Turning a grassed area into a hardstanding... how difficult?

[Lankytim]

Hi all, Does anybody have any experience with driveway D.I.Y?

 

I have a manky bit of garden that I have been given the green light by SWMBO to park shite on. (The clincher was the Maestro van trailer appearing there overnight ) At the moment its a piece of grass/moss which is pretty useless as a piece of garden as nothing wants to grow there as its so shaded. I also seem to do quite a bit of shite mechanical work there too, meaning the grass is often gouged up by engines e.t.c. Basically it needs to be turned into a slabbed/concrete/tarmac area... before the wife changes her mind!

 

Anyway, the area is approx 14ftx 24ft. Im open to whatever type of surface I have but I think concrete may well be my preferred route as I think its going to be the most durable and probably the cheapest.

 

My big question is does anyone have an idea on how much work would be involved and how much it would cost? Is it just a case of digging down 20cm or so, half filling with compacted hardcore and topping up with concrete? Should I borrow a cement mixer and mix the concrete myself or should I pay for some ready-mix in a lorry?

 

Any advice or opinions welcome!

[Pillock]

I built a driveway on a grassed area, quite a slopey one too. I used crushed concrete for the hardcore base (just the debris from demolition works, it was actually a demolition firm that supplied it) to about 8", and then topped it with decorative stone to about 6" deep. It cost about the same as concrete but imho looks better, easier to keep clean, and doesn't matter if it moves slightly.

 

I also found railway sleepers make ideal "edging" since they're bloody hard to shift! In my case though I had to go from zero "height" to three sleepers worth (30") in seventeen feet, hence the sleepers hold back the hardcore.

[Richard]

My father in law did a bit in our garden. There was already a 7'x5' concrete plinth for the garden shed so that was what he worked to, that meant the whole thing was raised off the ground a bit so he made a concrete ramp at one end.

 

He took the turf off and covered the proposed area with old bricks, built a small wall around it all, shuttered it and poured concrete in. He had the concrete materials delivered by a builders merchant and mixed them himself.

 

My feeling is that you're better mixing it yourself, it gives you more control over how things progress.

 

You can see it in the first few pictures here http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0474332245

[Dead_E23]

Mixing concrete is hard work, even with a concrete mixer. We spent a whole day laying a shed base about 9'x18' and it half killed us!

 

If I had to do it again and there was any way of getting ready-mix to the site then that's definitely what I'd do. Failing that, I would gladly pay somebody to do it (shudder), which is saying something for a skinflint like me.

[FredTransit]

Did I read somewhere you now need planning permission to concrete over a garden? Check with your council (or not, if you think they will say no) and I assume you already have a dropped step?

[Pillock]

You need permission if you're diverting rainwater away from soaking into the ground. To avoid this ballache, you need to ensure rainwater from a non-permeable surface (concrete, block paving etc) is collected and diverted into a soakaway (not a drain!)

Alternatively, use a permeable surface like gravel, or specially made (and bloody expensive) permeable block paving. Or just don't cover the entire area, it only causes issue if you concrete over a large proportion of your garden.

 

You can't divert to a drain as that still bypasses the water table, and you may need to pay more on your water rates if you don't pay for that service already.

 

If you want to use concrete, best you ring the council just to avoid having to dig it up. They'll advise you best, what I've put above is just what they told me (and probably badly paraphrased) but it was suited to my particular application.

[Albert Ross]

Why not get some heavy duty galvanised steel grids to lay over the grass, thereby keeping the look of grass, but not sinking.... I've seen it on campsites and caravan sites too, worth a look I reckon. Less work aswell, it's the Autoshite way I tell you.

 

http://www.gridforce.co.uk/ground-reinf ... -driveway/

 

 

These might be plastic. Even shiter!

[Pillock]

You can get plastic gridding that you push into the ground, and you can drive a car on it but the grass still grows through and you can still mow it. Stops the car sinking when it gets muddy though.

[Rocket88]

We had this exact scenario. Mowed the grass, put down sheets of that breathable garden stuff that you lay to stop weeds, then gravelled over the top.

[pogweasel]

Probably worth doing a decent job if you live in a decent place (which from pics I think you do, new build and all that).

Dig out 12", backfill with crushed hardcore then compact that, get some aco drains in so that stormwater doesn't pile back to your house, though make sure that your levels are right and that the aco is channeling into the gully etc, then some sand,, levelled off and a decent attempt at block-paving... probably sounds harder than it is...

[Lankytim]

If im totally honest I dont think it could be classed as a "drive" as such as the gap to get cars onto it is so small it would be for occasional use only, regular use is bound to result in bodywork to brickwork contact. I see it more of a hardstanding just to stick shite projects and work on them. The area is raised up compared to the rest of the garden and any rainwater would run away either into the borders or the grass. Drainage shouldnt be a problem I think..

 

Blockwork is not a bad idea, the main driveway, which is shared is block and it would look quite smart if it matched that. Ill have to get a quote on how much that would cost.

 

Oh, and although the house is newbuild (well, 5 years ago) I can get away with quite a bit. Everyone else here seems to! Theres extra driveways and allsorts that shouldnt strictly be here.