First-time house renovation

andrew-b

No wonder your aching stolt! I'm feeling like i've done a few rounds in the boxing ring myself!

Jimbugalee, give up now on a decent lawn! Our grass was nice before we got pup..at first we watered behind with watering can whereever he did his business though we soon got tired of that! I've heard about those rocks though haven't tried. Apparently another tip is to add tomato ketchup onto your dogs food...don't know if it works but our dog does like ketchup i found! Our grass is not so bad now but the more delicate grasses seemed worst affected whereas the stronger rye grass seems ok and seems to have taken over. He still occassionally tries to get attention by ripping up the lawn edge as he knows it winds me up!

Well here i've been really busy in the garden..firstly there was the 30 foot long trench that i dug diagonally across my back lawn and under a corner of the patio paving to bury a conduit for cable going to the satellite dish that will be located at the furthest corner of the garden. Didn't want the dish on the chimney as i wanted the ability to be able to maintain myself from firm ground so that was the next best place.

Then i part disassembled the small tool store shed , rolled the rest across the garden on wooden poles and reassembled the other side.

Also chopped out about 5 or 6 square feet of concrete and paving slabs alongside the old big shed which we don't want...not easy being about 6 inch thick of concrete on rubble. So now i have another pile of rubble to dispose of. Also removed the concrete strip running between concrete area and grass as it's deteriorating in places..that will be replaced with log roll with lawn set back slightly by earth so can mow to the edge.

This is all to make way for a new bigger shed as existing 8x4' shed is leaking and too small. New shed will be 9'x6' but in front of where the old shed was. Where the old shed was will become an area for compost heap and the satellite dish will be mounted on a pole there too but will be hidden from direct view from the house by the new shed. The area that i've ripped up concrete will become a veggie patch. There will be a gap down the fence side of the shed so i can squeeze down the side to paint shed and fence and on the other side we intend to create a gravelled flowerbed under the shed windows.

We also took advantage of 15% off at homebase on friday night and bought some green resin garden furniture as the garden furniture we currently had is all rusting to the point it looked like the glass tabletop was going to drop out. Also bought a new rotary washing line and hose reel.

On Saturday i spent ages trying to take the old garden table apart..all the fixings were so rusted and were beyond even drilling out . I did actually try to cut the glass top in half but being toughened it's impossible so i'm paying the council £7 to take it away as it won't fit in our car. I then spent ages trying to remove the old rotary washing line from it's hole..again so rusted that in the end the pole broke off in the hole.
On Sunday i then had to cut out the concrete around the old washing line hole, dig down about 18 inches and sink in a new spike for the new line in postcrete.

So basically, lot of groundworks, and nothing much to show for it other than a pile of rubble and a pipe sticking out the soil either end of the garden! Will take some pictures later and post them up.

jimbugalee

wow Andrew - you've done loads!! I think given me some inspiration to do something to our garden this year.

We really need a new shed to store tools but they're soooo expensive grrr

andrew-b

Yeah lots of work...though i've got a habit of starting jobs before i've finished the previous one..namely the bathroom that still needs painting! I think the trouble is i like the demolition jobs more than the putting together after again!

Getting a good deal on the shed from a local shed builder. This is the shed here but as we are local getting it for a bit less and only paying £50 for installation so in all comes to about £419 i think...still a fair chunk of cash though. As it comes untreated they deliver it, i paint the parts and then get them back to bolt it together, and felt the roof. Need to go visit them this week to place my order and talk to them about the floor structure so i know where to lay some bricks to support it (ground isn't level...would just be too easy otherwise!).

andrew-b

Pictures as promised.. click on the pics for bigger versions.

Cable Trench:
Day 1: Progress hampered by rain so got quite wet and muddy sitting down to dig!



Day 2: Lots of progress today..


Day 3 and 4: Backfilled trench ...some rain.. progress really slow under the patio area and into the corner...should have dug the trench in the other direction as i ran out of space to sit and pile up soil! Filled in last bit on day 5 when it rained yet again!







Preparations for new shed:

Side view: Bricks laid out on patio showing position of new shed. Old tool store was between water butt and dustbin in this photo. Shed on right of pic to go


Relocated tool store and new garden furniture (yet another place for a pile of rubble!):



View from end of garden showing excavated lawn edge..oh look and one of my other rubble piles (old bog under the tarp!):


Excavated bit of concrete and paving..note the thickness - Can also see here the bricks marking end of new shed in centre of pic:



More rubble..blue pipe = conduit for satellite cable. Fence post needs fixing.


