Not sure what to do with this muddy area in garden..

Hi guys.

I'll preface this by saying I'm not great with DIY, but I'm willing to make an effort.


Pretty much, the back garden of the house has been neglected for years. It's been, essentially, a 'city dump' of sorts. It was disgusting.

Anyway, after a good effort today, the vast majority of the garden has been cleaned up, and looks a lot better. We hired a skip, and three of us got stuck in for the day.


I want to improve the garden in general. But I'm trying to tackle it 'one thing at a time'.

Here's a photo of a section of the garden, after our clean up today.





Effectively, the muck there has been there years. It's been there since the shed to the right was built. It was supposed to be carted off in a skip about 5 years ago, but laziness meant it never was.

Although it's cleaner, its still dire. I want to do something with it, but not sure what. The options as I see them are to...

1) Get another skip, a shovel, and throw all the cement blocks into the skip, and shovel away at the muck until it's all 'ground level'. Effectively, bin the whole lot of it.

2) Get a skip, get rid of the concrete blocks, and try to spread the muck out and level it off so it takes up the whole area. Keep the muck, but replace the bricks with something more presentable (coloured bricks, wood, fence/railing etc). Plant a few flowers or something.

3) Get a skip and get rid of the concrete blocks, try to put down some kinda garden tile or something on the mucky area that kinda 'ramps' down on the right, and make the 'rampy' section into a 'floor', and then make a square flower bed of the rest of it.


Either way, the horrendous looking concrete block divide thingy has to go into the bin. That's not staying. But I just dont know what to do with the muck itself. Bin it or keep it. My fear is that if flowers or such are planted, although theyll look nice, they wont be maintained and in a months time it'll be back to a mucky sludgy mess.


Has anyone got any ideas that can possibly be employed here to clean this area up a bit?


Here's a slightly wider shot of the garden:




There's obviously a lot more to do, but this small section of muck is my priority (cos it's annoying me) then I'll attack the shoddy doors on the sheds, etc. as I go along.


Cheers to anyone able to offer any insight or ideas here

gutteruu

Raised decking over the whole thing? Removing soil to skip might cost a few quid so leave as is.

Blocks have to go either way. Maybe replace them with sleepers and level out topsoil and sow grass?

Personally I would rip out blocks, level soil and bring in more topsoil and raise whole garden and sow grass. Maybe a few stepping stones instead of the path

genuine leather

You have a blank canvas kkv, so many possibilities.

The sun aspect would lend itself to your long term design for the garden.
Would it be used mostly on evenings/weekend.
Small partys or big partys:) Family gatherings i mean..
Do you like gardening or prefer lower maintainance
Cooking food/Bbq spot wanted etc.

The soil against the garage plinth looks to have been put in at a later stage,on top of a path??
No drainage and wet soil,bad for the garage dampness, i would loose that first, it might be able to be ammended for a raised bed elsewhere.

The soil within the blocks looks like it could be ok for planting, with some work.

homer911

I'd make the buildings the first priority, you have a lot of damp on the walls, looks like gutters are damaged or completely missing. I'd also clear the soil away from the building back to the correct ground level - have you damp problems inside the buildings?

gutteruu

gutteruu wrote: »

Raised decking over the whole thing? Removing soil to skip might cost a few quid so leave as is.

Blocks have to go either way. Maybe replace them with sleepers and level out topsoil and sow grass?

I think removing the soil should only cost the price of the skip? Or am I overlooking something? My initial plan was to just get stuck in with a shovel and bring it all to ground level (and then throw the blocks away).


I would like to do something in the area of flowers/veg there. Something a bit colourful or such. The raised decking idea is good, however, I kinda reckon I might end up "graveling" the bigger section of grass on the other side of the garden, and throwing a table and chairs on it.

If I do that, a decking area would become fairly redundant quite quickly, and be permanently unused (or so I reckon, anyway).

gutteruu wrote: »

Personally I would rip out blocks, level soil and bring in more topsoil and raise whole garden and sow grass. Maybe a few stepping stones instead of the path

Are you saying no concrete in the garden at all? Entirely covered with grass (with the exception of stepping stones)?

genuine leather wrote: »

You have a blank canvas kkv, so many possibilities.

The sun aspect would lend itself to your long term design for the garden.
Would it be used mostly on evenings/weekend.
Small partys or big partys Family gatherings i mean..
Do you like gardening or prefer lower maintainance
Cooking food/Bbq spot wanted etc.

The above is all in my head. A great spot for those warm summer evenings. However, I'm a realist and know that while that'll go down really well, it'll also be completely neglected over the winter months.

So although I do kinda have that general 'social sun garden' theme in my head, I want it to be as low maintenance as possible.

genuine leather wrote: »

The soil against the garage plinth looks to have been put in at a later stage,on top of a path??
No drainage and wet soil,bad for the garage dampness, i would loose that first, it might be able to be ammended for a raised bed elsewhere.

The soil there was put in when the shed was built. It was excess waste that was supposed to be dumped in a skip at the time, but it never was (and then the garden became a dump, fairly swiftly).

