Front Garden Makeover - Parking Grid lawn

[valve90210]

Having moved home in March, over the summer my girlfriend and I worked on various diy projects, concentrating mainly outside the house as we were very excited to have gardens for the first time - having come from a first floor flat - so it was very much a novelty to us to be able to work outside.

The biggest project was sorting out the front garden which was frankly a mess. The previous owners used to park at least one car on the grass and had over time put down a few slabs which had obviously sunk into the mud during wet weather. In once place they had then put down a second slab on top!!

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The front of the house as it started

In one corner (Just about visible in the photo, right hand side near the pavement) there was a fairly large lump in the ground, which turned out to be a rubble sack about 1/4 full of sand. It turned out to have been given to the previous owner by the neighbours when it was left over after they had block paved their driveway. It had been sat there for about 12 years!!! In that time the grass grew over it completely.

My plan was pretty simple (well sounded simple) dig up the garden and fit some parking grid I had got from work, then fill it and grow a new lawn...

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We started off by removing the slabs, then lifting the rather poor turf. This proved a tricky job as the ground was

really compacted from having had cars driven and parked on it.

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After lift the turf we started breaking up the soil in order to dig out to a depth of 100mm to allow us to put in a compacted aggregate base for the grid to sit on.

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A good bit of pickaxing later and the top layer was broken up ready for digging out.

The digging out took a long time as only one of us could work on it at a time really due to having a little boy who wants to join in and help with everything but being only 1 1/2 we had to keep our eyes on him the whole time we were out the front of the house which meant we could barely get on. Instead I was out digging while my girlfriend stayed indoors and looked after him. We finally got there though.

The next stage was to put in a wooden framework to hold the aggregate and grid in place. I took a day off work, my parents took the little boy and we cracked on.

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The 'workshop'

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The first bit of framing in place.

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Framing complete...more digging needed! :(

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Digging finally finished!! :)

Next we needed to get to work on the manhole cover located in the lawn area. As it was it was too high and would be protruding out of the ground once the grid was in place and level with the concrete drive...

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Chipping away the mortar holding the cover in place.

We then removed the top layer of bricks and laid a single layer of half bricks to bring the level down a bit.

Then we installed a brand new recessed drain cover.

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This was our first bit of brickwork and mortaring etc, so we were very pleased with the results!

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Then came a layer of Terram geotextile fabric

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And then it was on with the aggregate.

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After a lot of raking we realised we didn’t have enough aggregate to get the depth we required (50mm once compacted) so I called the firm we had got the aggregate from, it turned out,the amount they recommended was for a 50mm base uncompacted, so I needed another tonne. Having taken a day off to crack on with this while my parents looked after our little boy, I wanted the additional aggregate delivered asap. A couple of hours later and it arrived.

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More raking was done, then we were finally ready to use the whacking plate we’d hired for the day.

Neither of us had ever used such a bit of kit but it turned out to be pretty easy and rather good fun!!!

After the aggregate was compacted we put down a thin layer of soil for the grid to sit on and began the process of putting the grid in place.

As we had been delayed with the aggregate we were fortunate that our little boy fell asleep at my parents and they said it was fine for him to sleep over, meaning we could work for a couple of hours more than we thought so we cracked on and only gave up when the light was too bad to continue, by which time we had gotten most of the grid in place.

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As we left it over night

The following day after my parents had dropped our boy back, our neighbours very kindly took him for a couple of hours during which time we managed to finish not only putting the grid in place but also filling it with soil and seeding it!

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After a week or so the grass started growing

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Five weeks on and I had to give the grass it’s first cut and i have to say it looked wonderful once cut, it’s a lovely neat tidy lawn with the added benefit of being able to park on it without damaging it (though I am waiting until the spring to do so, to give the grass as much time as possible to establish itself)

As you can see from the pic we’ve put polythene down over the borders in order to kill anything that remained after a good weed killing and to prevent anything else growing over the winter so that the beds are ready for fertilising and planting up in the spring.

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When funds allow we will have a nice fence installed which will finish it off nicely.

