The Brew Cabin

Hi Tony, may I say first of all what a great site, I spent at least three hours on this site yesterday at work...Dont tell Sony Tony!

My lovely boyfriend has undertaken the task of transforming the tiny back yard (8m squared) from a dumping ground to a little tidy patio. We removed the terrible existing slabs and flattened the area, currently it is covered with 10cms of coarse sand waiting for the new slabs.
Question one - where can I get really super feature flooring in Surrey? I want to splash out but to date can only find realtively boring concrete slabs or cobbles at the builders merchants in the area.

Question 2 - I am concerned that there wont be ample drainage. Is it a big "no no" to assume that this enclosed space wont become waterlogged, there are no drains, it is flanked by walls and the only way out is seepage, if he lays the flooring on top of a bed of sand, surely this will mean the water will stay on top of the slabs/tiles? if we introduce a definite gradient away from the side of the house, water will run into the wooden fence separating the neighbours yard and could be a problem.. any suggestions

Finally - question 3, we have removed a wooden fence that topped a 2 foot high side wall and built it up using more bricks by another 5 foot. The newer bricks are yellowy/red and are completely different as is the colour of the cement to the older brown bricks. Have you any tips about making the two blend in better?

Well done to you, for a great site, trust an Irishman to come up with a great idea!

Thanks for the compliments, Daragh. The next time Mr Sony pops in for a brew, I promise to keep me gob shut! ;)

1) - where can I get really super feature flooring in Surrey?

Paving? One of the best places is Silverlands at Chertsey. They have a good range of natural paving stones, and a reasonable selection of concrete products.

2) - Drainage - how?

This can make or break the patio. It is essential, but, if you have a well-drained spot, and will have some open ground, then it might be possible to drain onto that. When you say 8 metres squared, do you mean 8m x 8m or 8 square metres (eg, 4m x 2m)? Draining 8m2 onto open ground shouldn't be too much of a problem, but 64m2 is another thing altogether, and would defnitely be better if drained adequately.

3) - How to blend brickwork?

I think you have to accept that they are unlikely ever to match, unless you painted them. There are some strange 'recipes' that can be applied to walling and paving to make it look much older, but none of these can make brand new walling/paving look indistinguishable from existing weathered paving/walling. Could you not get some climbers scrambling up the wall to help mask the difference?

Don't the Irish have all the best ideas? Uisce ... Guinness ... Daniel O'Donnell - well, maybe not! ;)

super, thanks for that, advise will be heeded. The drainage site is 8m2, of an enclosed area

You should be ok tipping that small area onto the garden, then.