July 2017

It has been a while but the Addeys are back in action.

The Garden

After much anxst with WDDC over our ideas with the garden (it took an unbelievable 9 months to get them to 'pass' the plans for what is in these photographs - no wonder local councils are short of money) we finally received approval in September 2016.  The plants were ordered from Castle Gardens in Sherborne last October ready for delivery in early June, where Nicky had been wonderfully helpful, guiding Vicki with her ideas.  We decided not to go for a professional landscaper.  We know (or knew) nothing about gardening having previously just thrown money at the problem and we had always found someone else to do the hard work.  

However, now that we are 'retired', and as the garden is so small, we decided it was about time for us to take responsibility for this ourselves.  Vicki wandered around the local houses, looking at borders which face the same direction as ours, taking photos of anything she liked.  She also received advice from two of our expert gardening friends, Barbara Elsmore and Jane Dean.  With all this information, Nicky helped her to put together a garden plan which we now feel we have full ownership of and we actually feel able to keep on top of this.  The plants were delivered on time, although we must confess to hiring a gardener for a day, Suzanne Squires, who came along to supervise the planting to make sure that they stood some chance of taking.

Of course, we chose the beginning of the incredibly hot spell we have all enjoyed recently as the best time to do this planting so a nightly job has to been to water the garden (but the water is taken from the rain water harvesting tank, which has of course been filling up nicely all winter).  

The astroturf (not surprisingly) is looking extremely lush, the herbs are smelling wonderful and some have already been used in the kitchen.  It will of course take a few years for the climbing plants to cover up the fence but as far as the neighbours are concerned at least - we are not living on a building site any more.





MJP Bathrooms

Our more avid fans of this blog may remember in October 2015 we waxed lyrical about the skills of Matt Powne from MJP Bathrooms in Bridport.  Matt and his team laid the the underfloor heating, they were prompt, worked hard and we could not have been more delighted.  The three bathrooms and all the plumbing in the utility room were almost finished but not quite and MJP disappeared on other jobs.  Last autumn, we tried with great difficulty to speak to Matt and only when Vicki paid a visit to their home one Saturday morning was communication re-established.  Matt was particularly busy on a big project, we understood that he was unable to drop everything just to finish off our jobs; there was also some remedial work which required attention.  Matt came over to see David, and we agreed that as there was only about 2 days work left to sort everything out, we would wait until this July, after the trip, and a date was fixed for the work to be done.  Five weeks ago we sent Matt an e mail asking him to contact us about this, we have tried e mails, letters to the Company address (they moved house), phone messages and even Facebook but again Matt is just simply ignoring our requests for communication.  If anyone out there is even considering using MJP Bathrooms, we can only recommend that you don't - the last thing you need is a plumber who leaves you in the lurch with a job not finished.  We are particularly upset as when they were doing the work they told us that we were the fastest payers they had ever had (an invoice came in and was invariably paid instantly), and also, some of the work was stopped as they asked us if we would mind if they went off to another job as these other customers wanted the work to be finished by Christmas 2015 and we were in no particular hurry; we were very happy to oblige but sadly this loyalty has not been respected or repaid.  I am being kind and not making public a list of the jobs which are left but we have photographic evidence of how we have been let down and fortunately have found a local plumber who has agreed to help us to sort out the mess.

Bedroom 3

Bedroom 3 was plastered before we departed, so we decided that finishing off would be one of the first jobs on our return.  We decorated - paint, with paper on one wall only and David has done built in wardrobes and a dressing table which were again supplied by Terence Ball Kitchens, Taunton - the same as Bedroom 2. The carpet which is showing in the photo is only temporary - from the old house but it makes the room more pleasant in the meantime.

Kitchen/Dining Room

David is working extremely hard doing what he knows best - wiring!  He has plaster boarded around the roof-lights - a fiddly job and we now have motorised blinds on the windows.  He is fitting batons on the ceiling, infilled with insulation (shiny silver stuff) and then plaster board over that.  The walls will just have two layers of plaster board (we believe two layers, placed in opposing orientation, will minimise the risk of cracks appearing).