This is the biggest project we have undertaken and we are very happy with the results, well worth the hours of hard work!!

[jmcp]

Hi,

Certainly looks a whole lot better but, not having come across parking grid before so, is the idea that you will be able to park on the lawn but you won't damage it because the grid takes the weight of the car ? If so, sounds cool.

Cheers, John

[Wes]

Nice post

What's the score with the manhole, access wise??

[BillyGoat]

Looks like it's one of those deep dish ones, so you can put blockwork in.....I'm guessing they just cut some of the stuff and filled it with the grass/stone....it should lift out with the handles.

BG

[Wes]

Oh, so the man hole top is acting as a base for the soil?? Sounds about right and looking at the way the mesh has been cut the shape of the manhole..

Very stealth like

Edit : I see what you mean now by deep dish for blockwork BG

[BillyGoat]

Yep, you could put laminate inside if you wanted too....kindof like a keepsake for people in the future. A time capsule if you will. What brand would you use.... hmmm

BG

[Wes]

I'd climb in their and hug my Quick-Step laminate till they pull me out in 30 years

[nick200]

Looks very good

Will you ever find the manhole cover again!

[valve90210]

Hi,

Certainly looks a whole lot better but, not having come across parking grid before so, is the idea that you will be able to park on the lawn but you won't damage it because the grid takes the weight of the car ? If so, sounds cool.

Cheers, John

That's exactly right, the grid takes the weight of the car so the grass and ground doesn't get damaged. meanign we can use the lawn as a parking area without making it a right mess like it was when we arrived.

With a decent subbase most of the grids I looked at (dynogrid, groundgrid etc) are rated up to axle weights of something like 15 tonnes.

The great thing is it allows drainage so is suitable for so you can install it in a front garden like we have.

Looks like it's one of those deep dish ones, so you can put blockwork in.....I'm guessing they just cut some of the stuff and filled it with the grass/stone....it should lift out with the handles.

BG

Yep, it's a recessed drain cover, we drilled a couple of holes to allow drainage, then put in a layer of terram to keep the soil in place else it would eventually trickle away through the drain holes. Then cut grid to fit and filled with soiuld and grass seed and as you can see it's disappeared into the lawn.

Looks very good

Will you ever find the manhole cover again!

Should we need to we can just find the ends, un do the covers for the built in lifting handles and lift the cover straight out...(though if it's been raining it'll be incredibly heavy!!! lol

[root]

I am liking this! looks beautiful just what my missus wants to do at the front of our house!

[valve90210]

My advice would definitely be to hire a digger for the subbase!!!

[getthewheelsinline]

With a decent subbase most of the grids I looked at (dynogrid, groundgrid etc) are rated up to axle weights of something like 15 tonnes.

Looks good - I need to do the same at the side of my tarmaced drive as it is not quite wide enough to pass two cars without going onto the grass.!

If you don't mind me asking what make of grid did you settle on & at what £?

[ultimatehandyman]

Looks brilliant

I might consider doing this to make a path in the garden, instead of churning it up all the time!

Thanks for the pictures and detailed explanation

[valve90210]

With a decent subbase most of the grids I looked at (dynogrid, groundgrid etc) are rated up to axle weights of something like 15 tonnes.

Looks good - I need to do the same at the side of my tarmaced drive as it is not quite wide enough to pass two cars without going onto the grass.!

If you don't mind me asking what make of grid did you settle on & at what £?

I'm afraid I can't help with that as I ended up getting the grid for free from work as they had loads of it laying around. I asked if they were going to use it and was told to help myself as they don't use it any more. I ended up loading my car (a cmax) right to the roof twice, giving me enough grid to do my front garden and also to do a parking area at my parents house too! :)

I have heard good things about bodpave products though not used them myself.

Looks brilliant

I might consider doing this to make a path in the garden, instead of churning it up all the time!

Thanks for the pictures and detailed explanation

Cheersm, we're really pleased witht he way it's turned out, and it will be useful when it comes to having guests over., though we have yet to park on it as we want to wait until the spring to allow the grass a good bit of time to establish.