Landscaping Contract In Mount Merrion With Gravel Driveway

Watch the video tours for this project here! 

Phase 1 of Project

Phase 2 of Project

I won this contract through word and mouth after recently completing work for the client’s friend. The contract was situated in Mount Merrion, Co Dublin. This is a beautiful area in south County Dublin celebrated for its architecture and extremely large gardens. The client made contact through my website and on hearing it was a recommendation I knew I was already in a good position to win the contract. He explained his requirements namely re-configuring the driveway and landscaping of part of the back garden.

On the first site visit the front of the house faced due North. The driveway surface was tarmac with raised concrete curb edging. The driveway gave a very industrial feel, it did not compliment the house and felt like an extension of the adjoining road, due to the tarmac finish. Although tarmac is a brilliant solution for public roads its appearance at the front of the house, for me is unappealing.

The driveway entrance was on the East side, an appropriate width, with 450mm pillars on each side. The surroundings were good with tall Grisellinia hedged affording great privacy within the area. The front door was central with an old black and white mosaic step in disrepair. On either side of the door were two windows which extended out from the house. To the East side there was a side door leading through a lean too shed into the back garden. On entering the back garden there was a small concrete patio extending out 3m to a step which led down to the lawn area. A new extension had been installed on the west side and extended out 4m. Outside the extension and at the internal floor level was a small 3x4m softwood deck with steps leading down to the lawn. Both areas were detached with differing levels. There was also an unsightly sewage pipe placed above the doors of the original house to the east which looked very unsightly.

After surveying the site, taking photos and getting a general feel for front and back areas, I sat down with the client and drew up the following wishlist:

Front:

• Soften front of house
• Tidy existing hedges and fill in gaps with mature specimens
• Remove all tarmac and use as filling within back patio
• Replace two man holes with recessed to disguise
• Ballylusk gravel finish with Ballylusk dust sub-base
• Enough parking for two cars
• Use of tumbled silver granite cobbles for creation of beds and ample apron at entrance
• Use of planting to soften front of house
• Re-do step with similar black and white mosiac tile finish
• Soften wall on East side leading to side lean too shed and entrance
• Replace door on existing lean too shed with dead bolt and keys for security
• Hinges on new door to be unremovable, improving security
• Laying of 4 core SWA cabling and intercom cable to east side pillar for future electric gate/garden lighting
• Supply and install wheelie bin screen for 3 wheelie bins
• Low maintenance
• Bulb planting for spring interest

Back:

• Removal of existing deck and steps
• Removal of existing rotten fencing and unwanted plants
• Installation of cabling for future garden lighting
• Installation of retainers both sides and to the edge of proposed steps using 4” solids laid on the flat for maximum strength
• Re-use tarmac from front as filling to reduce material cost
• Re-direct ugly sewage above door and move to new out let
• Create large entertainment area using 600×600 brush hammered silver granite slabs
• Entertainment area to be accessible from both doors, old house and new extension
• Level of patio to be the same as internal floors creating seamless connection between inside and out
• Custom built fencing to be installed to create privacy from neighbours either side
• Creation of area giving room effect to the large garden beyond
• Central steps to lead down to lawn area, each step to be no higher than 125mm
• Beds either side of steps creating living railing
• Installation of lighting system to light steps and down light custom-built fencing
• Ronseal ‘Slate’ paint to be used on all fencing
• Removal of unwanted plants throughout the lower garden, improvement of planting scheme
• Low maintenance
• All year roun interest
• Contemporary feel in keeping with the new extension

All in all, the job went very well. The first job was clearing of the existing decking from the back and carting it to the dump. We then installed retainers to accept the tarmac from the front excavations. The front was very straightforward. We removed the tarmac and sub-base down to 100mm and used as filling for back raised patio. A 300mm deep trench was then dug from the East side access door to the front pillar, SWA and intercom cable inserted then re-filled for future electric gate. 75mm Ballylusk dust was then imported spread and compacted creating sub-base for Cobbles and gravel. The gravel used was 14mm ballylusk gravel at a depth 0f 25mm.

 

The cobbles used were tumbled silver 200x100x50mm for the apron, and 200x100x100mm for the beds. The recessed manholes were disguised using gravel core matting filled with dust and finished with gravel. The painting at the front of the house was Buxus hedge,  Hydrangea ‘Annabelle’ and standard Bay laurels. The bay laurels framed the central front door & looked really well. The new extended step at the front door was finished with black and white mosaic tiles. The wall to the east by the lean-too shed was finished in custom-built cladding and painted in Ronseal ‘slate’.

