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Replace stones against house brickwork?
garmcqui
Posts: 14
Hi all,
2 year old new build house, and the front "garden" (thankfully the rear is a decent size!) has these nasty grey stones between the grass and brickwork...
https://i.imgbox.com/LZSu6mBX.jpg
What can I do to make it more attractive? Can the stones be removed and a block paved border put in instead?
What would you do?
0
Posts
I think the stones are probably there for drainage, looks like a French drain. I wouldn't remove them! I think they look OK too.
What I would do is lift the turf, remove the stone border and turn the whole piece into a planted area. select a couple of wall shrubs to give a bit of interest and height at the back, and then a mix of choice shrubs, perennials, grasses and bulbs for the rest. If you keep the hedge, make sure it stays short. It will turn out to be a lot less work than trying to keep a small patch of lawn looking good.
The stones will have been put there to prevent any possibility of damp issues with soil contacting the brickwork. The builders must have felt there was just cause for this although the level should be below the damp course in the brickwork. It wouldn't have passed building inspection otherwise. I would get a professional to look at and take their advice.
I don't think it's a French drain, there is nothing below the stones (which are only about 3" deep), only compacted soil and rubble.
I just hate the look of the stones, especially the wooden guide separating the grass and stones. I supplose the simplest thing to try would be to replace them with a single row of block paving?
But I was contemplating lifting the "lawn", yes. Not sure about keeping the hedge (hornbeam) - it's extremely sparse and never looks good, even in summer.
For a planted area, could I put down sheet plastic to stop weeds and cover with ornate stones (blue slate, for example) and plant shrubs through that? Or is that frowned upon? Want it low maintenance
I have shrubs surrounded by slate, I don't like bare exposed soil because weeds grow so quickly. I didn't even bother with weed membrane because it's a pain when you want to add new plants and bulbs and weeds grow anyway. I don't get a lot weeds through the slate.
I think the hedge is sparse because it's young and because it's not being cut back enough which would make it thicken up. Rome was't built in a day
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Those stones are there for a reason, they are keeping the soil away from the Damp Course and also to stop rain splashing up against the bricks causing erosion. I know this to my cost after living in an older house with paves right up to the wall. Rain splashing off the paves made the bricks start to disintegrate and I had to have a new damp course right round the house, not easy not cheap.
If you do not like the stones that are there then replace them with gravel coloured or otherwise. Stand some pots or containers along it and fill with plants. My Daughters all live in recent new builds and they all have the same loose filler next to the walls as I have in this bungalow built thirty odd years ago. Some things we have to put up with when it is there for a reason.
Frank.
Why not replace the gravel with a colour you like and replace the wooden edging with a single row of brick pavers to match the house.