Cheaper alternative to decking?

Eoin

We're just about to get our garden done up as our dogs have destroyed what was there.

We're getting artificial grass for most of it, apart from an area right to the back of the house. It's a concrete area approx 4.4 by 1.6 metres. The plan was to get decking put down for a small table & chairs etc, but it looks like it's going to cost a lot more than I was expecting.

Can anyone recommend any cheaper alternatives? Would patio slabs be as expensive to supply and put in?

slowburner

Eoin wrote: »

We're just about to get our garden done up as our dogs have destroyed what was there.

We're getting artificial grass for most of it, apart from an area right to the back of the house. It's a concrete area approx 4.4 by 1.6 metres. The plan was to get decking put down for a small table & chairs etc, but it looks like it's going to cost a lot more than I was expecting.

Can anyone recommend any cheaper alternatives? Would patio slabs be as expensive to supply and put in?

If you are half way handy yourself and have the time, you could build your own deck.
Buying pressure treated 4" x 2" boards is considerably less expensive than the sort of profiled boards you see in every deck. They also finish up less slippy.
Paving could end up expensive if the concrete needed to be broken out to get the levels right.

Eoin

Thanks slowburner - not that handy, but I'll look into that. I might be able to get some help once I get the last of the quotes. I might be naive, but I thought a couple of hundred for materials and a couple of hundred for labour would cover it, but getting some mad quotes so far.

Happyman42

What sort of mula would ordinary 4x2's cost, Slowburner?

slowburner

Happyman42 wrote: »

What sort of mula would ordinary 4x2's cost, Slowburner?

I think I usually pay around €8 - €10 for a 16' length of pressure treated 4"x 2"

Sonnenblumen

Eoin wrote: »

We're just about to get our garden done up as our dogs have destroyed what was there.

We're getting artificial grass for most of it, apart from an area right to the back of the house. It's a concrete area approx 4.4 by 1.6 metres. The plan was to get decking put down for a small table & chairs etc, but it looks like it's going to cost a lot more than I was expecting.

Can anyone recommend any cheaper alternatives? Would patio slabs be as expensive to supply and put in?

It's a small area and I cannot understand why you would not use synthetic grass for the patio. Generally the ground preparation of rinstalling synthetic lawns would be broadly similar to installing a stone patio.

If you're keen to install a decking, there is also a synthetic ('Composite') deck board but it ain't cheap!

Eoin

Sonnenblumen wrote:

It's a small area and I cannot understand why you would not use synthetic grass for the patio.

That was my suggestion, but I was overruled!

slowburner

Eoin wrote: »

Thanks slowburner - not that handy, but I'll look into that. I might be able to get some help once I get the last of the quotes. I might be naive, but I thought a couple of hundred for materials and a couple of hundred for labour would cover it, but getting some mad quotes so far.

Depends on what you mean by a couple

Eoin

slowburner wrote: »

Eoin wrote: »

Thanks slowburner - not that handy, but I'll look into that. I might be able to get some help once I get the last of the quotes. I might be naive, but I thought a couple of hundred for materials and a couple of hundred for labour would cover it, but getting some mad quotes so far.

Depends on what you mean by a couple

2 - as in 400 in total

slowburner

Strikes me that 400 might not cover the costs of both materials and labour for a professional, above-board landscaper.

It's awkward to comment without seeing the site tbh.

Eoin

Yep, fair enough - hard to tell without seeing the place.

I'd have been surprised if it was more than a day's work, and I thought that 200 wasn't a bad rate to be getting. So far I've gotten quotes ranging from 300 to 4000. Most of them in or around 1000, which is well above what I'd be wiling to pay.

Anyway, artificial grass going in tomorrow; so I'll see how that looks first and take it from there.

cormie

Hey Eoin, I used to deliver a lot of decking and the main places the guy would buy from were Noyeks in Finglas and ABS Dublin 12 I think it is, http://www.absdiy.ie/absdiy/decking_%26_paving.html

Check out their 12x12 deal, €275. I have a number of a chap who used to fit it, real nice guy but I don't know what he'd charge but 1.6 x 4.4m should be easy enough and easily done in a day too, the decks themselves are about 4m anyway so you'd probably only need about 15-20?

Eoin

Great, thanks a million Cormie!

