A Step up in the Garden

Just for a change from walls, I have recently (almost) made a set of steps in the garden.  The need for these steps came from the desire to ensure that the house was never troubled again by the dampness caused by rising ground.  The photo (left) shows the garden as it was, with high ground and the old extension; the new steps are where the scruffy elder was growing, and go down about a foot below the old ground level. We took away the raised earth from beside the house last September (see this entry), and made a sort of lane beside the house with a two to three foot high earth bank.  A retaining wall is being built to keep the earth bank away from the house, and so the steps are needed to reach the higher plateau of what will be a lawn (in due course...).

These steps (right) have been made to last, using Thermalite blocks on a concrete foundation, and concrete slabs as the steps and risers.  The annoying thing here was that I tried to make 6.5 inch steps and the first one came out at 7.5 inches; I tried to correct this on the upper two steps and they still came out at 7.5 inches! Hence the top step, when done, might either have a smaller riser, or else I will be moving soil around to get a decent level at the top.  The blocks are easily cut using a sacrificial saw - I used one left by my builder last October.  However, I had another issue with cutting the concrete paving slabs.  They are REALLY tough, and I now reckon my design is over-engineered as I have taken the trouble to make sure that the slabs are properly supported, but now I don't think that I needed to bother as they are so strong. I've only tried a few cuts and found that my new grinding disc is already completely knackered.  So now my technique is to simply score them with the grinder on both sides, and then split them using a lump hammer and my 3 inch bolster - result!

The sides of the steps (and the rest of the retaining wall) will be faced with small bits of limestone to mimic a dry stone wall, except that the back of the stones will actually be set in mortar - probably NHL3.5.  I then hope to grow plants to trail down the wall from the top, some campion at the bottom and, perhaps, something actually growing in the wall itself to give that effect of a lovely Devon lane.  It's just a personal memory of childhood holidays there...

Spring has arrived!

One of the tasks here was to sort out the overgrown front garden.  This was essentially completed last November, when the rest of the old trees were chopped down and the roots grubbed up (see this entry), and then the new trees and hedge were planted (see this entry).  You can then, perhaps understand my joy at the arrival of spring and the sight of all four trees and all of the hedge showing a bumper crop of buds.  The cherry was the first to burst forth into flower (photo right), and the rest are following. NB The funny green on the lawn in the foreground is lawn reinforcement netting.

Last spring I observed that the different types of tree in the churchyard opposite blossomed in sequence, rather than all at the same time.  Thus, I chose to have four trees of similar types and hope that my front garden will have a similar tree in blossom to match one or more in the churchyard; it looks as though the plan is working.  For the record the trees along the front are a Sorbus Aria Lutescens (Whitebeam), a Prunus x yedoensis (Yoshino cherry) and an Amelanchier Arborea, with a hedge of Carpinus Betulus (Hornbeam) beside the front wall and a Malus Rudolph (crab apple) nearer to the house.  In fact, the planting was done on 28th November 2011, so they have only been in the ground for four months; this success is probably due to the skill of the people involved and the quality of their trees; they weren't cheap but I really do believe that if you try to save money on this sort of thing, you might just completely waste your cash by getting a result which doesn't meet your desires, so I consider the money was well spent. [Edit: As a much later correction to this, I noticed in the summer that my Sorbus was not in fact the same species as the tree in the churchyard.  My tree supplier suggests that the one in the churchyard is a Morus (Mulberry) so in fact my “expert” was not so clever after all. Grrrr….]

One other aspect of the front garden is that I was worried about what the locals would say.  I need not have worried, as I have had a considerable amount of unsolicited praise, not just from people who know me but from many random passers-by.  (I only have to work in the front for twenty minutes and I can guarantee that someone I don't know will stop and talk to me.)  Most locals are well aware of both how bad the condition of the house was and the consequent amount of  work done to get it to this standard.  One suspects that a lot of people have been observing (and wondering!) as slowly the front of the house was cleared and improved, together with the many visits by delivery lorries (30+?) and the grab lorry (9 or 10) in the last 17 months.  I think the comments I get now are partly due to their relief that I could have done far worse.  This public reaction is also quite a relief for me, as I didn't really want to annoy the long term locals by completely laying waste the garden!

