New Workshop & House tidy up

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

On 7/18/2022 at 3:24 PM, Stormin said:

Looks like it, Ed. If you look at the photo's you can make out the joins through the rendering. Pre-fabricated. My bungalow is built the same way. Nearly 60yrs old and as good as the day it was built. Better than some of the stuff they are throwing up these days. Company call Kencast produced them. Don't know if they are still on the go. 

Concrete construction is pretty popular in other countries but the UK banks are never keen on lending money for "non standard" construction.

 

We owned a steel framed house in Portsmouth. It had been built with German labour and funds after WW2 to replace destroyed houses. Our one was one of hundreds in a huge estate.

 

I renovated it from a complete wreck and it was a sturdy building - structurally nothing needed doing, it was just cosmetic  work and putting in double glazed windows etc.

 

The banks refused to lend on it, even though it was easily the equal of an equivalent brick building.

 

I never could understand the aversion to different building mediums!

 

 

 

[Stormin 9,975]

  Carol was born in a similar house as your Portsmouth one, Dan, in Hemel Hempstead. I couldn't get a mortgage from any of the building societies, because they didn't do prefabs. But I did get one from the Nat West, though not even banking with them at the time. I did have to get a building inspectors report. The inspector told me that there's a lot of similar houses around. But most having mods done you can't tell.

  As for the garage you hope to get, in my late teens my parents bought a new bungalow and my Father bought a Kencast garage. 

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

Slowly cleaning up awful yard in between lots of other jobs.

 

Decided to make our entranceway a bit more practical  - got fed up with broken paving and weeds.

 

This is just a quick temporary fix, the (free) paving bricks are actually to be used further down for the whole back area - I have a couple of thousand of them.... The part with bricks will be a concrete pad in the near future for a large porch. I just couldn't stand the chaos any longer and it was good to brush up my brick laying skills.

 

The boot store was one we knocked up years ago out of pallets to keep our wellies (gumboots) out of the house  - it's earnt it's keep time and time again!

 

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

On the scrounge again and found the last shed for the property

 

Its a 9ft x 7ft concrete one using the same construction method as the garage we have. Not sure exactly where this one is going, it's job in life is gardening equipment and my daughters motorbike.

 

Heading north to Prestwick for it next,  next Monday (1st).

 

That's the bulk of the gathering done, then it's a case of neatly assembling everything and making it all look nice.

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

Didn't realise I hadn't mentioned the paving bricks....

 

Got several thousand for free in Biggar and hauled them home earlier in the week. It took several runs and was pretty tedious but....free!!

 

More to collect in a few months as the guy hasn't taken them all up yet.

 

Photo shows the pile in its early stages - trailer was too heavy to back uphill into our drive without destroying the clutch. Used wheelhorse and trailer to ferry bricks back and forth.

[The Freightliner Guy 1,326]

Might want to blur out your license plate but anyways looks good 

[Handy Don 10,609]

20 hours ago, Dan.gerous said:

Used wheelhorse and trailer to ferry bricks back and forth

I was 13 when a neighbor hired me to haul bricks he was salvaging from a building demolition. He'd clean them with mason's hammer and toss them into a pile. I'd use two compression hods to carry sixteen at a time a couple hundred feet to where we had trailer parked. Back and forth until the trailer had all it could carry. Then ride over to the home he was building and he'd do carpentry while I unloaded and stacked all the bricks. Three or four trips per day for a week. He did pay a good wage and he was fun to be around. Jobs for 13-year-olds with good pay weren't that easy to come by and he gave me other work afterwards. All in all a very useful experience!

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

Off to collect this today, need a larger entrance area for winter - currently come directly into the kitchen, which is too small as it is.

 

Won't get it built for a while, but it's free and I couldn't bare to leave it

 

Road trip to Ayr and back.

[ebinmaine 63,157]

2 hours ago, Dan.gerous said:

.

Good free solar heater there too.  

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

Last load of bricks home, about 800 in the trailer picture I think.

 

Also got the conservatory home.

 

Place is looking like a junkyard - awful! Can't wait to start getting it all used up.

 

Have also started digging the back yard up to lay the bricks. Tough going by hand as it needs a lot of earth moved to get the level right.

[Handy Don 10,609]

7 hours ago, Dan.gerous said:

Last load of bricks home, about 800 in the trailer picture I think.

 

 

At a bit under 2 kilos per, that quite a load. You must have quite the sturdy trailer.

How much did the sections of the conservatory weigh? They look pretty awkward to handle.

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

5 hours ago, Handy Don said:

At a bit under 2 kilos per, that quite a load. You must have quite the sturdy trailer.

How much did the sections of the conservatory weigh? They look pretty awkward to handle.

Yes it was a heavy load!  The trailer is rated for 3500kg and the car can legally tow 2700kg - I think the trailer itself weighs about 600kg.

