The Easy Way To Turn Your Front Garden Into An Off Road Parking Heaven

Many modern houses are built with smaller than average front gardens therefore making sure you utilize the space can be very beneficial, not only will adding a parking space to your house add value, it will improve the look of the frontage.

Turning the front garden into an off road parking bay allows you to either add vehicles to your household or add value to your house.

The first of many steps is to make sure that you don't require planning permission to remove any walls. This can be done by contacting your local government body and requesting an assessment. This means the council will come out to the property make a number of assessments, removal of any walls or drainage, location of street lighting and proximity to any junctions, bus stops or other public rights of way.

Once the report has been generated by your local council, they will send another assessor out to give you a cost for the lowering of the kerb/s. This is usually billed by the square meter and can cost anything form ?300.00 - ?1000.00 (It is important to note that all intended work must be carried out before the council will come and lower the kerb and resurface the pavement.)

Once you have paid the council you can start work on your off road parking space. This is the fun part, systematic destruction of your current garden. The follow step by step guide may help you:

Level out your surface

Remove any grass, large rocks and litter. You may find it useful to hire a tiller from your plant hire shop; this will churn the soil and allow you to rake and level the soil out with greater ease.

Weed Kill It

Sprinkle a fine layer of weed killer onto the top of the soil; this will prevent any unsightly weeds or greenery sneaking through and ruining your hard work.

The hard work now begins

You need to spread a 3inch layer of hardcore onto the area you intend to gravel. Once this is done you will need to use a vibrating plate to compact the hardcore and tighten the ground, thus meaning when you drive your car onto the surface it will not sink. Take care to ensure there is a very slight slope away from the house, when it rains you don't want water to accumulate at the base of your property.

Place The Drainage Membrane Carefully

It is recommended that you now place the weed and drainage membrane, this allows the water to flow smoothly through the sheet and through the hardcore but stops any stubborn weeds coming the other way. You need to pin this into place, this can be done as a quick fix by a rock on each corner holding it in place. Trim and adjust to ensure the full surface area is covered.

Spread The gravel

You can then start to spread the gravel on top of the membrane. Applying a chunky even layer generally is better; take care to make sure the surface is level with the path and the public footpath that is to be resurfaced.

Once this is done tidy away the empty bags of gravel and the tools you have been using, you can then sit back and relax safe in the knowledge that in a day you have transformed the look and feel of your property.