New restoration project - what have I done!
Discussion
Griff Boy said:
Podie said:
Having spent my weekend laying a laminate floor for the first time, I have nothing but awe for what you are doing.
Lol, I've just ordered some of the first floor flooring.... 115 packs at 1.77m2 per pack. Enough to do the kitchen, lounge, 1 x hall and the snug. My back really isn't going to like that job! Still, at least you'll get plenty of full sized boards in
5potTurbo said:
If you can relocate that beech hedge to my boundary, that'd be great, thanks 
We've about 100 "twigs with some leaves" at the moment, so we're a little "exposed" for a few years!
Hmmm, North East Scotland to Luxemburg in a dumper track that does a max of 14mph full of beech hedges! Roughly 800 miles.... Only about 55 days to get there, not allowing for sleep, wee stops, food or refuelling..... Hmmmmm :-) We've about 100 "twigs with some leaves" at the moment, so we're a little "exposed" for a few years!
Dug a flower bed this afternoon, 45m x 1.5m.... Then back filled with 30 tonnes of top soil, ready for planting now.
Also, had a JCB on site today to load the spoil from the Tarmac, took 8 trips with a 20 tonne load on an 8 wheeler.
Was all going well until I hit an old mains cable for the house behind us! Bloody thing was under the Tarmac not on the SSE plans! Not taped or marked and only about 12" under the surface. Still bloody frustrating to hit it and break it. Even had a spotter watching for me! Still, after an apology to the neighbour and 3 hours for the Hydro to splice in a repair it's all sorted and done. Still something strange watching a guy handle a live 100 amp three phase cable with a pair of marigold (branded marigold honestly!) rubber gloves on! No chance of catching me doing that!
Also, had a JCB on site today to load the spoil from the Tarmac, took 8 trips with a 20 tonne load on an 8 wheeler.
Was all going well until I hit an old mains cable for the house behind us! Bloody thing was under the Tarmac not on the SSE plans! Not taped or marked and only about 12" under the surface. Still bloody frustrating to hit it and break it. Even had a spotter watching for me! Still, after an apology to the neighbour and 3 hours for the Hydro to splice in a repair it's all sorted and done. Still something strange watching a guy handle a live 100 amp three phase cable with a pair of marigold (branded marigold honestly!) rubber gloves on! No chance of catching me doing that!
Griff Boy said:
Was all going well until I hit an old mains cable for the house behind us! Bloody thing was under the Tarmac not on the SSE plans! Not taped or marked and only about 12" under the surface. Still bloody frustrating to hit it and break it. Even had a spotter watching for me! Still, after an apology to the neighbour and 3 hours for the Hydro to splice in a repair it's all sorted and done. Still something strange watching a guy handle a live 100 amp three phase cable with a pair of marigold (branded marigold honestly!) rubber gloves on! No chance of catching me doing that!
Are you going to get stung for the bill, or will SSE swallow the cost on account of the duff plans?hidetheelephants said:
Are you going to get stung for the bill, or will SSE swallow the cost on account of the duff plans?
That's the question! I've spoken to the local team leader about it, and he says I took due care and all correct precautions so I'll have to write to them when the bill comes in and explain all this, but I would imagine I will have to pay something towards it. Already cost me £25 for a bunch of flowers for the neighbour to apologise, which I think is the least I should do for her.tleefox said:
Unless utilities companies operate differently North of the Border to South, the bill will be coming your way I'm afraid!
I had a good argument with National Grid when I dug through a gas pipe. The charge was excessive at around £500 for labour and £1 for a part. I told them that I considered it in excess of the actual loss they had sustained because they had to have those members of staff on standby employed on that day in any case so incurred no labour cost, simple the cost of fuel to get there and the £1 for the part. Eventually they conceded that they could not produce any breakdown as to why that labour charge was appropriate so waived the whole lot.Muncher said:
I had a good argument with National Grid when I dug through a gas pipe. The charge was excessive at around £500 for labour and £1 for a part. I told them that I considered it in excess of the actual loss they had sustained because they had to have those members of staff on standby employed on that day in any case so incurred no labour cost, simple the cost of fuel to get there and the £1 for the part. Eventually they conceded that they could not produce any breakdown as to why that labour charge was appropriate so waived the whole lot.
Excellent Muncher! I love stories like this. If only other people actually considered the 'give me a breakdown of the cost' option for negotiating these issues. Well done!NH1 said:
Are DNOs allowed to run someone elses cable across your land, if they bill you tell them to shift it.
Yes, and they manage their records to show the utilities so that on application of a buried services search they can show where their infrastructure is, having said that, it's not perfect.I'm currently waiting for a HV cable to be moved to allow a lift installation, I can expedite it at my expense (10's of thousands), but in this case they are renewing (and moving) it at their cost but also in their timeframe. So my project will have to wait.
