House renovation and garage build

[Craikeybaby]

As well as being at Coventry Motofest for most of the weekend, I managed to make some good progress on the garden before the builders start tomorrow morning.

After work on Friday I had a mammoth session, on my own, as Jen was out

• Woodblocx sent down the extra brackets I needed earlier in the week, so I fitted the rest of the capping to the raised bed. I've mentioned it before, but I'm very impressed with Woodblocx.
• Sieved another 6 wheelbarrow loads of topsoil, adding 4 to the raised bed and using 2 to backfill behind the raised bed.
• Replanted the strawberries and herbs, which were in the old bed.
• Planted the leeks and chillies, which I'd grown from seeds, also an oregano plant Jen had bought.
• Finally just as it was getting dark I managed to get the lawn cut, I imagine that the next few weeks are going to mess the lawn up

Raised bed complete by Lewis Craik, on Flickr

Saturday morning I cleared a route for the trench for the electric cable to be dug - fortunately when we met with the builder last week, he said he'd be able to get one of his lads to do that, which is good as it was a task I wasn't looking forward to. I felt a bit guilty filling the garden waste bin with plants Jen's granddad had no doubt spent ages cultivating, and no doubt I'll get a bking when Jen and her Mum get back from Spain Or maybe they'll be more annoyed about all the flowerpots and seed trays etc that I binned today. Either way, they swanned off, leaving me in charge, so they should have sorted it before they went.

Anyway, this is how the garden looked earlier today, before I did a final tidy up, I'm sure its going to change lots over the next days and weeks:

Where the garage will go by Lewis Craik, on Flickr

[SunsetZed]

It's looking great buddy, don't worry about the flowers/pots/trays they'll soon be forgotten or if the rubbish is collected before they return then half of it probably won't be noticed as missing!

[Craikeybaby]

I'm not worried about it, they knew if they wanted to keep it they had to move it. The MIL seems to think we should have left everything exactly the same as it was when we grew up, so all changes are met with resistance

The builder has arrived, but is waiting for a skip/digger to be delivered, the electrician who was meant to be here to arrage when the cable to the garage can be run has been called out to deal with the aftermath of a flood at my office over the weekend - I'm glad I decided to work from home this morning!

[Craikeybaby]

Progress after the first morning:

Garage progress after the first morning by Lewis Craik, on Flickr

I've come into the office as I thought it would be a bit quieter, but after the leak at the weekend, there's dehumidifiers going, so not much better.

[Craikeybaby]

After the first day - it looks like most of the foundations have been dug:

Garage progress after the first day by Lewis Craik, on Flickr

[Griff Boy]

Great to see the next stage of work starting. You'll be amazed how fast it'll go up!

I'm going to google woodblox now as well!

[Craikeybaby]

Griff Boy said:

Great to see the next stage of work starting. You'll be amazed how fast it'll go up!

I'm going to google woodblox now as well!

Hopefully! The builder has allocated 4 weeks for the build, so we'll see how it goes. A lot of people have been interested in the Woodblocx, I think they are a great product.

When I got home this evening there was a large pile of bricks on the street outside, hopefully they will still be there tomorrow morning:

We have bricks! by Lewis Craik, on Flickr

I was also surprised to see the guys still working, it turned out the concrete had arrived late, so they were here until gone 18:30 getting the foundations finished:

Garage progress after the second day by Lewis Craik, on Flickr

Assuming the rain holds off they are going to start laying bricks tomorrow! There was talk of the cable for the electrics being laid tomorrow, but the trench hasn't been dug yet, the builder and electrician have worked together before, so they should be able to work it out between them.

[Craikeybaby]

Next to no progress today as the weather has been terrible, some of the bricks have been moved into the garden, but that's it. The forecast is better for tomorrow though.

[Craikeybaby]

More progress today, some bricks got laid!