If you look closely, you can just about see wires dangling everywhere - these are for the lights.  There has also been a great deal of deliberation (aided with many cups of tea) over the location of the sockets, with marks everywhere indicating where the kitchen units will eventually be.  This room is obviously the most complicated - everything else will be a piece of cake.

Bedroom 2

We know it has been months since we last updated but moving house and the little matter of a forthcoming sailing trip have somewhat hampered our progress.

Will any room ever be finished - but this is as good as it is going to get for a long while now.

We still have the odd piece of filling panel missing, skirting boards to fix, lights, handles on the wardrobes, sockets, curtain rail and doors to go - but ho - nearly there!
However, we do have the MVHR thermostat fitted. There will also be a charging station and a TV fitted onto the teal wall (a special wall strengthening panel has been fitted underneath the plasterboard) so guests will have every comfort at their disposal!

The walls are painted in all different colours, a very pale grey on the window wall, a medium grey on the dressing table wall, a very dark grey in the ensuite (but this is windowless and will need some clever lighting in any case) and a teal blue (to match the towels bought last Christmas).  These four paints were all put together as complementary by Dulux and are in the Trade catalogue as their 'City' collection.

The wall paper, from John Lewis, is a bit hard to define but those are white pencil line yachts - one day there will be curtains to match.

And all this leads into ensuite 2 which was incredibly difficult to photograph, being so small.

We still have two tiles to fit for the splashback (we only had one tile left but Joe at Ocean Bathrooms has very kindly discovered one in his storeroom from when they made up a display in the showroom  so that is waiting to be done).  Also, there going to be a large mirror (with a heating element) where the brown board is, with lighting behind.  










We also still have to fit the lighting in the ceiling and skirting board on the units - but you may have guessed, I am very pleased with my teal towels and bathmat!

External works

These were actually finished when we were back in Littleton in May.

The garden remains unplanted; we had to submit plans to West Dorset District Council for the landscaping, which we duly did on 17th January (they are apparently not interested in what we do at the back; thier only concerns are the front and side borders.  Despite chasing them over Easter, we heard nothing until an e mail on 4th July with further questions.  As we were on the high seas at the time, answering these was our first priority on our return in August.  

In mid September, we received more feedback including:

a) I hadn't stated in the maintenance plan that I would be watering the garden during spells of dry weather (even though it had been clearly stated that this house was for our own occupation)

b) they didn't like the vast expanse of wall on the south face - why hadn't we put a window in there to break it up (er - perhaps it was because it was one of the specific terms of the planning permission, issued by the same body, that there wasn't a window on this face) and so we would need to plant

                                                                      some climbing plants on that border.

We sent back a firm and frosty e mail (sense my tone) asking them if they would be prepared to take responsibility for the stone cladding dropping off if climbing plants took root in the wall.  I will give the landscape officer her due - she phoned us back the very next day, hastily backing off from this suggestion but saying she wished she had been involved in our plans earlier.  I did explode and point out that much time and building had taken place in since 17th January, to which she replied she would be approving our landscaping plans.  I feel very sorry for the councils have to run such vital services on such tight budgets.

The plants have now been ordered, through Castle Gardens, Sherborne, who along with Jane Dean and Barbara Elsmore, have been incredibly helpful, advising me on what is suitable, and will be planted next summer. 

April Update

The blog has been quiet recently; I had intended not to do anything more until the outside landscaping is finished but that may not be for a while yet, (there has been a delay with the delivery of the remainder of the slates) so this is where we are up to on 11th April.

Alutec sent along one of their own chaps who resolved all our problems with the guttering.  There is still a little more to do (some parts were missing) but we are very nearly there and cannot fault Alutec's Customer Service.

