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Ugly patio!

PinkpepperPinkpepper Posts: 21
in Garden design

Help! How can we improve our patio on a budget?

Our patio is grey, uneven, sprouting weeds, has a low wall (don't know why!) that has fallen down and a brick raised bed to the left . See photo attached.

We are not green fingered or particularly handy (we inherited the house, so didn't choose the garden)..

We would welcome advice on how to improve it please!

We can't just remove the low wall (originally 3 bricks high) as it is laid on breeze blocks that are not flush with the level of the slabs.

There is an area that is pebbled rather than paved which is unintentionally growing various plant life. As well as weeds coming up between the slabs.

I'd love to deck over the whole thing but suspect it's beyond our budget.

We're thinking it would be best to go with it and have it in keeping with our Victorian house.

Could I grow creeping Phlox or similar in the crevices of the wall if we rebuild it?

Could I plant small creeping plants in gaps between slabs? Could we pave over the existing?

We mainly use the patio for sitting out on and whilst we'd like it to look attractive, we'd like it fairly low maintenance.

Budget wise, a few hundred pounds max.

Any advice would be gratefully recieved! Many thanks in advance!

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Posts

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,082

    No photo, click on the tree icon and follow instructions PP

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • PinkpepperPinkpepper Posts: 21

    image

     

  • Dave MorganDave Morgan Posts: 3,123

    Easily sorted out pinkpepper. The bricks will come up with a hammer and bolster. You can hire a sand blaster which would get rid of the muck on the surface, might even get away with a pressure washer. Then you can treat with a residual weedkiller. Then brush sharp sand and cement into the cracks. New patio.

  • JanjonJanjon Posts: 1

    Please can you tell what proportion of sand to cement please? I have exactly the same problem. 

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 54,353

    Usually a dry mix of one cement to three sand will be fine. Just brush it into the gaps between the paving. image

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Dave MorganDave Morgan Posts: 3,123

    Yes 3 to1 is the best. Before you brush in make sure the channels being filled are damp, a warm day use a watering can not too much water by the time the surface water evaporates you can then brush in without staining the surface.

  • PinkpepperPinkpepper Posts: 21

    Thank you Dave Morgan.  If I manage to get the breeze blocks up, there will be a 'trough' where the pavers will be higher than the area where the blocks came out of. What do you suggest I do there? Pouring concrete? or maybe I should rebuild the wall? 

    Also, for the area that is pebbled (about the size of 3 pavers), I am also thinking of using pouring concrete to fill it in. Would that work? Any tips please, I've never used concrete!

    Thanks also Fairygirl!

  • BerkleyBerkley Posts: 428

    We were thinking we'd have to do quite an expensive "makeover" on our patio - but this thread has given us other ideas ...

  • Dave MorganDave Morgan Posts: 3,123

    Pinkpepper go have a mooch around the builders merchants they do paviours a heavy duty clay tile that you could set into the 'trough'. From the pic it looked to me as though the bricks were laid onto the slabs. You should be able to buy a mortar mix, bagged, for small jobs like this you can use it for brushing in as well.

  • PinkpepperPinkpepper Posts: 21

    Ooh good idea Dave, thanks.

    Any tips on pouring concrete ( I'll obviously remove the weeds and pebbles)?

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