The garage isn't necessarily damp, to be honest. It's just dirty. The inside is all concrete, with MDF for a ceiling. It's constantly dusty and dirty and in need of being cleaned. I plan to tackle that by painting the inside floor, walls and ceiling (but the shed, too, is in disrepair).


This is the inside of the shed (an old photo, but still accurate enough):




The problem with the shed, really, is the doors. Behind where I was standing taking that picture, is a large steel gate that swings open. Big enough to drive a car in. So the shed isn't really insulated or anything. It was a shoddy build in the first place, and it will be addressed, but it'll be lower down the 'to do' list.

genuine leather wrote: »

The soil within the blocks looks like it could be ok for planting, with some work.

That's what's in my head at the moment.. Thinking something colourful (ie; flowers) could do the job, with a small bit of effort?

homer911 wrote: »

I'd make the buildings the first priority, you have a lot of damp on the walls, looks like gutters are damaged or completely missing. I'd also clear the soil away from the building back to the correct ground level - have you damp problems inside the buildings?

The smaller of the sheds (the unpainted one) doesn't have any guttering, but the roof is angled backwards (onto a wall where the water can run down it). The guttering on the bigger shed is in tatters and is broken directly over the door (so you get soaked going in or out of it). That'll be getting revamped.

As above, no real dampness, but in the winter, there's a never ending issue with condensation forming inside the freezing cold shed. The shed needs insulating, but the way it was built doesn't really lend itself to doing this properly. I presume insulating it will be wildly expensive.

The doors on both sheds were taken from houses that were getting new doors. They should have never been put on in the first place (but they were cheap! :rolleyes: ), so the doors need re-doing on both sheds.





From reading the replies so far, from ye guys, it seems that moving muck away from the shed is a good idea, anyway. So I'll do that. I'm leaning towards then turning that raised area into a flowerbed area?

Get rid of the blocks/concrete, and replace with sleepers. Something like this?

http://www.homebase.co.uk/en/homebaseuk/non-creosote-railway-sleeper---4ft-642015


Make a 'square' shaped flower bed, re-do the concrete in front of the miniature/kennel style shed, and throw some gravel or paving stones or something on the (soon to be) flattened side of the flowerbed (on the right)?


Essentially.. is this a worthy plan of action?






EDIT: As an aside, I'm not sure what I mean by 'freshen up concrete'. Try and smooth it out with an extra 'coat' of it, or make a thickish (3-4 inches) layer of muck and put down a paving stone type set up?

Also, does anyone have any idea of an alternative to wooden sleepers?

slimjimmc

You don't have to remove all that soil (red area), just about the width of the path that's already across the front of the shed. You could then merge the red and green into larger single flower bed, bordered with sleepers or garden bricks. A trellis fixed to the back wall could support a few climbers.

slimjimmc

slimjimmc wrote: »

You don't have to remove all that soil (red area), just about the width of the path that's already across the front of the shed. You could then merge the red and green into larger single flower bed, bordered with sleepers or garden bricks. A trellis fixed to the back wall could support a few climbers.

Yeah, you're right, alright. A smaller/narrower path would be better, to match up with the one opposite it. A trellis was on my mind for that wall, alright, but I don't really know what a 'climber' is (large/tall flower or such, is what's in my mind?).



Today I ended up completely sidetracked, and started working away on the opposite side of the garden (the longer part). I just cleaned it up a bit.


Before (well.. during.. i forgot to take a proper before)




After:





Then I dug up all along the side the whole way down:




Then I found out that the concrete I'm lifting, which was put down by my dad, was done at the same time as the path against the wall:




So that'll end up getting tore up, too! More work. Haha :P


My plan for this side of the garden is to put a single line of red bricks, like these I seen in woodies;





And then use them as a 'frame' for a load of decorative garden stones/gravel. Throw a table and chairs on it and that section's finito?

The only real complication comes in the form of a feckin' manhole! :rolleyes:





But I think I'll just have to settle for a slightly raised 'lump' in my stone/gravel area. Can't think of a quick and easy fix for that.

HeidiHeidi

If you're going to do gravel you'll need to line the area with something, otherwise you'll just wind up with a gravelly weed bed!

vicwatson

If putting gravel down I wouldn't be worried about the manhole cover, just put the gravel on top and remember it's there if you ever need to access it.

Also you have the makings of raised bed in the green area, would you consider keeping some space for veg??

vicwatson

And if its raised id hack out that concrete around it and leave it visible but at least the gravel would go flush with it, you could also use a wire brush on the cover and try find a spray/hammerite to get the closest colour to the gravel so that it blends in. Dont weld it shut with paint mind !!

HeidiHeidi

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

If you're going to do gravel you'll need to line the area with something, otherwise you'll just wind up with a gravelly weed bed!

