Good morning all, I am thinking of extending the small, paved patio at the rear of my house. Obviously, the new slabs are a lot cleaner than the existing ones. Any tips on how to bring back the 'showroom look' to my older slabs? Also, my lawn is up and down like the proverbial and would like solutions for levelling it. Do I just add more soil to the lower parts and let the grass grow through or is this just too simplistic?
I can think of 3 options for cleaning the slabs: hot soapy water and a stiff yard brush; patio cleaner from a DIY shop; a pressure washer. But you can't reverse the weathering process so they might not match the new slabs exactly even when cleaned up. As for the lawn, slight undulations can be fixed as you suggest, but large dips really need levelling with top soil then grass seed sown in, or strips of new turf on top. If you go for the turf option buy good quality stuff as the cheap stuff is usually broad-blade pasture grass.
On Apr 2, 12:58 pm, "DIY" wrote: As for the lawn, slight undulations can be fixed as
Well usual advice is to lift the turf and either fill or remove soil as necessary then replace the turf but just levelling with topsoil would be easier.
Mm. Depends. Its not that hard to lever up a dip with a spade and ram some soil underneath,
That does work. Whether the grass will grow through depends how deep it is. If its too deep for it, you'll get a new weed mix instead, and repeated mowing will ensure only grasses and flat rosettes survive.
Its one of those things where you can do it any number of ways, and the more nicely you do it, the quicker cleaner and nicer the result.
The dirtiest way is to set the mower blade low and let the mower rip the tops off the humps. Really bad idea if you've got stony soil though, or a cylinder mower. Or a mower worth more than about =A325, as it can wreck it. But I've seen it done.
At the other end you can trim & lift turfs, skim the humps & fill the dips, re-lay and water regularly until its restablished. Makes for a fine result, but is more work.
The traditional and a very effective way is a roller. Its got to be heavy enough to actually move earth, so fing heavy if its to work. Not used one in a very long time, IIRC it took 4 of us to move it, and it worked well when used again and again.
NT
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