Ok, not a bike but.. (pic heavy)

[mealexme]

... bike related, and a project.

Basically, a very short version of a back story. Bought house with large garden years ago, got planning permission to build a house, garage and parking space on the land. Got a buyer, and found a house. Buyers looked through the paperwork and found there is a covenant saying we cannot build a house on the land and they want something like £60K to remove it, so we are staying put. I decided I want to build a place for the bike though, so started destroying the garden

The work done so far...

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5255516/IMG269.jpg

I wanted it roughly like this. But now it is going to have slabs right across.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5255516/IMG269%282%29.jpg

This means knocking down walls, removing the gate, removing a lot of soil, raising the level where the gravel is and building steps, as well as building more low walls and getting a custom made gate built for us

So, the normal person to complete this job would need...

A skip

A cement mixer

Some sort of electric brick cutter

A sledge hammer

A wheelbarrow

A shovel

Hardcore/cement etc

Me on the other hand, well lets just say I didnt make it easy on myself...

A skip Oh no, bag it up, remove gravel from other places in the path to put the soil under to raise it then put gravel back and find other places in the garden

A cement mixer - being rented soon

Some sort of electric brick cutter Old brick chisel and hammer. Bought a new chisel and pretty much ruined the handle from hitting it so much

A sledge hammer Claw hammer and lump hammer (no point buying one for one job)

A wheelbarrow - tick. Knicked it from some builders a while back... Long story, for another time

A shovel Got a spade. That will do

Hardcore/cement etc - sort of...

First step, take the gravel out and bag it up

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5255516/IMG278.jpg

Start digging. Be sure to move plants

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5255516/IMG275.jpg

It got a little muddy out there... The reason my feet are in shot is because they were stuck and I couldnt move them out of shot...

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5255516/IMG022.jpg

Dont have any pictures of the digging out process, but you can see where the old wall was

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5255516/IMG031.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5255516/IMG027.jpg

That was a LOT of digging!

Digging foundations for the new wall

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5255516/IMG023.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5255516/IMG025.jpg

You can see how much I dug out!

Found a bit of granite, and thinking it was brick (being used as home made hardcore) I tried braking it up..

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5255516/IMG029.jpg

Materials arrived today so thought I really had to get a bit of a move on!

And then the fun part! (using a couple of small hammers and a brick chisel, it was bloody hard work! Especially as I had to make sure I didn't knock too many bricks out!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5255516/IMG040.jpg

Its all coming together! Just need to cut a couple more blocks to make that edge straight

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5255516/IMG042.jpg

And this is how I left it tonight

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5255516/IMG043.jpg

Neighbour came over whilst I was breaking up bricks for hardcore, ten minutes before it got dark and said "I have a sledge hammer in the garage, let me go and get it".. So I have had three days of smashing bricks and knocking down a wall with a sledgehammer the other side of a garage door... Oh well, I am grateful to have it now!

[Horseynat30101]

nice one alex! this for the bikes to park i guess!?

[Throttled]

That looks too much like hard work for me!

If I was you I would want one of these

http://www.rookerybarns.com/userimages/courtyardcottage_large.jpg

[mealexme]

nice one alex! this for the bikes to park i guess!?

Yea, cement mixer arrives tomorrow, but not using it till sunday. Its going to drag on a bit because we need to get the gates made etc

And Throttled, I AM NOT BUILDING THAT!

[Swiss Rolls]

nice work man, its a real shitter for the bike when you haven't got a garage or anywhere secure to keep it.

throttled - that thing is sweet, saw a lot of very similar things in germany, every **** had one over there

[mealexme]

Footings done yesterday at midday, covered overnight and had the first frost we have had in about a year! F**K IT!

Oh well, don't think its done any damage

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5255516/IMG047.jpg

keeping it bike-relevant. Got the bandit out (she is in the garden, in the background, warmed her up, checked her over and took a pic (the bit that the YBR is on is a shared driveway with the neighbours which we don't own, plus it can be seen from the road, so I don't want to keep the bandit there).

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5255516/IMG048.jpg

Realised the footings on the far left were in the wrong place... FFFUUUUU!!!!!

So had to re-dig, and re-do and it is currently curing

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5255516/IMG045.jpg

Most of today was spent standing around, trying to work out how to get around the footing being in the wrong place, and avoiding having to wait another 24 hours before laying bricks on it whilst it cures, but I have work tomorrow morning so it does have time to cure before I get back!

The other part of the day was spent waiting for tesco, as I didnt want to be half way with laying a block, have tesco arrive and have to sort that out whilst the morter was drying the block in place at an angle. They could have been here any time between 2-4, so obviously arrived at 3:54, when they usually arrive between 2-half 2... Also had the delivery of the cement mixer today, and messing around on Betty. Yes I named the bandit Betty, and yes it is an old womans name, which I may want to change once I have ridden it a bit, but Betty the Bandit just sounds right.

