Small DIY garden project

mushtafa

mushtafa

mushtafa

Soldato
Joined
17 May 2013
Posts
2,943
Location
West Sussex, UK
I've very almost finished my garden project, so thought I'd share. I know a few people like seeing these DIY jobs. I had a budget of £1000.

The house is only 5 years old, so the ground is full of hardcore and general building site mess, the mud is very clay like, and the lawn is infested with leather jackets - the larva of the crane fly. We've battled with the lawn and treated it the last two years now, we can't keep up with it. It doesn't help that the house end of the garden doesn't get much sun.

This is what it looked like before I started. You can see how patchy and muddy the grass is.
Note the neighbour's fresh garden, they had it professionally done last year.

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Wire fence down & steel posts removed

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All posts in, first panel in

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Fence done - not bad for first attempt

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General garden mess and kids toys moved, all slabs lifted & turf removed. Everything had to be wheel barrowed 30m to the trailer for disposal.

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I built a deck on the house end so we'd have a decent area to use when wet.

The frame was built 3.1m x 4m using 150mm x 47mm treated joists

Its suspended above ground on 12 posts

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I laid artificial grass to the end of the garden, so prepped the ground. We levelled it and built a perimeter frame. The frame was staked into the ground and levelled. We filled the inside of the frame with a bulk bag of type 1 and compacted it. Followed by a bulk bag of sharp/grit sand. I had to buy an additional 200kg of sand as ran out. Complete base is 50mm deep.

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Deck lights fitted and tested

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Grass laid out, and roughly cut to size. The grass included a weed membrane, so no need to lay one separately.

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We used the slabs from the back door and extended the path at the rear of the garden. The slabs look a little different in the pics, they need a proper clean.
I needed a hard area for my home made chiminea, a BBQ, and the small toy storage shed we've got.

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This is where I'm up to now. The sky cables clipped to the fence, and the water butt plumbed back in (out of shot). The grass has been cut to size and screwed into the frame work.

Just need to oil the deck and paint the fences & shed again. I now need to save up and get some furniture so we can enjoy it before the summer has gone again.
I'm well impressed with how it turned out. My first attempt at it all with basic tools. Had a good friend help me out, would have been almost impossible on my own, especially trying to hold and cut 4.8m lengths of wood
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Wow nice work! If I had one small criticism its thats the fence panels that you installed dont match with the existing fence that was already there on that side.

I like the raised planter down the side. What material did you use for the sides? Im thinking of doing something similar.
 
Ive got artificial grass in my new place. i thought i'd hate it and planned to rip it up ASAP but after 6 weeks i'm starting to appreciate it. It's badly laid so i may do as you've done and level everything out before relaying but it looks pretty good.

Great work on the decking. I'm terrified of pulling up the rotten planks on mine :(

You really turned it round, looks great.
 
Mark M said:
Wow nice work! If I had one small criticism its thats the fence panels that you installed dont match with the existing fence that was already there on that side.

I like the raised planter down the side. What material did you use for the sides? Im thinking of doing something similar.
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I did worry about the fence, but it also doesn't match on the right hand side either.

The raised planter was just built with gravel boards. Nice and cheap
 
I like the idea but so far every lawn I've seen like this looks just a little bit too perfect and uniform to my eye. Depends on the type of artificial grass I suppose - some of the top end stuff is eye wateringly expensive!!!
 
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Macro said:
I like the idea but so far every lawn I've seen like this looks just a little bit too perfect and uniform to my eye. Depends on the type of artificial grass I suppose - some of the top end stuff is eye wateringly expensive!!!
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The good stuff these days isn't uniform green and even includes so thatch! It still looks more perfect than the average lawn but that's because very few people have the time and commitment to keep a real lawn looking immaculate!

We are going artificial not so it looks like real grass without the effort but because frankly it is a better surface for the average small back garden in the uk. Almost zero maintenance usable all year round and drains and dries quickly what more could you want!
 
a1ex2001 said:
Almost zero maintenance usable all year round and drains and dries quickly what more could you want!
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The only maintenance you don't have to do on artificial grass is mowing. You still have to do all the other stuff that'd you normally have to do on a real lawn - de-moss, de-weed, remove debris (leaves) etc. Plus you have to clean it, unlike a real lawn.
 
amigafan2003 said:
The only maintenance you don't have to do on artificial grass is mowing. You still have to do all the other stuff that'd you normally have to do on a real lawn - de-moss, de-weed, remove debris (leaves) etc. Plus you have to clean it, unlike a real lawn.
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All of which can be done with a hose pipe and stiff brunch two or three times a year instead of a weekly mow and the hassle of storing and maintaining a mower and the lawn always happening to be in need of a cut on the days you want to use it most! Comparing the maintenance of the two is silly!
 
Thanks for the comments, not bad for a mechanic :D

Macro said:
I like the idea but so far every lawn I've seen like this looks just a little bit too perfect and uniform to my eye. Depends on the type of artificial grass I suppose - some of the top end stuff is eye wateringly expensive!!!
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This was £15 sqm, so midway price wise. (I was looking between £5 and £30). I originally wanted one that had some brown in it as it looked more real, but the the Mrs wanted this one. It does look nice in person though.
 
Small update, finally had a week of dry weather, and enough time to oil the deck.

Was a tad tricky, had to do it in stages. The second coat needed to be done within about half hour of the first. And couldn't walk on it. Made it interesting by the door.

The oil really brings out the grain of the wood, and beads up very well.

Once I can walk on it tomorrow, I'll grab some more pics

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