Good effort. Massive machinery is the only way to do serious gardening. As for the spoil, we created a very nice bund round the pond - saved us a fortune. We only had a bund because we'd already filled part of the (piped)dyke in and couldn't fit in any more. With a bit of grass over the top, it looks grand.
It's going to be a really splendid place. Just hope, with the size of it, your Mrs doesn't do Farrow & Ball!
It's going to be a really splendid place. Just hope, with the size of it, your Mrs doesn't do Farrow & Ball!
skintemma said:
Good effort. Massive machinery is the only way to do serious gardening. As for the spoil, we created a very nice bund round the pond - saved us a fortune. We only had a bund because we'd already filled part of the (piped)dyke in and couldn't fit in any more. With a bit of grass over the top, it looks grand.
It's going to be a really splendid place. Just hope, with the size of it, your Mrs doesn't do Farrow & Ball!
Hey Emma, It's going to be a really splendid place. Just hope, with the size of it, your Mrs doesn't do Farrow & Ball!
We did think of something similar but the scale of the spoil coming out meant it was never going to work. Have so far removed over 180 tonnes of Tarmac and sub base out of the place. Also I've needed to drop the levels slightly in order to try to blend in the new lawn area to the old lawn area.
And no farrow and ball just yet, although she has started reading 'Period Homes' magazine which is a bit concerning!
Another digger update! Lost count if the days no with a flurry of digger induced mania!
Well, the original 100 tonnes delivered was no where near enough, so I had to get another 60 tonnes of soil in and roughly (and I mean Roughly!) levelled with the digger...
Hedges out, and most if the site cleared, you can see how it's starting to open the garden out more.
Next job was the graded top soil, sieved and round up treated. Got a good deal at 6 per tonne delivered from a local contractor I know, result! So another 80 tonnes of the graded top soil delivered. Must confess the digger mania had really set in when he arrived, came up to me and said "Hello mate, I've got a load of the "good stuff" for ya!' Felt like a drug dealer!
So this is the garden as of last night, guess what I'm doing today?
Also managed to get a friend over yesterday and do the job I've not been looking forward to, finding and exposing the main incoming cable to the house ready for the SSE to change over to the new supply next week. This was one of the triggers to get the digger in, which then grew arms and legs to doing the garden! Man maths at their best. Either pay 1000 to SSE for a digging team to drive up from Dundee to dig the pit and channel for the new supply on top of the 1200 I've already had to pay for the disconnection and new connection, or do it myself at a hire cost of 550 per week for the digger and dumper truck..... No brainer really!
Still, I didn't fancy the job of digging through Tarmac to find a 30-40 year old cable under the back of the house with a 5.5 tonne digger! For the record, I can now flip a 10p coin with a digger arm from 40 feet, I could even play operation with the bloody thing now!
So, found the cable using a CAT detector, after 30 mins of water divining, the started to dig down in 10mm layers (or at least seemed that way!) to confuse matters I found 4 cables all jumbled together, and old one, just cut off, two armoured and a huge beast of a cable, so good knows which one they need! This was all in amongst the drainage at the back of the house, which two down pipes and a soil pipe within the same 3 ft area! Bloody typical.
Anyway, pit dug, excavated, all personal still alive and kicking!
Well, the original 100 tonnes delivered was no where near enough, so I had to get another 60 tonnes of soil in and roughly (and I mean Roughly!) levelled with the digger...
Hedges out, and most if the site cleared, you can see how it's starting to open the garden out more.
Next job was the graded top soil, sieved and round up treated. Got a good deal at 6 per tonne delivered from a local contractor I know, result! So another 80 tonnes of the graded top soil delivered. Must confess the digger mania had really set in when he arrived, came up to me and said "Hello mate, I've got a load of the "good stuff" for ya!' Felt like a drug dealer!
So this is the garden as of last night, guess what I'm doing today?
Also managed to get a friend over yesterday and do the job I've not been looking forward to, finding and exposing the main incoming cable to the house ready for the SSE to change over to the new supply next week. This was one of the triggers to get the digger in, which then grew arms and legs to doing the garden! Man maths at their best. Either pay 1000 to SSE for a digging team to drive up from Dundee to dig the pit and channel for the new supply on top of the 1200 I've already had to pay for the disconnection and new connection, or do it myself at a hire cost of 550 per week for the digger and dumper truck..... No brainer really!
Still, I didn't fancy the job of digging through Tarmac to find a 30-40 year old cable under the back of the house with a 5.5 tonne digger! For the record, I can now flip a 10p coin with a digger arm from 40 feet, I could even play operation with the bloody thing now!
