My Garden Overhaul .... Why Did I Start This ..Picture heavy

[joestifff]

Ian Geary said:

Seeing this thread pop back up reminded me I had a question for the op:

I was wondering how much time each day you were putting into this project?

Was it mainly weekends and using holiday, or were you also putting a few hours in after work each day?

Though I appreciate just because the updates all came quite quickly doesn't necessarily mean the work was done that quickly.

Ian

This is one thing I wish I had tracked, the pure man hours were obscene!

I started initially in late April 2016. I laid the turf late October 2016. That is 6 months, pretty much every weekend, bar a month when my daughter was born, so about 44 solid days at a good 10 hours a day.

I also did at least 2 or 3 nights a week over that 5 month period. so say 2.5 days over 22 weeks with 3-4 hours a night. Roughly another 200 hours.

I would say a rough guess would be 600-700 hours.

Obviously I went over and above, deeper foundations, more hardcore, mortise and tenon joints on the pergola etc etc. I also spent a good amount of time cleaning up at the end of the day, a nightmare if you've fired the cement mixer up for only 2 hours, to then spend 1 hour cleaning up!!!

I genuinely enjoyed it. I love the garden, can't wait to actually make use of it this year.

I have a "few" jobs to finish, that should be a weekends work each max:

-clean and seal all the stone
-build the swing for daughter coming off the pergola (also removable for when/if we sell/grows out of a swing)
-build subframe for decking and lay decking boards (only 3mx3m area so should be easy and quick(ish)

There are a few things I would change after doing it all:

-Make more a gulley/drainage channel between fence and main patio.
-seal straight away.
-not go as bonkers with foundations for patios/paths/raised bed.
-insisted to the neighbour that I straighten the fence up (I could still do this now)

[joestifff]

gf15 said:

Followed this from the start. Adds real interest and a little individualism to the back of the house.

I could only have dreamed of somewhere like yours at 30. Superb job, well done!

I am exceptionally lucky for my wife and I to have such a place, in a not to shabby area. Obviously this is "up North" so house prices aren't London mental. We have both worked hard at our careers though to help achieve this.

Many thanks for the compliment, genuinely means a lot.

[joestifff]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

OP - got any pics of your snowdrops peeping through?

Unfortunately not!

"Some" did come through, about 30, they have now died back and have cut the grass since. Was disappointed to only see 30 out of the 300 bulbs. I am hoping next year that more come through. Maybe it was due to the late planting!

Need to update this with pictures of it all growing. Going to tackle the swing this weekend and decking in coming weeks.

[joestifff]

JackReacher said:

This is fantastic and an inspiration. I'm also a desk based accountant but will be starting on my garden soon, building a patio first with raised sleeper beds around it.

Couple of questions, what did you use to cut the slabs and the sleepers? With those tools, and the compactor, did you rent or buy?

To cut the slabs I used an angle grinder, mainly used the big 9" one. Bought a twin Makita pack.

To cut the sleepers I used a circular saw, you have to cut on one side, rotate the sleeper and cut the other side, as my circular saw would not cut through 120mm in one go.

We have a "communal" mixer and wacker plate that we all use as and when and store at a mates farm when not in use. Wacker would be best to hire I guess, but you can buy them very cheap. Mixer I would buy and sell at end, I had mine in the garden for 6 months, so wouldn't want to pay the rental on that, I would of bought it 10 times over!

All other tools I bought, I mostly had them though, I bought a bigger spirit level, a 6 foot one to go with my others.

[joestifff]

Bit of an update on this. Things are growing in the garden and the grass is looking fairly green. Needs a cut in these photos, but was wet so am waiting a bit. I have done two cuts this year already.

Grass is growing well, these clematis are growing as well:



Did some pots for the vast expanse of patio. You can see I have not yet done the decking( top left of picture), going for wood for this next weekend, then speaking to a fellow PHer about Ecodek:



Roses coming along well:



Daffs all looking well:



Grass looking well pre swing:



Then you can see the swing I built for the daughter (and wife and myself):







In the picture below, I can assure you the cross bar is level, looks completely off, think its all to do with angles:



Grass in need of a cut!!!:



The swing makes the garden look smaller (obviously) but my daughter will love it. It is completely detachable from the pergola so can be stowed away once she is bored rigid of it!

Edited by joestifff on Wednesday 12th April 10:46

[joestifff]

Chris Type R said:

joestifff said:

The swing makes the garden look smaller (obviously) but my daughter will love it. It is completely detachable from the pergola so can be stowed away once she is bored rigid of it!

