Hard landscaping questions - with pictures

Thanks for the very detailed replies. Will have to let you know how I get on. Hubby was not pleased when he saw what I have planned for him - watch this space!

 

As it happens I have a Mondeo as well Peter, the amount of concrete I shifted in that is unbelievable, most of the loosish stuff in rubble sacks, but when breaking it up I tried to keep the pieces as large as possible but still liftable.
I then layed old dust sheets all over the rear area with the seats folded down, then the bags and rocks were distributed all around the car.
I agree Peter, the amout of concrete I managed to move on one trip never equalled the weight of five large adults.
Should also add that I'm only a couple of miles from the local tip.
I did my job over an extended period, so the use of a skip was not convienient.

 

I agree Pete if you hire a skip not only do you have to shell out more of your hard earned money but you have to work like crazy to get rid of the blooming eyesore of a skip and fill it before they come and collect the skip really hard work!

At least taking a bit at a time to your local skips you can work at your own pace and if the weather's pretty bad you don't feel you have to get it done as soon as.

That way not only do you save your pennies to spend on plants later but you also save yourself a great deal of aches and pains! Hel.xxx.

 

Yeah,skips have their uses, but they are very expensive and inconvienient I find Helen.

 

Helen wrote

I had a nice car once - but that was such a long time ago that I forget when. I have come to the conclusion that a car is a machine to do a job. That is - go shopping, remove old concrete paths, and carry manure. You can get quite a bit of manure in if you use the front seat as well as the back seat and boot, but I always put it in bags first! I recon I fetched about a ton of manure when I did my front garden makeover last autumn. The great thing about an old car is that you don't have to worry about it.

The secret is to open the windows afterwards.

 

Too right Pete money is best spent elsewhere!

Peter carrying all that poop in the car does having the windows open really get rid of the smell quick? or if it lingers is it another one of those things to blame on the dog? :D Hel.xxx.

 

Had to put my oar in here, we have been to the local tip this morning in our 14 year old Xantia. Luckily it is quite a big old car. Today we had a lawnmower, bag of rubble, mattress & cardboard. We even tried putting old internal doors in & that's going to be the next trip - 3 doors.

Our car is a tool in our case. it moves us & joyce around with whatever we need. Bit of an embarassment if we ever give anyone a lift though

It has carted all our dirt to the tip when we dug it up and brought all the gravel back to replace it - in a few trips though. As we too only live a few miles from the tip & shops like B & Q it isn't too much of a problem.

One more thing with skips - you find they mysteriously fill up :confused: Then again if you put anything but rubble in, things disappear Spooky :D

Interesting to know about moving of the concrete, so thanks everyone for questions & answers.

Cheers

 

lol, space in my truck for another 30!

 

oooh, your car looks just like my Polo, Paul! :D :D

 

I thought you might like to have an update on this thread. I have now finished breaking up the concrete path (actually, hubby broke it up with a sledge hammer borrowed from a friend), and we have carted it all to the council tip (which has a special section for rubble). It took 2 loads in a VW Polo, and 2 ginormous loads in a BWM estate (5 series I think). I am hopeful that in 5-6 weeks time, everything will look a lot nicer!

See page 1 for pictures to compare it with.

The first strip of concrete is gone:



It was full of broken glass and metal, nasty stuff!

Then we got rid of the rest of the path and filled it all in with compost & top soil:





Then we reseeded it and constructed a temporary dog barrier to keep the pooch off until it's all grown and looking good.

You would not believe how many sacks of compost & top soil it took to fill the gap left behind after the concrete was gone. We had to go to the garden centre 3 times and filled the boot of the car each time!

Luckily for us, we got the slabs we used to construct the path around the shed for free (someone was ditching them as they replaced a slab patio with decking instead). But we had to buy many bags of gravel which were soooo heavy!

 

Well done Rosie - it already looks much better. Its surprising what you can do when you put your mind to it.

 

Pat on the back for both you and hubby Rosie well done although I dare bet you had to have a good long soak in radox to relieve your aching muscles all that smashing and lifting must have taken its toll on your both.

Lol on the dog barrier been there, done that, got the t-shirt just hope it works out for you because if your fur-baby is as naughty as my two old ladies I'm sure where there's a will there's a way...fingers crossed your seeded area will survive. Hel.xxx.

 

Well done Rosie (& hubby). bet you're really pleased now aren't you? Soon it will look like that path was never there.

cheers

 

Great work there, Rosie It has made such a difference already!

 

I dispose of bits of concrete on a gradual basis via the wheelie bin. A few bits in each load. It's a slow process but given time I get rid of a lot of stuff this way at no cost in time or cash.