DIY Home improvement – Lose a front garden gain a parking space

If you live on a main road, or even if you don’t you can get fed up of parking outside your house if everyone else can do so. Sometimes it is a nightmare trying to park at the side of the road outside you house. Sometimes it’s an issue during the working day when the drive to work locusts descend on your area – or maybe you are near the station and commuters abandon their cars on your road. Sometimes it is at weekends when party people fill up the whole neighbourhood.
Many older houses were built without garages, and though some may have created such space on back streets etc, there are many houses without their own garage and, indeed, no drive space either.
There are, however, many houses that have a front garden, and even a very small front garden can be converted to a car parking space. In areas with little or no parking provision the creation of a parking space at the front of the house is a really major selling point – not to say a stress and time saving home improvement.
Creating a car parking space can be done by a building contractor though much of it could be done as a DIY project if the wall removal etc is done for you.  You will need to check with the planning department the requirements for the changes you want to make. If you have a reasonable garden space in front  of your house you may not need to remove it all – not unless you want to park two or more cars (go for it- less maintenance and more useful).
Take advice on what is needed to put down as a base for the new parking space, but at its simplest you can lay heavy duty rain membrane and gravel. Gravel does tend to move about when just laid and may need raking, but in the longer term it will settle, and probably need topping up.