Stone Walling - Cotswold Style - Part 1

Wherever in the country you find dry stone walls, there is always a distinct local style - or perhaps even more than one.  The Cotswolds are no exception, and the above photo shows what I believe is the typical local style, with almost rectangular stones in neat lines with vertical coping stones on top - these are set with mortar but that's not always the case.  An alternative form of coping is simply some rounded mortar (photo right).  If the wall is being made using mortar instead of being dry, then the stones are naturally not needed to be so rectangular as the mortar makes good the irregularities, and the lines of stone are not always so even (lower photo right).



Of course, as I'm not actually in the real Cotswolds, the local stone is not exactly the same and so things tend to be just that little bit different here.  This preamble is my excuse in advance for the odd appearance of whatever I build, as I have the need of doing several stone walls soon.

I have actually made a start this week on my own first simple dry stone wall. This wall is to be about 15" high just to give a clear edge to hold back the raised ground where we lowered the surface to make the drive level (photo below).  Thus only one side is visible and the back of the wall is built into the earth bank.  I already had the foundation which is Celcon blocks laid flat, set on cement; this was done last year when we did the drive, to form a solid edge to the "self-compacting gravel" which we laid as the drive surface (and I'm very impressed by it, by the way).

I'm pretty happy with the progress so far, although it is quite surprising how much stone is required for even a small wall.  This low wall is also a low risk opportunity to see just how difficult this task is as, if it all goes wrong, I can take it down and try again without a great waste of effort or loss of face! 

When I feel competent, I shall progress to a very long wall going alongside the house, to hold back the (higher) garden as mentioned at the end of a recent post (see here), plus a high but fairly short wall beside the front of the house, to incorporate some lovely stones with pintles (which I bought last year) so that I can hang a gate - the other gate will be attached to a post on the side of the house.  The final job is to repair the wall ends where I cut the opening for the driveway.  In my favourite reclamation yard, I found and purchased a large old coping stone which was from the wall outside the local Methodist church.  This lovely piece of limestone was cut in two last June and I think they will look perfect, giving a square end to each wall - see photo of one of them, right, with the newly bevelled edge away from the camera.  However, since that job requires lime mortar, it can't be done until I am sure there will be no more frost; also, it's rather publicly visible so I hesitate to start with that job!

Drainpipes and Drains

One of the important last jobs was to sort out the cast iron drainpipe from the bathroom - the one that takes the grey water into a hopper and then via 8ft of downpipe and a shoe into the gully at the bottom.  Having lowered the ground level by about five inches beside the house, the recessed gully was now too high; I was not happy with the condition of the downpipe anyway, but since lowering the ground the earthenware had become broken and so water from the bathroom was going all over the ground.  In fact it was quite surprising to see just how much water was being used by the shower - I always thought that they were economical with water but now I wonder.

Hence I decided to gather all the necessary bits together so that I could do the whole thing in one day.  The new 2.5" downpipe and the hopper were actually a renovation of the remaining good bits of the rainwater system which was all replaced over a year ago with 3" (without hoppers).  A thorough job was done with hot air and a scraper, followed by a wire brush and then a couple of coats of black Hammerite (photo right).  All the old shoes were all past it so I had to buy one of those brand new (£££) as well as some coach screws and galvanized washers.

Although I was totally happy to respect the house and comply with all legalities by using cast iron downpipe etc, the gully trap was clearly going to be a new plastic one - and a decent quality OSMA one at that.  Colin the groundworker would never speak to me again if I had bought a W****s own brand!  I then needed an annoyingly short piece of 110mm soil pipe to connect to the main sewer at the inspection cover.  This was really annoying because I needed less than 3 feet of soil pipe but you can only buy 3 metre lengths!  I know it's not expensive (probably just a waste of £10) but just what do you do with the useless piece 2 metres long?  Anyway, I asked both Colin and Steve the plumber and was given a spare bit for nothing, which was just the right length.  The final item was some pea gravel on which to bed the new pipe and gully.

Hence, after all possible preparation, it was time to do the job.  The drainpipe was rather more securely attached to the wall than I had expected, but eventually it gave way to my persuasion (hence the bare bit below the white plastic pipe at the top of the later photo, left).  One of the pins securing the hopper resisted to the end and, sadly, the hopper flange broke leaving a bent pin still in the wall to be ground off later.  I took the drainpipe (2 sections plus a shoe) down carefully in one piece; later, I thought I would try to see if I could separate it, and the first thing I did caused it to break into four pieces!  However, it was quite gratifying to find the pre-existing ('cos they are already rusty) cracks in it, one of which extended lengthwise down the entire six foot section of pipe (see photo right).  Another old crack was 80% of the circumference of the pipe near the collar.  Yes, it was all scrap.

