zoothorn

I'm an english pig I'm afraid. Ive had a fair bit of anti-english here, from one rudely shoving themselves in midst of a chat, back of head at me 'murmur glad all that was in welsh not english' to make me feel welcome in vllg. But sarcasm, a campaign of nasty evil staring from another n'bor, BUT the main one is one welsh woman another n'bor who didnt like me/ anti-english from 1st moment I met her I sensed.. whose so manipulative & jealous she's getting anyone 'making friends' with me to become enemies. Ive even had a previously lovely student turn nasty & then steal small items from my house (she's the one whose encouraged this previously shy next door woman to become enflamed enough to have had this diatribe at me). PLUS her husband: tries to get his out of control dog onto my property: & dog mess- & a huge dog totally crazy he childishly throws its ball yds from my front drive, thinking Ive no ideas what he's doing, in order to get it to runaround my garden/ at me which it did once & scared me. Just this morning watched him him- throw/ try/ try.. gets bored/ goes inside. pathetic. But he's not welsh, from yorkshire.. thats just his nth/sth thing anti-me. Ive had all sorts of cr*p to tolerate. My 1st house Ive waited 20 yrs to be able to buy. I'l,l tell you what I've got more a thicker skin moreso than the feeling cr*p they used to successfully get me to be. They both always sarcastic waving/ smiling at me to rub it in too, thinking I don;'t know what they're up to/ they're too smart. So juvenile & sad.

I know I'm in my right to cut & give back the cuttings. But its the protocol, in this particular situation, that needs care. Even if we call this tree theirs I can still cut- you can see how big its become/ the stream boundary in only 1m LHS of the bow of the tree you can make out. Its what he might do, what 'protection' I should consider.. cameras in case of retribution (I'm adamant they will do so- but if not caught in act how can I proove? esp if n'bors on other side of me, their friends, have been bullies to me too. Now you see the point of my thread? One odd thing to add to the mix chaps, sorry I forgot to add, is that they're selling up! I know, daft as it sounds/ I mean why would they care so much? well.. 1) they're basically garden snobs snooting over my 1st efforts whio worry excessivley I'll ruin the tree 2) they won't be able to sell it- have tried twice before, old cold stone cttg, garden needs an expert, cramped, no Cheating, corrugated iron roof to one section/ diy built some of it, tiny bunkbed steps to 2 small rooms you can only stand in middle of/ kitchen needs 5k spent, huge beech tree looms over it 5k to chop, gdn OTT now.. a tiny niche market. THIS is why she's angry & stressed/, & taken it out on me. No TPO on the tree btw.

Hi- I bought a cottage in rural wales 2 yrs ago, & now trouble with my neighbours. I'm on my own, with couples around me been here for decades. It hasn't been easy- a fair bit of bullying to me. I share a stream boundary with 1 neighbour, along the long side. We're pretty close by. The issue: I have a few of their trees overhanging, 2 nice hawthorns ok for now, 1 huge Sycamore lower end.. 6m over. Also an ash (at a point 6ft up so say 3/4 of it) which tree surgeons, doing work on a tree of mine c/o PowerCo, said they could cut down FOC. Yes pls! a pain/ big foliage barrier to house view/ light. But 1st permission needed by them > got asap by a signature of MrX in his shop > came back. Job done. When MrsX came back 6pm > stormed round > rude / angry (didnt know- MrX tried to call but mob didnt work he said). I apologised sincerely twice. He was fine about job, rolled his eyes "give her time.. I thought she wanted it down".. "I know, you both told me so before!". They did. A year on & I ask to trim 2m off side of the huge Syc, all I can reach/ not much. Last year MrX advised I did this, an expert's advice to a novice gardener as I am. So MrX says 'yeah no prob' this time as expected. I ask further any idea how I'd get up high to continue 2m line.. 'mm I'll have a word'/ stalling. So I gently said "well I can in theory cut to boundary by law, but won't MrX out of respect, of course I wouldn't". Not threateningly, just a point made. Prior to this he said its NOT his tree 'Water Authority's that.. but we claim it' as its on edge of his & unregistered land: a grey area Ive been unable to clarify as plans are so small/ vague/ hopeless- BUT- woman at LandReg said there's an unregistered thin area, on their side, along whole stream bank dividing us (in which case theyve claimed this too but no issue with lovely plants on it). So this damn thing is most likely on unregistered land, but not established as such. A gentle friendly invite to MrsX last week/ a few basic gardening Q's ok I asked? she came round & blew her top, abuse/ threatening if I should 'dare touch that tree!!' nasty claptrap inc comments re. my parents. Awful behaviour making it out I was to blame. I told her to leave, calmly, but I am furious with her. So, this gives me the opportunity to trim a proper 3.5m off. Not out of spite -no- but bc I need to put a log cabin in my lower garden, 3+m of Syc at the moment is over the top of it, & creating a dark lower area. Tree surgeon came round, MrX glaring at him a few metres away & he was a bit intimidated. Toxic atmosphere. MrX had an episode vs opposite side landowners many yrs ago.. police invloved. So not an easy situation to progress. My builder, no1 in area, a local whose family goes back 10 generations, said 'I can do it.. won't have hassle to me'. Ok the right man for the job. But what about fireworks afterwards? retribution to my trees? what about protocol: do they deserve a warning that I'll be carrying out some tree work? thanks zootH

