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FADE LANDSCAPING
Bespoke Garden Landscaping & Transformations in Wiltshire
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This customer had a lovely size garden but due to it being heavily sloped they had limited usable space. it was decided that a terrace was needed. The customer is a keen gardener so we wanted to create a a space big enough to house a garden shed and an area for entertaining while keeping a good amount of grass and bedding space. They Decided on a dark Limestone Slab and ouk sleepers for the retaining wall.
The existing patio and path was above the DPC so we had to dig the whole area to the correct depth below that. The access for the garden was through a small porch so a digger was out of the question. So we hand dug and barrowed the waste, Approximately 45 square meters. We removed roughly 45 tonnes from this garden by hand. We installed Geotextile membrane followed by 6 inches of type 1 and compacted it thoroughly
The next step was the oak sleeper retaining wall. we sanded and Prepped each sleeper to remove staining and to create an aesthetic joint between them. The sleepers were laid in a staggered pattern for strength and uniformity.We installed a Damp proof membrane against the back of the wall, laid a perferated pipe and covered with pea shingle, this aids with drainage from the upper terrace and also prevents the back of the sleepers from getting damp.
Once all of the prep work was complete, we began laying the slabs. The customer decided on a 900x600 dark limestone. these were laid n a full mortar bed and a strong slurry was applied to the backs of each slab. For the steps the slabs were laid on concrete Pads built with the timber frames to allow the timber to naturally move without affecting the slabs.
Once all of the slabs were laid, we cut a small gravel trap all the way around the patio area and filled with decorative gravel, this allows any excess water to soak away and allows room for the sleepers to expand and retract with the seasons without affecting the slabs, we used a brush in resin to point.
We installed a 6x8 shed
Finishing touches
At fade, attention to detail is paramount! We didn't want to add an unsightly black drain cover to this beautiful patio, instead we hand crafted a drain cover and surround using off cuts from the slabs. this blended in perecly and was much easier on the eye. the customer asked that we install a rotary washing line holder, like with the drain cover this would of been unsighly so instead of using the weather cap that came with the pole, we hand crafted a cover again, using an offcut of slab. Finally, on the short return of the sleeper was it was important to have solid sleeper pieces as having joins on such a short run would of compromised the strenghth of the wall, We chose to hand carve some fake joints into this part of the wall to keep the aesthetic in tact.
