concreting back yard-advice

countrywoman

we have a very large area at the back of our house, it would cost too much to pave it with patio slabs even though this would be my first choice, so we are going to concrete it. my husband had someone measuring the area yesterday and the price is affordable.

the area will be a patio area, place to park the car and area for kids to ride around on bikes etc.

i'm just wondering if anyone has concrete out back and if it is easy enough to maintain and i'm also looking for ideas to accesorise the area. i'm definitely going to buy some pots and plant up with nice flowers and spring flowering bulbs

i would also like to separate the area where we will have the patio furniture and bbq from the rest of the area. i was thinking of a little stone wall (approx 2.5 foot high) with two little piers and i would get two nice lanterns....the area is wired for outdoor lighting. i'm just wondering if anyone has any recommendations or advice...could the little walls be built on top of the slab of concrete or would there need to be a foundation? or has anyone done anything similar in their gardens


thank you and looking forward to hearing from you

looksee

Remember to put in good drainage if you do this. All the water - and there could be a lot - will have to be directed into a drain(s), so make sure it can take it.

You should be able to put little walls on the concrete slab, but I would be more concerned about there being concrete under the 'trough'. It will need draining or you will have a bog garden in winter. Could you mark out the area where the beds are going to be and leave that un-concreted? It would be much better for plants, you will get better growth.

jezko

countrywoman wrote: »

we have a very large area at the back of our house, it would cost too much to pave it with patio slabs even though this would be my first choice, so we are going to concrete it. my husband had someone measuring the area yesterday and the price is affordable.

the area will be a patio area, place to park the car and area for kids to ride around on bikes etc.

i'm just wondering if anyone has concrete out back and if it is easy enough to maintain and i'm also looking for ideas to accesorise the area. i'm definitely going to buy some pots and plant up with nice flowers and spring flowering bulbs

i would also like to separate the area where we will have the patio furniture and bbq from the rest of the area. i was thinking of a little stone wall (approx 2.5 foot high) with two little piers and i would get two nice lanterns....the area is wired for outdoor lighting. i'm just wondering if anyone has any recommendations or advice...could the little walls be built on top of the slab of concrete or would there need to be a foundation? or has anyone done anything similar in their gardens


thank you and looking forward to hearing from you

The area you intend to make into a patio area you would not consider using paving here?
Also if you intend to concrete the whole area make sure it has a slope away from the house towards good drainage as the previous poster states

Poulgorm

You should have a 1 in 80 slope i.e. 12.5mm fall per metre length, to avoid having puddles of water lodging on the surface after every shower of rain.

Also put some thought into the surface finish: to smooth and it will be very slippery in the wet (not to mention frost): too rough, it will look awful. Brushed finish is what you want.

You also want decent quality concrete to avoid unsightly cracking appearing over time

Make sure the builder is experienced.

countrywoman

thanks for all the advice and replies.
we have a very reputable man doing the work so i am happy with that.

Jezko - we are just going to concrete the whole area because thats what our finances will allow, i would love to put in patio slabs but it would cost too much.the area is huge.thanks again!

Sonnenblumen

As a matter of interest, do you believe a huge area of concrete will look better than a smaller area of concrete?

How do you plan to distinguish between car park and patio areas as they appear to be seamless and have common finish?

How do you plan to deal with surface water/run-off?

Walls require foundations and large areas of concrete will require expansion joints, otherwise expect expansion/contraction cracks etc.

HardyEustace

countrywoman wrote: »

thanks for all the advice and replies.
we have a very reputable man doing the work so i am happy with that.

Jezko - we are just going to concrete the whole area because thats what our finances will allow, i would love to put in patio slabs but it would cost too much.the area is huge.thanks again!

why not check to see how much it would be if you do a lot of the prep work yourself?

I'm getting someone in to pave my garden as I want a professional to do it. However, I've done a lot of the prep myself (digging foundations, putting in gravel, whacking it down, getting all the materials myself on-site). Thus the cost will be the paving and the actual paving rather than the prep.

Saruman

Thats what I did before, hired a mini digger etc and excavated the back yard, spent days moving gravel from front to the back and then got a compacter to flatten it.

