Garden Bike Driveway?

Hey all

well the time has come again to start more frequently getting the bike in and out the back of the house (garden).

I like having a garden so no suggestions to destroy it all please

What you reckon about using that colurfull gravel? Will the bike be fine going over it? Garden is not flat also so when u get the bike out is uphill and will not be pushing it out but riding it out

Cheers

No, don't use gravel, we tried that - it's really hard to push a bike over it. We resulted in paving slabs, just the odd one dotted about - works wonders.

Lou x

Paving slabs it is then

I assume you just dropped them here and there then?

I think you would be better off digging out an area, say 3m x 1.5m x 100mm deep,

put down a layer of polythene to stop the grass growing through
lay a 70mm bed of sharp sand mixed with cement (Dry mix),
then some 30mm paving slabs, say 450mm x 450mm which can be bought for about £3.5 and you will need 25 of them to cover that area.

Paving slabs = £87.5
polythene = £5
sharp sand 1/2 m3 = £25
4 bags of cement = £15
1 bag of kiln dried sand bo brush into the joints after = £4

total = £136.50

Thats if you can lose the spoil you dig out some where in your garden because its not a lot of material really.

This should take about 4 hours.

jayjay - fancy coming to help? I'll put the drinks and food

[BoltonSte]

's funny you should ask this, I was off last week and on some garden doing up show they had someone in a wheel chair and wanted a gravel path, you can buy these squares of rubber mesh - think bottom of a milk crate - that you put down first then cover with a thin layer of gravel. Gravel doesn't move when you walk across it so bike shouldn't sink. Thought 'that'd work well with a bike I bet'

No idea what it's called though would imagine a good paving place would stock it/know more than me.

Ste

Think man!! Whats its called you know B&Q and the lots are useless when it comes to knowing stuff

[embee]

Originally Posted by svste

...squares of rubber mesh - think bottom of a milk crate - that you put down first then cover with a thin layer of gravel. Gravel doesn't move when you walk across it so bike shouldn't sink. .....No idea what it's called though .....

Ste

It's along similar lines to what you sometimes see outside factories etc, called "grasscrete". A concrete grid laid directly on the prepared ground and the holes filled with soil and grass planted. Looks like grass but can be driven over without becoming a bog.

If using any type of gravel, use a geotextile membrane for weed suppression, it allows the water to drain through, and I like to use large gravel sizes, 20mm typical. If you use smaller stuff ("pea shingle") it gets everywhere, sticks in tyre treads etc.

I wouldn't use straightforward gravel if you want to take any sort of vehicle over it, it continually shifts about and needs raking flat again or it looks a mess IMO.

Last year we bought some block mat type things from B+Q. They're about a foot wide and 3 foot long I think and have a load of blocks connected together to make a strip of blocks. We laid a few of those in the garden and now some grass has grown through it, it looks really good and is solid to ride/wheel the bike along. A nice easy way to make a path! They weren't too expensive either if I remember rightly.

Amanda

right oh - i'll go to the garden center to have a look for options