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Original poster

digging out part of garden - anyone done it?

27 replies

Mammina · 23/03/2009 19:40

saw a house the other day which was great apart from the fact that the garden was raised, so the garden is at the same level as the kitchen window, with steps going up to it. What we ideally want is french doors in a kitchen that open out onto the garden, so we would have to dig down to make space for a small terrace off the kitchen & then have steps leading up. Does anyone know how big a job this is? How much (ish) it would cost etc etc
thanks

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Original poster
Mammina · 23/03/2009 19:42

ps we would have to dig down about 4 feet

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kaz33 · 23/03/2009 19:47

Well you need a digger - which is expensive as you need to hire one. But the more important thing is access to the garden and then removal of said soil ideally by digger straight into waiting lorry.

We would love to dig our garden cellar out to make a great playroom for the kids but haven't worked out how we are going to do it?

ib · 23/03/2009 19:51

Depends to a very large extent on access (for a digger) nature of the soil, etc.

Totally doable though. A 4 foot retaining wall to the rest of the garden might look a bit much, imo (that's near most people's eye height). I would be inclined to make it at least two levels, which would imply more digging and masonry, but would look much better..

Original poster
Mammina · 23/03/2009 19:51

god I am so thick I didn't even think about how we would get a digger into the garden - it's a terraced house!

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morningpaper · 23/03/2009 19:53

lol!

no then

Original poster
Mammina · 23/03/2009 19:53

ib I think you're right that it would be much better with more than one level, the trouble is it's not THAT big a garden to begin with (am guessing about 35-40 foot long)

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ib · 23/03/2009 19:53

Unless there is some sort of access through the back then I would say forget it!

Original poster
Mammina · 23/03/2009 19:55

no there isn't, it backs onto the gardens of the terraces in the next street
ah well, another one struck off the list then

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lalalonglegs · 23/03/2009 20:11

We did it in a terraced house. Wouldn't be difficult but you would need professional to build retaining walls.

MollieO · 23/03/2009 20:13

Assume you will need retaining wall and that is where the main expense will be. Certainly a few thousands because doing that type of building work is a very skilled job - need to make sure proper drainage holes in the wall etc.

MollieO · 23/03/2009 20:14

You could crane a mini digger over your house but again that wouldn't be cheap. Or move it through the house on scaffolding boards.

morningpaper · 23/03/2009 20:18

You can get diggers that go through houses (i.e. normal doorways)

it is madness though

moshie · 23/03/2009 20:22

My neighbour did this in a terraced house, it was about twenty years ago though, but I'm sure it was done manually, no diggers.

Pannacotta · 23/03/2009 20:37

You could do it without a digger but would recommend you get a bunch of burly landscapers to do it, don't try and DIY it. You could prob get it done for a good price, where we are we keep getting fliers through the door offering landscaping services at reduced rates. You woudl also need a retaining wall and this is a job for professionals.

Well worth doing IMO....

morningpaper · 23/03/2009 20:38

It does depend on the wall

If they all have the same slope then it might be backing onto a rock or a cliff or something and you wouldn't want to try and cut through that

Original poster
Mammina · 23/03/2009 22:10

it's on a hill so the house next door doesn't have the same problem
might try and get hold of a local builder & see what they think

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edam · 23/03/2009 22:12

It must be possible in a mid-terrace - previous owners of this house did it in order to add a conservatory. No idea how, mind.

Original poster
Mammina · 23/03/2009 22:13

I just (maybe naively) thought it could be done manually..

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Mummyfor3 · 23/03/2009 22:19

migola, we have done exactly what you are proposing.

Good points:
Garden much more user friendly
Garden seems much bigger
Much nicer view from kitchen windows

But - bad points:
Was expensive
Inspite of huge amounts of drainage put in newly lowered ground, we have significant problem with swamp damp
10t lorry and digger damaged driveway and probably made (a different) drain collapse

So consider v carefully what you want to do. It might be worthwhile paying for a civil engeneer to assess your garden.
Also what level are the neighbouring gardens? And might you destabilise garden walls by digging down?

I am still glad we did it but it was a much bigger and more involved job than I had anticipated. And you would not BELIEVE how much soil needs to be removed!! Do not even think about having a man and shovel try and do this

GreenEggsAndSpam · 23/03/2009 22:27

I assume from your other posts that the garden is likely to be chalk? My DP has been doing this in our chalk back garden by hand/spade!, and is about 1 foot off ground level and needs a pick-axe now. We will be getting a builder to do a retaining wall, although it is holding itself up just fine at the moment.
Doing it himself has meant he can bag it up in relatively small quantities and take it to the tip. It hasn't been a hassle at all (well, not for me ).
Buying a house does mean compromises most of the time but I wouldn't say this problem was a deal-breaker. Will lots of steps in the garden be a pain if you have young children though, or is the rest of the garden fairly flat?

Original poster
Mammina · 23/03/2009 22:33

mummyfor3 I think you have put me off
GEAS I'm actually not sure if it's chalk??
The rest of the garden is flat it's just the steps getting up to it and yes I have a toddler & another baby on the way.
I think maybe we'll just wait until one without so much of a raised garden comes on the market - this one we just saw isn't cheap enough to justify spending lots of money on adjusting the garden/kitchen

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Mummyfor3 · 23/03/2009 22:36

Sorry, did not mean to put you off, but IME this levelling/lowering of garden level can be big job.
Hope you find the perfect house soon.

Original poster
Mammina · 23/03/2009 22:41

no mummyfor3 I'm glad you have in a way as it does sound like a bit of a PITA as well as an expense

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GreenEggsAndSpam · 23/03/2009 22:46

Migola - the housing market is pretty stagnant at the moment. I have been watching it for over a year now and very few houses have come on the market that I have actually liked (and I think I am looking at the same type of houses in the same area as you . It may be that you have to compromise on something.

Original poster
Mammina · 24/03/2009 08:23

I know we've been looking since last May. We saw one which we both loved but missed out on it as we hadn't sold our place at the time. I have since seen about 3 that I would happily live in but DH has said no, and to be honest I'm fed up with the whole thing! Ooh green eggs are we in competition?! I know you can't have everything and that you compromise on something but a garden is really important to us. I'm hoping that more will come on in the next month or so

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