In certain wind conditions the drainage system has been getting pressurised slightly via the vent stack for the Biorock sewage treatment plant’s primary tank and lifting the Air Admittance Valves inside the house. The fix for this is to fit a wind-driven rotating ventilator cowl to the vent stack, which ensures that the drainage system stays under negative pressure whatever the wind direction.
More info in an update at the end of the Post for the Biorock unit.
To act as a bit of a wind-break and to help divide up a large expanse of grass there’s been a plan for a while to have a new hedge running at right angles to the existing boundary hedge and heading towards the south-west corner of the house.
Sue Hayward recommended Hornbeam which is a bit like Beech but much more tolerant of wet conditions (and it’s really quite wet near the boundary hedge). It’s a native species but more formal than Hawthorn or Blackthorn.
This is a perfect time of year to get bare-rooted plants into the ground and local company Woodgrow Horticulture supplied some nice 60-80cm specimens for less than £1 each. The hedge is 12m long and will be clipped to 1m wide (which is roughly the width of the bare soil in the photo). A staggered double row at 50cm spacing needed 47 plants.