Now I intended to try lay the patio slabs myself but that was a mistake so I got someone to do it for me. I reckon it would have cost a lot more if I had not done all the groundwork myself.

That said he still needed to get a minidigger in and do more excavating as since he was doing it we made the patio area bigger than before and then made some other changes to my original idea.

Tefral

If the area is large your going to need a fall and somewhere for this fall to drain to.

You may need to install ACO drains or similar to carry the water away.

Having smooth concrete is also a no no especially if there is areas of damp and shade (ie under trees) as algae tends to develop and makes it slippy. Also you have to consider winter. So the best bet is to leave it with a surface finish. This can be done with a brush to great effect if done correctly.

You could build dwarf walls onto the concrete slab with lightweight blocks and then use these as your "Garden". However these will need draining. A weep hole at the bottom would be needed and to make sure i was covered i would put this in the joint of every two blocks approx 880mm centres. The alternative is to build your walls and then pour the slab, These will then require a small foundation.

Can you give us an approximate size for this slab? Is it butting against your house? You have to take into consideration for rising damp if it is, generally the DPM is at the level of your external door Ope and you should allow 150mm for rain splash from the top of your finished concrete.

gsxr1

i would dig a good soak pit at the end of it to take the water down deep into the subsoil . that will solve all drainage problems and more than likely improve the whole gardens drainage

Sonnenblumen

Soak pits do not work in small areas, as the run off area and the pit are too close. Run-off must be collected and diverted to an appropriate escape route, eg gulley and/or AJ.

Soak pits are not plug holes in a bathtub and therefore do not improve area drainage. Pits are intended to only allow water to percolate downwards in a specific place.

It never fails to amaze me how so often people consider soak pits a magic solution. Frequently they are too high, too small and ultimately a waste of time and effort. Soak pits if not done correctly will only move the problem to another position and if capacity is insufficient will soon reach maximum capacity.:(

countrywoman

thanks to everyone for the replies.
unfortunately i wont be able to do any of the prep work as i'm almost 9 months pregnant!!, and my husband has an injury.
the area is 220sq metres so its huge but i'm confident that the man we are getting is going to do a good job because he has done a lot of work in our area.
my husband says that this man is well aware of drainage and such like so i'm happy with that

re sonnenblumen question re sectioning off areas...i plan to get a picket fence to separate the kids play area from where we aill park the cars.

hope to get thsi done before new baby comes.
thanks again!

jezko

countrywoman wrote: »

thanks to everyone for the replies.
unfortunately i wont be able to do any of the prep work as i'm almost 9 months pregnant!!, and my husband has an injury.
the area is 220sq metres so its huge but i'm confident that the man we are getting is going to do a good job because he has done a lot of work in our area.
my husband says that this man is well aware of drainage and such like so i'm happy with that

re sonnenblumen question re sectioning off areas...i plan to get a picket fence to separate the kids play area from where we aill park the cars.

hope to get thsi done before new baby comes.
thanks again!

Good luck with Both your Projects!!

countrywoman

thanks Jezko!!

i'll be busy over the next few months!

gsxr1

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

Soak pits do not work in small areas, as the run off area and the pit are too close. Run-off must be collected and diverted to an appropriate escape route, eg gulley and/or AJ.

Soak pits are not plug holes in a bathtub and therefore do not improve area drainage. Pits are intended to only allow water to percolate downwards in a specific place.

It never fails to amaze me how so often people consider soak pits a magic solution. Frequently they are too high, too small and ultimately a waste of time and effort. Soak pits if not done correctly will only move the problem to another position and if capacity is insufficient will soon reach maximum capacity.:(

Soak pits is what I have used in for gully drainage in numerous house builds over the last 15 years.
Not one clients gully has ever failed.

Frequently when done correctly, they do there job perfectly.

Sonnenblumen

gsxr1 wrote: »

Soak pits is what I have used in for gully drainage in numerous house builds over the last 15 years.
Not one clients gully has ever failed.

Frequently when done correctly, they do there job perfectly.

In the 1900s soak pits were used to deal with surface run-off, but since then there have been many developments offering a better means to dealing with run-off. A gully will only fail if it becomes blocked, but directly linking gulleys to soak pits (depending on size and relative position) can seriously create damp problems near dwellings.

There are also more productive methods for utilising run-off.