwanted guests. There is plenty of local wildlife that would love some decking.

 

I had always assumed we would be going down a slab route anyway, 45sq m at 100mm is not a massive amount of concrete and I would.trust paving laying monkeysprofessional pavers more if they were laying on a slab than a sub base they had 'carefully prepared'.

Edited July 28, 2017 by daiking

[Nickfromwales]

I wouldn't have decking if it was free. Can't stand the stuff. Slippery, maintenance hungry, and takes a lot to keep looking even half decent. 

?

[daiking]

Got a quote for a 45 sq m patio approx 0.6 - 1m above garden. Block and beam construction.

 

£20,000+

 

 

[PeterW]

6 hours ago, daiking said:

Got a quote for a 45 sq m patio approx 0.6 - 1m above garden. Block and beam construction.

 

£20,000+

 

 

 

WTF..??!! What are they building it out of ..?? 85sqm of foundations and first floor walls cost me less than that...!!!

[daiking]

2 hours ago, PeterW said:

 

WTF..??!! What are they building it out of ..?? 85sqm of foundations and first floor walls cost me less than that...!!!

 

I can pm you the quote if you want to see. It is... expensive.

 

quoted for £205/cu. m of concrete for footings. 

Edited August 4, 2017 by daiking

[Onoff]

Don't seem to be doing a bad job:

 

 

[Ferdinand]

Late with this reflection, but can you put something useful under the patio ... eg storage area for tools and stuff that struggles to find homes elsewhere, or even a wine cellar (!).

 

That will not help the size of your quote, however - but it may maybe (perhaps) help persuade SWMBO.

 

Ferdinand

Edited August 6, 2017 by Ferdinand