The Carpet

For an entire year we have discussed the prospect of what it would be like to have carpet; not to walk around of floorboards, avoiding nails and screws.  Always watching our step to avoid cracks and splits in the floor.

The day arrived. Today. Our carpet arrived for the stairs, landing and three bedrooms and here we have it a glorious before and after of the hall landing and the stairs. 

BEFORE: The banisters' discovery a year ago

AFTER: The banisters and hall freshly painted and carpeted

AFTER

From the stairs towards the back of the house

BEFORE: Stairs before carpet

AFTER: Carpeted

The Carpentry

In the build up to the big day - the day the carpet arrives, Mr V set about doing some 'carpentry'.  This is a very important job as we have spent a year walking around the house on creaky floorboards.  In some cases we had gaps so big that having carpet would only create a barrier until a high heeled shoe found its way to rip through the carpet.

So Mr V began.  After hammering in the nails that once stuck out, he carved floorboards to replace old, rotten floorboards.  Here we see the work:

The Side Gate

The side gate has been a concern for nearly a year.  It's rotten and holds very little worth - it's not strong enough for any security and it is rather grim to look at.  Until.... our neighbour suggested he could make us a gate to match his. And this is the fabulous result. It still needs a top plinth that will span across both gates, but it's looking great so far.

The original side gate from the back garden

 

The original side gate from the front of the house

New gate

Door furniture

Repointing the Brickwork

Definition: Repointing is the process of renewing mortar joints in masonry construction. Over time, weathering and decay causes voids in the joints between masonry units (usually bricks) allowing the undesirable ingress of water. Water entering through these voids can cause significant damage throughfreeze/thaw cycles and from salt dissolution and deposition. Repointing is also called pointing, or pointing up, although these terms more properly refer to the finishing step in new construction.


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Repointing is one of those must do jobs and as it's the second winter in the house, we decided to get the outside ready for the weather ahead.  It's like putting a top coat or over coat on the brickwork.


Here's some snaps before and after the pointing.  

Back after pointing

Back before pointing

Side before pointing

Side after pointing

Closer look before re-pointing

And after

The Garden is Progressing

The Garden - Taking Shape

This weekend we've seen the garden take shape - we're hoping the wind doesn't get worse over night as today we planted our new shrubs for the back of the garden - Prunus laurocerasus 'Rotundifolia' otherwise known as Cherry Laurel.


We began by creating an enclosed flower bed with a 'weedstop control fabric'.  This is to try and avoid the roots of the overgrown ivy from returning.  Then we created a little barrier with a log fence.

Behind this area we blocked the back fences with a Brushwood Screen and then planted four Cherry Laurels.

The other half of the back will be covered mainly by a little shed which is why the plants are to one side.   It's taking time but we're on the right track.

Discovery in the Garden

I wasn't here for the start of this discovery 2 days ago but I was led to believe that we may have found the foundations of a small room at the back of the garden.  Firstly lots of pots and pans and terracota were found under the earth at the back of the garden in the right hand corner.

As Mr V dug deeper in the ground, he discovered the outer foundations of a room that we are led to believe was an outside toilet. 

As today has progressed we started to discover more than we had hoped for.  Firstly an old drain pipe running under the flower beds from right to left.

But were does it lead to?!  

Straight into a drain of course - a drain that hasn't been in use for many, many years and has been buried under lots of concrete and an old shed for a long time.   Our current thoughts are that the concrete foundations on the right hand side was a WC and the drainage led to the left hand side of the garden.  If this was the case, the garden has just been built over these areas rather than removing the drainage.

Under the concrete and earth, we discovered a hollow drain hole that we decided to fill with rubble and put the tile back over the hole. 

The biggest problem we have now is being able to dig deep enough to plant our shrubs - we need at least 8 inches and now we've hit concrete, this is going to be an interesting challenge. 

The Garden - A Look Back

From then...

To now... the half way post

The Garden - Day 3