When we moved in, all the fences were in tolerably bad repair, but the left hand side was particularly knackered - leaning at a 45degree angle into next door, and held up only by ivy and the live electric wire for the garage. This meant that the power to the house went out every time it rained. Which was fun.
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| This is the ivy on the good fence. The ivy on the other side threatened to steal my camera if I got too close... |
So we got some quotes to get the whole lot ripped out and replaced. Went with a small company recommended by our old neighbour, who came round and quoted within 24 hours. Unlike, I should note, a big local company, who clearly had better things to do than turn up for either of the two appointments made.
All seemed fine, transferred the cost of the materials over, and then the company owner buggered off into the ether with my cash, and no more was heard from him by me or the sub contractor, which left us with a great big hole where our fence used to be, and a further hole in our finances.
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| Old fence stacked up... on the lawn :( |
Fortunately, the sub-contractor took over the job, but bloody hell, what a nightmare. The job turned out to be infinitely more complicated thanks to all the ivy roots, the fence line wandered back and forth over the boundary line like a drunkard walking to a taxi rank, and the dogs on both sides were thoroughly miserable at losing their garden privileges for a week.
It's almost finished now, and to be fair, the new fence is a massive improvement. Concrete posts and gravel boards should withstand incursions from weather, ivy and determined spaniels, and won't rot off at the base after a few years. Which is good, because I'm never doing this again.
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| Totally dog proof! |
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