Laying a concrete floor area outside

[Rich]

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]

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.

[Stuart Noble]

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

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]

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

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

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.

[Phil L]

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