converting lawn to gravel

T

TRipley

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we live in a townhouse with small back garden that's set to lawn with bedding around the edges - it's harldly worth keeping in grass as the area is so small and reckon it would look smarter in gravel

advice needed on how to convert the grass area (6 sq. meters) to gravel - how much would it cost and what's involved?
 
You may find there is a planning issue involved, depending on the original permission and what the local authority consider is material to the amenity of the area.
 
I don't know how long you've lived in your house, but if it's less than a full year then I would recommend you keep the grass for the summer at least - on a sunny Sunday afternoon a grassy oasis where you can lie and read a book is a very different thing to a gravelly square where you can't walk barefoot and where if you want to lie out you need furniture, not just a rug.
 
we're in the house 2 yrs - that's a fair point dubgem and one I'm considering - can't beat a grassy area especially for small kids - don't really have room to store a lawn-mower though and would prefer to keep the space we have free of clutter - am cutting the grass with a strimmer at the mo which gives a rough n ready looking 'lawn'
 
Tripley

we did it the other way round - when we bought our house the back garden was a vision in concrete - looked like a prison yard. We covered three quarters of it with decking and left a quarter to be lawned- it's tiny but so nice when it's sunny, and we just wanted to have some (even tiny) bit of grass in the back garden.

We cut ours with a strimmer as well - which as you say, leaves rather an unkempt look to the grass - but better that that hard concrete or gravel :)

M
 
Have a small back garden as well and was using a strimmer to cut the grass. Put down gravel about 4 years ago. Placed black sheeting on the ground (got in B&Q) and got bags of gravel in B&Q. Just have to spray weed killer twice a year.. Found out later you can buy the gravel in bulk which is a lot cheaper and can be delivered. I should have trebled up on the sheeting as the gravel can put holes in it when you walk on it. Got fake flag stones to use as steps to get to the back gate and shed. Over all very happy with the gravel. Not sure of the final cost but was between 500 and 600 euro.
 
Decked and gravelled the garden 3 years ago and love it. We had severe drainage problems when it was grass and the gravel pathway has solved the problem. Plant it up with plenty of greenery, trees etc, terracotta pots. Practically maintenance free!
 
It's a personal choice obviously at the end of the day - I like the fact tho that gravel is maintenance free - and I can see how it would look great when the plants and trees that we've already planted around the borders fill-up - at the moment the strimmer is scattering bark mulsch out into the grass area - the woes of middle class suburbia!!!

does anyone know if the garden first has to be completely level - ours has a slight down slope - and must the sod be removed first or is it OK to apply weed killer directly to the lawn and then put permeable sheeting directly on top?
 
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