Tom Islip Landscaping

It's a wrap on this one.

Transform the corner to create a usable, private area for relaxing afternoons with a book and a glass of wine.

This space is around 18m x 18m and shows what you can have with a bit of imagination and inspiration.

Pretty proud of this one.

Will miss being here. Well looked after!

All timber and decking from the wonderful Dickson Timber

Just the path and planting left on this project. Thoroughly enjoyed and well looked after by my lovely clients (who happened to call me a genius today!! Thanks! You know who you are)

Hexagonal gazebo caused lots of mathematical headaches, but has come out nicely.
Fixed internal benches and a bespoke table (not quite finished) for placing wine and beer!
Real slate roof with composite ridge tiles probably caused the biggest mathematical headache. Half a day spent working out rafter angles!

Composite Prime Redux decking in shadow also caused some head scratching with the random puddle shape.

Timber and decking from the wonderful Dickson Timber as usual.

Benches in, just roof tiles to go on this hexagonal gazebo.
Been such an enjoyable build.

Timber and awesome service from Dickson Timber as usual.

Good progress on my current project.

Completely random shaped deck has been a challenge, but bar a bit more shaping, it's looking good. It's certainly been a head scratcher!

Dickson Timber again with excellent material supplying, including the redux by Composite Prime

That's a wrap on this garden cottage and play zone in Leeds.
Absolutely loved it, and the families children seem to share the same love.
Great timber and Great service, as always from Dickson Timber.
Zip line, super slide, large climbing wall, bucket swing, Redux decking and fascias in cashmere by Composite Prime and a lovely cottage with cedar shingle roof, waney edge larch cladding and panoramic window to make the most of the views.

Absolutely loving this job. Bespoke hexagonal gazebo, tucked under a lovely silver birch.
It will have a slate roof, solid back walls for privacy and a bench around five of the sides.

The gazebo will lead out to a flush, curved, redux deck. With planting packing out the new borders.

Projects like this make me excited to get back to work the next day.

Sometimes (rarely 🤫) we make mistakes, but what sets us apart is how we deal with the issue. We won't run off with your money, we wont ignore your calls and we won't argue that everything is fine, when it's not.

What we will do is find solutions and fix the problem.

This raised area was built with a bitumen felt floor, which kept the under area watertight. Nice an easy, but it had got very old.
The client asked us if she could have a nice new deck, but keep the area below watertight. Of course! I said, never wanting to say no to anyone.
It all went swimmingly, looked amazing. Id come up with a way to fall the water between each joist to an underside gutter system and taken to a drain. For those interested, I attached battens to each side of the joists, with a decent fall. On top of those I measured nailed some marine ply. I then used exterior sealant to seal the edges and then gave it a nice thick layer of bitumin paint.
All good for a few weeks, client was happy. Then it started leaking.
Thinking water was passing between the edge joists and the fascia boards and creeping along the joins of the t&g ceiling, I took the fascias off and pretty much sealed every little nook and cranny I could find, convinced this would do the trick.
A couple of dry months later, it started leaking again. It wasn't just the odd drip, a decent amount was coming through, it needed sorting.
Many sleepless nights were spent thinking up ideas on a fix. Should I take the ceiling off and inspect from underneath, and plug any gaps? That would cost too much, t&g is cheap.
I decided that this would cause undue stress for a long time if not sorted properly. The only thing to do was take it up and see whats happening from the top. This meant fascias off, balustrades off, deck boards up. Fix problem and put it all back again. Absolutely galling, but it had to be done.
It turned out to be the right plan. The sealant I had used had failed. It hadnt adhered to the timber. The bitumin paint had diluted in the winter weather and was looking awful. Possibly a materials failure, possibly wrong time of year.
The plan to fix, paint again with a very generous amount of fibre reinforced roofing acrylic paint. Staple waterproof membrane over each joist gap and then joist tape over the staples. Roofing felt to also come right down the edge joists, add a pvc corner trim and then everything back together.

£80 in materials and one and a half days labour. All lost money, but absolutely necessary to have the job done right. And now I can sleep at night again!

So if anyone wants a watertight raised deck, I'm now incredibly experienced in what will and will not work!!!

The first picture shows a years worth of weathering of this cedar bench, even with a uv based oil covering.
The oil does however stop the weathering from penetrating into the timber, so with a good sand it's back to its original best, ready for a new coat of oil.
New coffee table in its place, matching perfectly.

Balustrades going on.
Not something you see every day, and certainly doesn't conform to the trends of today, but I absolutely love it.
Peeled posts and regular treated rails with coppiced branches only cut on monday, from Hazel, birch and a couple of oak too.
Here at TIL we are all about traditional, rustic, sustainable and fitting in with the natural surroundings.