Landscaping in Cheylesmore

Yes. Asda is one of the landmarks we use to describe where we work in Cheylesmore, and we take on landscaping jobs throughout the surrounding streets. Access and parking get checked at survey, so the quote fits the property.

Cheylesmore sits next to Lower Stoke (about 0.7 miles away), Stivichall (about 0.8 miles away), Finham (about 1.2 miles away) and Stoke Aldermoor (about 1.3 miles away). We work across the whole of that cluster, which is part of why we can usually get to a survey quickly — we are often already nearby.

As soon as it is holding back ground on one side. A free-standing garden wall only has to carry its own weight and the wind; a retaining wall is resisting the pressure of soil and the water in it, which is a far greater force. Retaining walls need adequate foundations, the right thickness, often reinforcement, and — critically — drainage behind them. Over about a metre, or where anything is above, it warrants proper design.

Almost always water. Soil behind a wall holds water, and water adds enormous pressure. Without a drainage layer, a perforated land drain behind the base and weep holes through the face, that pressure builds until the wall bows, cracks or moves. Most of the failed retaining walls we are asked to rebuild look fine from the front and have no drainage at all behind them.

Excavation, a compacted stone sub-base, a layer of sharp sand or granite dust screeded level, a weed membrane and then the grass itself, joined with seaming tape and adhesive and pinned at the edges. Laying it over existing turf or soil is the usual cause of failure: it goes lumpy as the ground beneath settles, and weeds come through at the joints and edges within a season.

Porcelain is dimensionally consistent, very low porosity, resists staining and algae, and keeps its colour — but it needs a slurry primer on the back when bedding, and cutting it requires the right blades. Natural stone such as sandstone or limestone has more character and variation, costs less in the mid range, but is porous, so it weathers, grows algae in shade and can stain. Both last decades when laid properly.

Away from the house, always, at a gentle fall of roughly 1 in 60 to 1 in 80 — enough to shed water without being noticeable underfoot. It must also finish at least 150mm below the damp-proof course. A patio laid level, or laid up to the brickwork above the damp-proof course, will put water into the wall, and that shows up as internal damp that no amount of treatment inside will fix.