1960's to now : our renovation
Discussion
Having sat down last night and looked at our options it looking like the garden is going to take precedent. Owing to the wires job were going to go on holiday earlier this year before she goes back from maternity leave... this means we'll be having a summer holiday at home. The garden is south facing and we'd really like to get more use out of it going forwards.
We've made some initial work today (well the gardener has!) by clearing the massively over grown section infront of the garage.
(I had wondered where the summer wheels off my commuter hack had gone!)
He's still going but the difference clearing this area has made is night and day, its opened up about 1/3 more garden.
So where do we go from here!
I'd like to replace and extend the existing patio area and include a return where the above mess is - ideally to create space for the baby to grow into!
Has anyone got any advice over patio vs decking?
Obvious advantage of decking having done some very limited research is we could use the existing patio and concrete slab as the base (we've got sufficient height to damp course and door openings).
I'll post up a picture of the layout of the garden later in case anyone fancies offering some guidance
We've made some initial work today (well the gardener has!) by clearing the massively over grown section infront of the garage.
(I had wondered where the summer wheels off my commuter hack had gone!)
He's still going but the difference clearing this area has made is night and day, its opened up about 1/3 more garden.
So where do we go from here!
I'd like to replace and extend the existing patio area and include a return where the above mess is - ideally to create space for the baby to grow into!
Has anyone got any advice over patio vs decking?
Obvious advantage of decking having done some very limited research is we could use the existing patio and concrete slab as the base (we've got sufficient height to damp course and door openings).
I'll post up a picture of the layout of the garden later in case anyone fancies offering some guidance
I went for decking because it allowed me to make a level threshold without need a few tonnes of hardcore or new drainage. It's also south facing and not covered with any vegetation, that combined with antislip stain means it's useable in all weathers.
Congratulations on the house and baby. We started a similar project in April 2015, and our second child was born in may 2016 which slowed things dramatically (it took me 4 months to knock out the chimney breast to size and install a gas stove for example) and the kitchen has been 95% finished for over a year now (I knocked the two rooms through and installed the kitchen and floor within 2 weeks of moving in, but plinths/kickboards are still not done!) so I know the feeling of delays.
I've got next week off to install a new bathroom which involves knocking through a partition wall between the bathroom and WC, so I'm looking forward to getting a good go at something.
I'll do my own thread on that if I get around to it, but just wanted to pop in here and say I've spent a week reading his thread, and you should be really happy with what you've achieved. Good job!
Congratulations on the house and baby. We started a similar project in April 2015, and our second child was born in may 2016 which slowed things dramatically (it took me 4 months to knock out the chimney breast to size and install a gas stove for example) and the kitchen has been 95% finished for over a year now (I knocked the two rooms through and installed the kitchen and floor within 2 weeks of moving in, but plinths/kickboards are still not done!) so I know the feeling of delays.
I've got next week off to install a new bathroom which involves knocking through a partition wall between the bathroom and WC, so I'm looking forward to getting a good go at something.
I'll do my own thread on that if I get around to it, but just wanted to pop in here and say I've spent a week reading his thread, and you should be really happy with what you've achieved. Good job!
Thanks! Start a thread... everyone loves a build thread.
We're still weighing up decking over patio and getting some quotes back, entirely not sure eitherway.
Decking would have to be composite as we had soft wood decking before in our old place which rotted in the 4 years we were there.
We're still weighing up decking over patio and getting some quotes back, entirely not sure eitherway.
Decking would have to be composite as we had soft wood decking before in our old place which rotted in the 4 years we were there.
Chicken Chaser said:
Good thread, and its amusing to see that time has stood still since you had a baby, as our renovation work has considerably slowed since having child and she's now 3! It was furious at first, but then it pretty much slowed to one room a year!
This is worrying, I am hopefully nearing the end of my project, but need to sell up / rent out and move onto the next and get it liveable in before due date. Current place is too small..the slow down is a culmination of several things
1) Baby - albeit she is the easiest baby to deal with ever its hard to ignore her even when she's asleep
2) Work - I've got studying i'm doing for work at the moment which is taking up most of my free time.
3) Money - We'd run out!
So i've been playing with a garden planner software and sort of have more of an idea what we are aiming for now...
There are certain things that are unmovable/restricted. The house & garage obviously have to remain in situ. There is a well established apple tree far right of the garden, and there has to be a provision for our poncey indoor cats to be relocated outside.
I'm not a garden designer but think this layout maintains some defined zones child area (detailed below) , herbs/veg/fruit, lawn, patio.
Now as for the child zone...
the levels are off infront of the garage so there would need to be a drop in levels... my plan is to do this and then restrict access to the level side only and then drop something like this in there.
As per usual ideas and feedback welcome because essentially I'm winging it!
1) Baby - albeit she is the easiest baby to deal with ever its hard to ignore her even when she's asleep
2) Work - I've got studying i'm doing for work at the moment which is taking up most of my free time.
3) Money - We'd run out!
So i've been playing with a garden planner software and sort of have more of an idea what we are aiming for now...
There are certain things that are unmovable/restricted. The house & garage obviously have to remain in situ. There is a well established apple tree far right of the garden, and there has to be a provision for our poncey indoor cats to be relocated outside.
I'm not a garden designer but think this layout maintains some defined zones child area (detailed below) , herbs/veg/fruit, lawn, patio.