Wait until you have to find space for a trampoline.

My wife wants a trampoline for herself. I have told her they're council....

[joestifff]

Binns87 said:

Hey OP

Your pictures aren't showing up and I'm interested in showing the girlfriend some of your garden for inspiration, would you be able to update the links at all fella?

Cracking garden from what I can remember and I love the pergola you have built, it's something that I'm tempted to try and build myself also!

Thanks

Ross

Ross

looks like Pistonheads and photobucket have fallen out...great. I shall fix this, but may take some time.....

[joestifff]

Time for another update on this.

We have now enjoyed many BBQs in the garden, and my daughter loves her swing. Fruits of blood sweat and tears are paying off, I have genuinely had so much enjoyment out of this garden so far.

Obviously a few things I would change looking back, but overall I am exceptionally happy with it:

- Not to over engineer everything
- Some for of irrigation system for the raised beds and the grass
- Some sort of lighting at the bottom of the garden

On to the decking:

As you may remember I had pre drilled the 11 (yes 11) post holes for my decking that measures roughly 3.m x 3.m but in an arc. I then decided to use the offcuts from the swing as posts, as they are round and make strapping the purlins (think that is the right word) to them due to all the funny angles. These are both coach bolted and screwed to one another. Many more meters of wood went in to make a rigid frame. At this point I hadn't even postcrete them in and it was going no where.

I then postcrete and put a weed membrane in. I then found some old shed paint from the last house and chuck that about, that gets me to here:

decking 1 by joe L, on Flickr

Next I made the controversial decision on decking boards. I had been raving on all along how I was going composite. I got some quotes, good job I was sat down!!! they are a fortune, I just couldn't justify it. So a change of plan means that I have acquired some new scaffold boards, 10 of the 13 foot buggers. Now I know they will rot, and won't last etc etc, but scaffold boards are cheap and strong!

So started doing the cuts:

decking 3 by joe L, on Flickr

decking 4 by joe L, on Flickr

decking 5 by joe L, on Flickr

Bit of a wider shot of the garden so far (yes the grass got cut after this photo!)

decking 6 by joe L, on Flickr

decking 7 by joe L, on Flickr

decking 8 by joe L, on Flickr

I will be putting some preservative on the decking boards, just deciding on a colour:

I am so impressed with Osmo, it is what I have used in the garden on all the wood I will be buying this:

osmo oil by joe L, on Flickr

but first need to decide on a preservative colour:

Osmo stain by joe L, on Flickr

I am thinking a grey maybe?

I also did some tallying up on materials used. You can tell how much I have over engineered just on the pure quantity of materials:

- 10 x tonne bags hardcore
- 12 x tonne bags sharp sand
- 85 x 25kg bags cement (yes 85!!!!!!!!)
- 15 x 25kg hardcore
- 9 x 25kg yellow sand
- 4 x 25kg kiln sand
- 1 x tonne bag gravel
- 1 x tonne bag golden gravel
- 5 x tonne bags top soil
- 1,100 Marshals tegula pavers
- 55m2 Indian stone (Rippon)
- 26 green oak sleepers
- Green oak for pergola
- 50m2 turf
- 10 x 13ft scaffold boards
- Various round posts
- 50m of purlins
- 6 x 25kg postcrete
- shed load of flowers/pots

I am sure there is more, various tools along the way. I think all in it has cost me about £6k in materials to get this far and I have spent about 700 hours on it.

[joestifff]

8-P said:

Looks good - which Tegulas are they, original ? Harvest?

They are the original. 2 pallets of them!! They're heavy buggers.

[joestifff]

Craikeybaby said:

That is a lot of materials!

Our garden project is kicking off this week, inspired by yours, but without raised beds/decking.

Good luck, have you or will you be starting a thread, love seeing others doing some hard work!!

Chris Type R said:

I like the look of the scaffold boards. Did you angle them for run-off ?

Yes slightly, possibly not enough, but shall see if that water will sit on it or not. I will be putting the Osmo non slip on it or the flat boards will lethal. Obviously scaffold are rough cut anyway for a bit of grip.

[joestifff]

Kev_Mk3 said:

Fantastic transformation on the garden.

Re the raised planters what did you line them with as I am looking to make some but wasnt sure what to line them with

They are lined up with a string line to the center of the garden, well that was the plan, they are not perfectly accurate, hence I put in the gravel edging.