How do you mean? I was going to 'frame it' as per my above post, with red bricks? Kinda like this (but on a much lower budget! :P )




Is that what you meant? Or are you talking more in terms of killing/smothering weeds? In which case I believe I can buy plastic sheets or nets or such to put down, after spraying weed killer everywhere?

vicwatson wrote: »

Also you have the makings of raised bed in the green area, would you consider keeping some space for veg??

That whole (green) area will be dedicated to planting something. I'm not sure what yet. I think my dad would like to do some veg stuff (give him something to do with his evenings i suppose?). But I'd like something more colourful.

Can you mix and match when planting (ie; a mish-mash of flowers and veg?) Or are they best separated altogether?

My initial idea was to use the green area for veg, and the red area for flowers, and the concrete would be replaced with a more attractive divider, but I do agree that a pathway would be better, which limits my space there a little. So I presume it'll be one or the other? (I suppose veg? I can always put flower pots around the garden elsewhere?)

vicwatson wrote: »

And if its raised id hack out that concrete around it and leave it visible but at least the gravel would go flush with it, you could also use a wire brush on the cover and try find a spray/hammerite to get the closest colour to the gravel so that it blends in. Dont weld it shut with paint mind !!

I think I prefer your first idea of just covering it with stones. I don't think I'd like it being visible at all, to be honest. Not an attractive feature to display, in my opinion




Today I just did some small power washing. I only had an hour or so in the garden. Still, it's better than doing nothing, I suppose. I'll spend a few more hours in the garden tomorrow, hopefully (weather depending!).

Well I've started to make a slight bit of progress on the corner that I initially started this thread about.

I spent some time today with the pressure washer on the wall behind it, and on the muck itself (to try and soften it up, as it'll be getting shovelled a lot on Friday, when I hire a skip to take as much of it away as I can). I pulled away the blocks and they're now waiting for the skip, too.









Today I went out and got some stuff for covering the muck and dirt and killing weeds when I get as much of it up as I can (for when the decorative stones are going down on the larger part of the garden, and for when the flowers or vegetables go in on the smaller section).








Would anyone be able to tell me, in the first photo in this post, the kennel-type shed on the left, the ground in front of that is about 3 inches of cement over a muck base. Would it be realistic for me to be able to smash that in bits and get rid of it, and re-build it as a ramp that goes straight to the ground (using some of the blocks I removed as a base, and some tightly packed muck?).

Or would that all be a bit much for someone so new to doing this kinda thing?


Cheers Quite enjoying my gardening adventures!

Dubl07

You can get recessed manhole covers that'll hold gravel while allowing access. Something like this.

To be honest, Dubl07, I don't think I'm gonna interfere with the manhole cover itself. I think I'll just learn to live with a slight 'hump' in my gravel (or I might just throw a load of gravel down and try to 'raise' all the gravel to that height, so it evens out, but I'm not sure if that might become very costly.

I'll figure out something.


Planning to go and buy some bricks today to edge with. Anyone here got a preference on what kinda edging might look best. I threw this together (Woodies have red bricks at 79c each, and grey ones at 59c each, so that's where I'll pick them up, I think).

I think I'm leaning towards the red outline/grey inline one, but I'm not sure. I like the alternating patters but I think I might get a bit confused with regards to what to do when I get to a corner (google isn't giving much help in terms of image searching that pattern hitting corners).

gutteruu

Deleted User wrote: »

Would anyone be able to tell me, in the first photo in this post, the kennel-type shed on the left, the ground in front of that is about 3 inches of cement over a muck base. Would it be realistic for me to be able to smash that in bits and get rid of it, and re-build it as a ramp that goes straight to the ground (using some of the blocks I removed as a base, and some tightly packed muck?).

Or would that all be a bit much for someone so new to doing this kinda thing?

A couple of slaps of a sledge would break that up in about 2 minutes.

gutteruu

gutteruu wrote: »

A couple of slaps of a sledge would break that up in about 2 minutes.

Ah I know that, sure it's falling apart just looking at it. It's being held together by willpower :P

I'm more interested in the reality of a complete novice making a "proper" ramp. Would I be getting in too over my head or would it be fairly achievable?

gutteruu

Deleted User wrote: »

Ah I know that, sure it's falling apart just looking at it. It's being held together by willpower :P

I'm more interested in the reality of a complete novice making a "proper" ramp. Would I be getting in too over my head or would it be fairly achievable?

Go for it. Its not complicated. Its about the best project to learn on. Keep the mix dry ish. It will help with slope.

Dubl07

Deleted User wrote: »

To be honest, Dubl07, I don't think I'm gonna interfere with the manhole cover itself. I think I'll just learn to live with a slight 'hump' in my gravel (or I might just throw a load of gravel down and try to 'raise' all the gravel to that height, so it evens out, but I'm not sure if that might become very costly.

I'll figure out something.


Planning to go and buy some bricks today to edge with. Anyone here got a preference on what kinda edging might look best. I threw this together (Woodies have red bricks at 79c each, and grey ones at 59c each, so that's where I'll pick them up, I think).

Be aware that unless the colour is distributed throughout the block it will wear off in short order and it probably won't wear off evenly. (Speaking from bitter experience.)

slimjimmc

Deleted User wrote: »

Well I've started to make a slight bit of progress on the corner that I initially started this thread about.

