I'm re-doing my fronty garden and I need to find a cheap supplier of gravel/aggregate. Any ideas where might be cheapest?
I need enough to cover approx 17 square metres.. Probably just want standard golden gravel.
Thanks
Any builders merchant can probably get you what you need. Is the gravel going on soft ground? How deep are you going with it? How much of an angle / slope does the garden have on it, if any?
Get used to cats using your new gravel as a litter tray!
Find a local supplier who will drop you a lorry load on to the site (assuming that's appropriate for your needs) - it's likely to be a lot cheaper that way than buying it in those 1-ton jumbo bags, which is how most builder's merchants provide it.
David
You get your money back on the hire of the bag.
Not the last bag I got. One drop only - non-returnable, non-reusable.
(I think there is something to do with the integrity of the bag once it has undergone the whole fill/deliver/use processes.)
Crap bags? We are charged 5 pounds for the hire of the bag, but it goes back to get filled again and again. If it bursts on its way to the site, that's their fault for handling it badly.
Yellow pages and look for aggregate suppliers. If you want more than about 10 tons, get it straight from nearest quarry in a tipper lorry.
we used to but no more. Elfin Safety.
Don't think I have ever seen a returnable one in these parts (the delivery drivers for some of the builders merchants will take them if you offer, but there is no refund)
Did mine a few years ago. Look under 'Aggregates' in YP rather than going to one of the sheds. You are going to need about 1 to 1.5 tonne to give a decent thickness - any less than about 30mm & it looks bare.
Go for 18mm gravel NOT 10mm pea shingle. 18mm tends to stay put, 10mm wanders about all over the place. Stick a decent fabric under for weed control.
I have fond membranes make piss all difference. What is far better is deeper gravel. That way the seeds wash down into the dark, and the few that do spring up are easily path cleared.
Borrow a very heavy vehicle and use it as a roller to bed teh stuff down. Whackers are not tht good on deeper gravel.
3-4" is optimal,over a bed of smacked limestone..3 to 4" is impossible for things like childrens push chairs and wheelchairs - it's also very hard walking. We had 18mm gravel at our last place that I put down to cover over tatty tarmac - it was still good after ten years. Here in the new place we have vast amounts of 10mm pea beach. It's a pain - gets stuck in the treads of shoes, ends up in the house. I'd replace it, but there is amost a 1/3rd of an acre of it so it would need a fleet of lorries.
AWEM
The bags all appear to be non-returnable these days.
There's also the option of granite chips. The chips bed down and lock into place. We've got 20 tons of the stuff on a slightly sloping drive - it's been there seven years. For the first time in that period, we've just raked it back to pull back the slight downhill drift (produced, I suspect by cars swinging rather quickly across it) to an even thickness.
It's OK for bikes, pushchairs etc but, apparently, hard going in stilettos.
ISTR that we spec'd 30-15mm.
Isn't it H&S? Once the bag has been used, left on site and then returned to the builders' merchant no one knows how much its safe working limits have deteriorated.
I've never seen a returnable one either.
When we laid our gravel drive (actually, gravel over tarmac) about 10 years ago, the bags (from Gibbs & Dandy) were returnable and had a deposit that made it worthwhile to do so. When we topped off the gravel (for the first time) a few weeks ago, and constructed a gravel garden, the bags (from G&D and Buildbase) were not returnable. They appear to be identical to the returnable ones, so I guess the H&S excuse is reasonable. Seems like a terrible waste, all the same.
Use it at the Sainsburys check out and you'll get a Nectar point.
I know we eat a lot, but even I think 1 tonne bags are probably overkill.
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