Wall repair starts

It's a big wall and it will take a while for it to be entirely rebuilt and/or repointed. But the work on my retaining wall right underneath my extension has started! Very soon after my preparatory work. And of course, the first thing that needed happening was it to be taken down.

After a few days it became clear that they were not doing all of this in one go. There just was no space to stack all the rock! So they started on the side where the stairs are. And I was glad to see that they could indeed remove it without the whole garden coming down. Or, worse, the conservatory. And then they built it back up again, this time with mortar. It looked rather solid where they had done that. And that was exactly the point!

The neighbour had been a bit skeptical about the whole endeavour. He thought that that wall might very well survive me. But I didn't want to take any chances! I would rather have it taken down pre-emptively than manically have to find a stonemason if it one day comes down on its own initiative.

The work is proceeding rather fast; these men don't seem to care about weekends or bank holidays. I can look forward to a solid wall rather soon! And then one of the outstanding main issues with the house will have been sorted. And it will mean I will have to do something with that part of garden, but that might be very satisfying! It will be a clean slate. And I have plenty of plants in the rest of the garden that can take some of that space…

After day one

After day two