Advice on levelling please

Hi,

I have got an area of garden just outside the house which is presently just pretty rough ground (and very stony). I want to put down a stone circle, but am not sure of the best way to level the area (it's about 4 metres by 3 metres).

Can anyone suggest the best way to do this?

Thanks

 

Thats a nice managable size Maureen
You dont say if you want grass,soil or shingle base? Whatever.... you need to dig,rake and level the soil removing most of the stones,one option is to turf it for a quick finish. Or you could cover it with a special membrane then shingle.Or clear it dig in some organic matter and plant it up with plants of your choice.There will be some hard work required whatever you decide.

 

We're probabbly going to have shingle. Should I also put the the stone circle on top of the membrane?

Thanks for your help

 

that s a tricky Q ,,,,,,,, the stone circle will need to be very level and would normally be set in sand , the membrane would be beneath the sand, but the shingle would also need membrane, so its a matter of how deep is the stone plus sand compared to the depth of shingle, do you see what i mean?

 

There is a relatively simple method, which is capable of considerable accuracy if you do it carefully.

First, get a load of pegs. Cut, say, 1' x 1' wood into 6 inch lengths, and sharpen one end. Hammer the first peg into the ground to the desired level - that is your reference. Now mark out a grid of say 1 metre by 1 metre relative to your reference peg. Hammer the next peg into the ground until the top is level with the reference peg. Check level with a piece of wood and a spirit level. Hammer pegs into every grid point, and check level against other pegs. You now have a grid of pegs whose tops are level.

You can use this principle various ways. The peg lengths and distances can be any value you wish. Additionally checking more distant pegs with a longer piece of wood will give more accuracy. If you want drainage you can have a slight slope, by putting a small piece of wood on top of the lower pegs before using the spirit level. About 2% or 3% will work but will not be noticeable.

I laid a concrete base to my patio with this method. So I excavated the ground first and made the peg tops the level of the concrete base. I put retaining boards round and poured the concrete in sections till it came up to the top of the pags. The pegs were burried in the concrete.

 

I've done a similar area in the past and i pegged it out as descibed prev to get it level, laid the membrane,cut out a circle in the membrane to 3 inches smaller than the stone circle i intended to lay, then laid a dry sand/cement mixture, to about 2 inches thick upon which i laid the circle.Hey presto, no weeds,and a level firm base.