One of the mistakes I made when I first moved here was thinking that I wanted to build everything so it was permanent. In my head I didn't want to do things that I'd have to redo at a later date.
On the face of it this seemed like a good idea, but it actually stopped me from doing projects as I thought I hadn't got the time or funds to complete it properly.
So I changed my out look and I no longer mind doing things for a temporary solution.
Like this roughly laid path by the side of our house. It doesn't look great but it keeps every ones feet out of the mud when we use the back door. It didn't cost anything to lay (the slabs are all second hand) and it only took me ten minutes to chuck them down. But now I'm walking over them without having to wash off my boots every time I go back to the house, I'm wondering why I didn't do this at the start of the winter. The path is right where our extension is going to go, so it's definitely temporary, and that's what probably put me off doing it in the first place.
I had the same type of problem with the old rickety wood shed when we first moved here. I didn't use it to store the firewood that first winter because I wanted to rip it down, when actually I used it last winter to keep our wood dry and it performed well and until we've got something else to replace it I'll keep using it. It's a temporary, low cost solution to the problem but at the moment that's all we can do and it's still better than having wet firewood.
Anyone else built any temporary projects lately?
I wish my husband felt the same ! "If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well" will be on his gravestone (along with "Where did I put my gloves?" trouble is some of the jobs I'm doing are waiting on jobs he hasn't done yet! Rant over. The is NO doubt that when he does get round to them they ARE done well.
ReplyDeleteThats what I'm normally like but sometimes you've just got to do something temporary so you can get on to the next job!
DeleteI think temporary flagged paths are great, lay them in the veg plot where you want them, move them every year as required.
ReplyDeleteSeems to be little point ripping a shed down when it's still keeping the wood dry, if that's all you want it to do.
I've been laying more in the evg plot as well - like you said they're great as I can move them in the future if I think they're in the wrong place.
DeleteWe were told that if you build a temporary solution, it will become permanent and you'll never get the real permanent solution.We go with the temporary solution,because we have to...why not, if it works?
ReplyDeleteJane x
I'm sure that some things will become permanent but like you said if it works why fight it. Also we're on a budget here so if it keeps it cheap more the better.
DeleteI did one like that between the house and the barn. When we bought the house there was a jacuzzi outside where our deck is now. At 50$ a month electric bill to keep thing going I was not keeping it. When I sold it I re-purposed the 12"x12" cement pads it was sitting on for a walkway to the barn. It was supposed to be a temporary thing. The problem with the pads is they are quite porous, made out of the same crumbly cement as breeze blocks so they absorb water. In winter they freeze and they crumble to bits. Out of 100 of them I started with, looks like there are about 12 that are not all broken up. I will need to find a better solution.
ReplyDeleteOur slabs never crumble up with water and frost, only if you drop them. They're some that lead up to the front door and they're as old as the house - 64 years old! I don;t blame you for getting rid of the jacuzzi! No way would I be working to keep that thing running!
DeleteIf had a pound for every time I have made something and then changed it or moved it? Hard surface paths are far better than grass paths esecially with our damp climate in the British Isles. Grass paths cut up with the wheelbarrow ruts and you are always having to strim them or mow them. Paving slabs aren't expensive if you buy one or two a week or buy secondhand one's. I use concrete pig slats which are reinforced with steel bars.
ReplyDeleteThese are laid on what was a grass path but I walk up and down it many times in a day to see to the chickens so it's warn into a muddy track. I'm trying to find some more second hand ones as my current little project I need about another 60!
DeleteIn 22 years we've done lots of things that were "permanent" but then things change and they need moving. I could make you a list about a mile long of all the things that have altered.
ReplyDeleteThats the problem. since coming here my ideas have changed the more I use the land. Also as I learn new things I want to do them differently.
DeleteI am still impressed with 3 £ for a day out
ReplyDeleteThank you! We are quite careful with our money!
DeleteI'll have to show my Lovely Hubby this post :-)
ReplyDeleteA lot of our 'temporary' fixes end up working out long term. Our first chicken run was made out of cheap plywood and haphazardly held together with staples, but it ended up lasting almost two years!
ReplyDelete