Fencing

 

Here at AnAcreInHampshire we are really lucky to have a small paddock in front of the house. When we moved here, this was a large open space where horses once grazed - we owned half, and our neighbours the other. There was a clause in our contract that we had to erect a fence to deliniate our boundary, but this was a project that kept dropping down the list of priorities.

Six months later, neighbour Graham and I decided we should crack on with the fence - in the interests of labour saving we got a quote for a contractor to install a post and rail fence, but we thought that £600 for 30 metres of encing was a bit rich. As ever, we decided to DIY!

After shopping around for supplies, we visited a firm called McVeigh Parker in Bradfield - think Scats on steriods! Graham and I wandered round with jaws dropping at all the great stuff they sell... So that was the materiels sorted - how about some tools? We love tools!

Here is Monty posing with the essential tools for an aspiring fencing ninja - from left to right we have;

• Post driver - these will knock you out in a flash if you catch the top of the post on the lip of the driver. Much easier with two, but still proper hard work. Prevents the top of the post splitting as it would with a sledge hammer.
• Fencing pliers - the only thing short of a grinder that would cut the heavy guage wire and stock fencing. Also has a rough hammer and a prising lever for staples.
• Pair of digging shovels - essential for removing spoil from the bottom of a hole.
• Wire tensioning tool - you won't get any tension in wire or stock fencing without this.
• Trenching shovel - allows a nice small hole to be dug, saving unneccessary work.
• Digging bar - loosens soil in the bottom of the hole prior to use the digging shovels.

Now, all you need is a few days of good weather to dig some holes, drive the posts, fix some stock fencing and attach rails and you are done!

The most important lesson we learned was to brace everything - the stock fencing would exert enough force to pull a 150mm square gatepost (with over a metre driven into the ground) out of vertical. We used a combination of rails to brace as 'pushers' and strained wire as 'pullers' where a pusher would block a gateway.

This is a pic taken one glorious evening of the fence across the paddock.

 

The gate we installed between the houses - note the diagonal 'pusher' to strain the stock fencing, with a proper chiselled mortice to ensure mechanical stability.

 

Graham (R) and I relaxing after finishing the cleft fence across the front garden. This was much more work as you can't really drive the posts in, as the rails sit in mortices in the posts. A much nicer looking fence than square rails though!

 

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Adventures in Plastering

So, it turns out that plastering is not as impossible as it looks!

We paid to have a few walls plastered in the new bathroom when we bought the house - it made financial and practical sense, as the builders were here and being paid anyway, and a bit of plastering only cost us a slab of beer.

Looking round the house, most walls (all lathe and plaster construction) were in a poor state. The options were to patch and fill with Easyfil, strip the lathe and plaster and start again with plasterboard, or have them skimmed. The latter seemed like the best mix of economy of effort and speed of completion. However, the price was an issue - it seems that most estimates were for £100/wall - when we have five or six to do, it became a big job - particularly when the materials costs are about £5/wall. I decided to do some research!

I stumbled across www.diyplastering.co.uk, which contained some great video clips and instructions. A quick lap to town found me armed with a bag of Multifinish Plaster, a hawk and trowel - there was no stopping me! The first job was a re-skinned airing cupboard, which a previous resident had (for some inexplicable reason) covered in hardboard. The end result was sufficiently good to confirm that I should press on and try a proper wall.

This is a pic of the wall in our living room before I attacked it, with patches filled in with concrete (yup, really) and an odd two tone paint finish;

 

And after two skim coats of plaster;

 

 

The walls had quite high suction - the rate at which the water from the plaster is drawn into the wall. Slower is better, as it gives you more time to work the plaster as it dries. This wall sucked the water out before your very eyes - despite two coats of diluted PVA glue which limits the effect. The second coat was better than the first as it dried more slowly, allowing a better finish.

I'm still learning lots - I end up with lots of little holes and patches which need to be filled after the plaster has dried, but the walls are at least flat and smooth. I've done the airing cupboard, a large wall in the new bathroom, a window reveal and this wall in the sitting room. The best thing is the price - I think a wall takes about 2-3 hours of my time, and a fiver for plaster. This saves about £30 an hour for my time - a worthwile saving.

Any tips for getting a better finish first time round?

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Chopping trees, hedges and Bonfires!

What a glorious spring-like day! I was all set to have an hour on my road bike, but by the time Kristy and I had taken Monty on one of our regular walks (Seven Stiles) we decided that we should really press on in the garden.

I started by logging the tree that I'd pulled over with the Land Rover the day before, but one thing led to another and I took about six ivy covered trees down. They were totally bound with ivy as you can see from this pic. It's really no wonder that ivy will kill a tree if allowed free reign.

 

I took a pic to show a before and after. Before...

 

And after:

 

Quite a difference I'm sure you'll agree. This whole copse will need to be grubbed out to make way for our green oak barn, that will eventually incorporate a garage, workshop, tractor shed and summer house / garden office. We will then start again with native trees and hedging.