Sonnenblumen

S+F a natural stone patio might cost c € 650.00 - € 700.00 (but perhaps a little less if it was done in conjunction with synth lawn works).

whatyamacallit

Hi Eoin,

Did you get the artificial grass installed? If so what do you think of it, who supplied and installed it?

I am think of getting artificial grass and looking for other people recommendations/opinions.

Thanks.

Eoin

whatyamacallit wrote: »

Hi Eoin,

Did you get the artificial grass installed? If so what do you think of it, who supplied and installed it?

I am think of getting artificial grass and looking for other people recommendations/opinions.

Thanks.

Hi there, I did indeed. Happy enough with it so far. As the ground is quite soft, it means that the seams are quite obvious. But it's a big improvement. I'll take some photos this weekend and send you a private message with the details.

Oh yeah - to update my original question, I got the decking done for 375 and it looks great.

tommy2bad

whatyamacallit wrote: »

Hi Eoin,

Did you get the artificial grass installed? If so what do you think of it, who supplied and installed it?

I am think of getting artificial grass and looking for other people recommendations/opinions.

Thanks.

Heresy, artificial grass is for athletic tracks not lawns. Get gravel if you don't want to mow but in the name of all thats holy, not a sheet of wellie mat.
Oh and enjoy whatever you put down

Eoin

tommy2bad wrote: »

Heresy, artificial grass is for athletic tracks not lawns. Get gravel if you don't want to mow but in the name of all thats holy, not a sheet of wellie mat.
Oh and enjoy whatever you put down

Nonsense. This isn't the stuff they use in the mats at the driving range, there's some great artificial stuff available.

paddy147

tommy2bad wrote: »

Heresy, artificial grass is for athletic tracks not lawns. Get gravel if you don't want to mow but in the name of all thats holy, not a sheet of wellie mat.
Oh and enjoy whatever you put down

Sorry to say this Tommy,but you havent seen many artificial grass rolls then.

Theres a good few of them now widely available (garden centres and even in builders providers these days) that are life like,and ideal for putting down to mimmick a real lawn area.

tommy2bad

Never going to smell like real grass fresh cut, wheres the romance in ye lads

paddy147

tommy2bad wrote: »

wheres the romance in ye lads

Its in my boxers.:D:D



(sorry,just couldnt resist that)

paddy147

Ive no grass in my garden either,just a mass of plants,flowers,hedging,bark mulch and trees.

No need for a lawn mower then,thank god.:D

Eoin

tommy2bad wrote: »

Never going to smell like real grass fresh cut, wheres the romance in ye lads

No, you're right there. And it doesn't look 100% like real grass.

But in one day our garden was transformed and we have a low maintenance garden that our dogs have not yet managed to make a mess of.

Discodog

Scaffold boards are superb & you can get used ones cheaply - or at least you should be able to in a building recession. I built a huge deck/platform when I was in the UK. I bought a job lot of scaffold boards that were no longer up to hire spec but were still good. I screwed them down & then put a commercial, hired, floor sander over them. Then a few coats of Sadolins & the grain looked really nice.

paddylonglegs

Discodog wrote: »

Scaffold boards are superb & you can get used ones cheaply - or at least you should be able to in a building recession. I built a huge deck/platform when I was in the UK. I bought a job lot of scaffold boards that were no longer up to hire spec but were still good. I screwed them down & then put a commercial, hired, floor sander over them. Then a few coats of Sadolins & the grain looked really nice.

was only thinking that this would look good. what sort of wood is it from the scaffold planks? I should you would need pressure treated wood for outdoors.
Will attempt this for my next project, I think you would need the right style of garden for this to look well, a little bit rustic and not too manicured

Discodog

paddylonglegs wrote: »

was only thinking that this would look good. what sort of wood is it from the scaffold planks? I should you would need pressure treated wood for outdoors.
Will attempt this for my next project, I think you would need the right style of garden for this to look well, a little bit rustic and not too manicured

I don't think the style matters. After all railway sleepers can look ok in most gardens. The secret is that the bits that should be manicure are well kept. If you think of the job that they do, scaffold planks have to be very resilient. The level of rustic is down to how much you sand them & what finish you apply.

Discodog

The key with decking is to ensure that it has a good drainage slope & that the water run off doesn't flood the lawn etc. Also they tend to rot from the bottom as water collects under the boards. You need to have a slope under the boards & good air circulation.

I hope that you treated those cut sleeper ends in the second pic !