I spent some time today with the pressure washer on the wall behind it, and on the muck itself (to try and soften it up, as it'll be getting shovelled a lot on Friday, when I hire a skip to take as much of it away as I can). I pulled away the blocks and they're now waiting for the skip, too.

http://s2.postimg.org/dndzoyr7s/DSC_0139.jpg

OP, there appears to be an awful lot of litter shown in the above photo. Fine if it's just sitting on top ready for clean-up but if that's typical of what's in the soil I'd be inclined to get rid of the whole lot and bring in some nice clean topsoil.

PS have you considered how you're going to lay the brick edging, you probably need to set them on a bed of mortar to keep them level and secure.

Dubl07

Dubl07 wrote: »

Be aware that unless the colour is distributed throughout the block it will wear off in short order and it probably won't wear off evenly. (Speaking from bitter experience.)

Haha. Funny you should mention that, but it's not (as seen below). I just assumed all bricks were like this if they were being used for edging. I didn't really think twice about it.

How long did yours last? Were they the same kinda thing (about a half inch of colour)? For 59c it's hard to complain, all the same...

gutteruu wrote: »

Go for it. Its not complicated. Its about the best project to learn on. Keep the mix dry ish. It will help with slope.

I'll give it a shot alright. Sure if I make a mess of it I can always knock it down with a hammer and start again! I'll have to google it a fair bit, though.

slimjimmc wrote: »

OP, there appears to be an awful lot of litter shown in the above photo. Fine if it's just sitting on top ready for clean-up but if that's typical of what's in the soil I'd be inclined to get rid of the whole lot and bring in some nice clean topsoil.

Enormous amounts of litter, and I've no idea how it all actually got there. There were household items thrown out (there was even a mattress sitting there for years!) but litter like that, which seems to be completely through the entire lot of muck (ie; if I dig down deep into it, there's still litter!), I've no idea how that got there, or got so bad.

I'll have a skip here on friday (albeit, possibly a small one) and all that's going in the skip are the blocks I took away from that area, and as much muck as I can possibly get into it (from both sides of the garden, although the longer side of it seems to be relatively litter free, and much cleaner in general).

slimjimmc wrote: »

PS have you considered how you're going to lay the brick edging, you probably need to set them on a bed of mortar to keep them level and secure.

My rough idea was to dig about the height of the bricks down into the muck (so when the bricks are in place, they'll be level with the path already in the garden, or just ever so slightly raised). Use any flattish object I can find to try and flatten out the muck a bit. Then put down that weedkiller cover stuff.

After that, I was gonna throw in a bit of sand, and use that to create a more 'level' surface (so the brick would be on a flat layer of sand, which is on top of the weed killer cover, which, in turn, is on top of the the muck).

It seems the simplest/easiest way, and I got the idea from this guide online.




Today I got some of my edging bricks:





I settled on the alternating pattern, but I'm not sure which I prefer, black with red, or red with black.







But I think I may have 'unearthed' ( ) another issue.. probably a more difficult one..

I was going mad with the pressure washer the last couple of days on the paths and stuff. Then today we got some very heavy rain. Although I do think my pressure washing contributed heavily to it, the bottom of the garden, where I plan to edge a fair bit, keeps on flooding.






Now, in fairness, the above picture is the worst it's been. Two days ago I was pressure washing and that area 'flooded' up, but not as severely. The following day, the water was all gone, and the muck was just a bit damp looking.

With grass there, I wouldn't be too fussed, but because I'm planning on doing brick edging with decorative stones and such, I'm a bit worried this may be a bigger issue than I'd like to think.

Does anyone know of a quick or easy way to prevent this?

The garden falls towards the house, but the path in the picture above, that leads to the back door, is slightly raised in the opposite direction (so effectively, the garden gradient is V shaped, and where that water is collecting, is the lowest point).


Normally I'd be able to pop a practical solution into my head, but I'm a bit stumped for this one... I know that the grass, muck, etc. will eventually suck up all the water, but I don't want all my stuff at that end being submerged every time it rains if I can help it.

Also, for the other / smaller side of the garden (where all the litter is), I'm planning to do a raised bed. I've practically narrowed my decision down to two types of edging, but unsure which to pull the trigger on.


Anyone got any thoughts?

I'm in two minds of this concretey looking one (in yellow/gold) to continue with the theme of using bricks/stones in the garden:







or copying what Homebase have done in their showroom, and using two decking panels on top of each other to create an edging:






The decking, being two layered on top of each other, works out about €10 more expensive to cover the same distance as the stone ones, but the decking is taller (I'm not sure if that's a plus or minus to me, though). I'm leaning towards the scalloped stone edging for ease of use and affordability, but the decking does look nice (maybe not nicer, though?). The decking would be easier to cut to size, should that need occur..?

Today I picked up a few more bits. Settled on the decking to frame my raised flowerbed idea. Picked up some Woodies Compost and some bark chips to decorate the flowerbed with, and a handful more bricks as I reckon I'll need more red than grey.






