Met with Gino, Andrea and Stefano (technico) to go through our priorities again. For the heating they recommended a gas boiler with radiators and an LPG (they call it GPL) tank in the garden.
Category: Blog
Ride on lawn mower
I decided that a good way to avoid spending the majority of each stay strimming and cutting grass would be to buy a ride on lawn mower. Perhaps a bit of an indulgence as we don’t have oodles of land and some of the terraces are rather inaccessible.
Nevertheless, I started researching. First off, I wanted to find a battery operated mower as the battery powered tools we have bought so far have been pretty good and I’m not a fan of petrol engines which can give trouble starting if left idle for extended periods. It turned out that battery powered sit on mowers are about twice the cost of petrol ones which would be hard to justify. Also, there were no local dealerships that sell them. I wanted to buy from a local dealership primarily to have somewhere to take the thing when it inevitably needs fixing or servicing.
On a walk to Ronco, we spotted one in somebody’s shed and took a picture to get the make and model. Seemed about right for the job – and it was red!
So I researched that make and found a dealership about 20 minutes drive away not too far from Montecarlo. We went past it’s showroom and called the number in it’s window to get someone to come out and open up. The one in the pictures below was larger than we needed and came with a fitting to spit mulched cuttings out at the side.
We picked one with a bag to collect the cut grass and ordered it along with a mulching kit. Mulching is an alternative to collecting and removing the cut grass and is recommended to help retain nutrients. This would give us the best of both worlds. We’d have to wait till the next trip for the mulching kit, but the mower could be delivered in a week.
A week later, the guy showed up with our mower on a trailer, unloaded it and drove it up into our garden. He gave a quick demonstration and left the keys and a manual. I drove it up onto the campo and tried it out. The bag filled with cut grass within about 10 meters and pretty soon the mower ran out of petrol.
The next job, therefore, was to go down to the consorzio (agricutural supplies shop) and get a petrol can and then off to the petrol station to fill it. Refuelled, I tried again, but really struggled as the catcher was filling up quickly and the discharge channel from the cutter to the catcher was getting clogged up with clumps of wet grass.
All the kerfuffle attracted the attention of the neighbours above us (Nicola and Piero – father and son) who came down into our garden to lend a hand with their expertise. They told me I’d be better off with the mulcher kit and I explained that I was waiting for it. We took the catcher off the back of the mower, but then the mower wouldn’t start. I seemed there was a safety feature that needed the catcher in place to depress a switch. One of them ran off to get some packing tape and we taped the switch down. Now I could drive the mower and the cuttings were coming out the back like a fountain. So my new mower was already held together with sticky tape.
The discharge channel was still getting clogged up as the grass was very long (and wet at the base). We came to the conclusion that the grass was too long for the mower and needed strimming first. So I abandoned the mowing and retreated to try another day – after strimming.
Topographical survey
Gino and Andrea came to make a topograpical survey of our property from the road right up to the gora at the top of the garden. They had a GPS mast which they moved from point to point recording position and height on a hand held device which received the information direct from the mast.
Thankfully the grass was dry today as it was knee high. We need a sit on mower!
They promised to send the CILA and the other permission documentation next week and I told them I wanted to see all the plans they were creating and the various inspection reports. There should be a whole bunch of stuff to go through.
The plan is to sign the CILA etc and get them submitted. Once that’s done we should be able to get some work kicked off providing they can find contrators with availability. Minimum we’re after is a working second floor bathroom by the time we come back in August.
Time for a decent fridge
We’ve been making do with the fridge that came with the house up till now, but it regularly freezes the food it contains and needs frequent defrosting. We had planned to wait till the kitchen was going to be done before replacing it, but it’s getting unworkable and we have visitors coming in the summer. So we decided to get a free standing fridge freezer and stick it in a corner ahead of replacing the kitchen. We went off to Comet in Pisa and ordered a suitable one for delivery on Monday.
