The Brew Cabin

Hi Tony this is fantastic site by the way!! I would like to ask a couple of questions being a DIY novice. I am currently in the process of doing a patio in my back garden that is approx. 8m by 18m. The earth slopes from the back fence down to the house and has about a two foot drop over the 8 meters, I have levelled this all out by hand :( and would like to know as the levelling out has left me with about 1ft gap under the fence therefore can I lay bricks or blocks onto approx 6 inches of compacted dtp type1 or do I have to dig footings?Can you recommend another edging I could use instead? is it essential to have drainage on this size patio? Also if it is essential for drainage what is the best method for connecting into manhole as this is the nearest drain point.
Thanks for your help and eagerly wait your reply

Taking your Q's one at a time...

can I lay bricks or blocks onto approx 6 inches of compacted dtp type1 or do I have to dig footings?

You can use DTp1 to build up levels, but you will probably need some form of retainer edge where there's that gap at the fence.

Can you recommend another edging I could use instead?

I'd suggest using a flag-on-edge type construction.

is it essential to have drainage on this size patio?

It's essential that the patio has fall in one or more directions to ensure water is drained away from the surface to some convenient disposal point. This may be the garden itself, or a linear channel, or a gully, but you have to have somewhere for all that water to go. So, "drainage" isn't essential, but "fall" is.

what is the best method for connecting into manhole ?

This depends very much on the type of manhole and the layout. Some modern plastic ICs often have 'spare' inlets that can be utilised for this type of connection, while sectional concrete chambers may need a hole popping through to form a new connection over the benching. With 225mm engineering brick chambers, 'popping a hole' is not as simple as it might sound and it may actually be easier to install a new access chamber upstream/downstream of the existing MH.

Thanks Tony for the prompt reply, I will now crack on with it! but one more thing I have to ask as I had a step in mind in order to build the gap up to the lower section of the fence, can I lay slabs onto the single block wall verticallly that I will build? and if so is it better to use concrete or breeze blocks? Thanks

(Edited by Efit at 8:01 pm on Aug. 26, 2004)

Can you explain that in a bit more detail? I'm not quite sure what you mean by "laying slabs onto a single block wall vertically".