Our build thread, renovation and extension
Discussion
uk66fastback said:
Looks great - the irony being you have created your own bowling green ... 
Seriously, fantastic job. Now stop sodding about and fit that garage out ...
Cheers, got to finish off the patio and do the driveway first, I can bugger about inside the garage during the winter when it is cold and wet. My uncle is however lined up to fit the consumer unit for that any time now however.Seriously, fantastic job. Now stop sodding about and fit that garage out ...
Just to update this I've had a chance to go through a huge pile of invoices for the last year and update my spreadsheets. The total garage cost comes in a touch under £30k (£23.5k materials, £6.5k labour), the only unknowns is the floor tile cost but I have a reasonable provisional sum in there for that.
That puts the whole build cost @ £170k for absolutely everything, about £300k "up" on paper according to the latest valuation (not that I am planning to move any time soon.
That puts the whole build cost @ £170k for absolutely everything, about £300k "up" on paper according to the latest valuation (not that I am planning to move any time soon.
Any suggestions chaps?
The garage electrics should start to be connected up tomorrow and this morning another 20 tonnes of MOT type 1 was dumped on my drive, hopefully I will get a chance to start spreading it at the weekend, with a ride on twin roller arriving next week to compact it.
The garage electrics should start to be connected up tomorrow and this morning another 20 tonnes of MOT type 1 was dumped on my drive, hopefully I will get a chance to start spreading it at the weekend, with a ride on twin roller arriving next week to compact it.
A couple of weeks ago we had another 20 tonne load of type 1 crushed concrete delivered, this was to spread on top of the existing crushed brick, which had been down for a year or more, which in itself was really poor as it was littered with virtually whole bricks and very little by way of fines to properly compact.
Previously we used a plate compacter to level it, but for the final finish we needed something which could compact it far more, was quicker and would lend itself to producing a level surface. I hired this 1.8 tonne road roller and with two of us working on it, we were done within about 4 hours. It's a little scary to drive as there are no pedals, only a forward and back lever with "neutral being a very small space in the middle, it is also surprisingly fast so you really do need to concentrate. Strangely the seat suspension is so good you cannot tell whether it is vibrating or not when sitting on it, but I am told you can feel the ground moving from about 30 yards away!
It ended up really very flat and incredibly well compacted, it wouldn't surprise me if over time there is 250mm of it in some places.
Last week I had 20 tonnes of 14mm cornish silver grey granite chippings delivered, I paid £60 per tonne, which is a bit pricey but rather less than the £165 per 850kg bag they charge if you only buy small quantities. As it is granite, it's very hard wearing and will not crush and leave any dust at all, its angular, rough texture also locks it together very well.
It was actually relatively easy to spread, with a shovel and a rake, three of us managed it all in 3 hours. Despite doing endless calculations I suspect we probably had about 20%-25% more than we needed. I had aimed for a depth of about 40mm but in some areas we are way over that. However that doesn't seem to be a problem as it meshes together so well and there is no sinkage from your feet, or from the car tyres regardless of how deep it is, I think that will only improve further over time too.
Very happy with it, it looks really very different and has been a long time coming, we completed the purchase of the house in January 2012 and this is the last big visual thing that was left to do.
The little one seemed pretty excited about it too!
Previously we used a plate compacter to level it, but for the final finish we needed something which could compact it far more, was quicker and would lend itself to producing a level surface. I hired this 1.8 tonne road roller and with two of us working on it, we were done within about 4 hours. It's a little scary to drive as there are no pedals, only a forward and back lever with "neutral being a very small space in the middle, it is also surprisingly fast so you really do need to concentrate. Strangely the seat suspension is so good you cannot tell whether it is vibrating or not when sitting on it, but I am told you can feel the ground moving from about 30 yards away!
It ended up really very flat and incredibly well compacted, it wouldn't surprise me if over time there is 250mm of it in some places.
Last week I had 20 tonnes of 14mm cornish silver grey granite chippings delivered, I paid £60 per tonne, which is a bit pricey but rather less than the £165 per 850kg bag they charge if you only buy small quantities. As it is granite, it's very hard wearing and will not crush and leave any dust at all, its angular, rough texture also locks it together very well.
It was actually relatively easy to spread, with a shovel and a rake, three of us managed it all in 3 hours. Despite doing endless calculations I suspect we probably had about 20%-25% more than we needed. I had aimed for a depth of about 40mm but in some areas we are way over that. However that doesn't seem to be a problem as it meshes together so well and there is no sinkage from your feet, or from the car tyres regardless of how deep it is, I think that will only improve further over time too.
Very happy with it, it looks really very different and has been a long time coming, we completed the purchase of the house in January 2012 and this is the last big visual thing that was left to do.
The little one seemed pretty excited about it too!
Edited by Muncher on Monday 27th November 14:07
uk66fastback said:
Was there not something with a bit more of a brown in it - there's a lot of different coloured/stained/natural wood colours going on!
