Advice on raised front garden and sunken patio

Discussion in 'Landscaping and Outdoors' started by Mmi, May 28, 2020.

  1. Mmi

    Mmi New Member

    Hi everyone, we have finally come round to tackling our front garden and would like to get some advice and opinions. We are trying to modernise it, make it look nice and no so broken looking..

    The front garden is raised above the front path and the house is raised above the garden. There is a side wrap around patio path leading to the back of the house. The path to the house, step and side patio are all wonky and sunken. The actual step to the font door looks solid and level...

    We are thinking to maybe dig out the front garden to have path way be flush with the path in front of the wall and have steps up to the front door. But it may be too much dirt to remove....?

    As for the sunken side patio part. Not sure if should remove the whole thing and build a wooden frame or maybe build a new concrete base?

    Thought maybe could remove the slabs and clad the existing concrete base. Reusing the base and using timber to then level the walkway. Not sure if i explained my thinking clearly?

    IMG_20200526_194352_compressed.jpg IMG_20200526_194328_compressed.jpg IMG_20200526_194359_compressed.jpg IMG_20200526_194311_compressed.jpg IMG_20200526_194301_compressed.jpg IMG_20200526_194342_compressed.jpg IMG_20200526_194316_compressed.jpg

    The plan is to remove the front wall and build a new one. The current wall is cracked and lose. It could be pushed over by hand!

    As you can see we are a bit stuck on trying to decide on the best way forwards. :confused:
     
  2. Mmi

    Mmi New Member

    Decided to have a look under one of the corner slabs to see what beneath..

    IMG_20200611_200329_compressed.jpg IMG_20200611_200333_compressed.jpg IMG_20200611_200341_compressed.jpg IMG_20200611_200352_compressed.jpg

    To me it looks like there is a concrete base which looks level-ish then the patio is layed on soil with some dabs of concrete to try and raise the level maybe? It looks like its the top section thats all wonky and sinking. You can see the spade in the photo is able to stand up in the dirt under the slab.

    Shall I take off the whole top layer to see what im dealing with? This could be the same for the path from the front steps?
     
  3. masterdiy

    masterdiy Screwfix Select

    Yes, only way to tackle it.
    Then if you need to keep the same height, you will need to maybe boarder the path with bricks, then fill in & sit slabs back.
     
  4. Mmi

    Mmi New Member

    So we have spent some time trying to think of a design that we like and think is possible....
    We would like to split the front garden in two. Basically making a terraced garden I think? The front will be lower and the back would be higher to be the same level as the current patio.

    We would like to lower the front half so there is no more step from the path in front of the house. Have steps in the middle of the garden which raise up to the level of the current patio . We dried to do a drawing of what we mean....
    idea.jpg idea2.jpg
    We are not sure about how to finish it to the house. Can we raise the ground around the house to match the height of the patio?

    Is this something that is doable?

    This is what we are aiming for, something like this https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/262545853253581617/

    If we are not able to raise the ground around the house is a deck possible like in that example?

    Thanks!
     
  5. Mmi

    Mmi New Member

    Did a bit of a test dig today and the ground is very dry and compacted. Realising now its probably not wise to raise the ground any higher than it already is around the front of the house.
    The ground comes to third row of bricks on the front wall so its quite a bit of dirt to dig and move by hand as well and im a little bit worried about water and power cables (when the floor boards where up in the front room you could see the water pipe going into the ground so I dont know how deep is is under the front garden!)

    So we have changed our ideas a bit now to keep the steps at the front but just add one more so the path way is level. We are thinking of going with something like this

    blog-pic-560x283.png
    We think this is a lot more achievable for us. Just removing the existing brick wall and replacing with sleepers effectively up to the ground level. Then removing the existing steps and making that nicer.

    The last bits we are unsure about still is the side patio next to the houes.

    I was thinking about removing the current slabs and pouring some new concrete onto the old base to bring it up and level it off. Then put new slabs back on top. Framing the sides with some ply to do the pour. Heres a photo of whats the corner slab removed and cleaned out.

    IMG_20200627_150338_compressed.jpg IMG_20200627_150344_compressed.jpg

    Either that or perhaps use decking instead. Would that be easier or a good idea? Build a small raised deck to sit on the old concrete base to be level where the current patio slabs are that go around the house. We want to put a storage area for our bins to the side where the tree currently is but as that is dropped down we think the deck approach would be good as it would allow us to build the deck out to the side as well to use for bins.

    Lastly its just a matter of the ground in that area. Its a bit lower compared to the other side of the path and once the new front steps are in there will be a small drop on the left of the pathway. is it ok to just put more soil there? would I need to put sleepers against the brick wall or is it wiser to leave the level as it is and just flatten it out?

    Thanks :)
    mmi
     
  6. joan124

    joan124 New Member

    Maybe you should try asking a specialist. I think better to build a wooden frame but again better to ask someone who deals with such things. Maybe you'll find advice on the site I've recently discovered, there is a lot of useful things for the garden and there people also talk about garden things and you can ask a question there. I didn't know what tractor to buy for a long time because I had some doubts and I asked there https://www.growgardener.com and they advised me to buy a garden tractor which I bought and I'm very happy with the result. This garden tractor is my best help in garden and lawn maintenance. Especially when the Fall comes and I have a lot of work outside.
     

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