You aren’t going to like what you see! If you thought the way I measure my wood is a debacle, wait until you see how I levelled the ground beneath the pavers!
The ground that will be beneath the greenhouse needs to be elevated ever so slightly otherwise it would just flood and fill with water in our soggy boggy spring and winter. Half of the ground is already compacted thanks to the old greenhouse, but the new section is made up of … well… mud. And it was really hard to get it level or even or close to level and I had wasted a lot of time trying.
So I thought I’d level as I went. I laid the weed mat down and put a bit of sand down and began laying cobbles. I very quickly realised I was going to need a lot of sand because it was very uneven. That was until I came up with an alternative solution that seems to work very well.
The first row of pavers is nicely laid out with sand making them flush and level – I’d almost used a whole 25kg bag of sand. It’s at this point the craziness begun. I looked at my three other bags of sand and realised something needed to change in my technique as there were another 15 rows to go!. I looked around the site and realised that my ambition to be able to mow around the greenhouse would be hampered by the side of the dirt hill.
It was clear the pad needed to be raised a little more so I could use less sand, so I peeled up the weed mat as far as the pavers I’d already laid and taking dirt from the hill I and loosely shovelled it onto the pad and pulled back the weed mat. Then I took a paver and used it to bash the spot where it would go flat, and then repeated the bashing with the next paver. I did use a level to make sure it was actually flush because each time I stood back and looked, it seemed like it was sloping downhill. But it’s not.
It is working well as method of laying pavers. My arms are a little tired from all the bashing, but I managed to lay half of the greenhouse floor in no time and I think I may have some sand left over! I know it’s not technically correct, but you should know me by now – never one to following instructions!
Come again soon – the goal to have the greenhouse up by the end of the week (Sunday) is still achievable!
Sarah the Gardener : o )
Can’t fault your ability to find solutions to problems from unlikely sources. Looking good 🙂
Hi Elaine, I’ll never one to follow instructions blindly and do a lot of thinking outside the box – often with interesting results!
Cheers Sarah : o )
Compaction is an issue, because there will be some settling in the area of new soil. Your bashing may do the trick, though it would be much easier to use a tamper (heavy flat surface on the end of a pole.) Level is good, but perfectly level is not essential (and might even provide some drainage for when watering overflows hit the floor.) Keep it up, necessity is indeed the mother of invention.
Hi There. In a collective sense the paved area is flat enough, however individually they are all a little bit wonky. So any further settling and moving won’t make too much of a difference to the overall scheme of things. Thanks for your encouragement.
Cheers Sarah : o )
You are getting very creative! 🙂 Can’t wait to see the finished product!
Thanks Virginia. I can’t wait to see the finished product. I feel like I have been working on the greenhouse for ages and am beginning to become anxious for my seedlings on windowsills.
Cheers Sarah : o )
It will be well worth the effort. It’s a great tool for gardening!
Looking good!
Thanks. : o )
AWSOME
Thanks Linda. : o )