General building advice

[Just smiffy]

I’m going to extend my drive, I’m also going to put artificial grass on the lawn instead....
I intend to run two lengths of 2 meters of concrete out in to the grass as I only need to run straight to give more room on the drive for the car behind the Motorhome....

I’m thinking that the 2 meter strips need to be 50cm wide and a depth of 30cm deep of concrete will be strong enough..?

Then I intend to cover all of the area with artificial grass so that the concrete strips cannot be seen....

Do you think the strips of concrete will hold..?

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Have you seen the hexagon mesh that you can lay on the lawn and push in. It can be mowed over and allows the grass to grow. Used on car parks etc, can be parked on and will take a motor home depending on what your underlying lawn is like, may be worth a look see.

 

[pappajohn]

A foot of concrete is much more than enough but it depends what it's poured on.
You'd be better digging the trenches and half filling with hardcore and blindings then use a whacker plate to fully compact it. Top up with more blindings to half way and compact again then top off with 4" to 6" of concrete.
Not convinced about the artificial grass... Chances are over time it will wear through being on concrete and a couple of tons on it.

Concretes around £180 cubic meter (1.75 ton from memory)
Hardcore.... £40 ton

 

[Just smiffy]

Have you seen the hexagon mesh that you can lay on the lawn and push in. It can be mowed over and allows the grass to grow. Used on car parks etc, can be parked on and will take a motor home depending on what your underlying lawn is like, may be worth a look see.

We’re doing away with the grass, it gets very boggy in the winter and fed up coming back to a jungle when we’re away...

 

[M-J]

Plenty of compacted hardcore underneath, no need for the concrete

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Just smiffy]

A foot of concrete is much more than enough but it depends what it's poured on.
You'd be better digging the trenches and half filling with hardcore and blindings then use a whacker plate to fully compact it. Top up with more blindings to half way and compact again then top off with 4" to 6" of concrete.
Not convinced about the artificial grass... Chances are over time it will wear through being on concrete and a couple of tons on it.

Concretes around £180 cubic meter (1.75 ton from memory)
Hardcore.... £40 ton

There’s so much rubble in the ground that I think the builders used it as a rubble dump and then put 6” of topsoil on for the grass..!

Was just going dig two trenches and get a couple of dumpy bags of concrete a mixer and fill it...

Motorhome will probably only drive on and of about 8-10 times a year so hopefully grass will last a few years and if it does I’ll cut in some replacements...

 

[Mikeco]

Funnily enough I have weeds growing through my artificial grass that I put on the patio.

 

[rangi]

You say it get's "boggy" might be a good idea ,just in case, to have a run of reinforcing mesh or rebar running through.

PM sent

 

[MyrtleGuru]

Have you seen the hexagon mesh that you can lay on the lawn and push in. It can be mowed over and allows the grass to grow. Used on car parks etc, can be parked on and will take a motor home depending on what your underlying lawn is like, may be worth a look see.

I was thinking the same. I've used them as bases for cabins and sheds. Much easier than messing about with concrete. One advantage is that, unlike concrete, they allow water to drain through. Can't see why you can't lay artificial turf over it as well. The only thing to watch out for when using them is getting them level -- concrete obviously finds its own level.

There are a few brands around. Here's one:

EcoPaving.co.uk - Providers of ground reinforcement grids

Ecopaving provides ultimate systems in ground reinforcement grids for a large variety of applications. Get in touch today at: 01422 885 761.

www.ecopaving.co.uk

 

[gus-lopez]

I'd just use this.

https://www.coregravel.ca/core-foundations/core-grass/

Other thing you need to watch is that many areas now require planning for any concrete amounting to 2m2 . Due to run off problems.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Drifter]

How are you going to dig it out? That’s a lot of stuff to come out
It’s about half a cube of concrete which is around a ton and I’d guess over a cube of waste to remove as it expands when dug
It also depends on what is below the top soil, it’s never a good idea to put concrete on black earth so however deep you need to go depends on the subsoil not the thickness of the concrete
I’d agree with the suggestion of hardcore compacted with a whacker and ignore the concrete but the main issue is to dig down to hard inert subbase

 

[Mikeco]

You may be better digging the grass out putting down some hardcore and then 12mm of pea gravel instead of artificial grass. Artificial grass is not cheap, I paid £18 a square meter for mine although you can buy cheaper stuff that is thinner and you need to lay it on sand as well.

 

[Just smiffy]

Re-thinking, so, some hardcore then concrete .....

 

[gus-lopez]

You should have also bought the articial grass when you were in spain, cheaper.

