Need some help with the garden....
Discussion
Evening all,
Hopefully job/money/time dependant I want to sort out the garden which currently looks like this:
Looking out from the back door
From the back wall looking at the house
Down the side of the garage (2m wide down to 1m at the driveway end
Driveway side:
The rubbish pile:
Side access (1m wide):
Size wise - The house is 4.65m wide + 1m for the side access.
Looking from the backdoor into the garden, the fence to the right hand side is 9m long.
The backwall is just over 11m long (including the recess down the side of the garage). The recess is approx 5m deep and is 1m wide at its narrowest to just over 2m at it's widest.
The Provisional Plan is:
1. Get rid of all the rubbish
2. Build a lean too in the recess to free up some space in garage
3. Dig up the concrete path (leaving the bit down the side of the house though)
4. Fit new patio
5. Raised planters and water feature (against the back wall)
6. Lighting - I'd like to fit some colour changing LEDs around the garden along with some normal wall mounted lights
The lights/pond pump will be run from the power in the garage but I want to be able to control it from the house by remote and/or have them on timer.
Any thoughts? Have I missed something or made a fundamental error anyway? The patio "area" seems to be a real suntrap and I want to try and keep as much of the existing planting as possible.
Hopefully job/money/time dependant I want to sort out the garden which currently looks like this:
Looking out from the back door
From the back wall looking at the house
Down the side of the garage (2m wide down to 1m at the driveway end
Driveway side:
The rubbish pile:
Side access (1m wide):
Size wise - The house is 4.65m wide + 1m for the side access.
Looking from the backdoor into the garden, the fence to the right hand side is 9m long.
The backwall is just over 11m long (including the recess down the side of the garage). The recess is approx 5m deep and is 1m wide at its narrowest to just over 2m at it's widest.
The Provisional Plan is:
1. Get rid of all the rubbish
2. Build a lean too in the recess to free up some space in garage
3. Dig up the concrete path (leaving the bit down the side of the house though)
4. Fit new patio
5. Raised planters and water feature (against the back wall)
6. Lighting - I'd like to fit some colour changing LEDs around the garden along with some normal wall mounted lights
The lights/pond pump will be run from the power in the garage but I want to be able to control it from the house by remote and/or have them on timer.
Any thoughts? Have I missed something or made a fundamental error anyway? The patio "area" seems to be a real suntrap and I want to try and keep as much of the existing planting as possible.
I found these online last night - Wise Control
Looks like it would be easy to install by running power from the garage and use the optional remote to control the lights from the house
Looks like it would be easy to install by running power from the garage and use the optional remote to control the lights from the house
pmanson said:
I found these online last night - Wise Control
Looks like it would be easy to install by running power from the garage and use the optional remote to control the lights from the house
Four hundred quid..!! Looks like it would be easy to install by running power from the garage and use the optional remote to control the lights from the house
Podie said:
pmanson said:
I found these online last night - Wise Control
Looks like it would be easy to install by running power from the garage and use the optional remote to control the lights from the house
Four hundred quid..!! Looks like it would be easy to install by running power from the garage and use the optional remote to control the lights from the house
Actually it's still expensive which ever way I try and work it out!
A dimmer pack up to 1200w and a controller in isolation that will control just about any lights (with the correct driver) will run you about £300 in isolation, then you can use any lights you want.
Better thing about going this route is that you can add circuits inside the house to the same system creating a whole home scene capability that will allow extended advance functions such as timers, macros, sunrise/sunset, text message and remote control interfaces etc.
Drop me a line if you need more details.
Better thing about going this route is that you can add circuits inside the house to the same system creating a whole home scene capability that will allow extended advance functions such as timers, macros, sunrise/sunset, text message and remote control interfaces etc.
Drop me a line if you need more details.
Time to bump this one back up to the top.
A change of job last summer meant the time/money needed to do the garden wasn't there last year. With the arrival of pmanson jnr in October last year means I need to get the garden sorted out this summer as I suspect he will want to start exploring out there.
The plan hasn't changed much although i'm know just planning to concrete down the side of the garage and put a shed in. The current door from the garden into the garage will be blocked up and a new door installed on the side (so I can have a work bench in the garden).
