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I'm knocking down a garage in my garden. The builder has broken up the concrete slab but is stating the it should be ok to bury the rubble.
I'm less certain. A broken up concrete slab will contain a lot of alkaline. I'm also concerned about drainage.
If left, the rubble will be ~ 40cm below ground level. Part of the buried area will be turfed, part will be planted with flower beds.
Advice appreciated!
I wouldn't recommend it personally; the quantity of rubble is a bit much, and it has a tendency to move together and form a fairly impenetrable layer over time,and 40cm down isn't very deep either. Under the lawn,it may cause drainage issues. If you were going to use it as a kind of hardcore under an area that will be paved, fine, but I wouldn't be too keen putting it under areas where you want plants to go. I'd pay the builder to remove it - that's what he doesn't want to do because it's costly to dispose of it for him, as well as time consuming. Builders say all sorts of things when it comes to gardens and plants, much of it inaccurate...
"And a Man shall ever see, that when Ages grow to civility and Elegancie, Men come to Build Stately, sooner then to Garden Finely: As if Gardening were the Greater Perfection." Francis Bacon, The Essayes, 1625.
That much said, weeds grow pretty well on gun emplacements on the Normandy coast where Erwin Rommel deliberately constructed piles of concrete. If you like those kinds of plants.
I think your gut feeling here is a good one - burying trouble is like kicking the can down the road, it might be fun at the time but it will still be there tomorrow and hidden rubble just reduces your options in the future. Tell the builder to kindly remove, he can if he wishes bury it in his garden.
