How to lay paving slabs or a patio area professionally. The biggest benefit of laying your own patio or paving in general is also the most obvious: you get to save up to 80% on the costs of a pro job.

Paving slabs can be surprisingly heavy, and laying a patio often involves carting around other heavy items. Don’t be a hero, and don’t be afraid to ask someone to help.

A garden designer explains how to reuse old concrete, paving slabs and poor soil to create a beautiful garden A garden designer looks at how you can re-use the garden hardcore rubbish you’d ...

There are a number of pros and cons to installing artificial grass on your property, and the numerous advantages make it a popular choice. It doesn't need regular mowing like real grass. Weeds don't ...

While some homeowners prefer to have paving slabs on a small portion of the compound, others choose to have them cover the entire yard.Ben Mitala, compound designer and gardener with Mitala ...

IF you’ve ever given your garden a makeover, you’ll know what a pain it is to take hardcore, rubble, broken bricks and even poor soil to the dump, often having to pay for the privilege.

But concrete has about a tenth the strength if bent or stretched. Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle. When uncompacted or poorly compacted soil sinks under a slab, you end up ...

Choose your slabs carefully You might not think blocks of concrete could be all that varied. But they are. Different colours, finishes and materials all need to be considered when planning out your ...

If you've ever given your garden a makeover, you'll know what a pain it is to take hardcore, rubble, broken bricks and even poor soil to the dump,… ...

Laying a patio is a big undertaking, and the first tip here is probably to get a professional in to do it for you.

Scaffolding board Grimes is using old paving slabs to create a bench, with uniform slabs stacked on top of each other as the 'legs', topped with an old scaffolding board, for the seat. Poor soil ...