And found this lad on Donedeal. Not sure how they're making any money, but they're great value, so I'll be getting my stones off Strata Group! :P

http://www.donedeal.ie/gardenplants-for-sale/decorative-stone/9150326?offset=29

Filled another skip today.





Despite busting my hump for hours to fill it, the 'after' looks depressingly similar to the 'before' (at the start of this thread). Bit annoying.








Found another manhole.. yay.. I wonder if I find a third one will I win a prize!? :P






On the plus side of things, though, we did clear out the small shed (well, brother did, while I was digging away)






and I amused myself with the pressure washer for 2 minutes. Goes to show the dirt that builds up!






That strata group will be delivering my 850kg of Pink Granite decorative stones on Tuesday they reckon. I had hoped that i'd be doing my bricks/edging on monday, but it looks like I'll have to put the stones to one side, and get yet another feckin' skip next week. Skips are far and away the most expensive part of this effort so far (and I'd say they will be until the doors on the sheds need to get changed. I predict that being the most expensive aspect altogether of the whole garden).


(as an aside, I realise I'm pretty much talking to myself here at the moment, but if mods don't mind, I'm gonna keep rambling on? I'd like to keep the thread to document my progress to, if nothing else, keep myself sane )

The Assistinator

Just a thought here but would it be cheaper to check donedeal local ad sites and see if there maybe anyone on there farmers or the like that would take that ruble and clay for a price would think it would be a lot cheaper than skip.
BTW keep up the good work its coming together nicely

martyo

martyo wrote: »

Just a thought here but would it be cheaper to check donedeal local ad sites and see if there maybe anyone on there farmers or the like that would take that ruble and clay for a price would think it would be a lot cheaper than skip.
BTW keep up the good work its coming together nicely

If it was relatively clean-ish muck/soil, then I'd have it on Donedeal or Adverts or such, but as it is, I don't think anyone would take it or have any use for it? (being a mix of stone/muck)?

The Assistinator

Deleted User wrote: »

If it was relatively clean-ish muck/soil, then I'd have it on Donedeal or Adverts or such, but as it is, I don't think anyone would take it or have any use for it? (being a mix of stone/muck)?

Yeah but i was meaning more along the lines of you paying them to take away, always someone looking for a hole filled lol

I'd happily pay someone if they could take it away. Not sure how I'd find such a person though.

I tried searching on DoneDeal and Adverts, but can't see anything.

Steve_hooo

Deleted User wrote: »

(as an aside, I realise I'm pretty much talking to myself here at the moment, but if mods don't mind, I'm gonna keep rambling on? I'd like to keep the thread to document my progress to, if nothing else, keep myself sane )

Thanks for the entertainment :P

Well today I made a little big of progress.

I've decided to focus on one area at a time, so I've just shoveled a lot of soil from the longer side of the garden, over on top of the smaller side (the side i plan for a flowerbed). This means I can work on getting my bricks and stones in place, but unfortunately means I have to neglect the other side of the garden for a short while.


So, I shoveled and raked and just cleaned up the right hand side a little bit...







I sprayed about a litre of weed killer over the area, and then put down some weed killer cover...





and then I (finally) made a start on my brickwork..





It's just being sat on a small foundation of sand. The bricks are a little rocky when in place, but I'm tapping them down with a jump hammer and a piece of wood, which is forcing them into the sand, and making them sit a little more sturdy. The above picture is how I left it tonight. I'm not gonna continue on until I see how it looks tomorrow.


I'm gonna have a few areas that will be troublesome. The bottom of this pic, for example...





The footpath is all over the place.

A friend suggested breaking off all those bits with a hammer and running lengths of wood/joists the whole way down the path. Then place the bricks against the wood (as the wood will be straight).

Then remove the wood (leaving a gap between the bricks and path), and fill with cement. This would mean my bricks are straight, cemented in, and my path will be wider... would this work?

So I took up all my bricks, and decided the best way forward was to straighten my edges, first, and then work on brick-related activities.

Unfortunately, there's not as much cement to be made from the bag I bought, as I thought there would be! This effectively means that I just half-filled my holes today, so i can get a start on doing the brick work. I'll pick up another bag o' cement (a proper bag this time, of just cement, and then two bags of sand) and finish the cement on Friday or Saturday.


Here are my before and afters for that...
















Also, the Strata Group / Breffni Couriers arrived with a big bag of happiness (not drugs).





A friend of mine also is working on his garden, and through miracle of miracles, he needs soil to level things out. A good bit of it too, so i may have offloaded some of that! Fingers crossed. He said he'd have a look tomorrow.



So tomorrow, if nothing else, with a straight-edge to work with, I should (should) be able to lay my brick edging and throw my stones around the place.


My concern now, really, is.. is the (beach) sand that I'm using for the bricks sufficient? My fear is that after a couple of weeks, the rain will cause the sand to disintegrate into nothingness and my bricks will have sunk all over the place and be lopsided and wobbly and such!?

