Hi - we've moved into a lovely house, but some previous owner tarmac-ed over the front garden so they could park on it, and it looks a bit bleak.

We'd like to have it removed and returned to garden. What sort of contractor are we looking for to do that - people who normally lay driveways?

And has anyone got any idea how much that would cost? It's only a smallish front garden on a terraced house.

Thanks for any advice.

I wouldn't be too hasty in removing the tarmac, if I were you. The off-road parking might be a big selling point. I know it's a big plus for me if I was looking to buy in a town.

In the meantime, you could turn the area into a garden by using large plants in attactive containers. I saw an open garden recently that had very large plants grown in containers on a terrace - not a patch of earth in sight - and the whole effect was stunning! It was hard to believe they weren't planted in soil.

You could look on the RHS website for ideas for great container plants, but how about these for starters: bamboo, fatsia japonica, spirea, acer, clematis... mix in lots of potted perennials for seasonal colour.

I agree with Donnadonna, don't do away with the parking spaces. Maybe you could replace it with a much nicer looking block paving or similar. Make sure you do all this before October this year (i think) as after that you will need to get planning permission for some front garden surfaces.
Cheers Druzil

You could always put gravel on top of the tarmac and have pots and achieve a low maintenance garden whilst also keeping that selling point of the parking. The gravel will never get weeds and would just sweep off to convert back.
Or you could have a landscape person shape the edge to make a wavy corner bed too to have a plant border whilst keeping enough for parking. Soften the edges of the tarmac.

Or like Druzil said change to block paving - not cheap - a bloke did our drive for £1800? but it was absolutely beautiful and made a massive difference. We kept the garden bit though and gravelled it with pots and grasses. Next door to us block paved an extra parking space but kept a smaller flower bed.

Thanks for your suggestions, but we're not looking to sell, we're here for the long haul, and we have access to a parking space as well as the garden.

We're sure we'd like to have the garden back with fence or wall at the front.

It's just we're not sure how much that costs and what sort of contractor does it - would it be companies who put in drives who also take them out?

You said small, but depending on how small, is anyone in the family up for hiring a drill to break it up, and a skip to get it taken away?
Dont think tarmac would be all that thick would it?

I doubt you need a specialist contractor for this (inevitably more expensive) - as Cypriana says you need a man with some breaking equipment and a skip. A general builder should be able to do it. We just had some electric cable laid from house to the garage which is some distance away, and the electrician hired a breaker to make the channel in the drive, he said it was fun .

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Originally posted by pigeonseed:
We'd like to have it removed and returned to garden.

Many people argue the case for a parking space, but I applaud your intention. Although having parking space already surely made the decision easier for you.
Paving up front gardens is an environmental mistake and usually an eyesore as a result.
I personally welcome the forthcoming stricter rules on creating them.

thanks for the info about builders and 'breakers' - it's really good to have those tips. I doubt I'll be brave enough to tackle the job myself, but I will look into hiring someone.

Yes I think a parking space is a bonus when selling a house but if it looks ugly I have heard it can lower the value of a house. In fact I heard these ugly paved over gardens can lower the value of a street!

Don't know whether that's true but it sort of makes sense. People like to be proud of the what their house looks like as they approach it.

also you're right about the environment, pont - flooding and so on.

quote:

Paving up front gardens is an environmental mistake and usually an eyesore as a result.

in a way, turning it into a pretty garden needing lots of maintenance is often a mistake too, if you are not green fingeredly inclined, and can be just as eyesoreish if you lose interest.
This is why I champion gravel and low maintenance things that need a tidgy bit of weeding.

Tarmac shouldn't be that hard to remove yourself I shouldn't think. I watched our drive people remove the old stuff and trust me if that weedy bloke could do it, anyone could. He did it with a big pick axe thing.
One thing I would recommend is definitely sorting a DECENT weed control fabric if you are going down the gravel type route. Not like the tosh we used that is as helpful as toilet paper. The weeds just elbow it out of the way.

don't go boring borders ... go impressive talking point for your front, get yourself on ebay ... look for an anchor ooh or a big fountain. Or slate stacks are nice.

I don't think there is such a thing as effective weed suppressing membrane under gravel. Ourselves and our neighbours both have sections of gravel and the weeds push up through it, plus the rain washes soil into the gravel and the weeds then root on top of it. Plus when the leaves fall in autumn the only way to get them out of the gravel is to handpick them, which is fiddly. So I don't view gravel as low maintenance - in fact I removed a whole section of it because it drove me mad. Shame because I really like the look of gravel (for the first week!)

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I don't think there is such a thing as effective weed suppressing membrane under gravel

tarmac

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Plus when the leaves fall in autumn

not so much of a problem when they bulldoze the tree view and fill the space with terraced housing. These presumably do not start shedding roof tiles in october!

I agree with holy cheeses - scruffy gardens look miserable. I love gardening, but still like to use low maintenance perennials like geraniums, bulbs, lavender etc - they fill up the border once mature and supress weeds.

I think weed suppressing membrane has a limited life - my mum had her garden done with shingle instead of lawn, and there were no weeds for a couple of years, now there are loads.

but soil deposits on top of the membrane after a while, so it's probably not just the fault of the membrane.

The other problem is that gravel = ideal cat toilet. They love it.

quote:

Originally posted by holy cheeses:

quote:

I don't think there is such a thing as effective weed suppressing membrane under gravel

tarmac

LOL
Problem solved!