Project Driveway

Well after a bit better luck with the weather and some help from Lesley and George we can now park a car on the new drive. There's still some way to go to finish off the landscaping of the front and sorting the fencing and gates out but it's nice to be able to see the end in sight. The contractors and supposed to be coming to drop the kerb tomorrow but their lack of contact is worrying me!

It seems a long time back now when we first starting looking at the drive and Chris got to work on his wall building skills and what with lots of overtime and a run of bad weather things slowed up somewhat (along with the picture taking!). Here's a couple of shots back in the middle of May of Chris starting the demolition work of the original wall and building the new sloped path to the front door so I don't have to bounce a pram up and down steps.

The next step was to knock out the steps and existing wall around the steps then lower and rebuild it nearer the house and joining up with the wall running along the garden at the side of the house. This was where things slowed up a bit as the weather wasn't exactly wall building weather! The area was then back filled and compacted with hardcore to form a base for the driveway slabs to sit on. Taking advantage of a couple of days of good weather and the ever closer baby arrival we enlisted the help of George and Lesley! We are now expecting compensation claims from George for Vibration White Finger!

After the good work by George and Lesley the driveway just need a wee bit of levelling out to get the right line for the slabs which Chris worked on prior to laying the slabs with George.

After a long day Chris tested out the driveway for size.

And to prove the stability it's still standing the next day!

Chris is working today but hopefully when he gets back in he'll start preparations for the driveway gates. The next stages after that are to wood clad the old council fencing along the front of the garden, get rid of the grass and lower the soil level. Build up a wall to contain that side of the garden, cover it in purple slate and plant a wee tree in the middle. Any other plants will be in containers rather than planted in the ground to minimise the weeding required. Along the side of the house a sloped path will lead off the driveway to the back garden and the existing soiled area along the side of the house and any bear soil around the drive will also be slated over.

I think one of the best things of Chris doing this himself (apart from the new wall building skills!) is that so far we've only spent £100 and we resused the slabs from what we already had and the bricks came from freecycle. The next stage will be slightly more costly as we have a lot of wood to buy and the slate.

A big well done to Chris and I can't wait to see it all finished, my life getting baby in and out the car is going to be so much easier now :) xx

Keep posted for updates as the next stages come on.

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