Construction site chez Croser

We have begun the next stage in the renovation of our house this week. This time at the back of the house and in the garden.

The overall plan is to have a deck/back porch built from the back kitchen door over the existing porch slab, which is small and somewhat precarious without railings around the edges (see picture here). The new deck will be twice the size of the existing porch area, and will also over the sunken brick patio under our kitchen window (which you can see to the right of this photo). The current pathway running along the back of the house is having to be removed, so we are having a new one built. The pathway is coming first, so the guys started yesterday while we had good weather and got a heap of the messy work done.

Lucy is delighted because it means we have a digger in our garden. Yes a real-life digger. And she has a perfect view of it from her bedroom window as it has been parked there for the time being. She is in heaven! The digger was used to get the old slabs of concrete out and dig out the trench where the new path will be. The earth in the trench was compacted down and lining fabric was laid. Then the hardcore (grey in the photo) was put down and again compacted. Today the guys were hoping to get the new bricks down and even finish the job, but it has been raining and is too damp to work.

We've chosen grey paving blocks for the new pathway to match the slate on the roof of the house. As we are keeping the pathway to the garage as is for now, it will match that nicely too we hope. The lawn looks a mess but I am pleased that it's coming up for winter and not spring, so that it'll repair in time for next summer. It might even persuade us to get the lawn re-seeded altogether next year, as it's full of weeds and moss and the grass itself is in the minority when you get close!

We took ages to choose the firm that we went for in the end. We get such varying prices for jobs over here, and it's hard to know which one is realistic and the best to go for. One guy came in so much cheaper than anyone else we were suspicious, and took a look at some previous work that he had done. We decided in the end that it was safer to go with the middle-of-the-road-guy who seems a good honest and hard working chap who has been a pleasure to work with so far.

I will of course send photos of the next stage and of the finished product. The deck probably won't be built until deeper into the winter - we've been savvy and negotiated an off-season rate :)