In terms of creating a simple path, it doesn’t come much easier than laying some stepping stones. They can be made from slabs as shown here or you may wish to use some purpose-made decorative varieties. read more »
Take your time at the planning stage, if you have decided to lay a patio. After all, it’s a permanent feature and everything from choosing your slabs to ensuring good drainage needs close consideration before you begin work. On this latter point, it is important to maintain a gentle gradient away from your house and ideally towards groundwater drains. For small patios you only need a spirit level to judge gradients – for larger ones, laying out a sloping string line across the site provides an accurate guide to follow. read more »
The Guardian, Saturday 18 December 2010
We have metal guttering and want to trap rainwater in a butt, but can’t find a company that supplies kit for metal. Can you help?
“A diverter kit fitted into a downpipe is what you need,” says DIY guru Julian Cassell. “Wickes has a plastic diverter that fits metal downpipes (£3.99). For something more heavy-duty, try the droughtbuster kit, £14.90, from doctorenergy.co.uk. At £33.60, a cast-iron diverter is steep (from combinedharvesters.co.uk), but it would be most in keeping with your pipes. Remember, you’ll also need a hacksaw to cut through the downpipe and brackets to support the pipe above and below the diverter.”
Now in this post I won’t be following the usual course of my other tool reviews as to be honest, I haven’t had a lifetime of experience with hedge trimmers. Like many people, I use one a few times a year in my garden, but in my professional life I haven’t had that many long term hedge cutting contracts. So this is not so much about the best hedge trimmer, but more about pointing out something that is so obvious to me now, but clearly wasn’t at the time read more »
In terms of keeping it simple, laying a gravel path is about as easy as garden construction gets. However, if you want it to look good, and be easy to maintain, there are a few necessary precautions to take in its design. read more »