Anyway, by the end of today I had re-done part of the footings, knocked part of an old block out (which was a pain), chiselled some old mortor off the old block and put down a couple of new ones, and pointed them too Pretty proud of myself, First bricks/blocks I have ever laid and they are (fairly) level and even! (the one in the corner hasn't been done)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5255516/IMG050.jpg

[TC]

Looking good Alex

Make sure you take the Bandit out of the garden before you you brick it up unless there is another way to get it out.

What's in the garage to the left of the picture, coundn't you of used that.

[mealexme]

Looking good Alex

Make sure you take the Bandit out of the garden before you you brick it up unless there is another way to get it out.

What's in the garage to the left of the picture, coundn't you of used that.

Bandit came in through the gate in the wall it is next to, and will go out the same way (just about)

In the garage is mums car, and no room for anything else

Update for today:

Got back from work about half 1, then went out to tesco and came back to find the mortar hasn't stuck, at all and had to come out :'(

Spent all day yesterday making sure it was all at the right level, all flush and the corners were right angles, even did the pointing perfectly. So going to re-try tomorrow and hopefully pour the cement on tuesday before my job interview at 4pm, which means probably leaving here at 3-half 3. So it mean I am in the place I was two days ago, and we have waisted renting a cement mixer over the weekend .. Never mind

[mealexme]

Update. Been busy with job applications, had an interview etc so its slow going.

First row of blocks complete, and a very small brick wall done too

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd519/mealexme/building/IMG054-1.jpg

The bricks don't even look too uneaven! Pretty proud to be honest. First brick/block laying I have ever done, and it was on my own and not done too shaby I don't think

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd519/mealexme/building/IMG061.jpg

Started the second layer of blocks

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd519/mealexme/building/IMG071-1.jpg

Then realised I was running out of *cough* ready mix *cough* mortar. So off I go to the local builders merchant... On the YBR

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd519/mealexme/building/IMG053.jpg

She's a good little work horse!

Built the bricks into the wall. But only after I had done it (and couldnt be bothered to move it) I realised the block was at an angle. The reason being, basically the original wall was not straight, and I was lining it up with that. But the wall I did from scratch seems to be alright!

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd519/mealexme/building/IMG069-1.jpg

Levelled out all the hard core, there is quite a lot of it! (The concrete will come to the top of the red bricks, which will be a step up onto the hard standing where the bike will be)

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd519/mealexme/building/IMG067.jpg

And this is how I left it tonight, I am getting there! Slowly..

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd519/mealexme/building/IMG077.jpg

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd519/mealexme/building/IMG078.jpg

[TC]

Thats looking good Alex

It must be very satisfying to do it off your own back. Well done

[mealexme]

Thats looking good Alex

It must be very satisfying to do it off your own back. Well done

It is. Although I will have help with the cement (so if it goes wrong I can blame it on someone else ) but it is always nice to do a project on your own. Well, if there is no time limit to do it in, so you can go your own pace and look back and say "I did that"

[eastanglianbiker]

well done alex its looking good so far

[Boothy]

Nice work alex

But there is only one bandit called betty

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[mealexme]

Nice work alex

But there is only one bandit called betty

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Fiiiiiiiiiiine, I will call her SILVER Betty!

Also, what's the container on the left?

So, today it looks more like somewhere to park a bike! Mum helped out today though, because I don't think she trusts me to work with concrete, and make it level... I wonder why.

Anyway, she ended up doing most of the mixing, so I was left to do the leveling of the cement (and helping her mix of course) which is why its not exactly perfect...

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd519/mealexme/IMG087.jpg

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd519/mealexme/IMG090.jpg

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd519/mealexme/IMG091.jpg

No, it is not level, but it is not meant to be, which was a pain to do, because g you couldn't simply use a spirit level to make sure it was level, because that's not how we wanted it

Aaaand, done!

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd519/mealexme/IMG093.jpg

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd519/mealexme/IMG095.jpg

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd519/mealexme/IMG096.jpg

Well, almost done. Its got a crap finish on it, but that doesn't matter either because slabs are going on top of it. And a gate where the hole is, then it will be done!

God knows how long that will take though, because we haven't even looked at slabs (apart from to tell how thick they are) and the cement takes about a week to cure anyway, so we can't lay anything on top of it

Oh, also I need to do the final level of blocks for the wall, and paint it all, and then... Then it is finished!

But then I need to rake the gravel on the path back up to the step I made with the red bricks.

Oh, and then I need to backfill the blocks and sort out the garden. It may be even longer until its finished than I thought

[dispersion]

is looking brilliant, shame i live with my parents. Though wish i had a garage, havnt been able o touch my bike this winter except riding it

[mealexme]

7 months later.... Not much has changed. Still not got the slabs. I wont be laying them when we do get them, but the gate is finally in (went in a few weeks ago) and the bandit is in there now

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd519/mealexme/IMG712.jpg?t=1347322491

YBR still in the bacground. Was gunna be my winter hack

Not a bad imagination!

 

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5255516/IMG269%282%29.jpg