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Paving or shingle - please help if you can

Lucy3Lucy3 Posts: 92
in Garden design

Please can you help. I am just re-designing my side garden and am putting a potting shed up. I haven't a lot of money image   and have been advised to lay the shed on paving however I have a large builders bag of pea gravel/shingle left over from another part of the garden and wandered if I would be able to lay my shed on this? Any support you can offer would be really appreciated........image

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  • Lucy3Lucy3 Posts: 92

    PS.......   I also have 1/2  a builders bag of hardcore left too ??????????

  • RushieRushie Posts: 14

    I can tell you that if you put it on the pea shingle it liable to sink but if you mixed it in with half a bag of hardcor and chucked in a couple a bags of sharp sand and a couple of shovels of cement you could make a nice solid bit of concrete for a hard standing for your shed.

    all you have to do is measure the shed by the lengh and the width get some timber the same lengh to all 4 sides and make like a box on the ground you would get away with 2"x1" then run wooden steaks down the outside of your rectangle to stop the frame from popping mix your agregate on the basis of 2 to 1 thats 2 sand 2 hardcore and 2 pea shingle and 3 cement then when all the mix is in get a piece of wood slightly longer than the width of the frame and run it down it lengh in a chopping motion this will level the mix evenly in your frame.

    make sure that the frame is slightly off level as this makes any water from rain run away when set

  • Lucy3Lucy3 Posts: 92

    Thankyou s much Rushie, I have printed this out so that I can remember the measurements of the sand etc. My neighbour has kindly said I can raid his pile of builders sand at the bottom of his  garden and has been to his friends and broughorm t me a bag of cement back with him -  how kind  is that? I just need some legnths of wood now to form the shape and to level it off and I'm done......... Can I ask you how long it will take to set as I dont want to build the shed and it to sink into the mixture......

  • RushieRushie Posts: 14

    Hi luce,

    the mix should take about 2 to 3 days to dry to the bottom of the mix and it should be fine remember to have a slight incline on your final shape of your shutter thats the frame on which you are contructing ok if you need any more info on stone work and you dont wanna get anyone in then let me know ok and if i know it i will tell ya.

    I served as an apprentice as a stone mason 25 yr ago and the knollage i learned ive been able to do certain jobs me sen wi out getting the rip off merchants in

  • the enduring gardenerthe enduring gardener Posts: 122
    Maybe use four pavers bedded on hardcore and cement at the four corners so the outsid edges of the pavers align with the outside edge of your shed. Check they are laid level using a level and long piece of staight timber before finally bedding in. The pea gravel can then be used in between these and will aid in drainage.
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