He is in Northern IRELAND, not northern ICELAND, you know!





From some experience, Nick's recipe is pretty good. The concrete may
well be six inches thick, probably on a layer of rubble or stone, and
soil underneath will certainly be compacted. On a slope, though, just
meticulously breaking up the concrete to the size of coarse crushed
stone (a hell of a job) may provide enough drainage for ordinary
purposes; but that depends on the site.


thanks for all your advice, He is a she by the way, my names Paula.
Pookey is my cats name and he is a male, so I'll let you off

you guys are right about the concrete, it is around 5 inches thick and
is on a good base. We had a channel dug right across the yard (40
metres) under the wall and into the field for some electricity cables
to be layed and it was a massive job. It took 2 guys 3 days with a
digger and concrete saw and they wouldnt even have a cup of tea - they
worked solid!

I will get them back in to shift the concrete and to do any digging
work, I just need to come up with the plan of how to do the job.

at the moment i think removing the concrete, adding a layer of
gravel/small stones (quary dust maybe)???? followed by some sand/grit
and top soil with mixed sand sounds good with some drainage channels
around the outside edge. Do you think this would surfice or will I
need some porous drain channels added into the gravel bed?