Author: stephen (Page 59 of 61)
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Here are some examples of flooring tiles. It would have been good to have kept all the original flagstones, but they are probably to rough and ready. Maybe there is a locally sourced alternative that has a finer finish.
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| Tuscany Travetine tiles – www.quornstone.com |
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| Limestone tiles – www.floorsofstone.com
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I have started a set of pages that I am going to label up as “Scrapbook”. These are pages with photos and links to websites where I have been interested in their products. I will update them as I come across new products, but thought these might be useful for others.
So I am going to start with contemporary log stoves – nothing rustic about these – something clean and stylish for the main living space. There will be underfloor heating, so this is really just to top up the temperature a bit on the colder days.
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| Firebelly – www.firebellystoves.com |
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| Jide Decor – www.eurostove.co.uk |
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| Saey – www.eurostove.co.uk |
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| Stuv 16 – www.stuv.com |
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| Westfire Uniq 23 – www.eurostove.co.uk |
Yes, you guessed it! More dry stone walling. The weather forecast was for a good day and we weren’t disappointed. Cold and dry. Problem was that it never got above freezing. The ground was solid, but the foundations had already been dug, so I wasn’t too worried. What I hadn’t planned for was the fact that all the stones had been frozen together. I gave it a few hours and even a bit of sun on the stones didn’t make much of a difference. Anyway, another 3-4 courses done today and I think another couple of days and we will be putting the coping stones on this section.
It has been a couple of weeks since we applied for planning permission and the notice was posted this week – it has been attached to the telegraph pole just outside the property.
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| Planning permission notice |
The closing date for comments is 18th December and the planning application can be viewed online.
Same location as the previous day’s dry stone walling. Today is cold – just above freezing – the water in the buckets from last weekend have an inch of ice in them. I only turned in a couple of hours as it was just too cold. These first few courses are the most difficult – they tend to have the biggest stones in them which take quite a bit of placing and fitting.
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| Day 10 – almost at ground level! |
I have been suffering recently with cold feet. The weather has turned wintery and standing building a wall doesn’t help with the circulation to the feet. I tried wearing thicker socks. I tried wearing more socks. No luck.
The solution was a new pair of wellies! Yep, I couldn’t believe it either. I came across Muck Boots in a shoe shop in Huddersfield. They are neoprene with a rubber outsole around the foot area. The neoprene seems to cover the whole of the inside of the boot. Boy, they are warm. Very warm. On the second day, I decided that I didn’t need such thick socks. They are exceptionally comfortable and I have been working in them all day without any problems. They don’t have a reinforced toe cap, but they are fairly solid.
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| Derwent Muck Boots |
More information on the website here. Seems that everyone knows about these (except me). Always the last to know!
It rained and it rained. I put on some foul weather gear. But after about 30 minutes I had to admit defeat – the area around the base of the wall had turned to a quagmire – I was slipping and sliding all over the place. When carrying large stones this seemed like a recipe for disaster. Time for a new plan.
I swapped to stripping out the next section of wall, but after a while I had to give up on this too. The last resort was pruning the apple trees in the orchard. These haven’t been pruned in years and are probably well passed being saved, however, it is worth a shot. I have attempted to thin out the canopy on each of the trees – particularly were a number of the branches had grown in on themselves. Hopefully, this should bring some more light to the inner parts of the tree. I also removed any branches that were growing downwards or were damaged.
There is a crab apple tree amongst the fruit trees. Jo made some crab apple jelly a few weeks ago and we decided to collect some more for crab apple vodka – like sloe gin, but with crab apples and vodka. Sounds a bit more interesting than jelly, but we will see.
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| Crab apples – these appear to be a yellow variety, other varieties are red |
The rain stopped, briefly, in the afternoon and I returned to the dry stone walling. With such a long section, progress looks slow. The first couple of courses are hard work since many of the larger stones go into the base of the wall. It can be a bit disheartening.
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| Day 9 – Mud everywhere! |
Back in the orchard again today. The top photograph shows the part of the wall that I built last weekend – probably only a metre or so. Today, I turned my attention to building this wall out. Rather than just concentrating on one small section, I have dug out the foundations for the next 4 metre section. It took about 3 hours to dismantle the existing wall and dig the foundations. It took another hour to lay the foundation stones.
All in all, a good day.
By concentrating on digging out the foundations, this will help speed up the building of the wall and also gets the foundations dug before the winter frost sets in and the ground freezes (making it difficult, if not impossible, to dig the foundations).
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| Last week’s wall in the background and the new foundations |
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| Looking in the opposite direction showing the newly dismantled wall and new foundations |
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| Now with the foundation stones |
Three events. See if you can connect them.
Event 1: A few weeks ago we came down to breakfast to find that we had had a mouse in the kitchen. The tell tale signs on the work surface. Let’s not say anymore. We discussed putting out a mouse trap, but never got around to it and the signs never re-appeared.
Event 2: At about the same time, the electrics in the house started to short out. At first, I thought it was the dishwasher, but soon worked out that it was the toaster. It was no big deal. We can make toast on the Aga.
Event 3: Recently, there has been a strange smell in the kitchen. The same corner where you will find the toaster. Both of us had spotted it and both remarked it smelt as if something had died.
The answer:
The good news is that the toaster still works. Can’t say the same for the mouse.