RenewableCandy's Hardcore challenge
- Green Aura
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Re: RenewableCandy's Hardcore challenge
...or the membrane rots, as in our case (we didn't realise there were different grades and went for cheap as we were covering a fairly large area) - which, in retrospect, may have been a good things. The weeds tend to be very shallow rooted though and pull up easily.
We wanted the grid/gravel system to provide stability for parking cars and I must say it's done its job admirably, for a bit of recycled plastic and MOT mixture. We've had friends stay on it in their caravan and others in a camper and it taken the weight without a murmur. Not bad for an area that was completely useless for anything but growing grass due to the high winds that rage up the side of the house several times a year.
We wanted the grid/gravel system to provide stability for parking cars and I must say it's done its job admirably, for a bit of recycled plastic and MOT mixture. We've had friends stay on it in their caravan and others in a camper and it taken the weight without a murmur. Not bad for an area that was completely useless for anything but growing grass due to the high winds that rage up the side of the house several times a year.
Maggie
Never doubt that you can change history. You already have. Marge Piercy
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. Anais Nin
Never doubt that you can change history. You already have. Marge Piercy
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. Anais Nin
- RenewableCandy
- Jerry - Bit higher than newbie
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Re: RenewableCandy's Hardcore challenge
Well, I fully admit the 'less-than-a-week' thing has gone for a burton but there now remains just 1/2 a tonne, ie the job's 90% done and my back hasn't complained.
Neigbour-lad says he'll investigate hiring a tamper-thingie and I've offered a fee for doing that bit of the work.
Meanwhile here's some good 'shovelling'-music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv9TwAOCMQ0
Neigbour-lad says he'll investigate hiring a tamper-thingie and I've offered a fee for doing that bit of the work.
Meanwhile here's some good 'shovelling'-music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv9TwAOCMQ0
- RenewableCandy
- Jerry - Bit higher than newbie
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Re: RenewableCandy's Hardcore challenge
FINISHED!
Well, the shovelling of hardcore is over, at least.
Now all that remains is the wacking AND THEN... two more tonnes, but this time of nice round gravel which by all accounts is far easier to shovel than hardcore.
I've raked it all out to nearly-flat and the rotten-est wood's going away bit-by-bit in our ordinary dustbin every fortnight.
The whole enterprise is working along very much the same lines, I now realise, as the olde Chinese tale "The Foolish Old Man Who Moved The Mountain."
Well, the shovelling of hardcore is over, at least.
Now all that remains is the wacking AND THEN... two more tonnes, but this time of nice round gravel which by all accounts is far easier to shovel than hardcore.
I've raked it all out to nearly-flat and the rotten-est wood's going away bit-by-bit in our ordinary dustbin every fortnight.
The whole enterprise is working along very much the same lines, I now realise, as the olde Chinese tale "The Foolish Old Man Who Moved The Mountain."
- Flo
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Re: RenewableCandy's Hardcore challenge
You only know how good an idea something is when you get involved in the hard labour is my maxim. Glad to hear the work progresses mind.
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Re: RenewableCandy's Hardcore challenge
Let's hope the weather stays decent after all that shovelling so you can enjoy it all.
The "nice round gravel" you mention , I do hope you have ordered the 10mm rather than the 20mm. The larger is cheaper and really is meant to be used in concrete but because it's cheaper a lot of people go for it. It makes for a poorer gravelled area than does the 10mm , harder to walk on and much harder to push or pull something like a lawnmower across it as I know from experience. I have jobs where I have to "deal" with both sizes and the larger size causes me the most trouble.
The "nice round gravel" you mention , I do hope you have ordered the 10mm rather than the 20mm. The larger is cheaper and really is meant to be used in concrete but because it's cheaper a lot of people go for it. It makes for a poorer gravelled area than does the 10mm , harder to walk on and much harder to push or pull something like a lawnmower across it as I know from experience. I have jobs where I have to "deal" with both sizes and the larger size causes me the most trouble.
- RenewableCandy
- Jerry - Bit higher than newbie
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Re: RenewableCandy's Hardcore challenge
Right then! You can't exactly say I rush this stuff, but it's finally all done!
All through the summer there were 2 types of day:
type 1: too hot to inflict manual work on anyone (except if you're some kind of evil slave-driver)
type 2: p!ssing with the_ I was going to say the finest British rain but that would be a lie. 'Twas more like something from Cherapungee (anyone here remember the rainfall graph of the World's Rainiest Town, that went right across the 2 pages of Philips' New World Atlas? Showing my age here...)
...until finally, autumn came. And with it, a week of actual sane weather during which we hired a tamper-downer-thing & neighbour lad did his stuff with it. It made the hardcore a *lot* easier to walk over. And it took me nearly another *month* to get the gravel ordered so our hero could shovel it while I raked it. We even had enough for the little path, which I first had to clear of dirt (this took an entire morning)...
BUT NOW IT LOOKS FAB!!!
We no longer have rats living underneath it, or dry rot threatening the house, or a slippery surface with holes in waiting to kill us all. We have classy golden Yorkshire gravel that alerts us to the presence of anyone near our back gate.
