Off with the Old / On with the New

We'd identified 2014 as the year of major roofing works and that work started today.


Time to get rid of the old (starting to leak) concrete tiles on the lower and porch roof sections . . .




. . . and replace them with slate to match in with the main house roof. Unfortunately we couldn't quite run to Welsh slate - but the Iberian equivalent looks pretty good!

We even managed to sell on the old tiles for a few quid, saving the cost to dispose of them at the same time.


By the end of today, the concrete tiles were mostly gone, and the slate was going on:

It'll be a few days yet mind you - at least the weather forecast is good!

Quick Lick of Paint

Continuing our domestic works, time to finish sprucing up the woodshed, with a quick lick of paint.

It's all looking very spick and span now - newly white wall and a fresh coating of cuprinol on the woodwork.  We also tackled the back wall of the garage, where the paint was flaking away quite badly.


Another job crossed off the list - at least for this year!

Wood Storage

It's taken us a while, but we've finally made use of the 'wall-space' we acquired last year.  

We had a rather ramshackle arrangement for drying out newly cut wood by the side of the woodshed - now we've used some reclaimed building wood to build a new wood store along the wall.

Hopefully the new racking, in its sunny position, will do its job well.

A Place for Everything, and Everything in its Place!

We aren't always that good at keeping the garage and shed tidy - this is the garage at its worst admittedly, but they do tend to become a bit of a dumping ground, for anything and everything!



So . . . with a week off, Martin set about putting things in order.

We now have a woodshed with dedicated tool storage . . .

. . . and there are things hanging from almost every available bit of wall and ceiling in the garage.

It's all looking rather impressive actually - let's just hope we can keep it that way!

Paths Anew . . .

In addition to work on the garden, we've also acquired a new pressure washer . . .

First job, trying out the patio cleaner attachment - to rather unexpected effect - we hadn't realised that the path round the house was actually more yellow than grey!

Of course, we now have to ensure that we keep it that way . . .

Mind the Gap

We'd been thinking about doing something about the shrub between the garage and the yew tree for a while - it had gotten a little out of hand, and was just a mass of green leaves growing over the garage and blocking light to the yew tree on one side.


We did start just pruning it back, but ended up removing the whole thing - now we're left with what feels like a rather strange looking 'gap', although it's nice to be able to see into the garden behind.

A Lavatera has been planted in the space - assuming it 'takes' it should actually provide some colour in that area over the summer.


The yew tree also has a bit of 're-greening' to do - it's currently a tad 'twiggy' where the light couldn't get through, but in time the foliage should re-grow.

BeeCam!

Bee Buzzing By . . .