Our first costly surprise....

Tracy Hart
Mar 2, 2020
3 min read

Updated: Oct 7, 2023

I didn't post last week as it was a fairly quiet week and we were away in London for the weekend and not home until late on the Monday, so I decided to combine weeks 6 and 7.

Unfortunately, week 6 bought us, what will likely be our first costly surprise of the project.

Our plan is to get the planting sorted while the build continues over the next 8 months. This way the plants can bed in and the hedge can start to grow. The constant rain has meant our grass is being taken over by moss and some of the grass has been damaged where they guys have had no choice but to drive over it with the diggers, so we will need to find someone to help us get these back to their best.aces. As we are having underfloor heating and tiled floors we will need a completely flat and even surface to lay them on. Paul tried his best to come up a more cost effective alternative to fully screeding all the floors. There were alternatives, but none that would provide a completely even and flat surface. We also had to consider that Paul had worked out all the levels outside to ensure they lined up with the internal floors, with no step up or done. This meant that we only have about 20ml to play with. The good news is that the contractor Alex uses has a solution that can be used on this depth. The bad news is that it is likely to cost about £30 psm and we have about 170 sqm to cover.

Meanwhile, the pile of rubble just keeps growing.....

Drains are boring but very important. A big part of the last couple of week has been getting the trenches for the drains dug out and then the pipes laid and manholes in place. The weather has not been with us, constantly wet and windy, meaning a lot of stopping and starting, which is very fustrating for Paul and Jim.

While we had the digger here for the drains, Paul also opened up the side patio and dug out ready for the new hedging. We will need about 20 meters in all.

We haven't decided which type of hedging we will go for yet, but we do know it has to be bee and bird friendly, with some flowering in the spring/summer for the bees and berries in the winter for the birds. Someone suggested at the weekend that perhaps Portugese Laurel might fit the bill.

Although the container has been here for a while it has taken a few weeks to get it equipped. It is now sorted with kettle etc. Here's the boss Alex taking a break and testing it out for our first site meeting.

No we don't own an agregate company, but we did laugh when the lorry arrived to deliver the hardcore and it had our surname all over it. You will see as you slide through the picture below what a difference it has made again to what will be our back patio area. It is now ready for scaffolding to be put up and for the guys to use to lay off materials etc.

Here it is, all finished and ready for scaffolding.

The two slabs in the floor in the photo below shows where the posts will go for the porch that will cover the new back door.

Our plan is to get the planting sorted while the build continuttes over the next 8 months. This way the plants can bed in and the hedge can start to grow. The constant rain has meant our grass is being taken over by moss and some of the grass has been damaged where they guys have had no choice but to drive over it with the diggers, so we will need to find someone to help us get these back to their best.