And I have a load of wood to saw up, which will keep me fit & keep us warm.
The end.
All through the summer there were 2 types of day:
type 1: too hot to inflict manual work on anyone (except if you're some kind of evil slave-driver)
type 2: p!ssing with the_ I was going to say the finest British rain but that would be a lie. 'Twas more like something from Cherapungee (anyone here remember the rainfall graph of the World's Rainiest Town, that went right across the 2 pages of Philips' New World Atlas? Showing my age here...)
...until finally, autumn came. And with it, a week of actual sane weather during which we hired a tamper-downer-thing & neighbour lad did his stuff with it. It made the hardcore a *lot* easier to walk over. And it took me nearly another *month* to get the gravel ordered so our hero could shovel it while I raked it. We even had enough for the little path, which I first had to clear of dirt (this took an entire morning)...
BUT NOW IT LOOKS FAB!!!
We no longer have rats living underneath it, or dry rot threatening the house, or a slippery surface with holes in waiting to kill us all. We have classy golden Yorkshire gravel that alerts us to the presence of anyone near our back gate.
And I have a load of wood to saw up, which will keep me fit & keep us warm.
The end.
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Re: RenewableCandy's Hardcore challenge
Congratulations! Better late than never...
I've had the same problem with the weather this year. And then came October, better weather, my holidays, in which I should have done lots - and I got the flu, and am still off sick. Any excuse?! The garden is a bloody mess! Even my little greenhouse over the raised bed took off in high winds one night. I anchored it on a shrub, so it can't go any further for now...
I've had the same problem with the weather this year. And then came October, better weather, my holidays, in which I should have done lots - and I got the flu, and am still off sick. Any excuse?! The garden is a bloody mess! Even my little greenhouse over the raised bed took off in high winds one night. I anchored it on a shrub, so it can't go any further for now...
Ina
I'm a size 10, really; I wear a 20 for comfort. (Gina Yashere)
I'm a size 10, really; I wear a 20 for comfort. (Gina Yashere)
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Re: RenewableCandy's Hardcore challenge
Looking at the slabs leaning against the wall where they've been for a couple of years I decided they must go down so I actually started the job over the Christmas break. The area is between two sheds where I have plans to stack some timber .
The soil I was digging out was put through a sieve . Really just a steel mesh with holes around 8mm supported on a makeshift frame . This gave me fairly fine decent topsoil falling through which can be put straight onto the garden . Weeds and roots left on top went into the incinerator for the ash , and at least some of the stones were taken out either for use in concrete if they are larger for drainage etc. Left me with relatively little stuff to actually get rid of. Only downside is that it took longer.
The soil I was digging out was put through a sieve . Really just a steel mesh with holes around 8mm supported on a makeshift frame . This gave me fairly fine decent topsoil falling through which can be put straight onto the garden . Weeds and roots left on top went into the incinerator for the ash , and at least some of the stones were taken out either for use in concrete if they are larger for drainage etc. Left me with relatively little stuff to actually get rid of. Only downside is that it took longer.
- RenewableCandy
- Jerry - Bit higher than newbie
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Re: RenewableCandy's Hardcore challenge
The mild winter seems to've had an upside, then - very good for getting 'those' jobs done! I excelled myself the other day and put in 2 6-foot LED-lights in the garage. Damn fiddly when you're perched atop a ladder in the 1/2-dark and you've never touched a fluo tube before & don't know what goes where.
Pro tip - you have to check it's got Magentic (not electronic) 'ballast', and you need different little 'starter' plug-ins.
Garage is now LIT (Also cleaner, since I noticed all the dirt.)
Marvellous other 1/2 has repaired the bike-trailer, we've discovered a load of wood that's going spare, and to cap it all we finally got round to planting-out a Living Christmas Tree that had been suffering in a pot in our garden for about 5 years - the trailer helped here.
I hope that flu's gone, Ina.
Pro tip - you have to check it's got Magentic (not electronic) 'ballast', and you need different little 'starter' plug-ins.
Garage is now LIT (Also cleaner, since I noticed all the dirt.)
Marvellous other 1/2 has repaired the bike-trailer, we've discovered a load of wood that's going spare, and to cap it all we finally got round to planting-out a Living Christmas Tree that had been suffering in a pot in our garden for about 5 years - the trailer helped here.
I hope that flu's gone, Ina.
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Re: RenewableCandy's Hardcore challenge
Thanks for asking - the flu is long gone, but it turned out I suffer from an overactive thyroid... And to get treatment for that I have a 3 month waiting time for the endocrinologist. Been off sick since October, and still have 4 weeks to wait for treatment. If it doesn't get postponed...
I now know why people get into debt or homeless just because they get sick with something that's easily treatable! (I'm lucky - I've been very careful with my money all my life, so I now have savings to live on...)
Ina
I'm a size 10, really; I wear a 20 for comfort. (Gina Yashere)
I'm a size 10, really; I wear a 20 for comfort. (Gina Yashere)