Soffit and fascia
 The wooden soffits and fascias have not been maintained and the paint is peeling. Builders suggested to me that the cost of stripping off the paint, priming and repainting was likely to be more than replacement and in any event by the time they did they they might find the soffit rotten anyway. Everyone I spoke to advised me to replace the wood with upvc, not an environmentally friendly material and not recylable at the end of its life. The house next door has upvc and I can see the advantage of there being virtually no maintenance required, especially as it is an expensive and difficult job working at high level. It meant also replacing the cast iron guttering with plastic, though that was in poor condition and leaking anyway.
Despite my qualms, I have followed everyone's advice and gone for upvc, which has been clad over the old wooden soffit and fascia. I just hope it lasts a long time to be worth using. Apparently the cast iron guttering can be recycled.
I tried to find recycled plastic soffit/fascia and gutters. Although recycled plastic companies are making decking, benches, tables and other outdoor furniture, none seem to do soffit, fascia or gutters. Some claim to use recycled plastic in their pvc building materials but it is in just a few products and the percentage of recycled material is not clear. Greenpeace have done a report on pvc which says that virtually none of the products claimed to have recycled pvc in them actually do and if so it is minimal. There are also damning reports on the lack of plastic recycling and that most is burnt or goes to landfill. So it appears there is a big gap in the market here and a lot of claims without any substance.
Peter and Aaron have a break!
Steps
The small steps at the back leading to the terrace were broken and needed repairing for safety. Using some new bricks and paving stones as well as some old bricks and rubble from the site for hardcore, these have been repaired.
Paving
The paving at the rear of the house was unpointed and grass and weeds continually grew through the paving. This was pointed.
Terraced beds
Part of the terracing of the garden at the front was unsupported and needed some kind of barrier to hold back the soil. Wooden half-rounds of chesnut made a good edging.
Trellis
There was some old trellis on the edge of the raised paved area at the back. This was rotten and had to be replaced for safety.
Shed
The outside shed was re-roofed.
Lean-to
I wanted to put a small lean-to on the back of the house which could incorporate a space for a log store. Having outside covered space is great for storage and hanging things out of the wet. This plan has been shelved because of cost.
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Outside works