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• 11 Aug, 2009
• 3 likes

The digging I did to make the footings level for the lean to and my raised bed were quite deep at one end and just enough at the other. Being a good Yorkshire lad and not wanting to spend too much brass I reused the stone removed during the project. The stone was set on a flat bed of very dry mix mortar made 3 builders sand, 1 sharp sand 1 cement. The job which is 3' x 2 meters varied in depth from 50mm to 4". The stone thickness was also very varied from 3" to 12mm. I did it in three or four bits working from the fence towards the existing path. I made the stone surface level with the base of my raised bed and wooden support for my lean to. To aide me in this I had a bit of gaff 75mm x 50mm wood.

The process of levelling was quite hard work I had to put each stone down then gently knock it level. If it wouldnt I the had to scrape some of the mortar away and then repeat. After each small bit which was about 450mm deep I pointed the gaps with this dry mixture. On completion approx 4 hours I brrushed the loose mortar away.

The whole thing was left for two days to harden. Then for a week I used a board to spread my weight.

I quite like the result, given time it will mellow. Also I have a hard surface to walk on in Winter.

The area took 5.5 bags of builders sand 1.5 bags of course sand and 1.5 bags of cement -- total cost £20 approx.

Of course if your excavations are too deep then you could make the level up with ballast (approx(£2.50 per bag). You need about 50mm below the level of the pebbles of mortar.

You could also use a mortar mix with no water and that would make levelling easier, of course it would take about a month then to go hard - during which time you couldnt use it.