Peak District Cottages – Chris's Blog

Cutting through 2M of concrete

Shirely is away at her sisters at the moment so I am in charge of our peak district cottages.  So along with looking after the dogs, doing the washing, answering the phone and seeing guests, I have been trying to get some of the outside jobs done.  We have managed to put a new door threshold on Dove, so hopefully that will stop any water leaks next winter.  Our investigation into the blocked fall pipe outside reception has shown that the pipe leading away to a soak away or the main drains is completely blocked and we would have to either dig it up (under about 2M of concrete) or figure out some other way of draining it away.  We plumbed for plan B.  We still had to cut 2M of concrete but only to a depth of 7-8 inches to lay in a linear drain which will then drain off across the courtyard and away with all the rest of the water. It is not ideal but hopefully will work – it can’t be any worse than it was and it gets the water away from the walls of the cottages.  Most of the benches and fences have now been cleaned and are awaiting repainting (we do this every year to make them look clean and tidy for the new season).  The only wood treatment we have found, that is of any use, is a Cuprinol product but it is getting harder and harder to get hold off and is expensive.  Using the stuff you buy in B&Q etc we found to be a waste of our time.  So we  spend the extra money on the better product and so far it seems to be giving acceptable results.  We have had some of the benches now for over 5 years and they are all still in very good condition.