Driveway and garage project

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Nick_MSM

Original Poster:

684 posts

188 months

Tuesday 28th November 2017
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I apologise for so many pictures. I know some of you like a renovation thread so thought I would post what I have been up to down at the end of the garden! (lots going on indoors too but that's for another day).

We have recently moved into the old family home with a list (a very long list) of jobs and renovations. One of the most important projects for me was getting the old, untidy and useless driveway/garage sorted, partly so my car can go back undercover for the winter. The garage was built probably sixty years ago and has never had power, and for some reason, for as long as I can remember there has been soil up against three sides of the garage. Coupled to the fact there was only room for one vehicle on the drive it really wasn't very practical for our needs...










Rewind back to August a friend and I hired a mini digger for a weekend. 35 tonnes of soil later we had this:













Once the banks were excavated how we wanted them, work started on a retaining wall. We looked at a few options and decided we liked reclaimed sleepers laid vertically. A lot more work/expense but worth it I think.













The walls took a good few weeks to complete. The steps proved quite tricky, we wanted something wide providing a nice entry into the garden but the angles were difficult so we basically made it up as we went along!



The next stage was to sort the lighting around the drive, inside the garage, and power inside garage and an outside socket. This for me was a major step forward, having originally moved in here back in 1988 it's a massive improvement having light and power up there.







The garage has never had any guttering. A friend and I fitted new gutters with a 200 litre water but each side. I have since realised this isn't enough so I'll be adding more each side - useful for washing the cars and watering plants!




Next stage is to finish off the driveway this week with a decent mot base and gravel topping (95% finished, pics coming). In the spring I shall be repainting the garage timber - the doors will be going dark grey. We are also having an automated sliding gate installed although as I am knee deep in renovations indoors this may have to wait until the summer.

Moving my thoughts to inside the garage. Nice blank canvas to work with. I've had the dehumidifier on for the last couple of weeks, surprisingly it hasn't been pulling out much moisture so I reckon I am good to go to put my car in there. Looking at flooring options, and possibly decorating the walls. Up until last Sunday there was no lighting in there. I've had an LED strip light fitted and although not bright enough to work on a car, it looks great. Also had two double sockets installed inside, and a single outside socket.


Nick_MSM

Original Poster:

684 posts

188 months

Tuesday 28th November 2017
quotequote all
Thanks, very pleased is such a transformation.

I must confess I didn't build the wall but I did 'design the steps etc. The sleepers are concreted in at a depth of 450mm. It's back filled with rubble and gravel to aid drainage.

I was considering plastering garage walls but leaning towards painting them now in white with a grey contrast on the pillars. Flooring wise some sort of mats will do the job. Cannot wait to get my 911 back inside. Its been sat on my dad's drive for about 6 weeks, hoping to get it back this week smile

Nick_MSM

Original Poster:

684 posts

188 months

Wednesday 29th November 2017
quotequote all
Agree re the steps, they are south facing but will probably get slippery over time - we were going to have the back step in-filled with gravel to match the drive but decided it wouldn't look great & could be a trip hazard. I might use some sort of grip mesh (technical term?!) but it needs to look nice.

Drive is now finished, just emptying garage of crap before taking some new snaps wink

I am not 100% sure how the lighting is wired in. There was absolutely no power outside at all so a heavy duty SWA was run from the house. A smaller cable was also run to garage for the switches I think. All of the lights are run from a PIR, but can also be manually switched on from the house and garage which is useful. Eventually we'll continue the lighting down one side of the garden providing a safer path. There's a fancy box inside the garage to future proof power for the eventual sliding gate etc.

Nick_MSM

Original Poster:

684 posts

188 months

Wednesday 29th November 2017
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Welshbeef said:
Our patio took 2+ weeks for the team to build it.
Garden is south west facing and it was done in mid summer.
We had a touch of rain one day - at that point we were thinking the sleepers would work as steps... but good job it did rain as they were slippery even being brand new so made he change straight away.
These seem fine so far, they've been in a few weeks with plenty of rain and frost but agree with added algae over the coming months they could be a little dangerous. I have seen this sort of stuff below, doesn't look great but it shouldn't show up much anyway on my sleepers?


Nick_MSM

Original Poster:

684 posts

188 months

Wednesday 29th November 2017
quotequote all
bakerstreet said:
Liking this thread. I'm a big fan of railway sleepers as a retaining wall. Much prefer it to rendered walls.

This is an observation, but why didn't you dig a soak away for the garage guttering when you had the mini digger. We put a water but for our garage drainage and it just wasn't enough. Sold the house last month, but new house will have a large workshop and that will need a soak away.
It's a good question. I did think about it, but it's tight down both sides of the garage so was dug by hand. I would also like to use the buts to wash the cars. The outside tap is miles away so a hassle with a hose. I will add at least one more but each side as I realised as soon as I installed them that 200 litres each side wasn't enough.

Nick_MSM

Original Poster:

684 posts

188 months

Wednesday 29th November 2017
quotequote all
bakerstreet said:
Fair enough, if you use the butt on a regular basis then that is good. Worth putting a gauze filter in at the top of the down pipe other wise the bottom of the butt will get filled with leaves and other crud. That sedement will stink and will eventually block the tap. What then happens is you will throw away the water butt and buy a new one as whats at the bottom of it is so disgusting you can't face cleaning it out biggrin

How much of the sleepers are in the ground? I shall need to build a retaining wall and I'm interested to know how much you had to bury in the ground. When I've done it in the past, I've put posts in and laid them horizontally which worked quite well. Cheaper, but doesn't looks quite as nice
Cheers will purchase some filters. The sleepers are buried at 450mm depth. Generally 1/3rd of the sleeper in the ground is good.

Nick_MSM

Original Poster:

684 posts

188 months

Thursday 30th November 2017
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Thanks - yep was thinking a strip maybe in the middle of each sleeper should suffice.

Some updated pics of the gravel. 150mm of mot whacked down on top of a membrane and a layer of 20mm shingle to match the private lane, needs to rain to wash off the dust and I need to rake it out a little more. Next job is to finish tidying and cleaning the inside of the garage, have run out of time this week! I also need to give the doors a wash before painting them in the new year. The flint wall to the right hand side needs rebuilding as most of it has fallen down over the years. It certainly needs to be finished before we can have the gate installed.











Edited by Nick_MSM on Thursday 30th November 18:10

Nick_MSM

Original Poster:

684 posts

188 months

Sunday 3rd December 2017
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Finally got the car in the garage which is a relief, almost forgot what it looked like seeing as it had been at my dad's for ages! I was pleasantly surprised how much room there is in the garage, was half expecting a tight fit but there's plenty of room around the car - thinking about some clean kitchen units across the back for storage.

There's just enough room with my wife's Abarth on the drive to get the 911 in and out, have to move the Disco but we have a strip of lane out the front anyway so no big deal. In an ideal world I would have dug further into the garden but the section behind the drive is quite narrow anyway so we weren't eager to lose that.

Itching to get the doors and timber painted now but obviously can't in these temps.






Nick_MSM

Original Poster:

684 posts

188 months

Monday 4th December 2017
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Ben 89 said:
Can i ask where you got the downlighter's from? need some for the rear of my house smile
Can't remember exactly where I bought them, but the lights on the sleepers are by Astro, and the model is 'Mast'. The lights on the garage are also by Astro, and they're called Chios. Really pleased with the quality. We have other Astro lighting scattered about and they all seem decent.

https://www.ukelectricalsupplies.com/astro-mast-li...