Hard gardening

[avevale_intelligencer]

We have lots of clay in the soil where we are. (Also lots of bindweed and briars, but I think we're gradually beating those back.) The patch immediately in front of the still-unfinished conservatory is now also rich in cement, brick dust, and the several bags of Cotswold chippings which we bought at great expense to make it look nice and which the garden-wrecking builders trampled underfoot.

The Countess wants to reclaim it. So, we spent the afternoon filling bags with a mixture of soil and chippings, and digging a bag and a half of horse manure into the rest of the soil. My me hurts, all over, and there's loads more to do. I have had verbal assurances from EverCRAPest that the chippings will be replaced, but I'll believe it when I see it.

Tomorrow we have four people coming to give us quotes on replacing our old asbestos guttering. Whether any of them will (a) be itemised, (b) be affordable, (c) actually appear is a moot question. The next door neighbours got it done for sixty quid. The only actual quotes we've had were both over four hundred.

At least it means we'll be too busy to do any more frodding gardening that day.

Comments

[stevieannie.livejournal.com]

The asbestos guttering is a problematical thing. If the neighbours got it done for 60 quid, then they certainly didn't get it disposed of or removed correctly. Asbestos guttering is almost always the *bad* kind of asbestos and *very* difficult to deal with.

Tim and Nev removed a soil pipe from our cottage and were charged £300 from the dump to get rid of it.

If you get a quote for 60 quid, I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole - both yours and the Countess' health is more important than that.

It such a problem that we (as builders) have left the damned stuff up at the cottage and will just be painting it as best as possible, we can't afford the disposal fees...

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Okay, so the bulk of the cost is disposal of the asbestos. That's rather what I was thinking, although both the people who've come and looked at it have told us that ours is not the bad kind. Mind you, they could tell us it's the kind that's made of cream cheese and we'd be none the wiser.

[stevieannie.livejournal.com]

In the eyes of the law, all asbestos is bad, and you pay the same for disposal, however it breaks down. If it's the *really* awful kind, then you have to have it surrounded by the sort of plastic containment tent on "E.T.".

Awful stuff.

My mum had the same issue with the old garage roof which was all asbestos sheeting. Bleh.

It's one of those things that I'd give serious thought to whether the joy of being rid of it is actually worth the amount of money it will cost.

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

We have to do something with it, if only for the sake of the BAM BAM BAM on the conservatory roof. Besides, we want to connect a water butt, and for that we need pipes we can safely cut into.

[armb.livejournal.com]

> The next door neighbours got it done for sixty quid. The only actual quotes we've had were both over four hundred.

How long ago did your neighbours have it done? The rules for disposing of asbestos, even the small amounts of the relatively safe stuff in asbestos cement, have got stricter and the enforcement has got tighter. This is almost certainly a good thing for people whose job involves frequent handling of the stuff, and from the point of view of the amount in the general environment, but is unfortunate for those who have to pay for it.

(Though if it leads to fly-tipping to avoid charges then it ends up in the general environment with fewer precautions.)