Excavated concrete edge..log roll awaiting to be buried. Curved section of concrete from top to bottom to become a raised gravelled flowerbed under new shed windows.


New line hole...doesn't look much but took most of sunday!


View from back door towards shed area:

stolt

hello everyone, andrew-b i bet you feel like i do, every body part is hurting like hell, its the third day today and I think ive done my back in!!!! sitting here with a hot water bottle on it. I managed to clear the turf that i cut ot yesterday, turf cutter was collected today, on and off rain and muddy as hell! not a good mix... took me all day just to clear the turf and soil, skip completed filled up. Decided to put some sub base down on the patio circle (havent flattend it down yet) tomorrow is really going to rain so i expect that i will be able just to put more sub base down, but i expect looking at the lawn i will need another three tons!!!!!! more money and more back breaking, moved a ton in 2 hours today and felt like dying at the end of it.
















Plans for the garden - In the circle i'm going for a cobbled effect patio/hard standing area, the lawn will be edged in the same setts aswell, to the right of the circle going to have a bark area for the kids, which needs to house the trampoline and playhouse. the rest is going to be artificial turf, around the borders are going to be bamboos, nice and simple and low maintence. Also got to put some power in for a double socket and a control unit for the outside spotlights, got the armoured cable today and just waiting for the fuse unit for the garage. the plants will be watered by some irrigation pipe and spray heads, just got to site the connecting taps for these somewhere where i can reach them easily.

andrew-b

Looks a bit muddy..if it rains as hard as it did here it's gonna become a bit of quagmire!

We redid our lawn not long after we moved in a few years back though we killed it with some old weedol (containing paraquat - no longer available..napalm wasn't available either though!). Then my Mum double dug the area burying the upturned rotting turf at the bottom. Left fallow for a few months and then regrew from seed with hours of watering. So we had a whole summer of dust patch.

Shame i can't get my rubble to you to bury under your paving rather than buying sub-base! The row of paving slabs nearest the lawn in front of the garden furniture has an old garden wall that i buried under it!

I had been toying with the idea of removing all of that patio between back door and shed until i realised how hard it was and how much rubble - budget also doesn't really extend to skips so for now just tarting up what is already there to do a makeover on the cheap. Eventually would like to remove it and lower it to the same level as the patio with furniture on. Can't just cover it over as it's already as DPC level.

stolt

andrew-b wrote: »

Looks a bit muddy..if it rains as hard as it did here it's gonna become a bit of quagmire!

We redid our lawn not long after we moved in a few years back though we killed it with some old weedol (containing paraquat - no longer available..napalm wasn't available either though!). Then my Mum double dug the area burying the upturned rotting turf at the bottom. Left fallow for a few months and then regrew from seed with hours of watering. So we had a whole summer of dust patch.

Shame i can't get my rubble to you to bury under your paving rather than buying sub-base! The row of paving slabs nearest the lawn in front of the garden furniture has an old garden wall that i buried under it!

I had been toying with the idea of removing all of that patio between back door and shed until i realised how hard it was and how much rubble - budget also doesn't really extend to skips so for now just tarting up what is already there to do a makeover on the cheap. Eventually would like to remove it and lower it to the same level as the patio with furniture on. Can't just cover it over as it's already as DPC level.

yep we have had and still is heavy raining... dont know what to do for the best i can start covering the rest with sub base and will build a pathway through it with the sub base. not sure whether to lay sharp sand ontop of the sub base or straight wet mix for the cobbles.

andrew-b

I'd bed down the paving in sharp sand on top of the sub base with some weed control fabric in the bottom of the sharp sand layer. Then sweep a dry mix between them for the pointing some time later. I wouldn't use a wet mix as you can't go back and make adjustments a day or two later! Have a look at pavingexpert.com though and see what they suggest. For the area your doing i'd hire a whacker plate to compact the sub base down.

stolt

andrew-b wrote: »

I'd bed down the paving in sharp sand on top of the sub base with some weed control fabric in the bottom of the sharp sand layer. Then sweep a dry mix between them for the pointing some time later. I wouldn't use a wet mix as you can't go back and make adjustments a day or two later! Have a look at pavingexpert.com though and see what they suggest. For the area your doing i'd hire a whacker plate to compact the sub base down.

got the wacker plate tool and a mixer in the garage ready to go;), ive got plenty of sharp sand so wasnt sure if it was needed for the patio. Got the weed membrane aswell to go down, in fact i'm covering the whole garden in it.

andrew-b

If your laying setts see
http://pavingexpert.com/setts01.htm
..if you follow the links at the bottom under "other resources" says how to lay it - either rigid or flexible.