Our old garden shed, which was over 20 years old, had rotted beyond recognition. The days of the door shutting (and being padlocked) were many years ago and the whole of the far side had, more or less, rotted away. Plus the plastic “window” had been broken by the chaps who came a few months back to severely trim our huge tree (protected by a Tree Preservation Order so cannot be cut down). The shed was an ecological delight – home to birds, wasps and rat/mice, full of living plants and branches! But an absolute eyesore and increasingly no good for keeping metal tools in because it wasn’t waterproof.
So last Sunday afternoon, when it was mega hot (not so sensible!), we began pulling it down. By we I mean myself, Older daughter and QT2. QT1 was at a rehearsal for her end of term Stagecoach production. I had tried earlier in the week to unscrew the door but the screws were rusted in. Some WD40 had released a couple and I had also managed to pull some tacks out of the felt roofing (so old and brittle it was coming off in little chunks). Then I pulled a muscle in my leg trying to reach the top of the roof (I am not tall) so I sat in a chair directing operations.
The offspring, equipped with eye protection, a hammer and screwdriver and one pair of work gloves between them, set to work on the offending structure. As they also couldnt get the screws out they simply hammered at the wood until bits shot out. They managed to rip the roof off and then the boarding underneath. They were able to reduce the frame to a state where it collapsed into the foliage etc behind it and pull up the rotten wooden “floor”. Underneath is a base of slabs which may be re-usable if levelled off/relaid. Behind is a massive mess. There is a huge sprawling compost heap made up of years of weeding and lawn clippings There are a number of broken plant pots (thrown there with dead plants and compost in them, which has added to the heap). There are several ancient bags of compost probably long since lost their potency. One of them is actually anchored in by natural compost and will have to be dug out.
At least no rat/mice ran out, we were really afraid that there would be something living under the pots/remainder of the shed and local cats had been regular visitors there (scaling the neighbour’s fence to get in).
For some unknown reason, bored with the hammer and stamping on the bits of shed to break them up, QT2 started breaking the planks on his forehead, superhero style. When questioned about the sense of doing this, he commented that he had made sure the nails were removed first! Goodness knows what goes on in a teenage boy’s head!
We located our green chicken wire fencing at the rear of the property (we enclosed the garden 21 years ago when Older daughter was born taking a foot or two of the rear countryside at the time). It had all fallen away due to pressure from fallen and dumped branches and vegetation. So far I have managed to pull over half of it back upright and have used some of the timber from the shed as fence posts to (hopefully) anchor it in place and prevent dogs, foxes and those cats from coming in off the bridle path.
TO BE CONTINUED
Suburban Law Mum 