Then it was the turn of the gully and the pipe which was encased in concrete.  It was with a slightly heavy heart that I took my sledgehammer to the earthenware but, within a minute, I had done the deed; happily I could stop feeling guilty as there had clearly been a long-standing leak between the trap and pipe.  After that, it was pretty plain sailing to fit all the bits of the complete new system, starting with the pipe and gully, then working up the downpipe from the shoe to the hopper.  I did find that some of the drilling for the coach screws seemed to be too much for my (fairly new) drill - I think the bricks are VERY tough but perhaps the (not old) drill bits are now knackered as well. Finally I cemented the new soil pipe in the old hole under the frame of the inspection cover, ensuring that the pipe had a very slight fall on it.

Here's a photo of the finished job (compare to the one at the top):

Emboldened by this success, I decided to tackle the new inspection cover (at the back of the extension) which is mounted on some 230mm pipe about 18" high.  This had been left uncut when Colin fitted it so that I could choose the ground level later.  I cut this down to size by sawing about 15" off it, so now I have a trip hazard but at least the level is right, about 3" above the hardcore.  However, since I want to sort the ground fairly soon, it shouldn't be a problem for long.

The next thing to sort will be the pathway alongside the house, between the house and the elevated garden.  I want to make it like a sort of Devon lane instead of how it was during the excavations (right)!  Having lowered the ground level I am loath to refit a path right up to the house again (as if!) and would like to keep the extra four or five inches of wall as breathing space - it definitely all helps.  I have found some heavy duty iron gratings (27" x 9" x 2") at £15 each (which sounds expensive until you find out what old church gratings cost, if you can find them).  If I can work out how to support these (they are probably about 15-20kg each) then I will fit them beside the house wall, and the path surface will then be 9 inches away from the wall.  The path surface will be either concrete or paving slabs or self compacting gravel as successfully used on the drive (or a mixture of all these in different places).  I also need path edging near to the garden wall as I want to have a narrow flower bed at the base of the garden wall.  Plenty of time for that this summer...

Meanwhile, 'Er indoors has just used the newly installed washing machine for the first time.  Happiness indeed!

Scaffolding, and the Driveway again

As I write, it has all gone quiet outside.  The scaffolders are here removing the scaffolding, but I think after 30 minutes work they have decided it's lunchtime so they have downed tools.  Mind you, these are probably the same wussy ones who didn't put it up (see "The Rebuild Continues") for fear of a bit of rain, so I shouldn't be surprised.  Why turn up at 12.30 and then stop for lunch 30 minutes later? Why not have lunch first and then

Conservation Officers and Planning Permission

I am SO dischuffed.  Our planning application for an extension at the back of the property has been rejected on the recommendation of the Conservation Officer who considered that an extension would "significantly damage the symmetry of the pair of [semi-detached] houses".  As far as I am aware, this is the same CO who, on the phone last August , recognised the house from my description and told me that my plans sounded "wonderful".  The refusal was terse in the extreme so I don't even know whether there is any future in an appeal or in submitting a revised plan to include something more obviously new (as opposed to matching the original building) such as possibly a conservatory.  The only consolation is that as we changed our plans last autumn, we can still move in; the original idea was to have the new kitchen in the extension, and so a refusal would have had a severe impact on our occupation date.

In any case, we do have to rebuild the existing extension; the end wall, which supports the purlin for the sloping roof, has a large bow with some loose bricks and I think it would be in danger of falling down if we wait too long.  So, back to the drawing board and consider all the options...  Perhaps the new solution will prove to be cheaper than our rejected plan - at least THAT would cheer me up!

We have done some painting at the front (photo right) on the cement rendering (it's not stucco!).  Our bay window on the left is now surrounded by fresh paint, which matches the other half next door.  Also, it makes a statement to the numerous passers-by that the house is NOT being demolished, as believed locally. We'll do the upstairs bit soon, and then do the bit beside the front door (hidden to the left). 

Talking of the front door, we have now got a superb renovated door (photo left) in a new frame which is all very secure (at last).  We just need the electricity company to come and finish their job of fitting new supply cable (we've only been waiting since the first week of January!).