Decorative edging around a stone cottage

Danm54 · 12 Apr 2020 at 12:24

I'm looking at tidying up the edging around our house, currently there is stone down in most places but it's not a nice edging to the lawn.
In future there will be a path around one end with a log store and parking area.

I want to put some edging in with some gravel next to the house but more importantly, I don't want to trap rain water in the gravel or channel in under the house. It's an 1800s cottage and most is rendered thick stone wall without significant foundations or damp proof course.

Am I ok to concrete some stone edging in? Should I leave a gap for drainage or concrete right up tonthe walls?
Only looking for 6-8 inches of stone then some sort of stone edging.

BigBoy · 12 Apr 2020 at 13:50

The gravel is there to drain any water away from the walls of your house, I wouldn't put concrete as th edge of th grass as it will restrict water movement away from the property, some nice edging stones yeah should be no problem, just keep the concrete to a minimum.

Danm54 · 12 Apr 2020 at 15:58

My worry was creating a gully that held water against the side of the house.
I'd like a proper edging as currently most of the gravel is full of grass, other than looking messy it's a pain to cut.
I may pull the edging out a little further so I can concrete it in without it trapping water against the house. Could I put a membrane down first that directs the water under the concrete? Thinking of the black mesh type that you put under gravel etc.

3 of the guttering down pipes just end in the gravel so I need to put some drains in for those, we have a marsh area that 1 down pipes goes to so I'll replace that with 4 inch and connect the others to it.

sja360 · 13 Apr 2020 at 08:58

What about some wooden edging and fill in with gravel? The edging board wouldn't need to go deep otherwise like it's been said it would prevent water flowing away from your property.

This would allow you to cut the grass easier and create a sharp/smart border between the gravel and grass.

Danm54 · 13 Apr 2020 at 10:38

sja360 said:
What about some wooden edging and fill in with gravel? The edging board wouldn't need to go deep otherwise like it's been said it would prevent water flowing away from your property.

This would allow you to cut the grass easier and create a sharp/smart border between the gravel and grass.

I'd prefere to avoid wood to be honest, it never seems that permanent as it'll rot and I'll be doing it again in a few years.

BigBoy · 13 Apr 2020 at 11:02

This article is quite interesting https://www.wgh.co.uk/blog/benefits-gravel-beds-around-your-home/

thezappa · 13 Apr 2020 at 11:18

You could put a French drain in and lay sawtooth bricks along the edge of the gravel, you can connect the downpipes to the French drain then and have it dispersed properly.

Danm54 · 13 Apr 2020 at 11:36

Thanks @BigBoy that's the kind of thing we're after just with a neat edge to keep the grass back.

@thezappa I'll be putting a couple of French drains in as we get 2 spots that puddle and stay wet most of the winter, I'll be putting a parking/turning area by them so while it's dug out for hardcore I'll put a French drain at the end of both, one going into the marsh and we have a stream out the front to take the other. The guttering from the front needs a drain as well so I'll put them both in at the same time.

I don't really want to dig too deep by the house, I doubt there's any real footings under it.