I want to put down a floor area adjacent to the front of the house wall
(just below the front house windows). It will be 1.70m deep from the
house wall and 4m in breadth. It's only ever going to be used to stand
on or deck chairs put on it.

On the smaller edge will be the path leading to the front door. Another
edge is the front wall of the house. The other two edges I'm going to
have to make.

The path to the door is made of pavement flags about 50mm thick.

I'm thinking if I put some hardcore down (actually broken up pavement
flags) to the level of the bottom of the path pavement flags leading to
the door, that will leave a shallow pit 50mm deep if I concrete up to
the level of the path which I intend to do. As for the two sides I need
to bound, I shall use wood planking. I don't know if I have to buy
special wood for this purpose, or can I just use regular untreated
unplaned wood?

I don't want to use more concrete than I need to. I'm thinking 50mm
thick is about right in the circumstances. Well, that's my plan. Is it
about right? TIA.

Rich wrote:
I want to put down a floor area adjacent to the front of the house wall
(just below the front house windows). It will be 1.70m deep from the
house wall and 4m in breadth. It's only ever going to be used to stand
on or deck chairs put on it.

On the smaller edge will be the path leading to the front door. Another
edge is the front wall of the house. The other two edges I'm going to
have to make.

The path to the door is made of pavement flags about 50mm thick.

I'm thinking if I put some hardcore down (actually broken up pavement
flags) to the level of the bottom of the path pavement flags leading to
the door, that will leave a shallow pit 50mm deep if I concrete up to
the level of the path which I intend to do. As for the two sides I need
to bound, I shall use wood planking. I don't know if I have to buy
special wood for this purpose, or can I just use regular untreated
unplaned wood?

Use anything you like, but gravel boards are cheap and about the right
dimensions.

I don't want to use more concrete than I need to. I'm thinking 50mm
thick is about right in the circumstances. Well, that's my plan. Is it
about right? TIA.

At the front of the house better to lay slabs I would have thought,
unless you're good at getting a nice finish on concrete (is there such a
thing?)

"Stuart Noble" wrote in message
...
Rich wrote:
I want to put down a floor area adjacent to the front of the house
wall (just below the front house windows). It will be 1.70m deep from
the house wall and 4m in breadth. It's only ever going to be used to
stand on or deck chairs put on it.

On the smaller edge will be the path leading to the front door.
Another edge is the front wall of the house. The other two edges I'm
going to have to make.

The path to the door is made of pavement flags about 50mm thick.

I'm thinking if I put some hardcore down (actually broken up pavement
flags) to the level of the bottom of the path pavement flags leading
to the door, that will leave a shallow pit 50mm deep if I concrete up
to the level of the path which I intend to do. As for the two sides I
need to bound, I shall use wood planking. I don't know if I have to
buy special wood for this purpose, or can I just use regular
untreated unplaned wood?

Use anything you like, but gravel boards are cheap and about the right
dimensions.

I don't want to use more concrete than I need to. I'm thinking 50mm
thick is about right in the circumstances. Well, that's my plan. Is
it about right? TIA.

At the front of the house better to lay slabs I would have thought,
unless you're good at getting a nice finish on concrete (is there such
a thing?)

Not sure what a gravel board is. Seems to be something to do with
fencing.

I was thinking what is the cheapest method. I though lay concrete. I did
wonder as to the finish and wondered whether a good masonary paint might
produce a sufficiently attractive and smooth finish to the concrete
flooring.

If I had money I would pave with slabs. I am kind of assuming concreting
is the cheapest way to go.

Rich wrote:

"Stuart Noble" wrote in message
...
Rich wrote:
I want to put down a floor area adjacent to the front of the house
wall (just below the front house windows). It will be 1.70m deep from
the house wall and 4m in breadth. It's only ever going to be used to
stand on or deck chairs put on it.

On the smaller edge will be the path leading to the front door.
Another edge is the front wall of the house. The other two edges I'm
going to have to make.

The path to the door is made of pavement flags about 50mm thick.

I'm thinking if I put some hardcore down (actually broken up pavement
flags) to the level of the bottom of the path pavement flags leading
to the door, that will leave a shallow pit 50mm deep if I concrete up
to the level of the path which I intend to do. As for the two sides I
need to bound, I shall use wood planking. I don't know if I have to
buy special wood for this purpose, or can I just use regular
untreated unplaned wood?

Use anything you like, but gravel boards are cheap and about the right
dimensions.

I don't want to use more concrete than I need to. I'm thinking 50mm
thick is about right in the circumstances. Well, that's my plan. Is
it about right? TIA.

At the front of the house better to lay slabs I would have thought,
unless you're good at getting a nice finish on concrete (is there such
a thing?)

Not sure what a gravel board is. Seems to be something to do with
fencing.

Normally just 6" x 1" rough sawn pressure treated. You can use them for
all sorts of jobs in the garden.


I was thinking what is the cheapest method. I though lay concrete. I did
wonder as to the finish and wondered whether a good masonary paint might
produce a sufficiently attractive and smooth finish to the concrete
flooring.

I wouldn't. Concrete is ugly enough, but painted concrete...

If I had money I would pave with slabs. I am kind of assuming concreting
is the cheapest way to go.

The basic £1 slabs from the sheds is about as cheap as it gets. I used
some at the front of a house recently and put pebbles on top. It wasn't
going to be walked on though.

Rich wrote:
Not sure what a gravel board is. Seems to be something to do with
fencing.

I was thinking what is the cheapest method. I though lay concrete. I
did wonder as to the finish and wondered whether a good masonary
paint might produce a sufficiently attractive and smooth finish to
the concrete flooring.

If I had money I would pave with slabs. I am kind of assuming
concreting is the cheapest way to go.

If it's cheap you're after, then concreting is not the way to go.
You will be laying 6.8 metres @ 50mm thick, which isn't really thick enough
if you don't want it to crack, but even at 50mm, it will require about £40
worth of sand, cement and stone.
Add on a mixer hire @ £15 and you are in the region of £60 ish.

You can get decorative 400 X 400mm flags cheaper and lay them on blobs of
sand cement, you will need 4 rows by 10 rows to obtain 1.6m by 4m and they
are about a quid a go, add on a tenner for sand/cement, which you can mix by
hand in small batches

--
Phil L
RSRL Tipster Of The Year 2008