Our new project House (and rock cave houses)

[CTO]

Evening all,

Progress is a bit slow at the moment but by way of an update.

Had a chap round to quite for the groundworks on Saturday and awaiting the outcome of that.

The plan is to have either side of the house dug out and hardcore laid.

The left hand side of the house will be for garden machinery/ride on lawn mower and landrover garage. Ideally I would like to convert the two smaller caves to be ride in garages for the lawnmower and associated bits and bobs.

The right hand side of the house will be the entrance to and main driveway.. I will try to illustrate using my woeful skills…

Blue: Boys toys area
Red: entrance to and main drive for our cars and guests



Small caves are marked in the blue area by two squiggles. In real terms they look like this and should fit a lawnmower with some parallel parking…


Plans came back for the first revision last Wednesday and are back with the architect… inexperienced as we are we were expecting paper plans to pore over. Instead, the architect hooked his laptop up to our lounge TV and we got to work through the house/proposed layout/floors digitally. Really helpful and led to some fairly significant changes including the rear being extended outwards by a further three meters, a new gable end and a lantern roof (right term?) to go over the kitchen living area…

Once we have a version of the plan that is fit for sharing I will post and considerations/opinions would be welcome. There will no doubt be a few (many) things that could be altered to work smarter…

In other news, as the weather is st I have been using the upstairs of the house as a makeshift paint booth to tidy up the landy a bit.

Bedroom 1: sanding and prepping
Bedroom 2: degreasing and primer
Bedroom 3: colour and lacquer

This is the first time I have had a crack at painting stuff and it’s very much trial and error. But, I figured this is the only time ever that the OH will sanction the house being used to paint rusty old car bits so I might as well at least have a go and make the most of it…

Practicing on spare wheel
Sanding it back as rusty and flaky rim



Primer

^^
I had to sand this back and redo due to the obvious blemishes.

First coat of paint


Roof:
Being sanded back


First coat of primer being applied



That’s about it for now. Hoping to get the main caves emptied this weekend and the electricity restored…

In answer to the question from Saturday;

Stigproducts: The house was/is a state and yep mildew in places (lots of). It hadn’t been inhabited for five years though and we were expecting worse given that the frontage is covered in ivy…. There are no plans to move in for a good while although I reckon a week or two and our painter and decorator would easily be able to turn it into something clean and habitable… my student house at uni was worse

Oh, and in other news, the landy is off to an Indy specialist on Friday for a full service/fluids/oils/points and a full structural once over…

These guys, if anyone knows them: http://www.apbtrading.co.uk/servicing-repairs-kidd...

I is trepidatious

Cheers all,

[Richtea1970]

You are literally living the dream
(My dream anyway!)

[CTO]

Richtea1970 said:

You are literally living the dream
(My dream anyway!)

Wait til the bills start coming in and the unforeseen rectifications resulting in a gradual descent into economic despair

I learnt today that a clutch change on the series 2 will leave me with little change out of £1500….. if there was a smiley for a sharp intake of breath and a long slow exhale this would be a good time for it.

Thinking I might learn to change a clutch… how hard can it be……………

[RichB]

CTO said:

Thinking I might learn to change a clutch… how hard can it be……………

Well if you hire, an engine hoist it can't be too difficult. Or maybe even drop the prop and separate the gearbox from underneath the car.

[normalbloke]

Clutch change on a series has to be one of the simplest jobs. Who hit you with a £1500 quote?

[21st Century Man]

I will have a fair crack at DIY stuff and I could probably do a clutch but would most likely leave that to a garage. Exception would be an old Landrover or my old LDV Convoy, so simple and so much space underneath, I'd give it a go.

[normalbloke]

If I remember correctly, engine hoist in through one of the door apertures to lift the box backwards and away from the clutch?

[DB4DM]

I bought a 1974 Series 3 about 6 yrs ago and had almost the same scope of work as above before driving 200 miles home. Was about £600 including pressure washing the (galvanised) chassis. Subsequently, new springs, shocks, tyres and brakes all round plus a host of minor stuff improved reliability and usability. Also bought several padlocks and immobiliser stuff

[DB4DM]

Great thread by the way!

[CTO]

normalbloke said:

If I remember correctly, engine hoist in through one of the door apertures to lift the box backwards and away from the clutch?

Yup, pretty much that tbh. £1500 was very very strong but I am thinking I may have misunderstood although I did clarify a number of times….

If it is £1500 it defo won’t be being done there. I would rather send it elsewhere or find someone who knows a bit about cars and do it on the driveway.

[CTO]

DB4DM said:

I bought a 1974 Series 3 about 6 yrs ago and had almost the same scope of work as above before driving 200 miles home. Was about £600 including pressure washing the (galvanised) chassis. Subsequently, new springs, shocks, tyres and brakes all round plus a host of minor stuff improved reliability and usability. Also bought several padlocks and immobiliser stuff

Sounds about right. I’m going to clarify with the garage on Friday that I would like it to run, steer and stop (as well as a 54 year old Landy can)

All of the other bits can be done stage by stage. As long as it is safe to drive and tow crap to the tip.. (I didn’t know the towing categories on licences is in the process of changing and doing away with the trailer test up to a certain weight !?!?! That’s a result)

[DB4DM]

I also opened an account at Craddocks, and separately learned that lots of after market spares are made of fareastium and don't last, being cheap for a reason! Before I sold it on, I never did sort out the small current drain befind the dash that would flatten the battery in about a week if not recharged meanwhile. Proceeds of its sale are paying for a gearbox rebuild in my other car

[CTO]

I have an account at Paddocks now, and a wish list…

Danger!

[OMITN]

CTO said:

Wait til the bills start coming in and the unforeseen rectifications resulting in a gradual descent into economic despair

I learnt today that a clutch change on the series 2 will leave me with little change out of £1500….. if there was a smiley for a sharp intake of breath and a long slow exhale this would be a good time for it.

Thinking I might learn to change a clutch… how hard can it be……………

Looks easy enough….

[CTO]

That’s a great find

Tbf tho, ours currently has no roof, so that’s a bit of time saved and I don’t think he needs to do quite as much removal of peripherals as he did…

Outside of the heavy duty faffing though, it did seem relatively straightforward

[OMITN]

Makes me want an old Land Rover, that’s for sure. Sadly nowhere out of the rain or out of sight (already had a car pinched - doubled the village crime rate for that year!).

I suspect that getting it done by someone will be more sensible for your immediate requirements.!

Love the overall project by the way - magnificent..!

[deadtom]

superb stuff OP, following with interest

[CTO]

Evoluzione said:

From a fellow new property owner it looks like you're making great progress
It's a shame in a way to cut the tree down as it looks like a decent specimen and adds a bit of useful character to the area..

The debate about to fell or not continues in our house. I say no, the OH she say yes.

I like it for the reason you mention, the OH says the tree isn’t native to our shores and shouldn’t be there..

I have Googled “Tall pointy dense UK trees” and decided it could be anything from a juniper to a fir to a conifer../

Anyone want to give me a steer and further the great Worcester tree debate/debacle.

Cheers all,

[tokyo_mb]

Can’t help with tree identification, but worth noting that lots of non-native specimen trees were planted particularly during the Victorian era. So there’s certainly 150+ years history of people planting non-native specimens to achieve a particular look - particularly in gardens and parkland.

[hidetheelephants]

CTO said:

They look fairly small in those pics but with added fat bloke for scale;

The rock face can't overly stable; that must be the best part of half a tonne of rock that's relatively newly fallen off. If you're going to use it for whatever purpose securing the rock face immediately above seems like a good idea, rock bolts perhaps.