All areas below the damp proof course around the house are being rendered with K Rend in Buttermilk.
There is a path immediately in front of the house and then there will be a narrow bed of plants all the way along the front of the path which will help to disguise the render.

Grey slates are being laid longways, one quarter along the next slate.
This all has yet to be pointed.

The walls in the garden are being rendered again with K Rend but in a grey colour to match the slate.
This area will hopefully one day house a hot tub.

In keeping with the levels in the house, this area will have a slate path around three sides with a 'grassy' area in the middle.  There will be a step down to the patio area where the table will be.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will by now be marvelling at the cleanliness of the windows.
Phil, Alex and Vicki fully appreciate how much it took to rid ourselves of the remainder of the Peelguard.
In the foreground on the left hand side there will be some steps down to the workshop.
In between the steps and the hot tub area is Vicki's 'Herb Garden' - four individual planting areas which are completely bricked up and separate from each other so the mint will not be able to encroach on the other plants - thanks to Marc for this wonderful suggestion.

A fence has been built to mark the boundary between ourselves and Woodview.
The rear bed is now ready and filled with topsoil.
The planting plans were submitted to West Dorset District Council on 17th January and we are still awaiting approval.

A general overview of the back of the house.

A raised bed made from contemporary railway sleepers (4 high) at the side of the house; again this will be planted up to disguise the skirt.

Rolux UK

One of the pleasures of this project has been to meet so many fabulous people and today has been no exception.  We have just had a visit from a highly professional team from Rolux UK.  They arrived promptly this morning , despite having driven from Cheshire.  The fitting of the front garage doors went like clockwork; the chaps worked hard and efficiently and we were bowled over when they even took their waste home with them. We cannot recommend this company too highly.  On their initial visit, the salesman impressed us with his understanding of what we wanted, and this has proved to be a very sound decision.  

Here you can just about tell that there are actually two doors - a double width roller (which is concealed extremely neatly in boxing on the inside of the garage) and a single personal door on the left hand side.  The doors panels are 79 mm double skinned, insulated aluminium, with heavy duty 90 mm guides.  All of the aluminium parts are pre-treated and chromatised before being powder coated.  The rolling door is opened by a Somfy 240 v motor with an inbuilt obstacle dectection panel for safety. We still have to finish off the framework around the opening (another little job for BDM, I suspect) but we are very happy to have all this extra secure storage space.

Full marks to Alutec

A quick update on the guttering is that following our concerns we had a visit last week from the sales manager and someone from technical support.  They built a sample panel which still was leaking so following a conference call this morning they are sending their expert gutter fitter to replace all the fittings and to ensure that it works properly.  We are still not quite sure what is causing the problems (they have sold many many metres of this stuff) but we are extremely grateful for their assistance in making sure that it will live up to expectations.  10 / 10 Alutec.

Progress all around

Bedrooms 2 & 3 are now plastered - thank you so much to Tony Buckingham, Justin and Jake who worked like Trojans.  A beautiful smooth finish - and this time I promise to listen to Tony and that the first coat of paint will be a mist coat (when doing the bathrooms I believed the salesman who persuaded me to buy a very expensive paint on the promise that a mist coat wouldn't be needed - but it has peeled in some areas).

Marc is levelling out around the front of the house, preparing the ground for a stone path immediately next to the house with a small border of plants next to the road.  A very stressful job as there are cables only 15 cm down.  The trenches you can see here are for the footings for a stone retaining wall on the road side of the path.

Terry and Ashley have been joined by Danny and are continuing with rendering - here we have the Caselle garage and David's workshop all scratched and finished.

Last but not least we have been preparing the garage for screeding at 07:00 tomorrow.  This involved scraping the garage floor to remove all concrete lumps, endless sweeping, two layers of a thick polythene damp proof membrane, sheets of super strength Kingspan Styrozone - insulation which can take the load of a car; this is rabbited at the edges so it all slots together beautifully.  Finally there will be one more layer of waterproof membrane on top before the screed is poured over.