The trees were fairly straightforward, but the stumps were something else. I used a 2 ton chain hoist that I'd bought to help change the chassis on the Land Rover, combined with a couple of lifting strops, to winch the stumps out. The soft ground definitely helped!

 

 

Our neighbour Graham was spurred on by the activity, and chopped down the woody, leggy hedge that separated our front gardens. This was once a nice hedge, but had been seriously neglected and not cut for a number of years. Kristy and I had already cut it down from about 15 feet to 7 feet in the summer - the top of the hedge was blocking light in the first floor windows! Here is Kristy wondering if Graham was doing the right thing...

And the finished article...

It makes both gardens feel much more open and lighter - the dogs love it as well! We also decided over supper to replace the hedge with a post and cleft rail fence, with stock fencing incorporated to contain the dogs. Something like this, which we found in a catalogue of Charlie's. The hedge will be able to grow up the fence as well, but kept firmly in check this time!

Finally we took advantage of the fine afternoon to have a huge bonfire in our front paddock. We had a large unburnt pile from a previous attack on our laurel tree, plus the trees I had cut, plus the hedge. The whole lot went, and the bonfire is still smouldering 24 hours later.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

More Storms

What a windy night last night! I had a nasty feeling that we might lose our Eycalyptus tree, which would have landed on my workshop, the Defender and our oil tank. Thank goodness it held.

We did lose some fence panels between our garden and our next door neighbours. These had previously blown out and were replacement panels. Fortunately they didn't break this time, and we could just slot them back in place.

One of the old, ivy covered trees had fallen to about 60 degrees and was in danger of taking out another fence. I hooked it up to the Landy and carefully pulled it back the other way and onto the grass. Tomorrow's job is to cross cut and split the trunk.

 

Posted with Blogsy

The Newbury Show

Late September always means the Newbury Show. I love its mix of agricultural machinery, traditional animal classes and local society. Although we have moved ‘away’ from Berkshire, the show holds very fun nostalgic memories for me, and I make an effort to go every year or two.

Kristy got a bit ‘tyred’ (groan)

Kristy giving it some welly (double groan)

Simon’s next Purchase No. 1 - it’s got nose weights, PTO and a three point linkage! Want!

Simon’s next Purchase No. 2 - alright, a springer and not a cocker, but the meaning is there. The handler is pulling the perfect 'Oooooh Puppy!' face...

The Great Housewarming Party!

We always think it is nice to have a housewarming party when you move house - particularly important in a small community like ours. It is a great chance to meet your new neighbors, and everyone likes a party!

When our house was sold, it was one of a pair of semi-detached cottages. By tremendous good fortune we get on very well with our new neighbours Graham and Charlie - they have similar ideas of self sufficiency and smallholding, and Graham likes carpentry, Land Rovers and real ale - clearly a proper chap! We decided to pool our resources and hold a joint party for neighbours, family and friends old-and-new.

I didn’t take as many pictures as I would have hoped as we were busy mingling, meeting new friends and drinking beer. Our catering arrangements were brutally simple - two Firkins of ale from our local Sherfield Village Brewery http://www.sherfieldvillagebrewery.co.uk/ and half a pig, spit roast with home made apple sauce. Delicious, really rather inexpensive and huge fun!



Graham (our neighbour) and Kristy (my wonderful girlfriend) admiring the beast.

Charlie helping to set up the marquee - that came free with the hog roast!

The Pig all set up and ready to go.

Yours Truly caught in the middle of feeding 80 guests - excuse the terrible picture, it came from a friend's mobile phone and via Facebook!







































And finally some proof that we did actually have some guests! This pic was a still from a timelapse film I made with my GoPro camera. Note the throng of people round the beer tent in the top of the frame!

September

So, having knocked down a wall connecting our kitchen and the yet-to-be-named room at the front of the house, I had to accommodate a 70mm height difference in the floor. Que some battens, Celotex and flooring chipboard from Travis Perkins...

Here is the room that we are flooring. Inevitably for a house built in 1902, the existing floor was quite wonky, so each batten had to be packed out underneath and supported to prevent a lumpy, creaky floor. The new French Doors helped bring the sheets of Celotex inside.

We chose the sunniest day in the month to cut the sheet - the foil lining of the Celotex was blinding when we cut it with a bread knife (not a bodge - the recommended tool!)

We also had our neighbour’s dog Kiwi (she is the lab - our Border Terrier is Monty) round to visit on numerous occasions - she learned to escape from her garden and open our garden gate, so she was a frequent visitor…

I also fitted a new back door - this was a hand-me-down from my parent’s house, so it’s lovely to have at our new home. The bottom pane of glass is JUST high enough for Monty to peer through when he stands on his hind legs! Note the hole in the wall above the door - this will be the soil pipe exit from our new bathroom which we are making from an overly large bedroom upstairs. Having a downstairs loo is most overrated, particularly in the middle of the night!

 

Lastly, I screeded the fireplace hearth where our Clearview will sit. Self levelling screed, as discussed before, is frankly marvelous stuff!