The Back Garden takes shape

This post could just as easily be entitled "The Beginning of the End for the Builder's Yard", which is what my side and back garden has been for the last two years since we moved in.  At last I have made some significant progress to making it look right; I previously reported the completion of the paving here - that was a bit premature as actually there were five left to do, which I wanted to do at the same time as the little back wall. 

As I've said before, this wall is just four courses high but fills several important functions: firstly it provides a good edge for the limestone paving laid on sand; secondly it retains a foot of earth at the base of the stone wall where we had lowered the ground level (this was essential for drainage but I was worried about whether we had gone down too far and that the foundation of the wall might erode); thirdly, it's a home for a good amount of spare earth which I had acquired whilst laying the flagstones and finally, it looks good!

At the far end you can see the foundation for the brick barbeque which I hope to do soon.  The last five flagstones are the ones at the top, beside the wall and the barbeque.

The other major task just completed is that yesterday we collected 20 sq m of turf, which I have laid today. 

This is what now permits me to say that it is now more of a garden than a builder's yard (although you can still see a pallet, my mixer and various plastic tubs in the above photo! Here's a photo of the lawn, (left) with the steps and the unfinished stone wall beside the house (which is just out of picture on the right), and you can just see a bit of the low brick wall which runs across the back of the house (on the extreme right).

Top tip for turfing: buy good turf! It should be consistently thin but strong; if not it's a nightmare (I learned that a long time ago; these were great).

I think you will agree that it's a large change from what we bought almost three years ago:

I reckon the above photo is taken from almost exactly the same place as the one of the lawn above it; the ivy covered apple tree is in the middle at the top of the lawn photo (I just pointed the camera down at the lawn a bit more). In fact this overgrown photo was taken in March 2011 after five months work - the "as purchased" condition was so bad that you couldn't even walk there due to the vegetation.

Feeling Worn Out

I've done almost half of the one foot high brick wall which edges the paving at the end of the garden.  It will be about 13 feet long and have a brick built barbeque stand at one end.  The foundation is concrete, and the reclaimed Imperial bricks are laid with lime mortar which matches the house.  This wall gives a solid edge for the paving laid on sand, and also resolves a worry I had about whether we had taken the ground down too far beside the 6ft stone wall; it will raise the ground level at the base of the wall thus preventing erosion, and also I can dispose of a good quantity of excavated earth behind it. 

I spent yesterday working at my normal speed, until about 3pm.  I had done two major e-mails on church business which, with a phone call as well, had taken most of the morning, and then I got on with the foundations for the second half of the wall. This was hard work as yesterday was very hot, and I was digging through a layer which contains animal bone (no human has teeth that size!) and a good amount of local brash.  This stuff is annoying as you have a few bits of stone as large as your hand hidden in good earth, and if partly hidden they still have to be removed. Suddenly I realised that actually I was very tired, and that I wasn't going to finish digging the hole and mix a load of concrete in what was left of the afternoon.  So I stopped and at that same moment decided that I would do nothing at all today as well - just have a day off. 

I've had a bit of a poor throat recently, but last night I slept pretty well. I had to get up at 6.30 to take t'other half to the station, and when I came back I went back to bed with another cup of tea.  Next thing I knew it was 10.00am! I went to the shops for a few essentials and a haircut, and only then realised that I had not had any breakfast.  After lunch I found myself watching the Formula 1 practice on TV, and an old film with Telly Savalas.  I certainly feel rested and much better today; perhaps this is what retirement is meant to be like?

Yes, there are still lots of things I could do around the house and garden, and I know I have to finish doing things by October 16th (operation day) but I am determined not to let these jobs put such pressure on me in the future.

Doing Things Again - Part 2

I have mentioned before about my dislike of having to do some things again - see this entry from June.  One of those items was the framed, ledged and braced internal door bought from b****y W****s which was fitted in the new extension as the toilet door almost two years ago.  The problem is that it no longer fits in the door frame, even with force; the vertical hinge edge (a bit of planed 4 x 2) has twisted, so that it went one way at the top and the opposite way at the bottom compared to the vertical boards.

Well, I've finally got round to doing something about it by complaining to the retailer whose customer serices firstly tried the excuse that it was "too long ago": no, it's not, as the door is not "fit for purpose" (Sale of Goods Act).  Then it was "you'll need the receipt", hoping that I didn't have it - WRONG (it took me one minute to find it in my file)!  Then they seemed to hope that they could bore me into submission by disagreeing within the company about who should look after my complaint.  When that didn't work (it is the branch's responsibility, btw), the chap in the branch lost my details on his desk (!), so I had to remind him.  Then they asked me to send photos so that they could pass them on to their supplier, which I did the same day, despite the problems of taking photos to show the twist in a fitted door in a small space.  Finally, having had no answer a couple of weeks later, I sent an e-mail to the chap in the branch, reminding him that under the Sale of Goods Act, my contract is with his employer, not with the manufacturer.  At last, he caved in and offered me a refund, if I would "like to bring the door back, and the receipt", which I did by 10am the next morning. It was good to be able to show him the defect, as then even he had to admit that it was pretty poor.

I declined his offer of another door - "we now have a different supplier" - and went back to my favourite reclamation yard (Burgess Reclamation) where I bought a much nicer door at a much increased price. This one is just ledged, with just four vertical planks from reclaimed floorboards. Then I thought I would treat the knots, so at T----- P-----, I found some knot sealer and asked the obvious question "does it allow me then to stain the wood or will I see patches?"  To my surprise no-one knew, so I bought it anyway.  The answer is that it does, but I overcame this by treating the entire door with the stuff so it is all the same colour (a quite attractive dark-ish pine).  It is now fitted, with bolt and a pull handle (the handle part of a rusted original Suffolk latch) on the inside, plus a door knob on the outside; I still haven't worked out how to fit a latch to a ledged door with no frame. Perhaps I should buy another hand made Suffolk latch, but then I would have to change all the moulded architrave... sigh.