Garage progress after the fourth day by Lewis Craik, on Flickr

[Craikeybaby]

The engineering bricks/blocks have been laid to floor height and the main walls have been started:

Garage progress after the fifth day by Lewis Craik, on Flickr

There are going to be block piers either side of both the doors, so as the Hormann door is fitted behind the opening, I'm going to ask for the edge of the opening to be brick, rather than brick then block. The floor should be down before I head off to Le Mans Wednesday evening.

[league67]

I'm reading these threads, all these great builds, and I'm in complete awe at how quickly people do things. And I'm fighting with plumbers to move stuff in bathroom no3, for 2 1/2 weeks now.

Really well done to all. Excellent build here.

[Craikeybaby]

Thanks, if it makes you feel any better, I'm not doing the building and I wanted to have the garage ready to prepare my car for Le Mans. The front room project dragged on a bit and I didn't want to start the garage until that was done, so it will be about 6 weeks behind schedule.

We did have a target to get the dining room (currently temporary garage) finished by the end of August as we were due to inherit a dining table and chairs from my folks, but it doesn't look like their house is going to be sold by then, so may have some leeway there.

Edited by Craikeybaby on Saturday 7th June 12:03

[league67]

Craikeybaby said:

Thanks, if it makes you feel any better, I'm not doing the building and I wanted to have the garage ready to prepare my car for Le Mans. The front room project dragged on a bit and I didn't want to start the garage until that was done, so it will be about 6 weeks behind schedule.

We did have a target to get the dining room (currently temporary garage) finished by the end of August as we were due to inherit a dining table and chairs from my folks, but it doesn't look like their house is going to be sold by then, so may have some leeway there.

Edited by Craikeybaby on Saturday 7th June 12:03

Well, your thread gave me proverbial kick that I needed.

I replaced ceiling lights on two stairways! (and I'm procrastinating clearing the garage )

The lawn looks like something that I want, once I get landscaper in to level mine.

[Craikeybaby]

You've got to start somewhere! The lawn is a lot better than last year after a lot of advice from the PH lawn threads & the lawnsmith website and a day with an electric lawn rake.

[paulrockliffe]

Looks good! Just seen your woodblox thing, it looks like your down spout from the veranda thing is going to keep your woodblox permanently damp in the winter? Maybe it's the angle of the picture, but I'd be tempted to fit some sort of protection there just to make sure the wood lasts as long as possible.

To avoid spoiling the look something like a sacrificial piece of ply (sealed etc first) with a piece of DPM behind would do the job?

[Craikeybaby]

Thanks.

I hadn't thought of that, the plan is to try and lose the centre pillar when we redo the verandah next year, or at least move the down pipe to one of the ends. As that is a job for next year I'll sort something for the winter.

[Craikeybaby]

It has been a busy day at 119!

The builders have built 2 more corners and made good progress on the left wall, and the hardcore for under the floor has been delivered. The electricians have laid the cables from the outside bog to the garage - they were doing some stuff at the office this morning and said my garage was the next job on their list, and they were still there at 18:30 when I got home. They had to drill through from the outside loo and the bricks were putting up a good fight - it is literally built like a brick st house!

Despite repeated assurances from the builder the trench hadn't been dug, which was annoying as I'd have dug it myself if he hadn't said he was going to get his lads to do it.


Garage progress after the sixth day by Lewis Craik, on Flickr

Garage progress after the sixth day by Lewis Craik, on Flickr

Edited by Craikeybaby on Monday 9th June 23:27

[Craikeybaby]

No progress today as the builder had to look after his kids, but he's coming in on Saturday with an extra brickie to catch up. Hopefully I'll be able to get some progress updates from Jen whilst I'm at Le Mans.

[Pixel-Snapper]

Damn! wish I'd have checked your progress sooner mate, I'd have come for the wood and saved you the cost of the skip.

Would have gone up nicely in the log burner. Hey-ho

Garage is coming on well though.

[Craikeybaby]

I thought about putting the old garage in the woodburner, but decided against it, the outside was covered in black gunk and mould. No more progress today, but have spoken to the builder and they are on track to get the roof on next week!