Suggestions for 5ft high by 13ft rubble pile!

[Snowsmash]

Just moved into a house which has a fantastic garden - or at least, will have the most incredible garden at some point- but at the moment it's a bit of a mess.

I've had waste removal people and gardeners come over to take a look, but all is eerily quiet on the getting back to me front with a quote or willingness to remove all rubble/ waste from the garden- probably because access is a pita - it's through an archway that is only 2m high, so can't get a skip in or tall machinery. I also think it will be eye wateringly expensive.

Anyway, today, a friend suggested just keeping the rubble at the bottom rather than taking it away for waste - moving it to the side, or bottom fence line and using it in some other way (base for a garden shed/ studio, a wall or anything, really). However, the amount is significant (5ft high by about 12-15ft)- it was going to be used as the foundations for a house, but planning permission was never granted. I've just fallen down a rabbit's hole of looking at hardcore (though then had to put in rubble as search results were a bit sketchy) gardens but i don't think i really want to leave it in situ to create a garden out of a mound. Also, the pile just reminds me of a freshly dug giants grave at the moment, so definitely want to shift it somewhere rather than leaving it where and as is.

In that space, from the shed down and where the rubble is, I am hoping to plant some more fruit trees and then sow wild flowers (eventually).

Has anyone done something similar on such a scale and if so, what have you used the rubble for? pics attached!

Skip at the front of the house, wheelbarrow it through. Just grunt work. Sorting out a new garden often involves considerable grunt work. Over a couple of weekends would do it surely?

Oh good grief, what a mess!

In the pile, are there any viable bricks, paving stones, cobbles, attractive rocks, bits of wood or anything else that could possibly be useful in the future for edging, crazy paving or other hard landscaping? I'm thinking that you could maybe start by clearing a flat out-of-the-way area and making a neat pile of anything remotely usable. Then order a skip to put at the front of the house. Hiring one for a week would be expensive, but nowhere near as dear as paying a contractor to do the work for you.

If you feel remotely able and have access to strong rigger gloves and a wheelbarrow (and ideally several other willing assistants), then I'd suggest you do it yourself. Go on, you can do it!

Agree! Once you set to it, you will have it moved in a jiffy. Sooner you get started, the sooner it will be done!

Yes- considering that too but we can only get a small skip on the road so limits how much we can take out. It’s also approx 200m from the pile to where the skip would be, which does make it a slightly more onerous and I think would take more than a few weekends, with two of us wheelbarrowing. Although it would be an excellent bootcamp workout! Perhaps a mini excavator or similar- will google now…

But yes- you’re all right. I think I’m making excuses and it’s just I need to bite the bullet and give it a go- ideally as you say with a (big) group of willing volunteers. I vaguely remember one person who came over saying that something like 20 skips would be needed though 😳

I had high hopes of reclaiming bricks so will defo be taking anything from it that is viable to use some other way.

Stick a Facebook post on a local site offering free hardcore, you might just find some of it goes for no effort on your part.

We did 20 trips to the tip to clear shite left in the garden by previous owners.

I would get a wheelbarrow and start doing it. It is donkey work unfortunately.

Be careful loading too much into the car at once as the body will sink and touch the wheels.

Save yourself money on the gym for a couple of months.

Using it is more trouble than it's worth.

Level it (or move to a better position and level it), slope or steps up, lay an attractive patio area, summerhouse or log cabin, bar, barbeque area, seating, low wall around with salvaged bricks maybe, potted plants. The saving in skips, etc, would pay for the other work.

We are currently clearing a huge heap of chalk and soil dug out for the foundations of the garage many years ago (not by us). Bought a screening machine to separate the chalk chunks from the soil (which is mainly fine chalk). And gradually getting rid of the chalk and spreading the 'soil' along the fence lines and adding to compost bins. I think I should have taken my own advise and built a slightly raised patio area!

And most tips have limits on how much rubble you can take at one time and how often you can take it. I don't know how many trips we've done, I think we calculated the limit as 10 builders buckets a go and you can go once a fortnight, they probably wouldn't like it if they knew we were doing that regularly, but we don't make it too obvious.

If nothing toxic - build some raised beds for flowers or veg and fill the bottom with hardcore, then topsoil.

Other option is the patio as mentioned - the garden looks sloped, so you would need hard core to level anyway.

i think I’m definitely leaning more towards using it in the area & levelling, maybe at the bottom, so as you say for a patio that could be used a base, and raised beds.. nothing toxic (that I know of- asbestos all been taken out) thanks for all the advice!

Put a post on your local Facebook - free bottoming, buyer collects. Or try a couple of local builders. A few years ago we demolished an old outside toilet and shed, huge pile of rubble just like yours. We really were daunted at getting rid of it. There were some houses going up behind ours, and one of the builders came round and asked if if they could have it. On the Friday afternoon three lovely blokes came and moved the lot, in one afternoon, for a very small fee and lots of cups of tea. People are often looking for bottoming.

I think I would get a couple of skips, if necessary, and just gradually get rid of it all, anything else is going to be a (possibly slightly weird looking) compromise.

This. I've shifted similar. Better than a personal trainer in a top flight gym. I had abs of steel afterwards.

I’m the opposite, I would find a way to use it.

If you wanted a sheltered area, you could build the edges up with rubble, cover in soil and plant matter then turf it to make a bank.

A pond without digging- as above for the edges, then liner across the middle.

I’d sort the decent bricks/edging pieces out as I go.

We need to get better at using material where it is, rather than digging it up and moving it about the place!

Use it as a base for a shed or summer house, it would need levelling first.

I got rid of a lot of rubble advertising it on facebook, honestly I was astounded, and the access wasn't great at all.

We kept some for a shed base, and some slabs to make stepping stones in the border and some bricks because they are handy to have.

We had a similar pile of rubble when we moved in to our new house two months ago. We advertised it on local social media as hardcore free to collector. Over a period of two weeks a dozen people came and helped themselves and now it's gone.

Also, if you sort out the good stuff e.g. the bricks into a pile someone might pay you for them.

1. Dig a hole 5 ft deep by 13 ft long and put the rubble in the hole.
2. Make some long bags that fit inside trouser legs.
3. Fill the bags with soil from the hole.
4. Install the bags inside the legs of a pair of trousers.
5. Shuffle around the garden, spreading the soil from the bags evenly over the rest of the garden (you may need to do this a number of times)

I got this idea from a film I saw a long time ago and it seemed to work pretty well. I think the film may have been called 'Rubble Without a Cause'

I would repurpose it on site, either as a shed base, path or patio base, crushed for paths/mulch or stick it in gabion baskets. Have a look at John Little (grassroofco) on insta for ideas.

If going with the 'advertise it on Facebook' option, I suggest you think very carefully about how to phrase the offer of free hardcore bottoming.

Are you sure it wasn’t “The Great Escape “?

I used to work in an organisation of civil engineers, who had to take a firm line with the IT department over their anti-porn blocks.