Ive got onto Stopdigging, seem to be the big groundscrew Co afaict, & getting a quote to me for couple of their guys to come/ put in I think 8 of them needed. Terrific- never even knew what a groundcrew existed until this thread. Will update. thanks zoot

Hi JSHarris, totally understood, thanks for the information. I'd never name real names, either myself/ a**h*le neighbour "Igor" (I get radio alarm clock.. then he get radio alarm clock) no no. Its just general advice & protocol on a simple matter. It just seems full of sensible helpful chaps on here afaict.

I haven't heard about this.. only max H of such a thing no more than 4m in wales. Sounds like the groundscrew is the right thing for the job to me, & hopefully that £900 can be totally slashed! Im all www'ing tmrw on where/ cost etc. Excellent help- so grateful chaps. Btw- is this a decent place to ask about a neighbour dispute re. a flippin great big tree? asked on a gardening forum (& this base Q.. all snooty tooty noses in the air dericate frowers those lot! urgh).

Hi PeterW.. please explain a Rebar? hole borer > concrete fill.. along with groundscrew ideas: make SO much more sense to me. But who am I, a total novice, though to question my builders' innitial ideas1&2? I need help on how to put any new ideas to him w'out seeming like I'm a sniffy royal pita.

I'll look into the ground screws idea.. have a feeling these are bang-up-to-date solution jobbies.. may just be the ticket, and, may not be in my 64yr old builders' knowledge if so recent a design. But how, should either still shift even a wee bit over time, could I 'jack up' these do-da's?

What I'd have thought best.. in theory.. is surely if these 2 supports could be A) as thin as possible to minimise any hole collapse & rule out as much excavation as possible, & B) deep enough to mitigate against instability. I'm thinking.. again in theory.. of the steel twisty post things/ but bigger/4x as high/ pro done, & somehow tethered to the bank side. Does this idea4 have legs?

Its soft ground.. but if you look at my 2nd pic, the hole would need to be twds very edge of the 'step'/ where the wonky post is on edge of. How coukld a hole be dug here without the side collapsing? I thought of those mini digger probs too.

what is a cantilevered shed?

Ok so in order to dig a hole for a shutter, in my eg/ 4 support points for a 500kg max log cabin/ fancyshed.. does it A) have to be done with a mini digger, B) have to go down to hit 'solid' ground, & C) would a mini digger of 1 ton bugger up going across my new lawn?

Hi Dave- are the 'piles' (I only know the other type..) you refer to, effectively what my builder refers to in idea1? When you say don'y build too close.. you mean to stream, not house I guess? can someone explain what 'shutter' means? Does this idea3 have legs: re-use an old telegragh pole, do the concrete block idea with a 2m section of pole set in the middle. Top of it cut off at precise H > big notch for a solid timber beam to slot into. Any thoughts on this? Ideally this tricky side Id want something I could adjust for height, should there be any 'creep' over time wouldn't I? Appreciated, zoot

Hi chaps- terrific helps thanks (just seen I got these replies!). 'Shed on slope'.. some things are so obvious eh? I'll look into that. Interesting ^.. certainly feasable as 2 for the easy side.. but I'm talking maybe a 3/4m height gap on the RHS: Id need something similar, but 3x as heavy duty/ tall to go deep, as ground here isn't so solid. The stream nearby compromising the ground in the adjacent area. Do you think my quote of £900 (that's not even including anything above the 4 concrete blocks, not even pillar things prior to a base).. is OTT? Appreciated, zootH

Hi all- my 1st thread. My lower garden is narrow 15m with a tricky ~45* slope, down to a stream: a near unuseable area due to profile. My plan to best use it, is to put a 3.5x3.5m log cabin 'across' it, making best use of area & 'covering over' the slope visually. The left side/ easy surely.. but the right side's slope away is the issue, to create support for a base ontop up from here. My builder had 2 ideas (& a hefty quote not inc a base optop- £900). Idea1: exacvate & "shutter 4 300x300mm concrete columns, 2 shallow, 2 deep stream side". Idea2: excavate, nip/ pull one side across, to a barrier (posts/ stacked gravel boards?)/ filling up this side.. to create a level patch. So 4 coners 'pillars' idea? My concern is as ground is not the most stable on slope side, wouldn't a block maybe 'shift' over time pulling the base down & sideways? My concern with Idea2 is the pressure/ weight against the boards, & the new levelled ground 'settling/ sinking a bit over time, with concrete base on > cabin ontop of. Any other ideas? a pic of the lower end, looking to where the front of cabin would be (2nd pic reverse view). Thanks zH

Hi- I'm english Im afraid. Bought my 1st house after 20 yrs of not being able to in england, finally in wales. Quite run down, done a fair bit without prior experience- but stuff to do now trickier so your opinions, & advice if you would gents! thanks zH