Finally finished my decking (pic heavy)
Discussion
Hello
We moved into our house what will be 2 years ago in October but were never really happy with the garden despite being bigger than our previous one it felt tiny but heating windows and decorating came first so this is how it stayed for a while:
As we were getting married last July we set about getting it looking half decent so we could use it for photos' (excuse the cheesy wedding pic but the only one of the garden looking half nice we have):
Once the wedding was done we had some time on our hands so back in last October operation Decking began! As the bottom of our garden was unusable due to being on a very steep slope (pic's don't really show it) we decided to dig in and set a lower but level decking with a raised section around the Oak tree. I initially got a quote from a specialist decking company but unbelievably it came in at about 16K
so after picking my self up and convincing Emma
that I am capable, I set about, with the help and guidance of my dad (how do dad's know so much??)and my trusty digger driver Ken, a bit of DIY..
Allot in fact a fecking lot of digging and concreting and digging and block laying and more digging later we had this:
Oh and I bought one of these
Unfortunately at this point I decided that I may have got a little carried away (yes that is a 5 foot wall behind the raised section)
and not wanting to upset the neighbors 
I decided some changes were needing to be made, so operation anti-decking began, can you see whats missing:
So after the amendments had been made, 14 ton's of top soil (moved by hand)Doh! and a sprinkling of turf this is what we ended up with:
It's been a lot of effort and long weekends but we're really chuffed with the results and I defiantly feel Worth 16K of any ones money but cost a fraction of that
What do you think Have I passed the real mans gardening test?
Paul
We moved into our house what will be 2 years ago in October but were never really happy with the garden despite being bigger than our previous one it felt tiny but heating windows and decorating came first so this is how it stayed for a while:
As we were getting married last July we set about getting it looking half decent so we could use it for photos' (excuse the cheesy wedding pic but the only one of the garden looking half nice we have):
Once the wedding was done we had some time on our hands so back in last October operation Decking began! As the bottom of our garden was unusable due to being on a very steep slope (pic's don't really show it) we decided to dig in and set a lower but level decking with a raised section around the Oak tree. I initially got a quote from a specialist decking company but unbelievably it came in at about 16K
so after picking my self up and convincing Emma that I am capable, I set about, with the help and guidance of my dad (how do dad's know so much??)and my trusty digger driver Ken, a bit of DIY.. Allot in fact a fecking lot of digging and concreting and digging and block laying and more digging later we had this:
Oh and I bought one of these
Unfortunately at this point I decided that I may have got a little carried away (yes that is a 5 foot wall behind the raised section)
and not wanting to upset the neighbors I decided some changes were needing to be made, so operation anti-decking began, can you see whats missing:So after the amendments had been made, 14 ton's of top soil (moved by hand)Doh! and a sprinkling of turf this is what we ended up with:
It's been a lot of effort and long weekends but we're really chuffed with the results and I defiantly feel Worth 16K of any ones money but cost a fraction of that
What do you think Have I passed the real mans gardening test?
Paul
14 tonnes of topsoil - by hand - that's man's work, that is. Good effort.
We had 22 tonnes go into our back garden - but I let the contractors do that.
I merely shovelled a few tonnes of well rotted stable sweepings - that was a big pile of s
t! 
Congratulations - you've got a nice result, the satisfaction of having done it all yourself, and the benefit of not emptying the family coffers.
We've just done it the other way (used contractors, with diggers and machines) and it wasn't cheap!
We had 22 tonnes go into our back garden - but I let the contractors do that.
I merely shovelled a few tonnes of well rotted stable sweepings - that was a big pile of s
t! Congratulations - you've got a nice result, the satisfaction of having done it all yourself, and the benefit of not emptying the family coffers.
We've just done it the other way (used contractors, with diggers and machines) and it wasn't cheap!
Paulbav said:
As the bottom of our garden was unusable due to being on a very steep slope
I wish the bottom of my garden was that steep - ie mine is more vertical than horizontal !!!Trouble is, it has big trees shading the bottom so if I put decking there, anyone sat there in summer would probably get eaten alive by midges.... still pondering what to do....
Lordbenny said:
Paulbav said:
What do you think Have I passed the real mans gardening test?
Yes, except you took away all your nice plants, you must be a sportsman! barney123 said:
Paulbav said:
As the bottom of our garden was unusable due to being on a very steep slope
I wish the bottom of my garden was that steep - ie mine is more vertical than horizontal !!!Trouble is, it has big trees shading the bottom so if I put decking there, anyone sat there in summer would probably get eaten alive by midges.... still pondering what to do....
Paul
We bought a kit from Forest.
Wasn't cheap - but made from pressure tested wood and all pre-cut to size.
The only problem we had was with the screws they supplied - they were chrome plated cheese with a funny square driver hole.
I bought some cross-headed deck screws from my local hardware store and used those instead.
Don't forget to use a breathable, weed-proof membrane under the deck and we sat ours on pea shingle to help with drainage.
Wasn't cheap - but made from pressure tested wood and all pre-cut to size.
The only problem we had was with the screws they supplied - they were chrome plated cheese with a funny square driver hole.
I bought some cross-headed deck screws from my local hardware store and used those instead.
Don't forget to use a breathable, weed-proof membrane under the deck and we sat ours on pea shingle to help with drainage.
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