So, found the cable using a CAT detector, after 30 mins of water divining, the started to dig down in 10mm layers (or at least seemed that way!) to confuse matters I found 4 cables all jumbled together, and old one, just cut off, two armoured and a huge beast of a cable, so good knows which one they need! This was all in amongst the drainage at the back of the house, which two down pipes and a soil pipe within the same 3 ft area! Bloody typical.
Anyway, pit dug, excavated, all personal still alive and kicking!
Great work!
My jobs for the weekend are digging a trench for the electric cable to the garage, levelling a section of garden & building a raised bed, but as ever seeing what you're doing makes me realise that it is actually a small job. The difference in scale of our projects is nuts - as much as I'd like to have a go in a digger, I'll only be using a spade & wheelbarrow to save trashing the rest of the garden.
My jobs for the weekend are digging a trench for the electric cable to the garage, levelling a section of garden & building a raised bed, but as ever seeing what you're doing makes me realise that it is actually a small job. The difference in scale of our projects is nuts - as much as I'd like to have a go in a digger, I'll only be using a spade & wheelbarrow to save trashing the rest of the garden.
Quick update, unfortunately the big boyz toys have had to go back to the hire company, for use by a proper builder instead!
Fortunately the timing worked out about right, I had the plant machinery for 6 1/2 days and worked them for at least 9 hours a day, so pretty much earned their keep. The planning worked out ok, as we managed to get everything done that needed done and even time to set up a washing station ready for them being picked up!
The decent top soil was moved out by the digger roughly, but although it's a great piece of kit, it's not a pecision tool and can only do so much. So once it was roughly spread, I didn't want to drive over it as I was concerned about compacting it too much. So it's out with the spade and rake! Started levelling an area roughly 250m2 with 80 tonnes of graded top soil. Just two of us working today, as my labourer buggered off to Glasgow for a weekend on the pish!
Didn't get it finished, but you can see the idea.
Also, finally managed to get a few things down, the holly bush has gone from the back of the garden. Nearly filling a 20ft roll on skip! It worked out about 40ft high and had 9 trunks. But wasn't a match for the digger!
Garden with the holly bush.
|http://thumbsnap.com/zNKchy4z[/url]
And as it went!
|http://thumbsnap.com/GSrhliMr[/url]
|http://thumbsnap.com/6uVAViPb[/url]
Also, tele tubby hill has gone, RIP. I found out it had been formed by a group of parents about 12 years ago in order to recreate the tele tubby hill for the kids, one of the parents who volunteered saw me digging it out and told me the story! Ooops!
Tele tubby hill
And starting to go on digger cam......
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Fortunately the timing worked out about right, I had the plant machinery for 6 1/2 days and worked them for at least 9 hours a day, so pretty much earned their keep. The planning worked out ok, as we managed to get everything done that needed done and even time to set up a washing station ready for them being picked up!
The decent top soil was moved out by the digger roughly, but although it's a great piece of kit, it's not a pecision tool and can only do so much. So once it was roughly spread, I didn't want to drive over it as I was concerned about compacting it too much. So it's out with the spade and rake! Started levelling an area roughly 250m2 with 80 tonnes of graded top soil. Just two of us working today, as my labourer buggered off to Glasgow for a weekend on the pish!
Didn't get it finished, but you can see the idea.
Also, finally managed to get a few things down, the holly bush has gone from the back of the garden. Nearly filling a 20ft roll on skip! It worked out about 40ft high and had 9 trunks. But wasn't a match for the digger!
Garden with the holly bush.
|http://thumbsnap.com/zNKchy4z[/url]And as it went!
|http://thumbsnap.com/GSrhliMr[/url]|http://thumbsnap.com/6uVAViPb[/url]Also, tele tubby hill has gone, RIP. I found out it had been formed by a group of parents about 12 years ago in order to recreate the tele tubby hill for the kids, one of the parents who volunteered saw me digging it out and told me the story! Ooops!
Tele tubby hill
And starting to go on digger cam......
[url][url][url]Craikeybaby said:
Great work!
My jobs for the weekend are digging a trench for the electric cable to the garage, levelling a section of garden & building a raised bed, but as ever seeing what you're doing makes me realise that it is actually a small job. The difference in scale of our projects is nuts - as much as I'd like to have a go in a digger, I'll only be using a spade & wheelbarrow to save trashing the rest of the garden.
Get a digger in! You know you want to! My jobs for the weekend are digging a trench for the electric cable to the garage, levelling a section of garden & building a raised bed, but as ever seeing what you're doing makes me realise that it is actually a small job. The difference in scale of our projects is nuts - as much as I'd like to have a go in a digger, I'll only be using a spade & wheelbarrow to save trashing the rest of the garden.
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