Now you've chucked a cold grey into the mix! Can I ask if you have any bin cupboards built anywhere, I hate to think of those ugly things (that we all have) sitting outside on your side of those gates ... !
Just read that back, sounds like all criticism, it isn't really ... !
You MUST be nearing the end now - (and looking forward to doing the garage). I bought some LED stripe for mine in the end as my ad who works at a leccy factors had a deal going on some. Three of the 4000k strips, one being a 6ft double (over the bench) and the others being 2x5ft singles and they are ENOUGH for my garage - which is 3.2m x 6m.
No, not really, I looked long and hard and got many samples, the only other realistic options were red (which was very red and looked ridiculous) and green (which looked quite dark and very obviously green). It does actually have a little more brown in it, which is a bit more visible this morning after it rained heavily.Now you've chucked a cold grey into the mix! Can I ask if you have any bin cupboards built anywhere, I hate to think of those ugly things (that we all have) sitting outside on your side of those gates ... !
Just read that back, sounds like all criticism, it isn't really ... !
You MUST be nearing the end now - (and looking forward to doing the garage). I bought some LED stripe for mine in the end as my ad who works at a leccy factors had a deal going on some. Three of the 4000k strips, one being a 6ft double (over the bench) and the others being 2x5ft singles and they are ENOUGH for my garage - which is 3.2m x 6m.
I'm building a bin store to completely hide them, I have done the plans, worked out which gas struts to use and calculated how much wood I need, I just need to work out which wood I am using, I want to use western red cedar as used on the gates, (albeit that was really heavily coloured by the preservative) but that is likely to cost a fortune, if anyone has any suggestions for an alternative I am all ears? I also need to do a side gate to the bowls club and one round the other side of the house.
Next job is finishing off the cladding on the side pedestrian door of the garage, then I need to get the garage door mechanisms sorted. I will likely do the gates and bin store in the spring when it is a bit warmer and nicer to be outside, plus by then I will have a better space to work inside the garage with some proper benches which I don't have at the minute.
Edited by Muncher on Monday 27th November 16:14
I know a few people were waiting to see how this panned out...
18x 48W LED panels on the ceiling downstairs (there are another 4x 1200x300 panels to go on the walls about a foot from the ground at the front end,to give good light when working under a car) 92,000 lumens which was supposed to be about as bright as a supermarket or car showroom.
They are each suspended from 4 white L shaped screw in hooks and fortunately all worked first time. The light level for me is just about perfect,it's very bright, very even but not ridiculously so. I was undecided on the colour of floor tiles,waiting to see how bright it would look with the lights on but now I think I will still go for a light coloured tile.
Tomorrow the door mechanism should be finished along with the electric controller.
To give you an idea of the brightness from the photos, the upstairs lights at the front end are actually on!
18x 48W LED panels on the ceiling downstairs (there are another 4x 1200x300 panels to go on the walls about a foot from the ground at the front end,to give good light when working under a car) 92,000 lumens which was supposed to be about as bright as a supermarket or car showroom.
They are each suspended from 4 white L shaped screw in hooks and fortunately all worked first time. The light level for me is just about perfect,it's very bright, very even but not ridiculously so. I was undecided on the colour of floor tiles,waiting to see how bright it would look with the lights on but now I think I will still go for a light coloured tile.
Tomorrow the door mechanism should be finished along with the electric controller.
To give you an idea of the brightness from the photos, the upstairs lights at the front end are actually on!
Thanks. Yes porcelain anti slip ones, Dotti D9 probably . As you say the light is very even and feels quite natural, no noticeable shadows anywhere.
There’s no heating at the moment, I just want to see how it goes. It doesn’t see too cold out there even at this time of year, just stick some suitable clothes on and you are fine.
There’s no heating at the moment, I just want to see how it goes. It doesn’t see too cold out there even at this time of year, just stick some suitable clothes on and you are fine.
Which ones do you have there?
Yes I am going to hinge the staircase, how did you do yours? My issues is I need the stairs to hinge and slide up to retract too as the opening is smaller than the run of the stairs. I have a few ideas but I will consider that in detail once everything else is finished. I also need to consider how I am going to lock it off for safety, potentially using a couple of seatbelts to arrest any fall of the stairs.
I spent today tensioning the torsion springs on the door so it moved up for the first time, it is still very difficult to get moving for the first foot or so but then becomes easier, I’m not sure whether they all do that, but the weighting of the spring should in theory be matches to the weight of the doors...
We also cut a recess in the ceiling to house the central track, this was always planned, we needed to pinch a few more mm as I stole every bit of headroom I could, including using low headroom gearing. The Supramatic-E motor is now in situ and maybe in the next few days I will get it powered up.
Yes I am going to hinge the staircase, how did you do yours? My issues is I need the stairs to hinge and slide up to retract too as the opening is smaller than the run of the stairs. I have a few ideas but I will consider that in detail once everything else is finished. I also need to consider how I am going to lock it off for safety, potentially using a couple of seatbelts to arrest any fall of the stairs.
