First-time house renovation

stolt

ukmaggie45 wrote: »

Hey Stolt, what are you thinking of filling them with? I've seen a picture of gabions filled with rows of wine bottles - looked very attractive. Guess you might be able to get free bottles from local restaurants if you needed more bottles than you could drink in the timescale you're working to! :beer:

Looking at your garden though, are you sure you might not be better just digging a swimming pool? :eek: Fingers crossed for some dry weather over the weekend, though forecast is mainly carp so far as I can see.

(PS any chance you could make the huge photos a bit smaller? Just they make the posts difficult to read as you have to scroll sideways to read each line.)

hi maggie, my fault about the pics i didnt resize all of them before i posted, it was winding me up aswell.
Just going to put stones in them, as the kids are off school we all didnt get up til 10, my first lay in for years.
And i'm ready to do it all again today, its rained all night and i want to clear another bag of sub base today (not sure if my back does), will order another 2 ton of sub base and maybe another ton of sharp sand aswell.
The nurse who gives ur youngest her daily injections was amazed on how much has been done already so thats spurred me on a bit, i was starting to think i wasnt getting anywhere on my own.

Just ordered some bamboo plants for delivery tomorrow but they wont go in until the gabions are in, i think we have decided on how many Gabions we need, 60!! - thats going to be fun filling them. Bought a 4 way wireless switch and keyfob for the garden, will get the garden spots on three switches and going to run a rope light through the gabions and that will be on a single switch so that can be on its own.

stolt

weather has been slightly better today, managed to shift the last bag of sub base and two ton of sandon my own, back hurting again. Used the vibrating plate and had a lot of fun with it. Got another delivery tomorrow of 3 ton of sub base and 2 ton of sharp sand, although a mate has contacted me and i'm going to give him £50 for a couple of days labour. He didnt want to take any but hes currently out of work so it might help him out aswell as me.

This is how i left it, the yellow spray paint is going to be the barked area...

andrew-b

Looks like you've been busy (curious what those 2 pipes are?)..considering hiring a wacker plate myself to compact the shed base area. OH converted the car to van-mode and took a load to the tip this morning...though none of the rubble. I spent a few hours again breaking out the concreted area for the shed base though progress is slow as they've buried old blocks whole that i'm pulverising into little pieces to add to my homemade sub-base. Rained mid-afternoon by which time i'd had enough and came in for food and warmth.

Started a google sketchup plan of the shed last night to refine the plans that are currently in my head ..will post some snapshots later.

stolt

andrew-b wrote: »

Looks like you've been busy (curious what those 2 pipes are?)..considering hiring a wacker plate myself to compact the shed base area. OH converted the car to van-mode and took a load to the tip this morning...though none of the rubble. I spent a few hours again breaking out the concreted area for the shed base though progress is slow as they've buried old blocks whole that i'm. pulverising into little pieces to add to my homemade sub-base. Rained mid-afternoon by which time i'd had enough and came in for food and warmth.

Started a google sketchup plan of the shed last night to refine the plans that are currently in my head ..will post some snapshots later.

thats a thankless task, especially when its buried whole, i had a line of pavers set in about 10inch of cement, they were doing nothing but edging the lawn. Why so much cement??? The wacker plate was really goo, the sand etc s so compressed you can walk on it without sinking in, very good.
It was especially cold today, fingers felt like that werent there and the driving rain in the face just made worse. I have tried that google sketchup before and its a good bit of software, think i still have some of the garden i done last october. I should dig them out to see if its still the same image i had in my head. although for better or worse i seem to be designing it as i go along so i can see the space in front of me etc.

stolt

how to everyone get on today, been in the arden since nine, although a massive lorry woke me up with 5 ton of sub base and sharp sand. Rained on and off but got a lot done today despite my back really hurting me, i've stunk the house out with deep heat!! got the basics done and and down now, just a little more levelling tomorrow with a tad more sharp sand,really want to get the patio done tomorrow although forecast is rain and more rain!
Managed to get the trampoline and playhouse in the place i want and i kinda like how it turned out,space for the kids without ruining the look of the garden.
Got some bamboos delivered today, although not ready to go in yet, i'll unwrap them tomorrow and place them in the beds but needs the gabion cages to arrive, plus i'm really struggling to get everything square ie the artificial turf isnt here and i have to have that square for the decking, got some string lines up and ther not helping loads...

andrew-b

Made a fair bit of progress today as didn't rain so i was outside all day breaking up concrete. (click for bigger versions)



I reckon i'm about 3rd of the way through the area . So i guess at least another 4 days like today to get it finished unless the concrete/rubble gets any worse.

stolt

how people getting on over the easter weekend, i'm shot to bits, everything is aching and hurting, spent 3 days doing the patio (bloody cobble setts, could have got it down in two minute sif i chose proper paving!!!)

I'll be out there again tomorrow, i'm hoping i'll get the patio finished tomorrow, still got a ton of sharp sand to lay on the sub base and wacker plate that down before the hire company picks it up.

ukmaggie45

stolt wrote: »

how people getting on over the easter weekend, i'm shot to bits, everything is aching and hurting, spent 3 days doing the patio (bloody cobble setts, could have got it down in two minute sif i chose proper paving!!!)

I'll be out there again tomorrow, i'm hoping i'll get the patio finished tomorrow, still got a ton of sharp sand to lay on the sub base and wacker plate that down before the hire company picks it up.

Wow, Stolt, you've been working really hard! But the results are worth it, it's looking really good! :T And the cobble sets make it - maybe more work, but it's going to look really fantastic when it's finished. Good luck with it all today - hope you have a dry day!

I finally got my first 7 seed potatoes planted (there were 10, but 3 are in a grow bag and ready to earth up - we fancied an early potato meal! )

OH has continued laying the shed base - his Mum's coming over today, so we'll probably concentrate more on the gardening than construction.

Got shallots in on Friday, but when looked yesterday something had nipped off the shoot of the solitary red onion - I suspect the squirrel. :eek: So have ordered some netting tunnels, meanwhile have doubled up on the surrounding thorny twigs. If I find any more shoots nipped off today I'll sling some fleece over the twigs and peg it down. In fact might do that anyway.

Might try and get some carrot seed in today... And maybe get some more of the onions planted... Oh, and there's the garlic waiting to be planted under the rose bushes! Aaaggghhhh, there aren't enough hours in the day! Better get going and get some seeds in!

jack705

This would help you in ranovating your home

stanshomerenovation.com/Services.html

Fevvahz

This is a superb thread, but at 147 pages, and several intermingled stories from different people, rather hard to follow!