 

Was no trouble to tow, had to be gentle on the brakes. Worst problem was it got a terrible wobble on if you snuck over 60mph on the motorway. We tried various  weight distributions over the multiple loads but it made no difference. I think it's a problem with the trailer as have towed slightly heavier without that issue occurring. Was  scary as the car and trailer both started whipping side to side, and gently applying the braked to slow down made it briefly worse!

 

Conservatory sections remarkably light despite the size. The glass being out helps - it would be impossible otherwise I think.

[Handy Don 10,609]

12 hours ago, Dan.gerous said:

Conservatory sections remarkably light despite the size. The glass being out helps - it would be impossible otherwise I think.

Ah, I thought they had glass . Separately removable? Did that come with?

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

1 hour ago, Handy Don said:

Ah, I thought they had glass . Separately removable? Did that come with?

Yes, double glazed units, all intact. They are easy to take out and you can see all the window trim laying in the grass.

 

It didn't come with a roof, but that's ok as I want to put something solid on. Don't want it too cold in the winter.

[Handy Don 10,609]

4 hours ago, Dan.gerous said:

Yes, double glazed units, all intact. They are easy to take out and you can see all the window trim laying in the grass.

 

It didn't come with a roof, but that's ok as I want to put something solid on. Don't want it too cold in the winter.

Not sure how you find these things, but I'm impressed!

When my wife and I lived in the UK years back, our rental had a back garden conservatory much like this one forming an extension to the kitchen. Glass roof and, as a result, you could never get the kitchen warm in the winter. I asked the owner "why?" and he just shrugged saying his wife wanted it that way when they lived there.

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

5 hours ago, Handy Don said:

Not sure how you find these things, but I'm impressed!

When my wife and I lived in the UK years back, our rental had a back garden conservatory much like this one forming an extension to the kitchen. Glass roof and, as a result, you could never get the kitchen warm in the winter. I asked the owner "why?" and he just shrugged saying his wife wanted it that way when they lived there.

I'm always looking for free stuff

 

I acquired a free kitchen the other day as well, a friend's daughter is renovating her house and needs it gone....probably use a bit of it to improve this houses  tiny kitchen and the rest into my new garage.

 

Problem is that we are always living in rented accommodation at the moment, so I don't want to spend a fortune on improvements. However, I also only have one life so refuse to "exist" in houses that are not good enough. 

 

Looking forward to buying again so all the effort is entirely for us, but until then we beg steal and borrow to get these houses up to scratch. My landlords always get a good deal!

 

I asked the owner "why?" and he just shrugged saying his wife wanted it that way when they lived there.

 

I never understood the obsession with conservatories  - too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter,  most pointless invention ever. 

 

 

[Stormin 9,975]

That the free kitchen, Dan? If so, you've done really well. 

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

1 hour ago, Stormin said:

That the free kitchen, Dan? If so, you've done really well. 

Yes that's the one, it's the Captains daughters - up in Paisley. 

 

The best bit is its already been removed, so don't have to go to any great effort!

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

It doesn't look like much, but that's two days hard work with me and the girls moving it all by hand.

 

I think it was roughly 12cbm - not sure how many tons that would be.

 

Dig out next to continue the brick wall all the way around then backfill behind it. Then the paving will go in and we will have a neat, tidy, mud free, dog friendly back bit!

[Stormin 9,975]

1 hour ago, Dan.gerous said:

 

  

   Fly tipper! 

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

2 hours ago, Stormin said:

  

   Fly tipper! 

It's our farm still! 🙄

 

Need to get the tractor and trailer down so we can haul it away to the quarry.

[Handy Don 10,609]

10 hours ago, Dan.gerous said:

roughly 12cbm - not sure how many tons that would be

1200± kg per cubic meter, depending on how compact and moist. A lot of tons.

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

2 hours ago, Handy Don said:

1200± kg per cubic meter, depending on how compact and moist. A lot of tons.

Little wonder my old broken elbow is playing up this morning!

 

My teenage daughters are tough though, couldn't have done it without them.

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

Got the rotovator out today, took off most of the previous owners "modifications" and replaced some of the worn pulleys. It's still not right, the front pulleys rub on the footplate, have no tension spring and look like he has altered the bracket - kept his jury rig to keep guide pulley clear.

 

It runs a lot better now and will be used to break up the 2" of soil that still needs removing from yard. Ignore the belt, I will go get a new one now it's set up a bit better than before.

 

My poor wheelhorses look so unloved!

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

Road trip today to collect the smaller concrete shed up in Prestwick.

 

Weight not so bad, have had more in the trailer.

 

This shed is about half the size of the bigger one, so I think 3-4 runs would be required. Might look at truck hire as an option.

 

Still waiting for the big gas tank to be removed from our yard, it's in the place allocated for this particular building.

 

Photos taken in Thornhill, stopped to check lashings and buy bread and milk