I spent today tensioning the torsion springs on the door so it moved up for the first time, it is still very difficult to get moving for the first foot or so but then becomes easier, I’m not sure whether they all do that, but the weighting of the spring should in theory be matches to the weight of the doors...
We also cut a recess in the ceiling to house the central track, this was always planned, we needed to pinch a few more mm as I stole every bit of headroom I could, including using low headroom gearing. The Supramatic-E motor is now in situ and maybe in the next few days I will get it powered up.
I think i'm going for the medium grey. I had an interesting trip out at lunch to Tile Giant and Topps tiles.
Tile Giant wouldn't price match on the Dotti tiles, they were twice as expensive. They were also insistent that the most flexible of tile adhesives needed to be used, along with a latex additive otherwise they would all crack. (Mapei Keraquick + Mapei LatexPlus) which funnily came out at £850 worth of adhesive....
Topps stock a range of tiles called "Salt and Pepper" which are nigh on identical to the Dotti tiles, to the point of probably being the same tile and they are 5x as expensive as direct tile warehouse. They suggested a flexible BAL adhesive with fibres which was £40 a bag.
Personally I don't see why you want or need the tiles to flex, I understand fire station floors are tiled onto a solid cement bed so I can't see how a lack of flexibility is a problem.
Tile Giant wouldn't price match on the Dotti tiles, they were twice as expensive. They were also insistent that the most flexible of tile adhesives needed to be used, along with a latex additive otherwise they would all crack. (Mapei Keraquick + Mapei LatexPlus) which funnily came out at £850 worth of adhesive....
Topps stock a range of tiles called "Salt and Pepper" which are nigh on identical to the Dotti tiles, to the point of probably being the same tile and they are 5x as expensive as direct tile warehouse. They suggested a flexible BAL adhesive with fibres which was £40 a bag.
Personally I don't see why you want or need the tiles to flex, I understand fire station floors are tiled onto a solid cement bed so I can't see how a lack of flexibility is a problem.
uk66fastback said:
Surely you just need an adhesive base with no gaps or air pockets ... as gaps 'could' allow the tile to flex and therefore break ...
That's what I thought. I get the impression lots of people say "you need this" but very few instances of someone using a particular product and it actually failing.Thanks, one day I will sort all the photos out into a proper album.
It’s 11m x 5m (external) and on course for about £26k.
Had a busy few days/nights finishing off the electrics, got a bit of an issue with the door motor in that the setup is saying the door is effectively too heavy to move (0-2 is ok 3-9 is not - it is reading a 3 or a 5) the door feels very heavy to lift but the springs have the correct number of turns each (11) and it runs freely in the tracks so I am not sure what more I can do other than give the suppliers a call.
It’s 11m x 5m (external) and on course for about £26k.
Had a busy few days/nights finishing off the electrics, got a bit of an issue with the door motor in that the setup is saying the door is effectively too heavy to move (0-2 is ok 3-9 is not - it is reading a 3 or a 5) the door feels very heavy to lift but the springs have the correct number of turns each (11) and it runs freely in the tracks so I am not sure what more I can do other than give the suppliers a call.
The door is now fixed and fully working, a little lubrication and adjustment of the runners and it seems fine now.
All of the electrics are now complete, apart from the junction boxes for the lights which will be done on thursday and the 600x1200 LED wall panels will need mounting and wiring which I will probably crack on with tonight. I've been doing about 4-5 hours a few nights each week since Christmas so things are progressing well. Wiring the loft lights into little junction boxes was a really horrible job, but at least that's now out of the way.
All of the cladding round the main garage door is done and the I'm now half way through cladding the door, which is really fiddly.
The tiles have been ordered and should be here on friday, I went with the light grey (second from the left) in the end.
I've got a primer for the floor, but I'm also kind of tempted to throw down some self levelling compound just to ensure no hollows in the adhesive which could lead to cracking. It's generally pretty flat and smooth in most places, but I've never used self levelling compound before so a few bads can't hurt can they? If so any particular recommendations?
All of the electrics are now complete, apart from the junction boxes for the lights which will be done on thursday and the 600x1200 LED wall panels will need mounting and wiring which I will probably crack on with tonight. I've been doing about 4-5 hours a few nights each week since Christmas so things are progressing well. Wiring the loft lights into little junction boxes was a really horrible job, but at least that's now out of the way.
All of the cladding round the main garage door is done and the I'm now half way through cladding the door, which is really fiddly.
The tiles have been ordered and should be here on friday, I went with the light grey (second from the left) in the end.
I've got a primer for the floor, but I'm also kind of tempted to throw down some self levelling compound just to ensure no hollows in the adhesive which could lead to cracking. It's generally pretty flat and smooth in most places, but I've never used self levelling compound before so a few bads can't hurt can they? If so any particular recommendations?
B17NNS said:
Might be worth buying a levelling system. I use one on all my large format work now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcxTtcZEDdQ
Yep, already bought one, used the Lash system before which worked well so have bought something similar for this, although these are much smaller format tiles than I have used on a floor before (600x300) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcxTtcZEDdQ
Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff