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Gravel patio on heavy clay soil
festa89
Posts: 1
Currently have a paving slab patio that extends 3.5 metres from the house. We wanted to extend it a bit so planning on having a 4x4m gravel patio that joins up with the existing paving slab patio. I've dug down a bit and because of the heavy clay soil, the water is pooling and not draining. I was planning on having 100mm of subbase, weed membrane and then 50mm of decorative stones for the patio but I'm now concerned about the drainage. Any tips regarding drainage will be greatly appreciated. Cheers
0
Posts
The back 'garden ' here was all slabs and gravel when I moved in ten years ago. The slabs had been laid on hardcore and several inches of coarse sand ,and the gravel was just laid on the same. I redid the whole area, and have gravel paths which are absolutely fine. I simply laid membrane, then new gravel on the areas I wanted the paths. The drawback is that, a couple of years ago, I removed the raised grass/lawn I did to make a bigger pond. Digging that clay and hardcore out isn't fun. Even less fun when trying to put new plants in and attempting to improve the clag! The whole back garden is now plants and gravel.
The reason the water isn't draining is simply because you haven't got the hardcore and gravel in place yet.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...