Doors and Draws with a little water

It's been quite a while since the last update.  This is mainly due to the lack of activity on the house.  Since we moved in last August, the builders have occasionally turned up and addressed some of the inevitable snagging that all new houses are susceptible.

This is the fourth autumn in Cropredy, and our second autumn in the new house.  The leaves have nearly all come down, but unlike last year where they lay on bare mud and clay, this year they lie on grass and flower beds.  Those leaves that seem to miss our garden seem to be attracted to the canal, and in particular our boat and its relatively new landing stage which are currently sporting a healthy layer of willow leaves from our willow tree.

There really is grass under there

The boat is moored directly below our willow tree

Returning to the house, nearly all the snags have been rectified and since we were withholding quite a large amount of money, the builder was keen to have a meeting and work out what else needed doing.  With just about everything having been addressed, the builder asked for his money.  However, the proverbial 'elephant in the room' was the front door which became the main focus for discussion.  We agreed that the after 3 failed long-winded attempts to fit the correct German front door, we would remove the front door from their contract and get it fitted ourselves, with a small retainer to make sure that the builder returned after installation to complete the decorating in the hallway.
So the search began for a new front door which fits our requirements:

• Less width, allowing for an adjacent glass panel to bring light into the hallway
• Hinged on the correct side
• A similar design to the 'incorrect' door
• A similar colour to the 'incorrect' door
• Not from Germany!

Investigations and recommendations suggested a local company would be the right way to go and we spent a happy afternoon trawling through their various doors to find something that met our requirements.  Quotes for two different manufacturer's doors were then obtained, both at a similar price.  One door was from Austria and the other from High Wycombe.  Thinking that Austria is a little close to Germany, we elected to go for the door from High Wycombe.  It was very slightly cheaper anyway!

Whilst welcoming the prospect of a sale, the salesman suggested that we wait a week before ordering as we could benefit from a promotion which was about to be run.  Thinking that we had already waited well over a year, we thought that an extra week would not be a problem, so we duly waited until the following Saturday.  On the day, our reception at the supplier's for 'promotion day' consisted of prosecco and nibbles.  The order of the door from High Wycombe was made; the promotional draw entered; the promise made that the door could be fitted before Christmas.
Imagine our surprise when later that same afternoon the phone rang and we were informed that we had won the promotional draw and were entitled to a free door!  Well, the door was free, but we would still have to pay the VAT and fitting costs.  Still this made a very significant difference to the overall price.  A couple of weeks later, a surveyor turned up and measured the doorway and confirmed that fitting would 'probably' be before Christmas.  So, dear reader, here we are again: we have not yet received a fitting date and the supplier has not yet informed us when fitting is likely to take place.  To be fair, we haven't yet chased them.  That is a job for the beginning of next week!

Although we took the boat out for several weeks earlier in the summer, we had little time to do so later in the summer.  We were able to take it down to Oxford for a week during October, but this seemed to coincide with the start of the rainy season!  On our way back, the canal shares its course with the River Cherwell in two places.  Although the rain had swollen the river, we got across the first crossing, but by the time we reached the second, the river had risen to such an extent that the second crossing was closed by the Canal & River Trust.  Fortunately, we were held up outside a decent pub.  However, there really wasn't much else to do there and when we were informed that the closure could last several days, we realised that we were only about 8 miles from home, and got a taxi back, collecting the boat later.  Since that week, it seems to have rained almost every day and earlier in November, so much rain fell that the entire village was cut off for a while, and one of the 'main' roads out of the village was closed for 2 days and sported 4 flooded cars by the end of it, one of which at a precarious angle in a ditch.  Reassuringly, no water found its way into the house or the garden.  The canal however did rise by about 18 inches, flooding the towpath.  The Canal & River Trust appeared and opened all the sluices they could find in order to get rid of as much water as they could, probably to the detriment of Banbury which was suffering flooding further downstream.  Unfortunately, they forgot to close them again, so we woke up the next day to find all the boats in the village sitting on the bottom!  A selection of photos follows:

Cut off for a while

Although obvious, a few still had a go....

....and failed!

Our boat sitting rather high against our landing stage

Flood towpath one day.  Not enough water the next

Water rushing  over the gates down the towpath beside the lock

This should be fields

One of the highest recorded river levels in Cropredy

Spring Catch-up

You may have thought that since it has all gone quiet, nothing has happened.  To some extent, this is correct in that we have seem little of the builders, but other things have been progressing.  Let's start with the front door.

To remind you dear reader, we moved in with a temporary barricade in place until the front door could be fitted.  Within a mere month however, the front door was fitted.  However, it was the wrong one, being the wrong design; wrong shape; and lack of glazing panel.  It was however the right colour and the dimensions were such that it could be securely fitted as a temporary measure whilst we waited for someone to admit liability and order the correct door.  All the parties we dealt with declared that culpability rested with the German manufacturers.  So much for German efficiency.  We were assured that a new door was on order and would be delivered in a matter of weeks.
Throughout the winter various people came and checked the doorway and re-measured everything, and eventually in the middle of May a new door arrived.  The fitters carefully unpacked it and then there was a knock on the (original) front door asking us to come and look at it.  Either in manufacture, packing or transit, it had been damaged!  The fitters were reluctant to fit it and we rejected it straight away.  So we are now waiting for another replacement to arrive.  We were advised that it may be another 2 months, but recent emails requesting an update have gone unanswered.  That is until today when we were told that it will be ready for fitting at the end of July.  Watch this space!

