Quadrangle Timeline
Before we moved to
Morwell we identified this
area as the first that
we’d work to improve. It
didn’t happen like that.
Not immediately obvious
were two things - this
north-facing lounge wall
never sees sunlight during
the day, and the eternally
damp grass around there
was the recipient of two
tons of water a day from
a major leak on the house
mains inlet pipe.
The water leak was repaired (twice) and a proper soakaway was installed in October 2016
for the roof water. To gain access for a digger some of the wall had to be demolished
which gave us the idea of putting new steps from the quadrangle up into the garden. As a
temporary measure a stairway of concrete blocks was put in place in April 2017 and a
short concrete path laid to bridge the gap to the grass. Neither pretty nor particularly
practical, but temporary became four years of use.
The right
conditions and
care and the patio
could look very
inviting as here in
July 2017, but the
grass never grew
evenly in the
strange black soil,
and the white
edging gravel laid
on black plastic
membrane became
infested with
weeds in no time,
which seemed to
negate the point
of the membrane.
The patio stayed in that
state until 2019 when
the digger was back to
lay foundations for a
conservatory build to
house a new workshop
accessible from the
house. 4th July the
footings have been
started and shows the
relatively high level of
the outfall drain pipe.
The two access drain
covers limited the width
available for the
workshop.
17th August and work on
the outside is finished.
Inside I laid underfloor
heating and tiles which
has made it a very
comfortable place to
work in especially in
winter. Light is generally
good too, the only minor
downside is the noise of
rain falling on the
polycarbonate roof,
deafening at times, but
alternative roofing would
have cut light levels too
much. And of course it
rains a lot at Morwell.
17th May 2022 and a
digger in the quadrangle
yet again. This time it is
to clear the ground in
preparation for laying
stone flags to make a
solid low-maintenance
patio that we can enjoy
using without traipsing
mud and grit into the
house. Also it will stop
the voles from setting up
home in the ground next
to the workshop footings.
Clearance and laying
the compacted base
material took only
one day, this is 18th
May. To access the
quadrangle our
contractors dug a
nice even slope down
from the garden
which seemed ideal
for the replacement
steps we had
planned. It all looked
so easy…
7th June and the slabs are all laid. The citrus trees are also in place, and
we are enjoying a much better space in the summer evenings. The
concrete plinth on the right has been left in place the plan being to put
the first part of the garden railway here on supports for easy access.
The railway got this far by 15th October, then rain set in and the
supporting woodwork started to suffer without protection so all was
dismantled again. The projected four steps eventually became six steps
and the construction was almost complete by 14th November although
much delayed by wet weather again. Next jobs are completion of the steps
and facing the ugly block wall.