stone under bench

20 years ago

This is the year I finally acquired a teak 4 ft. sitting bench for a spot in my garden. There is a winding garden stone path my landscaper put in and the bench will sit off to the side, parallel with a section of the path, but the land has a slight slope to it. The path was put in last year with irregular shaped 'garden path' stone (dry laid) and I didn't know then that I would need more stone for the bench.....I just didn't think about it at the time (duh!)

I want to put stone under the bench, to keep the feet off the soil, limit weed growth underneath, and set it so that I am not leaning to one side. The bench will stay there throughout the year, including winter.

I can't find anything in my various gardening/stone books that address this particular situation.

Any suggestions as to how I should proceed, especially addressing the issue of making the bench level?

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Comments (4)

karinl
20 years ago
I'm assuming you can source either more of the same stone or something that co-ordinates quite well. Garden path stone = flagstone? Any of the stone/concrete surface materials would obviously perform the function, so it is a matter of taste.

To level the spot, you need to either cut a platform into the slope to match the low side, or jut the platform out to match the high side. In either case, you will be building a little retaining wall at one end of the platform to keep the surface level. If you are choosing the high option, you will lay your stone on top of the wall, and if the low option, your wall will encircle the stone.
crnaskater
Original Author
20 years ago
karinl, sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. A recent thread here reminded me to say 'thanks.' But to be honest, I didn't understand your reply and was waiting to see if there were more responses.

Yes, I did get a ton of the same stone the garden path consists of to do the area under the bench.

Perhaps it is a linguistic thing, but I didn't understand what you meant by 'cut a platform into the slope.' If you come back to this particular question, could you explain what you mean?

The slope over the 6 feet would be approximately 3-4 inches from side to side.

Again, my apologies for not getting back to you in a timely manner.
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karinl
20 years ago
Treeskate, thank you for coming back at all, and I'm sorry if I was not clear. I'll try again, and indeed the nature of the slope - only 3-4" - simplifies things considerably.

What you are trying to do is superimpose a flat surface on the slope.

Put your bench where you want it to be, and you will have two legs sitting about 3-4" lower than the other two. Level the bench either by putting bricks or flagstone pieces under the low legs (this is the easiest option), or by digging in the legs that sit high. Now, the plane formed by the four feet of the bench is the plane for your platform. Now imagine the platform extending as far on each side as you want it to go. If you can't imagine it, take an eight foot two-by-four and lay it across the two front or the two back feet of the bench. This will show you where the two ends of the platform will be, relative to the height of the pathway.

If you have raised the two legs that were low, you will see that your platform will sit slightly above (3-4") the pathway at that end, and that you will have to add fill to raise up the surface of the ground.

If you have lowered the other two legs instead, you will see that your platform will sit slightly BELOW the pathway at the OTHER end, and that you will have to dig out some dirt to lower the surface of the ground. (This is where you are "cutting into the slope")

In the former option, you will also have to support the outer edge of the platform where it is higher than the path, and retain the fill. With only a 3-4" difference this might just mean a few wedges of flagstone under the outter edge (This is the "jut" outwards from my first response). In the second option, your platform will be sunken relative to the level of the pathway, and you will have to retain the earth from falling down onto the flagstone. Again, with a 3-4" elevation, a few bricks or small flagstone pieces may do.

That is the best I can do for explaining how to build a platform for your bench. If it still isn't clear, perhaps I can at least explain how to level the four feet. Take a bunch of flagstone pieces, and put one down under each of the higher legs (I'm assuming it is obvious that you also need to level the bench front to back by the way). Then, pile up pieces under the two lower legs until the bench is level.

Good luck, either way!
crnaskater
Original Author
20 years ago
Ahhhh, now I get it! Thanks so much for checking back on my question. Your explanation makes sense to me! Whew! It doesn't sound as hard as I thought it might be.

I have 6 ft 2x4s and a level so I think I will raise up the low end of the slope as the stone itself is 3" thick.

I hope I can get this project done before our summer heat hits its high in August.....I have a ton of this stone sitting on a pallet on my driveway and will have to move it piece by piece to the back yard (about 200 ft.)

Thanks again for responding!