Advice on gravel needed

[biffvernon]

There are building regs about door thresholds so that wheelchairs can get in. Not a lot of use is surrounded by gravel.

Personally, I'd go for chippings rather than rounded gravel. It settles down to a firm, solid surface eventually rather than being continually on the move.

 

[skier-hughes]

I was just making the point a membrane is not a total weed stopper :wink:
I buy tools that all use the same petrol / oil ratio then I just need one container for mixed fuel and one for unmixed. Be aware though that you can buy synthetic two stroke, which generally you only need to use half the amount of.
I'd recommend a mixed gravel, so if you like 10mm, go 10mm up and stipulate a largest size, so maybe 20mm.

 

[JoceAndChris]

It's so useful to get all your thoughts on this.

I hadn't considered the wheelchair point, but there is another wheel friendly entrance to the garden. ( this house would be totally impossible for a wheelchair bound person anyway, and even my mum, now reduced to one arm for 6 months after a recent operation, is going to find it very hard to come down to the kitchen) Those Georgians didn't seem to consider disabilities in their building, presumably because they rarely survived them!

We can't have wheelie bins here anyway as the wheelie bin lorry driver had a hissy fit about the track. We have a smaller vehicle and a man who throws the bags in the back.

The bins take me around 30 minutes every week as a consequence of this, but I'm grateful to have a collection at all.

 

[vicky whitworth]

Oh I'm so glad that someone else has time consuming bin management duties too. The bin men and women won't come down our track either to collect the rubbish so we have to cart it to the top of the lane. We can't have wheelie bins as we can't get them up the steep and potholed track so we use black sacks and we put them in the wheel barrow but we aren't allowed to leave black sacks by the road side so we have a thing called a gull sack which we have to put the black sacks in to prevent the gulls breaking into the black sacks and making a mess, only we don't have any gulls round here. Only foxes and cats and these can climb into a gull sack and still break in and make a mess. And the gull sack has a metal frame so weighs a ton and we have to take that up and down the lane each week too. On the one occasion we left the gull sack at the top of the lane overnight our neighbour 'acquired' it claiming she thought it was rubbish! Then on top of this we have to carry our two recycling boxes up the lane - one for food waste and one for plastics bottles and newspapers. Goodness knows how we will do this when we get older/infirmer. The positive side is that it does make us think carefully about what we throw away. But it's a major chore on a Sunday.

My only thoughts about gravel are that it gets stuck to muddy wellies if it's an area you traipse through and thus slowly gets transported over time from one end of the garden to another.

 

[Tom]

...we put them in the wheel barrow...

If your lane is that bad, I'm guessing you have a 4x4? Maybe not. But you have a vehicle of some sort? Why not put your rubbish in that, to take it down the lane?

When we have a Tesco/Asda delivery, I take a car to the gate and put everything in that. Bu99er messing about carrying stuff!!

 

[JoceAndChris]

Vicky - I'm appalled at your story, your scenario is much worse than mine! My bins are carried from the bin shelter to the space where we park our car, just outside the gate. As you say, it has to be done really carefully otherwise I'm faced with the embarassing sight of my fortnight's rubbish strewn across the public footpath. I'll never forget coming home to see a stream of unmentionables strewn about and a very posh stonemason waiting for me at the door who had obviously had to walk right through them : how absolutely humiliating!

After that horrible experience I bought 5 galvanised steel bins, the old fashioned kind with lids. That keeps the dogs and crows out. Could you do something similar and keep your shiny bins permanently near the collection point?

 

[biffvernon]

When we have a Tesco/Asda delivery,

Why would anybody want to shop there?

 

[Flyfisher]

[/thread]

 

[Tom]

When we have a Tesco/Asda delivery,

Why would anybody want to shop there?

Because they deliver in my area :roll:

 

[JoceAndChris]

Well, we did all hijack Biff's thread. :lol:

Biff, where do you buy your jeans? I bought my work jeans in Asda George - £4, and they're showing no signs of wearing out. Is that any worse than buying jeans in Next, where they'd cost considerably more? Just interested - not trying to start a fight.

 

[Matt Green]

Biff, where do you buy your jeans? I bought my work jeans in Asda George - £4, and they're showing no signs of wearing out. Is that any worse than buying jeans in Next, where they'd cost considerably more?

It's about buying power. Walmart have a massive amount of buying power and can beat suppliers down to minimal cost with the carrot that they can guarantee volume demand. Next have a bit less buying power and the suppliers can afford to shop around a little more for the best price to maintain volume. At least TK Maxx beats the eventual buyers down at no loss to the producers who have already made their money.

I use supermarkets because a) they deliver for free if you wait for a voucher, which saves using the car and b) they are open when I am not at work- a business practice which is delightfully 21st century rather than 19th, and in stark contrast to shop owners who use their spare time writing to the local paper bemoaning supermarkets rather than being open when shoppers want to shop.


M

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thanks for your very clear answer Matt. I love buying local, fresh produce and supporting small crafts enterprises where I can but there are certain things that the supermarket must provide.

I'm out in the dusk, now, breaking concrete. So far I can only give myself a D-. Use of the pickaxe very poor, and understanding of the fulcrum situation minimal. And I've grazed my finger! And I don't like this job at all.

 

[biffvernon]

Biff, where do you buy your jeans? I bought my work jeans in Asda George - £4.

Poor you. I wouldn't be seen out in any jeans but Levi 501s. It's the tradition. I'm sure the small child in some third world sweat-shop that makes them is glad of the the few cents per month he gets.

 

[JoceAndChris]

:?

 

[Flyfisher]

Biff, where do you buy your jeans? I bought my work jeans in Asda George - £4.

Poor you. I wouldn't be seen out in any jeans but Levi 501s. It's the tradition. I'm sure the small child in some third world sweat-shop that makes them is glad of the the few cents per month he gets.

I'm surprised you're happy to spend £50+ on a pair of jeans, where the profits end up fuelling the energy-intensive American way of life, on the basis of tradition. And, yes, I suspect the small child's family probably is glad of the extra income.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Xxxxxxx

But sigh, we will never agree on these things.

Asda's the main employer in my town. It provides a lot of meals on tables, in more ways than one, and a lot of happiness too, with its supremely affordable goods for poor families ( and poor Joces, who'd sooner spend surplus money on the house)

 

[Tom]

I'm out in the dusk, now, breaking concrete. So far I can only give myself a D-. Use of the pickaxe very poor, and understanding of the fulcrum situation minimal. And I've grazed my finger! And I don't like this job at all.

See, you only had to wait until tomorrow!! Leave it, if you haven't finished it already and we'll do it together

 

[Flyfisher]

The secret is in the 'fulcrum situation'. Sounds like DWB will have it sorted in a jiffy tomorrow.

 

[Pford75]

I'm out in the dusk, now, breaking concrete. So far I can only give myself a D-. Use of the pickaxe very poor, and understanding of the fulcrum situation minimal. And I've grazed my finger! And I don't like this job at all.

I'd hire a Kango (or similar) from your local hire shop. The small ones typically cost £15/day and you'll have the job done in no time. Much easier than using a pickaxe

 

[JoceAndChris]

Well, we'll see what Jaqy thinks tomorrow, but I think that's probably the best solution - it's 5 inches thick.