 

After Landscaping

Before Landscaping

The filling from the front filled about two-thirds of what was needed within the back-raised patio. It was important while filling to compact every 200mm layer to avoid future subsidence. For the last third of filling we used re-cycled quarry screenings. The posts for the fencing were then installed using 150x75mm pressure-treated Scandinavian Spruce. We then laid the patio using 600x600mm slabs laid in a traditional soldier course. Pointing was completed using a strong 1:3 cement sludge mix which was then power sprayed off. The joints for the pointing were 5mm in width. The soil was then imported to fill the beds. The beds were planted with buxus hedging, lavender and standard privets to give height. The custom-built fencing was then installed which gave a roomy feeling to the space.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The steps between the beds were then installed using 400mm threads and 125mm risers. The outside of the beds were capped with 600x300mm slabs with good overhang to accommodate plastering. The walls were then plastered and painted white a week later. The Low voltage lighting system comprised of 10 downlighters placed along the top of the fencing. 4 stainless steel up lighters were installed for the standard lonicera lollipops. The whole system was connected to 60 60-watt transformer and dusk till dawn timer. The timer had a photoelectric cell which allowed for complete automatic setting.

The client was delighted with the job and posted the following on Google Review:

‘In the summer of 2017 we contacted Kevin to see what we could do with our front driveway and back patio. Kevin came back with a clever eye-catching design. It was a relatively big job that took about 3 weeks to complete, nevertheless during the build the craftsmanship and attention to detail were very visible. We found Kevin an absolute pleasure to deal with, very straightforward with a can-do attitude. We would 100% recommend Kevin to friends and family’
Stephen & Emily.

The client made contact again approx.. 5 years later to complete the rest of the garden. I Surveyed the area took photos and tried to come up with some ideas. After surveying and formulating a plan I sat down with the client to draw up the following wishlist. The wishlist included the following:

• Low maintenance
• Removal of unwanted and overcrowed plants
• Removal of ivy in beds and spray of translocated herbicide
• Custom-built Baumanns Garden shed
• Topdress existing lawn and re-seed
• Introduce suitable planting where required
• Extend the garden lighting system throughout the garden
• New seating area for evening sun
• Clotheslines
• Fill in gaps within the existing hedge
• All year-round interest
• Paths
• Traditional feel in keeping with rest of garden
• Mulching of all beds to reduce maintenance
• Installation of bird boxes around the garden
• Native planting to be introduced where possible
• Raised edge to beds to create definition
• Paths to double up as mowing edges for easy cutting of grass
• Removal of old compost heap/re-use good compost within beds
• Creation of a screened external storage area

Armed with the above I created a very simple yet functional design. The main feature would be a 14×20’ custom-built Baumanns garden shed. To the East of the shed would be the seating area. A raised apron extended all the way in front of the shed with a step down to the lawn. This apron would really ground the shed within the garden. To the West side, an external storage area would be installed to house wheelbarrows, ladders, pots etc. The whole lawn would be defined with a mixed sized 600mm wide  path with a raised cobble edge to the inside, defining the beds. On either side of the garden we placed sleepers within the beds and connected retractable Barbantia clotheslines for drying of clothes. We re-did the planting where required. The lighting was then installed. This entailed the 60watt transformer to be replaced with a 120 watt transformer allowing for extra cableing and lights. 12 spike lights with LED bulbs were placed strategically around the garden. The overall effect was fantastic and very usable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below is the work carried out to complete the second stage:

• Spray grass to be removed using translocated herbicide

• Lift existing path, re-use in the foundation for patio/apron by shed  
• Excavate by hand, soil for the path below steps and along the right side to a depth of 100mm, re-use within existing beds, and store some for later (3.8 Tonne)  
• Supply, spread & compact quarry screenings to a depth of 50mm, creating sub-base for paths, apron and patio (6 Tonne)  
• Supply and install face/step, for patio and apron using 200x100x100mm tumbled silver granite cobbles (8.4Lm)  
• Supply and install paths, apron/patio using 600x600x25mm silver granite slabs (57Msq)  
• Supply and install raised edge to beds using 200x100x100mm tumbled silver granite cobble (55Lm)  
• Supply and create a raised bed either side of steps using 1000x200x100mm silver granite kerbs (6 Kerbs)  
• Supply and install 2 folding Barbantia clothes lines, connected to two 200x100mm pressure treated beams (1.8M high)  
• Supply and install instant hedge using 2M Common Laurel specimen plants in corner beside patio (8 Plants)  
• Supply and spread topsoil to bring up levels on leftside (2 Tonne)  
• Lift existing grass, lower or increase height where required, re-place sod  
• Visit Nursery, choose plants, deliver & plant  
• Mulch beds with fine grade mulch, to a depth of 50mm (4.5 cubic Ms)  
• Extend existing lighting system  
• Cut branches on Sycamore, remove & dump  
• Repair upper Patio

• Remove rubbish and cart to dump

The completed job looked fantastic and was the completion of the entire garden. The clients were over the moon and posted the following Google Review:

‘Kevin has returned to our house a second time to do more work for us on our back garden, as per usual great design, pleasure to deal with. gave some great advice on plants and how to integrate an existing shed into the garden. Extremely hard worker and very reliable’

Thanks soo much Stephen & Emily for trusting me with the construction of your garden. It was a pleasure working for you both.

Kevin.