Now as for the child zone...
the levels are off infront of the garage so there would need to be a drop in levels... my plan is to do this and then restrict access to the level side only and then drop something like this in there.
As per usual ideas and feedback welcome because essentially I'm winging it!
This is the one I used
http://www.smallblueprinter.com/garden/planner.htm...
Avoid the online one and just download the free trial... online one deleted my plans 3 times with no option to save!
Fairly straightforward even without the instruction manual
http://www.smallblueprinter.com/garden/planner.htm...
Avoid the online one and just download the free trial... online one deleted my plans 3 times with no option to save!
Fairly straightforward even without the instruction manual
That bit of over grown garden turned out to be deceptive - it's filled a 6yd skip and is a lot bigger than we initially gave it credit for.
Some current pictures
In other news I've noticed a lot of what appear to be drying cracks in the plaster work done, I'm hoping this is down to the seasonal movement we already know this area suffers from and the fact a new baby has meant the heating has been at 21 degrees the whole winter! Dragging the plasterer back this week to discuss a plan of action, albeit I'm thinking that I'll always have at least one hairline crack to filler at anyone time!
Still waiting for quotes for the relevant work to be done , just thought I'd show the couple of people still interested where we currently are.
(well aware my crappy pics make it look 10x bleaker than it is!)
Some current pictures
In other news I've noticed a lot of what appear to be drying cracks in the plaster work done, I'm hoping this is down to the seasonal movement we already know this area suffers from and the fact a new baby has meant the heating has been at 21 degrees the whole winter! Dragging the plasterer back this week to discuss a plan of action, albeit I'm thinking that I'll always have at least one hairline crack to filler at anyone time!
Still waiting for quotes for the relevant work to be done , just thought I'd show the couple of people still interested where we currently are.
(well aware my crappy pics make it look 10x bleaker than it is!)
Welshbeef said:
It also annoyingly for you two manholes so you'd not be able to block them with he Wendy house.
PS it looks MUCH bigger and so much better now
As far as I can see they've not been accessed for years. Concrete around them and then Wendy house on top me thinks! PS it looks MUCH bigger and so much better now
Edited by croakey on Wednesday 15th February 12:54
croakey said:
Welshbeef said:
It also annoyingly for you two manholes so you'd not be able to block them with he Wendy house.
PS it looks MUCH bigger and so much better now
As far as I can see they've not been accessed for years. Concrete around them and then Wendy house on top me thinks! PS it looks MUCH bigger and so much better now
Edited by croakey on Wednesday 15th February 12:54
That said it's not blocked in years so should be fine. I'd want to lift them and have a look to see that they are in good order.
For our extension part of the works are being supervised by the Water company to ensure footings are deep enough and wide enough to not put any pressure onto the pipes.
Welshbeef said:
croakey said:
Welshbeef said:
It also annoyingly for you two manholes so you'd not be able to block them with he Wendy house.
PS it looks MUCH bigger and so much better now
As far as I can see they've not been accessed for years. Concrete around them and then Wendy house on top me thinks! PS it looks MUCH bigger and so much better now
Edited by croakey on Wednesday 15th February 12:54
That said it's not blocked in years so should be fine. I'd want to lift them and have a look to see that they are in good order.
For our extension part of the works are being supervised by the Water company to ensure footings are deep enough and wide enough to not put any pressure onto the pipes.
We are at the start of the run, but luckily there was also a blockage further down the shared run so we avoided a bill.
One thing I learnt, was DO NOT PUT FLUSH-ABLE BABY WIPES DOWN THE TOILET! Normal baby wipes are a definite no-no, but with young kids they sometimes fail to comply.
As you may have seen by my other post sense checking a paving quote we are now making solid plans to get the garden looking upto scratch.
We have done some digging out with the drains and discovered that the two troublesome drains 1) is a land drain/soakaway and 2) the other is inline with the drain in the centre of the garden. This by virtue of the fact one is purely for run off and the other is able to be accessed from another manhole less than 3m we are going to dump the playhouse over the top and worry less!
I think that we are going to go for slab similar to
It is an indian sandstone and seems to be the best option given our budget (not much) and my desire to have something nicer than the standard concrete pressed muck that B&Q flog.
i do quite like the idea of using some cobble setts to build in some other colours - sadly our house is one brick, the garage another, and the garden wall different again, so could be a nifty way to bring some cohesion to the whole garden.
Ive confirmed the finer details with the builder, i.e. full bed mortar, no crappy silly cuts - end it on a whole slab etc, and timescales... and he's booked for around the 1st March.
We have done some digging out with the drains and discovered that the two troublesome drains 1) is a land drain/soakaway and 2) the other is inline with the drain in the centre of the garden. This by virtue of the fact one is purely for run off and the other is able to be accessed from another manhole less than 3m we are going to dump the playhouse over the top and worry less!
I think that we are going to go for slab similar to
It is an indian sandstone and seems to be the best option given our budget (not much) and my desire to have something nicer than the standard concrete pressed muck that B&Q flog.
i do quite like the idea of using some cobble setts to build in some other colours - sadly our house is one brick, the garage another, and the garden wall different again, so could be a nifty way to bring some cohesion to the whole garden.
Ive confirmed the finer details with the builder, i.e. full bed mortar, no crappy silly cuts - end it on a whole slab etc, and timescales... and he's booked for around the 1st March.
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