ashley horner

@openspaceman - looks like you know the road! Thanks for the further info on soil. Ashley PS: is that your dalmatian in your profile picture? We have one too, liver spotted.

thanks for the detailed info Gary - very useful

I see - no, I didn't realise it is 100% not an issue. The 2 cars are parked on the grass now which is where the driveway will be created. The grass is rapidly turning in to a mud pit. Thanks for the Cellweb recommendation, I will investigate. Thanks doobin. Strange as it might seem, those 2 guys have been here longer than the house or me, so I feel like they have a right to remain in place. ? There is a slope up from the existing driveway to the part where the cars are parked, I know the grid systems are designed for slopes but over time do they just become visible as the gravel shifts? Ashley

thanks, I will look in to the plastic grids but I thought they still needed a subbase and therefore requires digging down. Just to refine my original post, I've looked at the British Geological Survey website and I am on bagshot sand if that helps. Ashley

yes, gravel is the plan and I had hoped to do just that. Been a bit of a learning curve, but it needs a sub-base of 150mm and 50mm gravel, and that is from solid ground not lose top soil

Hi everyone, I have two mature oak trees which I am thinking of felling in order to create a driveway for parking a couple of cars. The photo shows the two tree and their proximity to the house (approx. 7 meters). The house was built in 1956 and I assume that the trees pre-date the house, neither of the trees have a TPO. I am based in Woking, Surrey and the online Cranfield soil map says that I have "slowly permeable seasonally wet slightly acid but base-rich loamy and clayey soils". The trees are on a raised bank with a road on one side and an area of grass on the other (between the trees and the house). Now, I will say that I really don't want to fell these two trees as they are truly magnificent, however we do need to be able to park our cars and the driveway barely fits one car. I know that the definitive answer is to have someone investigate this on-site but I would also welcome your expertise, experience and any guidance. So, my questions: 1. do I need to take out the trees at all? The driveway will need to be dug down 200mm, the driveway contractors that I have spoken to are more than happy to cut through the roots but they are not experts. I have dug at approx. that depth running from the tree to the house and can see a few roots, some approx. 1.5 cm in diameter, others much smaller 2. if I did fell the trees, what would you think the likelihood of heave is? 3. lastly, what type of person is best to advise on this? I have searched for soil analysis on google but I just come up with companies that undertake large commercial projects Any thoughts/comments would be really appreciated. Thanks, Ashley