Beds for visitors
We have visitors coming in August and September and no beds for them to sleep in. An earlier trip to IKEA was unsuccessful as they had no firm matresses available. Today, we got an email from an alert we set up to notify us that the matresses we were after had arived in IKEA Pisa. We jumped in the car and sped off there to get our order in while they were still available. Two beds and matresses ordered for delivery on Thursday. These will go in the second floor bedrooms. A third bed we had on the order was cancelled as Cooper and Mike told us they slept well – I hope they meant it and weren’t just being kind. Once they are delivered and built, we’ll be able to sleep 10 people.
Gardening continues
Apart from the seemingly incessant strimming and mowing, we’ve been pruning leggy shrubs and removing ivy from the trees.
In particular, this tree was being choked by ivy which was also entangled in chain link fencing and chicken wire. It’s been quite a chore to clear, but we’re getting there.
Having cleared between the tree and the chicken coop / rabbit hutch, we decided to remove the concrete “rendering” from them.
It turns out that there are two distinct sections. The section pictured above will look nice once cleaned up a bit more. The section to it’s left is newer and we think we’ll take it out as long as we’re permitted. To get it’s door open we had to demolish the wall that the lock went into so the removal has already started. The concrete posts can also go (perhaps to be used to repair the perimeter fencing by the gora).
Geologo inspection
This morning, Gino arived with the geologo to inspect the garden.
We went up to the gora and cosidered whether there is a risk of flooding that should be mitigated by the construction of a reinforcing wall. In the opinion of the geologo, the risk exists but is small and a retaining wall would be very expensive. He explained that the point of greatest risk is where the stream turns the corner. At this point there is an existing wall (probably a hundred years old) so we should be fine. In his opinion, the gora is so far above the house that water overflowing the banks should not be an issue (as there is plenty of land or it to soak away into). In any case, the lay of the land means any more substantial flooding (e.g. bursting the bank) would result in water flowing down the gulley betwen our house and Francesco’s (probably impacting our neighbour more than us).
He suggested we go up to the gora on a rainy day and take pictures to show the level of the water when it’s streaming down the hillside. He was surprised at the quantity of water flowing in the stream and thought it must have a water source such as a spring. I suggested that it might be water diverted from the main stream flowing down the valley (i.e. a small aqueduct for irrigation). He thought that was possible. I’ll have to ask a neighbour to find out.
The geologo would be happy for Andrea to straighten the existing concrete posts or even to lift them and replace them with chestnut poles. He does not think that would destabilise the banks.
We spent some time up by the old pool considering the options for the replacement pool. He suggested that the best option would be to dig out the terrace as the ground below would be more stable than the surface of the lower terrace where the old pool is located. We felt that this would leave insufficient room for paving to accomodate sun loungers so we kind of settled on excavating 3 meters leaving the pool partly in ground and partly above ground. We could pave the remainder of the terrace and continue round the pool with a wooden deck. We made it clear to Gino that we would prefer steps internal to the pool rather than a ladder (1.5m wide in the corner).
There were some discussions around the 100 sqm limit on impermeable surfaces again as we showed them where we want to terrace outside the back of the house. This limit would apply to new paving only not to paving that is already in place and condonato. More paving is possible provided irregation pipes are dug in under it.
Gino will return on Tuesday or Wednesday next week to take measurements for the pool. He seems to be quite focussed on our job at the moment and realises the importance of making decisions while we are still here.
Garden matters
Wisteria
Shortly after Martin arrived, he made an inspection of the state of the wisteria which he had pruned at the end of the summer. Wisteria really need two prunings – one in the autumn and one at the end of the winter. Ours only had one and from a very overgrown situation.
On arrival
The smaller branches should really have been pruned harder back towards the main structure, but that’s the bit that should have happened during the second pruning. Given the number of flower buds in evidence, I decided not to prune at this point and wait to see what develops.
Three weeks later: developing nicely
Better and better
Front garden
Our neighbours move their citrus trees into sheltered positions over winter (in pots). In fact, Frencesco and Mariagrazia have a temporary greenhouse on their veranda to accomodate their impressive collection. Once Stefano moved his lemon trees out into his field, we felt it would be OK to buy plants for our pots outside the front door. We went to the garden centre and bought a few plants.
Upper terrace clearance and fencing
While we were away, Andrea and his team came and cleared the top terraces. Brambles and delapidated fencing were removed and the bamboo cut down to ground level. We can now see from edge to edge of the upper garden and we need to replace plenty of fencing.
