Front garden rebuild diary
Discussion
I recently decided it would be a good idea to block pave the half of my driveway that wasn't already blocked and have done a few photo's so thought I'd share!
This is just after I started (forgot to do the before photo!). The stumps around the outline of the garden where some kind of hedge that had grown around itself. The official term for removing them is 'proper
'! There was also a tree in the middle around 25ft tall with a 1ft wide trunk - took 1 day to get out on its own!
This is after the hedges were out and the tree stump removed to the middle roots. Plenty more work went in to taking out the 6 inch wide bd roots!
Again, forgot to take photo's when the digging was going on! In short, I took out about 200mm of hard clay soil on a ~25sqm base, by hand. I reckon around 9 tons in 2 days - starting at 6am and working through to 10pm (only had a week off work!). This photo doesn't show the groundwork under the sand - it's around 100mm of Type 1 (~5 tons for 25sqm) and about 40mm of sand (~2.5 tons). (BTW - I'm the big ugly fekker by the front door!)
Finally, with the blocks down and my baby on it!
All in all, it took about 4 weeks of me working whenever I could. I had a week off work but got flu after 3 days so couldn't really function very well! All of the digging out and dumping of soil/bushes etc was done by hand into a 3/4 ton trailer so took absolutely ages! Plus I don't get home from work until at least 6:30 and the local tip shuts at 7:00 so cut it rather fine most days! Total cost for the whole thing was about £750 which was basically the aggregate and blocks.
If anyone is thinking of doing this to your own front garden, there are a couple of things I would recommend. 1) hire a digger (only took me 2 days, but I couldn't move my left leg for a day after and ended up in the boot of a Land Rover going to Chiro as I couldn't sit down!) and 2) get the aggregate delivered instead of getting it in your own trailer (worth paying the extra and the driver will usually split the bag over the area it's going to be spread over to save you digging it out!)
This is just after I started (forgot to do the before photo!). The stumps around the outline of the garden where some kind of hedge that had grown around itself. The official term for removing them is 'proper
'! There was also a tree in the middle around 25ft tall with a 1ft wide trunk - took 1 day to get out on its own!This is after the hedges were out and the tree stump removed to the middle roots. Plenty more work went in to taking out the 6 inch wide b
d roots!Again, forgot to take photo's when the digging was going on! In short, I took out about 200mm of hard clay soil on a ~25sqm base, by hand. I reckon around 9 tons in 2 days - starting at 6am and working through to 10pm (only had a week off work!). This photo doesn't show the groundwork under the sand - it's around 100mm of Type 1 (~5 tons for 25sqm) and about 40mm of sand (~2.5 tons). (BTW - I'm the big ugly fekker by the front door!)
Finally, with the blocks down and my baby on it!
All in all, it took about 4 weeks of me working whenever I could. I had a week off work but got flu after 3 days so couldn't really function very well! All of the digging out and dumping of soil/bushes etc was done by hand into a 3/4 ton trailer so took absolutely ages! Plus I don't get home from work until at least 6:30 and the local tip shuts at 7:00 so cut it rather fine most days! Total cost for the whole thing was about £750 which was basically the aggregate and blocks.
If anyone is thinking of doing this to your own front garden, there are a couple of things I would recommend. 1) hire a digger (only took me 2 days, but I couldn't move my left leg for a day after and ended up in the boot of a Land Rover going to Chiro as I couldn't sit down!) and 2) get the aggregate delivered instead of getting it in your own trailer (worth paying the extra and the driver will usually split the bag over the area it's going to be spread over to save you digging it out!)
I hope you followed the regs and got permission for that ( http://www.pavingexpert.com/faq_pavingFrontGardens...) or, if not, I hope you haven't upset any neighbours.
I didn't get regs for it, to be honest, didn't think it was worth it given some of the case studies I've seen!! We're really lucky with our neighbours though, we get on with everyone in the immediate area and they all appreciate what we've done - the old home owners really neglected the whole house so when we decided to fix it up, we were welcomed with open arms!
I reckon I saved about £1500 by DIY-ing it altogether. That takes into account pretty much everything but we didn't have to pay full retail for the aggregates (we have a B&Q trade card), it would have been closer to £2000 saving if we did. This was based on our next door neighbour doing a patch around 1/2 the size last year and they paid £1300.
I reckon I saved about £1500 by DIY-ing it altogether. That takes into account pretty much everything but we didn't have to pay full retail for the aggregates (we have a B&Q trade card), it would have been closer to £2000 saving if we did. This was based on our next door neighbour doing a patch around 1/2 the size last year and they paid £1300.
danrc said:
OT - nice Bora. What engine is it? 
OI!! That's my little workhorse, that is! It's done 80k in 2 years (152k in total) and has had about £10 spent on it for repairs, other than a DIY service once every 3 months!It may only be a 1.9, but I once EASILY shot past a F430 in it. The Ferrari looked lovely, sat there in the showroom, all gleaming and sparkly.....
Jonboy_t said:
danrc said:
OT - nice Bora. What engine is it?
OI!! That's my little workhorse, that is! It's done 80k in 2 years (152k in total) and has had about £10 spent on it for repairs, other than a DIY service once every 3 months!It may only be a 1.9, but I once EASILY shot past a F430 in it. The Ferrari looked lovely, sat there in the showroom, all gleaming and sparkly.....
I've got a Bora in the same colour. Shame I can't agree with you on it costing me no money. Mine sounds just as quick as yours though, went past a Carrera 4S today like it was going backwards. Wait...
stolt said:
thats looks nice, going to get our driveway done hopefully this year, although probably will be hot tar and gravel. do like the blockwork driveways though.
If you've got the time/money/patience to do it, the blockwork is well worth investing in. Tar serves its purpose very well and is relatively indistructible, but the blockwork is so versatile that you can have it in almost any design you can think up! I was even considering putting our house number in the middle in darker blocks! (thank god I sobered up before that happened!)Good luck with whatever you do anyway!
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