Anyone able to comment on that?

So close, but yet, so far!





Another bag of stones required. And stones were the one thing I was sure i had far too much of!

slinky2000

[Deleted User] wrote: »

So close, but yet, so far!





Another bag of stones required. And stones were the one thing I was sure i had far too much of!

Oh wow, I would have said you have way too much too.

If you have much left over I could take it off your hands!

Dubl07

It looks brilliant though. What an enormous difference already. Chin up!

slinky2000

I agree looks great compared to what you started with!

slinky2000

Ah no, I'm delighted with the progress so far. I can't really complain. The biggest issue is getting rid of that muck, but a friend is actually taking a fair bit of it for his own garden, so once that's done i should have a better idea of where I stand, in general.


On adverts, I made an offer on two sets of doors, and picked up a set of doors some chap was giving away for free (so three sets of double doors, in total) but it looks like I'll never be able to get round to collect one of the sets, as I'm out and away from where he is for a while.

Two sets of the doors are pretty much the same (brown with 15 panels of glass). These will be for the sheds:

Set 1:





Set 2:






The third set of doors, i was hoping to collect on tuesday, but the chap wasn't around (he said he would be, but then didn't arrive home til late that evening, i believe) so i wasnt able to collect them. The idea in my head was to put a dividing wall and make a 'room' in the bigger shed. But I'm not sure now if I can do that (and the fact i couldnt get the doors when I wanted means i've taken a bit of a laid back approach to the idea).


As an aside, the first set of doors above cost me €60 and came with a frame. The others cost me nothing (but had no frame). It's amazing what you can get on adverts if you shop around.

I also found a shop on adverts selling Dulux weathershield paint at a discounted price. So I'd like to get some of that, too (waiting on them to get back to me).


Also seen a table and chairs on Adverts that look decent (again, from a shop seller). So Adverts is being good to me in general. After that I've just a few small bits to pick up to finish things off.

Just not a lot left to do until i get rid of the muck and get more stones. Power wash the 'wash me' wall, give the doors I have a few coats of a Ronseal wood preserver I picked up.. then hopefully start working on my raised flowerbed idea.


I was thinking of picking up two rabbits to keep aswell. Friend has one and they seem like a nice pet to have (and would hopefully give my dad something to do in the evenings when he gets home). I know they'd be taken well care of, but i'm just not sure if i'd be keeping them in an area not suitable for them. Wouldn't like them to have a poor quality of life.

slinky2000 wrote: »

Oh wow, I would have said you have way too much too.

If you have much left over I could take it off your hands!

Well the Stata group sell them in 450kg and 850kg bags. I bought another 850 as I reckon it'd be needed. As it stands, the area that is covered is largely only about one stone high (ie; it looks good in the photo, but in real life you can see the weed cover in the gaps) so I'd say the full 850kg bag will be used. If its not, though, you're more than welcome to take any i have left over away, though.

slinky2000

Deleted User wrote: »

Well the Stata group sell them in 450kg and 850kg bags. I bought another 850 as I reckon it'd be needed. As it stands, the area that is covered is largely only about one stone high (ie; it looks good in the photo, but in real life you can see the weed cover in the gaps) so I'd say the full 850kg bag will be used. If its not, though, you're more than welcome to take any i have left over away, though.

Good to know, I've a bit of an area I need to gravel too and I'll basically be doing what you have above but about 1/2 the area, I may need more stones than I originally thought!

slinky2000

slinky2000 wrote: »

Good to know, I've a bit of an area I need to gravel too and I'll basically be doing what you have above but about 1/2 the area, I may need more stones than I originally thought!

Well I'll be honest, i'd say that if there are any left over, there'd be feck all, so if you're covering an area that's 1/2 the size of mine, they probably wouldn't even make a dent in it.

(but that said, I misjudged the first bag so much that I won't even try to pretend i know how I'll get on with the next one. All I know is that if I need a 3rd bag of stones, there'll be trouble! :mad: :P )

doctorchopper

I'd be a bit worried about security for the shed with those doors, be very easy to break the glass to get in

doctorchopper

doctorchopper wrote: »

I'd be a bit worried about security for the shed with those doors, be very easy to break the glass to get in

Ah, they won't be locked or anything. There's never really gonna be anything worth taking, so I'd leave them unlocked just so the little cnuts, if they ever did decide to break in, wouldn't break my doors.

There will be motion sensor lights going up, though (admittedly, more as an aid for myself wandering the garden after dark, but also helpful deterrent to the scummers around the place, too).

Today the smaller, previously unpainted, shed got a coat of paint. It actually got two coats, but it started raining heavily and it took a bit of the paint away with it, particularly along the bottom of it. It wasn't myself that painted it, it was the younger brother. It needs a bit of touching up, and I've enough paint to do it, but it'll be left for a fully dry day.










