Garden slabs instead of grass - difficult conditions

  • Erstellt am 2017-01-08 22:59:59

FelixPrüfer

2017-01-08 22:59:59
  • #1
Hello,

for 2017 we are planning to redesign our garden into an "Innenhof".

Here is the situation: We spend a lot of time in the garden. When we go from the terrace into the garden, there is grass – or rather, there was grass.

We have small children and go outside in any weather.
Now we want to create a courtyard with slabs (no paving stones) so that the children can better ride vehicles like pedal tractors, etc. – so a relatively smooth surface. Also, we don’t really like paving stones – slabs are nicer.

All of this wouldn’t be a problem if there weren’t circumstances that make everything difficult:

1: You can easily spend 100 euros per m² including substructure. With 120 m², that is simply too expensive for us; we need a cheaper alternative. We are trying to buy the slabs used and want to save on the substructure – because

2: The garden cannot be accessed by truck. A small mini excavator can get in.
This means that even if we wanted a substructure of about 40 cm, it would be so much effort to remove the excavation that it wouldn’t be reasonable.

I have searched the web for a long time and have an idea how the substructure can be done with only a few centimeters: there is a company that sells and recommends plastic grass grid stones as a base for paving work.

This way you avoid deep excavation.

Has anyone tried this before?
Does anyone have an idea how we can / what we can do to get from lawn/mud to a smooth, clean, paved courtyard without deep excavation and without spending 10,000 euros?

Maybe there is a possibility I haven’t thought of yet.

Thank you very much for good ideas!

Best regards, Felix
 

nelly190

2017-01-09 04:42:04
  • #2
So basically, I would not skimp on the substructure. If everything is not solid, it quickly looks bad. If the surface is more of a hilly landscape instead of smooth. Can you drive a wheelbarrow at your place? If yes, maybe consider an electric cart. I have no experience with these lawn grid stones made of plastic.
 

Gartenfreund

2017-01-09 06:14:10
  • #3
Whether you can save on the substructure or not probably also depends on the soil. In a bog area, the substructure looks different than on rocks. All I can say is that decades ago I laid a garden path here where there used to be grass. There, I only removed a little soil to the thickness of the slabs and then laid the slabs directly on the bare earth (I didn’t have any sand at the time). And the path is still there and nothing has settled or anything like that over time. If your soil is well compacted, it might be enough to remove a little soil, level unevenness with sand, and then lay the slabs. Whether that works for you, of course, I can’t say. If you want to remove this area again sometime, it is certainly also advantageous if no material was used as a substructure that has to be disposed of expensively. So I would avoid using gravel or something like that if possible and only use sand. Sure, with sand you can have problems with ants. But if the slabs are laid so close together that there is virtually no gap between them, you won’t have that problem either. From time to time, there are also people giving away slabs. Check out classified ads.
 

FelixPrüfer

2017-01-09 10:47:36
  • #4
Thank you, garden friend, for your experience report.

One question: Did you lay individual slabs with a large distance to the next slab or close together so that a "closed" path was created? (Of course with joints/ small gaps ..) How big are the slabs?

Best regards
 

Caspar2020

2017-01-09 11:33:32
  • #5


Have you also thought about where to put the precipitation when sealing 120 sqm?
 

FelixPrüfer

2017-01-09 23:02:42
  • #6
Yes, we have, that is settled
 

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