Garden bed over vents

Hi,
I am currently landscaping my backyard and have decided to level the backyard out. This means that some of the gaden beds will be up against the back of the house. Our house is made of bricks and it has vents from under the house. Can I build the garden bed against the house? Can I cover these vents with soil? I assume not, Im not sure. Any ideas of what i could do? Thank you.

While I have very little to no experience with gardening, you shouldn't build it against the house.
The water will go straight through and into your house, causing lots of issues later.

Hi,

I believe the vents may be for ventilation and air circulation and assists in reducing damp.
I think they are quite common particularly in homes that have timber flooring rather than a concrete slab.

I don't think I would be looking at covering them up as it will cause a lot more issues down the track.
Would definitely be investigating further before covering them up.

Michelle

I've also just finished reading an article in this months "Handyman" magazine (from Bunnings), and they talk about not having garden beds against your house where the vents will be covered. The article was specifically about termite activity in Australia, and this would just create another avenue for the little blighters to enter your premises. I would certainly steer clear of this.

As for other ways of levelling without covering the vents, I'm not really sure. Maybe have a retaining wall 1 - 2 meters from the house and the soil levelled up until there. Then have a small deck bridging the gap from the house to the retaining wall. That way, no soil would be pressed up against the holes and you could possibly leave some access hole in the deck for access to the brickwork for termite inspections etc.

Good luck with it at any rate.

Luckily you posted here first. We have had severe issues in the past with houses which had dirt - and one with concrete! - laid higher than the weep holes. You will have to excavate to drop the levels & make sure you put in proper drainage to take the water away from the house or you'll get damp issues.