We discussed the fencing with Andrea who is happy to straighten the concrete posts and attach mesh fencing from the cancello (gate giving access to the gora) down to Lino’s garden. He is a little more wary of the fencing directly below the gora (see below). We also discussed installing some fencing from the existing laurel hedge to the back of the house. We can then attach green mesh to give Frnacesco and Mariagrazia a little more privacy (currently we can look across the back of the house directly at them when they are on their patio). Below that he will install a narrow gate to give us lockable access to the storm drain from the back of the house.
The gora
Andrea expressed some concern about replacing our existing broken concrete posts along the bottom of the terrace that contains the gora. He thinks they may be stabilising the terrace and the last thing we want is a land slip below the gora along with the resulting deluge of water. We have asked the geologo to assess the stability of that terrace and recommend whether or not we should construct a retaining wall (which could be very expensive),
The other day, Francesco took Martin up to look at the gora and made it clear in no uncertain terms that we need to clear a section of it. We already understood that from Domenico, but had assumed that the section that was already cleared had been done by Andrea. That turned out not to be the case, so some manual labour was in order.
The cleared section in the pictures below was probably done by Roberto.
The overgrown section is ours to maintain.
Work in progress:
The digging involves standing in the stream and cutting back the edge of the banks with a spade. All mud and vegetation gets piled up on the downhill bank to raise it ever so slightly. It’s quite physical and requires many breaks for an old man to recover.
Our section all dug out and strimmed:
Geometra meeting
We went to Gino’s office in Capannori to meet with him, Andrea, the geologo and the technico. We discussed our priorities, concerns with the gora, swimming pool options (above ground, in ground, half and half) and applying for permissions (CILA and full permissions).
Apparently, there is a hard limit of 100 square metres for any addition of impermeable surfaces in the garden. A 10m x 5m pool will account for half of that so there are limited options for further paving around the pool and in the rest of the garden. We were told that there are some options for using permeable surfaces and/or adding drainage to compensate.
Andrea is going on a trip to Poland and will start work on the permissions when he returns next week.
We booked in an appointment for the morning of Thursday 21 April for the geologo to inspect the gora, the swimming pool location and the rest of the garden.
It feels like we are getting some traction now.
Geometra delays – again
We had a meeting with Gino booked for this afternoon to discuss the results of the inspections, applying for the permissions and getting some work booked in. At about lunchtime, his sidekick Andrea got in touch by WhatsApp to say they didn’t need a meeting as the termotechnico would do the “structural verification” and they could just get on with the CILA (notification of works to be carried out that do not need at full and formal permission).
I made it clear that we needed a meeting and that we were expecting it to be this afternoon as arranged. In particular, we wanted to discuss these points:
- What the structural verification consists of and when it will take place.
- When the geologo will come for that inspection. We have specific questions regarding the gora.
- What work can start without any permission. e.g. renovation of the second floor bathroom.
- What works will be included in the CILA and how long it takes to get approved.
- What works will be included in the second stage permission and how long that takes to get approved.
- What recommendations the termotechnico has made.
- We would also like to consider adding a small internal vestibule at the front entrance. Does this need to be included in the CILA?
With a lot of tooing and froing by WhatsApp we rearranged the meeting to tke place this Thursday at their office and that the termotechnico and the geologo would both be present.
We also got clarification that all internal works including the replacement of windows can be covered by the CILA and that work can start immediately following submission (provided we can find contractors with availability of course).
The creation of the new kitchen door and modification of the existing one to a window will have to go through the full permissions process. Incredibly, so will the replacement of the shutters as we want to change the colour. It will take 3 to 6 months to get the approval.
For the bathrooms which are one of our most pressing issues, we can go ahead and choose the fixtures and fittings that we want. Gino and Andrea will need to source a builder/plumber to do the installations.
We established that we wanted to see the CILA before it is submitted to be sure it includes everything we have in mind. That is apparently the procedure and we’ll have to sign it and authorise them to make the submission.
So the plan is to get armed with our choice of bathroom fixtures and fittings before the meeting on Thursday. So we have a couple of showrooms to visit in the next day or so.
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