Project Front Garden

So, this is my 'front garden' (or lack of):

Please don't judge me. I'm not responsible for this monstrosity! (I don't think the previous occupants were into gardening!)
My next project, as soon as my invoices are paid, is to reinstate the front garden.
Obviously, all that concrete needs to be broken up and removed, and the garden wall reinstated before we can do anything. Today I had a quote for building the wall, and then by coincidence, saw an advert from someone local giving away bricks (reclaimed bricks will be much more in-keeping, as ideally, I'd like to reinstate the wall that was originally there). Now all I have to do is find a way of transporting 2000 reclaimed bricks across town... hmmm...
I already have ideas for the plants. Can't wait to get underway.

 

Looking forward to seeing your project through with you via this thread: best of British

So, what planting scheme have you conjured up?

 

I think I'll just go fairly 'traditional' British garden for the front. The back garden is almost fully south facing, so the front garden only gets full sun in the mornings. I have vaguely Japanese and Mediterranean themes at the back where it's sunnier, so I was going to go more traditional for the shadier front garden.
I have several varieties of holly I want to grow against the front wall once it's reinstated. They are contrasting in leaf colour, and hopefully the spikes will put off anyone who might be tempted to sit on the wall! ;-) Also berberis, hebe, forsythia, lavender (that sort of thing)... I've got some lovely roses at the back, too - if I'm feeling brave enough, I may try to take cuttings and graft them so they can be duplicated at the front... but that's all new to me, so we'll see how brave I'm feeling!
It's not a huge area, so probably won't need much more than that. Hopefully by the end of summer I'll have it completed. Let's face it - it can ONLY be an improvement!

 

I agree with @JWK in that you won't need all the bricks.
Something just caught my eye, what are those two metal loops sticking out of the concrete?

 

Yes, that's true, we only need about 1000 of the bricks for our wall. The person giving them away has 2000 going free, and our neighbours would also like to reinstate their wall (adjacent to ours), plus there are repairs that need doing to the outhouses at the back. So if we CAN find a way to transport more, then we will (and will almost certainly find a use for them) but we don't need them all for ourselves. :-)

I think the metal loops were used for either a motor-bike or caravan, or something. Presumably, that's also why the previous occupants took the wall down in the first place. Such a shame.

 

2000 bricks will weigh in at about 10,000 lbs. That's about 5 tons (or 4.5 metric tonnes). That's not going to go in the back of a car. In fact even a standard build Ford Transit will only carry about 1 tonne. Depending on your driving license, and if you have a tow bar and suitable car, you might be good to use a trailer, as long as the combined weight of trailer + vehicle + load is under either 3.5 or 7.5 tonnes depending on when you got your license. In practical terms though, not many cars are going to take that sort of weight (your car's handbook will tell you the max towing weight, which is typically around half a tonne).

That only leaves one practical option. If you have a mate/associate/contact with a 7.5 tonne pickup, get them to do it for the cost of the diesel plus a couple of pints, or failing that, just hire a suitable firm to do it.

 

Yeah, I know - hence the dilemma. Looking into our options now. We do have a trailer, but it's up at our friend's house in Scotland at the moment. Van hire isn't cheap, and we wouldn't be much better off, we'd still have to do several trips. The other half is licensed to drive larger vehicles, but I don't think one would fit on the side-road where the bricks are currently (and they cost even more than van hire). So I'm not sure how we can transport them yet, but hoping to figure something out. The chap giving them away has a similar problem, as he can't easily get them off his garden either. So hopefully there's no immediate rush while we work something out...

 

Just don't forget to reinstate some kind of covering (bricks or cement again) for about half a meter around the house walls to keep the water away from the foundations like your neighbour has.

Another way is to use an angle grinder and cut the cement half a meter (aprox) away from the house wall (leave that piece) then break the rest away.
This will serve two purposes:

1) It will act to divert any water away from the foundations and
2) If any bonding agent was used between the house wall and the concrete slab, there will be no chance of damage when the cement slab is broken away.

 

Awesome! Thanks for that, Dave! Really impressed with the photo diagram, that helps no end.

Still working on the brick transportation dilemma. They're only two miles away, so lots of journeys in a Citroen Xsara Picasso with the seats removed is looking more and more like an option (over the next week or so, two trips per day, approx 140 bricks per journey...)

 

I must admit I'd probably do the same myself, so I'm not going to preach, but beware.

1. There will be a temptation to put just one more bag in on each trip, then one more and so on, and before you know it you're way over the weight limit for your car. If Mr Plod gets you, you might, depending on the mood he's in, get done, but I think the risk of getting done is low. Far greater risk is to your suspension and brakes.

2. Remember all that extra weight. It is going to significantly affect braking distances, and your brakes are going to do a lot more work, so they'll get a lot hotter than if you were driving normally (as in, how you drive when you're not carrying half a tonne in the back). If they get too hot, the pads will bake and glaze and loose their efficiency, and the discs could warp.

3. If you have to do an emergency stop, half a tonne of bricks are going to fly forward and try to squash you. Make sure they are as secure as you can get them.

All of this just really means, take it easy. Just drive more gently, allow lots more time to slow down for junctions, don't go flying round corners, go easy on the throttle etc.

 

You're welcome.

If you do go the angle grinder route, best use the heavy duty ones normally used to cut right through walls as this will handle any rebar that may be in the slab (but I doubt it).
Also make sure that you don't cut too deep past the slab (depending on the thickness of the slab) as one never knows what pipes lurk under there.
You can get a very good idea of the thickness of the slab by gouging away on the side (on the left) next to those three independent bits of broken concrete slab.

 

Well, so far, so good.
We've reclaimed and transported a car-load of half-round bricks for the top of the wall (in keeping with the neighbours, and identical to the originals). Sheer coincidence that the person giving away the bricks turns out to have exactly what we need!
Probably at least another ten car-loads to go, but we've done the maths and think it's do-able (perhaps we're mad, but I'm not one to turn down free bricks).
Logic dictates that we really should have broken up the concrete before we got them! But the offer of a freebie was too good to pass up, so we'll have to work around the pile.