I got the paint on the cheap, so it was two 5ltr tins, of two different colours. Mixed together to get 10ltrs of a single colour, but it's a very... erm... vibrant... colour. I'm not sure I'm too keen. The upside, though, is that at least there'll be 2 coats of weathershield paint on it, so if I decide to change colour, it shouldn't be overly difficult (and I may well change to a paler colour, but it's a work in progress, really).




I couldn't really do a whole lot else, today, as the rain never quite stopped, so I put a first coat of my Ronseal 'wood protector' on two of the doors. I'm gonna give each door 2-3 coats of it in the hopes it'll help them out, long term. I also focused on some of the smaller details, like cleaning the door handles...










A minor detail, but it was something to keep me occupied for a few minutes. The friend of mine who took a lot of my soil for his own garden, took an enormous amount of it with him. I gave him a hand (obviously - couldn't get rid of it fast enough!). So there's an enormous amount of that gone, but there's still a lot left. I'm just gonna do what I can to try and rake/flatten it out, but I don't think it'll be level with the footpath. I think that whole side of the garden may be a 'raised' section.


I was thinking of doing some decking there, and using that to cover the manhole cover. But it presents a few minor issues. For example, the doors of the shed open out only half onto the footpath, so if i were to put decking up to the footpath, it'd block the door of the shed.


Here's what I mean. The decking is the red outline, the orange is the problem area (I know the angles are way off here for anything realistic, but I'm no technical drawer, and these were fired together in about 10 seconds)






And here are the two alternative ideas in my head.

The first is to cull back the depth of the decking, so it doesnt reach the door itself, and have a small bit at the front that sticks out a tad (to act as a 'step'), and throw some gravel on the ground in front of it (this means that the doors would have two surfaces outside them, cement path and gravel/stones).







The other idea is to do the opposite, and bring the decking forward enough that it goes over the path altogether, and becomes the new 'entrance' to the shed.







The issue with that, is a practicality issue. The step up wouldn't be enormous (about 6 inches), but my dad would be bringing wheelie bins in and out through that shed to put them out the back for collection each week or fortnight. My fear is they'd damage the decking (big hard plastic wheels getting dragged up against and onto the decking).

So from a practical standpoint i think the smaller decking works, but for a better looking one, i think the bigger one is better. However, if i do the smaller decking to make it look anyway decent, I have to have it quite wide - wide enough that it obliterates any real space that would be available for a flowerbed. The larger decking would leave space for flowers (but cost more to do, and be less practical).


Not sure what the best move is, from here.


Relatedly though, does anyone know any good decking suppliers? I found a place in Cavan that do a 4.8m length for €10. Woodies charge the same for a 2.4m length, so effectively half the Woodies Price. My issue is I'd have to see do they offer a service where they'll cut the decking to size (I wouldnt need it cut to size, as such, as I have a small table saw there, but I couldn't get 4.8m into my car. Too long.

2.4m will fit in my car though (as I've already moved some Woodies decks around). If I have to get the stuff delivered or hire a van, any savings are out the window, though (so I may aswell just use woodies in that instance).



But if anyone know anyone priced similarly (or more reasonable, of course) in Louth, Meath or Dublin, I'd rather that than the 2 hour trek to Cavan, and then back again.

dmc17

It's a pity the rain didn't wash it all off :pac:

You need to change that colour though. It makes it look ancient.

dmc17

dmc17 wrote: »

It's a pity the rain didn't wash it all off :pac:

You need to change that colour though. It makes it look ancient.

Pfft! What are you talking about!? It's a classic!!

I will change the colour, though. I'm gonna use whats left of that paint to finish the shed and the washed off bits, then I'll go with a much paler colour, but at least this way it's actually got a coat of paint on it, so it's not just bare concrete anymore.


My second bag of stones arrived today:





After I laid it out and raked it flat, it looks like this:






Which is a drastic improvement. However, there are still areas that are very thinly covered (ie; some areas it's still quite easy to see the weed cover with a quick visual). It was dark by the time i was raking it, so I'll take a look tomorrow at it again. Unfortunately, this means no leftover stones (and potentially another, perhaps smaller, bag may be required in the future).

For the moment though, I'll just leave it and see how it's sitting after a week or two.



The friend doing his garden, took all the muck he needed, so now this is what I'm left with:









Which is still a lot, but I'm gonna try and level it out/flatten it down a bit and go from there.


I've a table and chairs, and a parasol and base waiting for some good weather. The table and chairs were gotten on Adverts, and the parasol and base were 2nd hand on Donedeal (but in good nick).

slinky2000

Great improvement on that one side!

I just did a small bit of digging up muck and laying down some gravel at the weekend and I'm aching all over now, man it's hard work!

slinky2000

slinky2000 wrote: »

Great improvement on that one side!

I just did a small bit of digging up muck and laying down some gravel at the weekend and I'm aching all over now, man it's hard work!

It is a fairly physical task alright. All through doing this, one of the primary thoughts on my mind was just "how could anyone do this for a living!?".

It's all well and good doing your own garden, taking your time and appreciating your work.. imagine doing it against the clock for 8 hours a day. There's not a hope would I do it.

Fair play to anyone that does. They're a better man than me!

