Just watched gardeners from hell on ITV. Bitterly disappointed not to get a
mention.......

Mind you there were some extreme cases, including a murder over some
clematis clippings!

Maybe that was what squeezed me out.

Steve

Just watched gardeners from hell on ITV. Bitterly disappointed not to get a
mention.......

Mind you there were some extreme cases, including a murder over some
clematis clippings!

I also watched this programme and was amazed at the amount of money that some
people were prepared to part with on the promise of work being done at some
time in the future, knowing full well that the work carried out so far was
shoddy in the extreme. Needless to say the contractors never turned up to
finish the job, let alone correct the awful work that had been done.

Other than the man shot dead for putting some clematis clippings in the wrong
place, I think that the council contractors who carried out work (weeding and
removal of some shrubs) that led to a house needing to be demolished had to be
the worst story on the whole programme.

All in all I think that this was an interesting programme, and if you haven't
seen it but get the chance to at a later date, I'd suggest that you take the
opportunity. Very informative and funny too.

Happy gardening (but don't get too carried away).

Dave.

In article ,
DaveDay34 wrote:
Other than the man shot dead for putting some clematis clippings in the wrong
place, I think that the council contractors who carried out work (weeding and
removal of some shrubs) that led to a house needing to be demolished had to be
the worst story on the whole programme.

How on earth did they achieve that? Pull out a mature laurel from
next to a 17th century cottage with a mechanical digger? I can't
think of much else that could do the job.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren,
University of Cambridge Computing Service,
New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
Email:
Tel.: +44 1223 334761 Fax: +44 1223 334679

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
DaveDay34 wrote:
Other than the man shot dead for putting some clematis clippings in the
wrong
place, I think that the council contractors who carried out work (weeding
and
removal of some shrubs) that led to a house needing to be demolished had
to be
the worst story on the whole programme.

How on earth did they achieve that? Pull out a mature laurel from
next to a 17th century cottage with a mechanical digger? I can't
think of much else that could do the job.

Yeh, it was frustrating to me that the programme makers didn't explain how
the house was supposedly destroyed by the gardeners.

(Nick Maclaren) wrote in
:

In article ,
DaveDay34 wrote:
Other than the man shot dead for putting some clematis clippings in
the wrong place, I think that the council contractors who carried out
work (weeding and removal of some shrubs) that led to a house needing
to be demolished had to be the worst story on the whole programme.

How on earth did they achieve that? Pull out a mature laurel from
next to a 17th century cottage with a mechanical digger? I can't
think of much else that could do the job.

Pretty much that, I think - though the house wasn't that old (30's at a
guess?). Apparently they used a very big mechanical digger right next to
the foundations, where there were a lot of mature shrubs. There was a shot
of a trench which looked like it was right next to the house wall.

But it also said that the council had not admited liability, and it did
seem a bit odd that a house of that age would collapse just because of
digging next to the foundations.

It was not what you'd call a balanced program, so there may already have
been some problem that the diggers made worse.

Victoria

"Victoria Clare" wrote in message
.217...
(Nick Maclaren) wrote in
:

In article ,
DaveDay34 wrote:
Other than the man shot dead for putting some clematis clippings in
the wrong place, I think that the council contractors who carried out
work (weeding and removal of some shrubs) that led to a house needing
to be demolished had to be the worst story on the whole programme.

How on earth did they achieve that? Pull out a mature laurel from
next to a 17th century cottage with a mechanical digger? I can't
think of much else that could do the job.

Pretty much that, I think - though the house wasn't that old (30's at a
guess?). Apparently they used a very big mechanical digger right next to
the foundations, where there were a lot of mature shrubs. There was a
shot
of a trench which looked like it was right next to the house wall.

But it also said that the council had not admited liability, and it did
seem a bit odd that a house of that age would collapse just because of
digging next to the foundations.

It was not what you'd call a balanced program, so there may already have
been some problem that the diggers made worse.

Victoria

The foundations provide a supportive base for the building and the type of
soil depends on the type of foundation.
Also surrounding soil, plants etc. affect the stability of the foundations
..... hence distances of trees being planted close/far to a house as they can
use up quite a lot of water and a reason for when removing large trees to do
the tree removal in stages.
Changes and shifts in surrounding soil can affect the stability of the
foundations ... and you should be very careful about digging a trench right
next to a building especially where it has the potential of undermining the
stability of the foundations as my guess would be that it would act like a
kind of subsidence.
I didn't see that part of the programme but from what's been described -
mature shrubs being removed and a trench right next to the house, let alone
what damage/knocks the digger did to the house foundations when digging the
trench I'm not surprised it collapsed regardless of its age!
L

I think from the pictures in the local paper that it was quite an old house
(most of that part of Aldershot is Victorian, though some is newer - had it
been one of the oldest ones it probably would have been safer because of the
cellar, which might have been deeper than the foundations of the newer
ones). Also, although some of the shots on the show looked as if the house
was literally falling down, it actually had to be pulled down (not as
spectacular for the cameras of course). They did seem to have used a big
mechanical digger right up to the house walls.

Karen