Apart from that it's all likely to stay roughly to that plan.
Stage 1: Take a couple of days off work, order a skip and get clearing!
Stage 2: Paint all the woodwork on the garage
A change of job last summer meant the time/money needed to do the garden wasn't there last year. With the arrival of pmanson jnr in October last year means I need to get the garden sorted out this summer as I suspect he will want to start exploring out there.
The plan hasn't changed much although i'm know just planning to concrete down the side of the garage and put a shed in. The current door from the garden into the garage will be blocked up and a new door installed on the side (so I can have a work bench in the garden).
Apart from that it's all likely to stay roughly to that plan.
Stage 1: Take a couple of days off work, order a skip and get clearing!
Stage 2: Paint all the woodwork on the garage
Edited by pmanson on Thursday 8th April 09:49
Flying Toilet said:
Good luck Phil,
Like I mentioned before my mates a Sparky and lives on the Malting and you know the fella down the end of your road I know?
Well he has a lodger now who is a landscaper so he might be willing to help.
Dan
Thanks mate - that might come in very handy! Like I mentioned before my mates a Sparky and lives on the Malting and you know the fella down the end of your road I know?
Well he has a lodger now who is a landscaper so he might be willing to help.
Dan
Our 5 has now gone, did I read somewhere that you had just got one?
pmanson said:
Flying Toilet said:
Good luck Phil,
Like I mentioned before my mates a Sparky and lives on the Malting and you know the fella down the end of your road I know?
Well he has a lodger now who is a landscaper so he might be willing to help.
Dan
Thanks mate - that might come in very handy! Like I mentioned before my mates a Sparky and lives on the Malting and you know the fella down the end of your road I know?
Well he has a lodger now who is a landscaper so he might be willing to help.
Dan
Our 5 has now gone, did I read somewhere that you had just got one?
With the planned "raised" flower beds that I'm planning to install along the fence side of the garden am I ok to use the concrete running boards as the back of the bed?
I'm guessing that if I wanted to make the bed higher than the running boards this wouldn't be possible and that I would have to build a rear wall as well? We're considering building it to about 1/2 metre high then putting would planks on it so it can be used as seating.
There are not many plants in that bed that I want to keep apart from a rose, I'm guessing I will need to dig it out and replant it if the height of the bed is raised dramatically?
I also have a strange thought about painting the brick work on this flower bed and the rear wall in white... not quite sure why but I think it would look quite modern and coupled with some decent lights should be quite effective.
I'm guessing that if I wanted to make the bed higher than the running boards this wouldn't be possible and that I would have to build a rear wall as well? We're considering building it to about 1/2 metre high then putting would planks on it so it can be used as seating.
There are not many plants in that bed that I want to keep apart from a rose, I'm guessing I will need to dig it out and replant it if the height of the bed is raised dramatically?
I also have a strange thought about painting the brick work on this flower bed and the rear wall in white... not quite sure why but I think it would look quite modern and coupled with some decent lights should be quite effective.
Gingerbread Man said:
Don't dig up the concrete path if it'll be under your patio. A good base to lay on. (as long as it's in good nick!
Ok i'm at the stage where I need to do something with the concrete path outside the back door.Option 1: Dig it up (leaving the bit down the side of the house) and then level and fill with gravel
Option 2: Lay edging bricks to extend the "patio" out, then gravel over the existing concrete.
Disadvantages with Option 2:
- I don't want to gravel down the side of the garage so with end up with a "step" up
- There is an air brick underneath the backdoor so 1" or gravel over the top of the existing concrete may be above the dam course
- I don't have to dig up and remove a load of concrete!
Progress pics:
The blocks show where the new gravel patio/path will be:
Plan is to leave the concrete down the side and just put a small gate in:
Gravel path will run all the way down to the rear wall:
Still a dumping ground:
What will be become the patio area:
So do I get rid of the concrete of just lay gravel over it?
The blocks show where the new gravel patio/path will be:
Plan is to leave the concrete down the side and just put a small gate in:
Gravel path will run all the way down to the rear wall:
Still a dumping ground:
What will be become the patio area:
So do I get rid of the concrete of just lay gravel over it?
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