Anyone care to weigh in with an opinion on this?

I was considering putting the table and chairs out on the stones today, and a thought occurred...

As my stones aren't as thick/deep as I'd like, if I put a chair down, it's got the potential to go through to damage my weed cover. Also, if you want to sit down and drag a chair from the table, its feet may drag through the stones, leaving two lines of weedkiller cover where the stones once were.

My initial thought would be to throw down some paving slabs. I can get 40x40cm slabs for about €3.90 in Woodies (I'm sure I can do better if I look elsewhere) but I'm not sure if laying these would be a pain in the ass.


The upsides are good, though - a solid surface for table/chairs, the stones that once were there will be relocated to the rest of the stone area (so they'll be thicker surrounding the paving slabs).

The questionable side is: Will my heart be broke trying to lay the slabs, and level the area out (the ground isn't exactly even). I reckon, ultimately, it'll only cost in and around €100 to add the amount of slabs I need (my table is 150x80cm, so if i allow 60cm extra at each side, for chairs, I need to cover 270 x 200, I believe. Most stones are 40x40 in size, so an area of 280x200 seems logical - 28 stones).


I'm just not sure of the easiest way of laying them. I'm avoiding cement where possible as I've not really got much/any experience with it, and it's a very permanent way of doing things, so it doesn't give me the freedom of changing my mind very easily (I don't think, but could be wrong - as I say, no real experience of it!).

I visited Chaptersone Paving today (a local business). They had pretty much exactly what I was looking for in paving slabs (smooth, and similar colours to my edging). My maths above was wrong as I did it quickly - to do the size i want to cover, i'll need 35 slabs. Thing is, the ones I like just happen to also be the cheapest (at 2.50 per slab - can't go wrong there!).

So it'll cost me €87.50 for my rectcangle. From an aesthetics position, i was considering leaving a square missing at the edges of the rectangle (so the corners would be gone). Think it'd look a tad more modern. I'll see how I get on.


These are the ones:






I also got my decking today. I thought the price was exceptionally good, but it turns out the lad mis-heard my order on the phone, so i didnt get as much as I needed/wanted. I wanted 36 decking boards, but he must have heard 26. Easy mistake, and the deckings not gonna be gown down til next week, so it's not really an issue at all.






Told the paving crowd I'd get the slabs off them on sunday as im busy tomorrow. undecided on what colour/s to use.

Just a quick upate.. not a lot happening since I last posted. Still trying to get rid of the muck, but found another friend who wants some. I don't think he wants enough to help me much, but anything he takes will be better than nothing. He's taking it in the morning so...

In the meantime, I went up to Chapterstone Paving to collect my slabs. Salesman in there is pretty good, and I have to say, some of their stuff (the circles of stone, for example) is actually a lot more reasonable than I thought. I was very tempted to ditch my idea and get a circle of stone instead. The only reason I didn't was because I don't want to use up any area more than I have to, and the circles would need an extra slab on one side (so instead of being 7 slabs long, it'd be 8). Might seem like a small thing, but these are taking up a lot more space than I'd wanted them to in the first place).






My car looked like it was lowered when I was bringing them home! :P







That was 2-3 days ago. Earlier today, I made a start on the washing of the wall. Didn't get far before I got interrupted, but I'll finish it tomorrow.





Also found some nice trellis to put on top of the wall (€22 euro each, 2x6 foot)





... Seems reasonable enough to me? This was in a garden centre.. Beech Vista, near the airport. Didn't actually buy them, but will more than likely swing up and get them after I've got the other bits done (pressure washed wall, paving slabs down, etc.).



Have a delivery of more wood joists and decking boards, etc. arriving tomorrow. Will try to shift as much muck to my friends before that arrives. Once that arrives I kinda have to get the finger out and start doing something. Pray for some good weather. I'd say from Monday onwards I'll start getting to make some more real progress

Got a delivery of wood today from Brooks Group again. It was just missing one or two pieces, and a piece that needs substituting, but all relatively small stuff (a bit of gutter missing for the big shed, and a wrong colour on some floor beading). They said they'd get it out to me tomorrow.


I had the wide angle lens in the car with the camera so i fired off a few shots with the camera, to give ye guys a better idea of what it is I'm dealing with (the phone isn't too wide, so hard to get a lot in).



This is from the back door of the house, looking up the garden to the large shed:





Halfway up the garden, on the gravel:








Looking back towards the smaller shed and house:







and then the inside of the small shed, and it's dire ceiling that looks like it's about to collapse:






(of course, this was never actually finished...)

And of course, today's delivery:







Tomorrow I've nothing on all day... i bet it rains non-stop! :mad:

catastrophy

Just spotted this now. Fair play to you, its a huge improvement.

catastrophy

catastrophy wrote: »

Just spotted this now. Fair play to you, its a huge improvement.

Arh.. .to be honest.. it's a... catastrophy...








A long way to go, but aside from Paint, I think I have the majority of what I need to do the bulk of the work Just need a few days to get stuck into it now.