 

[Just smiffy]

You may be better digging the grass out putting down some hardcore and then 12mm of pea gravel instead of artificial grass. Artificial grass is not cheap, I paid £18 a square meter for mine although you can buy cheaper stuff that is thinner and you need to lay it on sand as well.

I’m also doing the back garden, I’m extending the patio out with decking all across the back of the house then what’s left at the end I’m putting artificial grass down.... using weed control membrane and then sand on top then the artificial grass...

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[pappajohn]

With your measurements you'll need 2.4 cubic meters of concrete..... Over 4 tons wet. .
That's the amount of ready mix.
How that equates to cement, sand and ballast I have no idea but its going to be a hell of a lot.
If the ground is full of rubble ready I would go for 6" concrete with rebar laid length and width. 6mtr length is around £12....3 lengths should do it.
Cuts easily with a grinder.

 

[TheBig1]

Dig the grass out to a good depth, backfill with hardcore/scalpings. Compact and top off with sharp sand then lay false grass and weight with more sand. It will outlast most of us, let alone 2 wheels 10 times a year. the pressure per square inch on the grass will be pretty low

 

[Just smiffy]

You should have also bought the articial grass when you were in spain, cheaper.

We did have a look... but we couldn’t get it in the van..... we did buy some of that artificial stuff that looks like Xmas trees to put along some fences at the back of the garden...
As we can’t find it here and would be more expensive if we could so we had a few rolls on the way back....

Broken Link Removed

 

[dixieland]

I would go with six inches of concrete and rebar.
Jim

 

[jongood]

You may be better digging the grass out putting down some hardcore and then 12mm of pea gravel instead of artificial grass. Artificial grass is not cheap, I paid £18 a square meter for mine although you can buy cheaper stuff that is thinner and you need to lay it on sand as well.

I wouldnt put pea gravel down if you want to drive on it, it needs to be compactable so have dust in it. Either concrete or Mot well wackered would do.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Mikeco]

I wouldnt put pea gravel down if you want to drive on it, it needs to be compactable so have dust in it. Either concrete or Mot well wackered would do.

You don’t compact the pea gravel, you lay it over the compacted hardcore which in my building days was 2in to dust.

 

[pappajohn]

How about properly compacted hardcore and blindings followed by 1/2" of soft sand to level and 50mm pavers.
I had my 7.5t RV stood on pavers... OK, one or two cracked but they were laid on too much sand.

 

[jongood]

You don’t compact the pea gravel, you lay it over the compacted hardcore which in my building days was 2in to dust.

Thats what Im saying you can't compact pea gravel so you re going to get traction issues.

 

[TerryL]

Provided your artificial grass is laid properly, i.e. a compacted layer of hardcore, then a layer of crushed stone (compacted), a membrane then an inch of sand (compacted again) before the actual grass, you should be okay driving over it a couple of times a year. If your existing grass gets boggy you may need to think about giving it a very slight slope for run-off, which is what they had to do in my garden. Artifical grass does not absorb water like the real stuff!

As for laying it over concrete, it'll last one year if you're lucky.

 

[andyman]

I wouldnt put pea gravel down if you want to drive on it, it needs to be compactable so have dust in it. Either concrete or Mot well wackered would do.

I second that, pea gravel will always move around. Better to use granite chippings or similar, not being round pebbles it is more stable.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Mikeco]

Thats what Im saying you can't compact pea gravel so you re going to get traction issues.

You only lay 12mm so In my view it is not a problem.

 

[Mikeco]

I wouldnt put pea gravel down if you want to drive on it, it needs to be compactable so have dust in it. Either concrete or Mot well wackered would do.

As the founder and only member of the “pea gravel preservation society “ I would still use 12mm of 6mm pea gravel on well compacted blinded hardcore, end of.

 

[Drifter]

If

I would go with six inches of concrete and rebar.
Jim

If you do this on non consolidated ground you could be doomed to a costly and difficult removal job when it sinks, shifts or is lifted by frost heave. It’s my least preferred option

 

[Glandwr]

Why just strips? The grass between them without any sunlight for long periods is going to look pretty scrotty.

 

[MyrtleGuru]

Why just strips? The grass between them without any sunlight for long periods is going to look pretty scrotty.

I think the intention was to lay artificial turf over the top, with the concrete just acting as the base to take the weight. Which is why I thought a concrete solution was a bit of a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Just remove 40 to 50mm depth of soil and put down plastic grids, lay the artificial turf over the top -- job's a good 'un. The plastic grids can support many tonnes per square metre -- if you are paranoid, you can fill them with pea shingle and they'll support even more.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}