Unpacking the 'new' front door

One of the several damaged areas

Although we have seem little of the builders, we have had one of their better employees working on the house on 2 separate days.  Many of the inevitable shrinkage cracks have been filled and decorated; guttering has been fixed; drainage on the outside terrace has been improved; and importantly, all the suspect door catches have been replaced (after yet another catch failed!).  We now feel a bit more comfortable closing doors in the house.  Whilst all this has made a dent in the snagging list, there is still more to do.

The previous blog dealt with the drainage and planting in the garden.  This has now had a couple of months to mature.  The lawn was laid and has taken off with a vengeance.  The hedge we planted is now in leaf and affords a little privacy which will hopefully fill out over the next few months.

The garden in April

When we first bought the plot, it came with a couple of rickety landing stages jutting out into the canal.  We have been using these to moor our boat against, but because of the water flow from the nearby lock and the fact that our boat occasionally gets hit by boaters taking the adjacent 'narrows' too fast, the landing stages were near to collapse.  A total rebuild of the canal bank was prohibitively expensive and ruled out in favour of a long single landing stage which does not jut out into the canal quite as far and therefore the number of collisions we receive should be less.  A local expert who has done similar work elsewhere in the village was tasked with building the landing stage.  The brief was that it should be strong and not move when water is released from our nearby lock.  We are very pleased with the result although the flatness of the landing stage stage has revealed the undulating nature of the ground around it.   Over two tonnes of top soil was ordered and delivered and we spent a happy(!) Friday afternoon moving it from where it was tipped, down to the lower garden where it was used to try and level the area around the landing stage.  Grass seed has been planted, and is just starting to grow.

Decking Complete

Surrounding area levelled with topsoil

More decking

Beating the Clay

It's been a while since we posted anything.  This is mainly because it's been a while since something significant was achieved at Willowbank.  Over the last week though things have changed outside.
At the end of last year, we planted a hedge between the house and the lane, and it is now growing.  We also got the professionals in to advise which plants would do well on our clay/soil and got the experts to plant them.  They were also tasked with giving us a lawn but that did not go quite to plan.  Firstly, it was decided that the ground was too wet to take a lawn and we would need to wait for it to dry out.  But then, it was decreed that the drainage in the lawn was inadequate and improvements must be made.

Ready to start

So Monday morning dawned and three men and a little digger duly set about tearing up the ground to find the original single drain installed by the builders at our request.  It seems that this drain would only drain the centre of the lawn and it was too deep to do any good anyway.  The plan was to introduce some shallower drains properly seated in a bed of gravel, wrapped in a porous liner, and located 8 inches down (the recommended depth apparently), all arranged in a herring-bone pattern.  These new drains would be routed to the deeper drain and all would be well.
Indeed, all did seem to go well and before the day was out, we had a fully drained patch of dirt!

Mini-digger at work

New drainage going in

Tuesday was all about levelling and conditioning the 'clay' and although it started well, by 10am, rain had stopped play and with the forecast suggesting a soggy day, time was called and our gardeners left for home.

Nearly level

On Wednesday the levelling and conditioning was completed during the morning.  This year it seems that decent lawn turf is a surprisingly hard to find due to the hot and dry summer of 2018, but our gardener managed to get some decent turf (he says!) and that was laid in only a couple of hours.  They returned on Thursday morning just to finish tamping it down.

Turf laid

Lawn and Willow

So that is the progress outside, but what about progress inside and the snagging list?  Well, there isn't really a lot to report.  The builders have not been near for several weeks now and there was still no sign of the front door which they proudly announced was 'in the country' some weeks ago.  Several emails have sent, with follow-up phone-calls, all to no avail until today when we eventually got to speak to someone.  The front door is 'scheduled' to be fitted next week, so watch this space.  There are many other items which we have reminded the builder's remain outstanding.  Fortunately, none are too series and at least we still have outstanding payments to make to them, but only when they complete the work!

Having just re-read the previous blog entry, I realise that I haven't quite finished off the saga of the ebay sale of the left-over slates.  You will be pleased to hear that it did eventually have a happy ending.  It involved us acquiring a spare 'standard-sized' palette that the Oxfordshire Library Service deemed surplus to requirements (thanks Nikkie!).  The neatly packaged slates were then again unpacked from the non-standard palette.  The non-standard palette was then fixed to the standard palette and refilled with slates for the fourth time!  The collection company turned up and decreed that although the palette was now acceptable, it was probably too heavy!  However, the driver seemed a little more pro-active than previous drivers and he had a go.  We got the palette on to the palette truck but with the two of us pushing, we could not get the palette truck on to the tail-lift.  Eventually, with the lane blocked by the lorry, a van driver wanting to pass came and gave us a hand.  The driver was concerned about all the weight on the tail-lift, but it managed to lift the load (very slowly).  They were secured and driven away - at last!

The 4th packing attempt!