Man Cave Mk2

[b33fy]

haha, by the time you've finished you'll have more 'gear' than the Sinola Cartel....

Lucky I got a big shed to put it all in..

[DJ.]

I certainly wouldn't want to go back to work either!

[b33fy]

Back outside the last week or so. Clearing the footprint for the extension, mostly tarmac along with a concrete garage base. Got a couple of diggers this time, one with a pecker. Still took a day to dig the concrete base out. More grab lorry’s for the crap. Then started relocating a manhole for the main drain. Dug the old one out and managed to get a clean cut on the main sewer. More of the same this week.

Chilled on Saturday and visited a nuclear bunker, originally part of a network called ROTOR built in the 50’s with the Cold War going on. A quick photo of the Forth Bridge from North Queensferry.

[Wingco]

Blimey Mike, non stop for you mate again.
Love the bridge photo, loads of character in that Mike.

[DJ.]

It is amazing that bridge close to, I dropped in there on one of our Scottish tours once. Of course no one turned up and it took me an hour to catch them all up!

[b33fy]

Thanks both, it’s quite the sight, real masterpiece of engineering. If we get a chance might jump on the train for a trip across some time.

Cleared the site a bit more. Getting better with the digger so got it sort of level’ish Main drain has been time consuming making sure we got the clearance with the footings and walls etc. Theres no wiggle room.. tight to the boundary and connection to old clay pipe is where it is. Also spent a good while measuring out the site, putting in some formers for the footings as the trenches are crap due to old foundations, rubble and old drains being dug up. Hopefully get some mesh in them tomorrow.

[greenwoo]

loved the pic's Mike, a timely reminder that I need to dust of my camera and 'get out there'.

Hmm, a digger with a pecker - and you guys took the mickey about me forever using an angle grinder for various jobs!

[b33fy]

A bit more progress. Switching between inside and outside depending on weather. Footings are in, just going to start on the block work. Will give it a bit of a go but might get a pro in if too tricky. Got a block cutter to make life easier and made some bricklaying profiles to lay to so I don’t have to worry about building corners or the gauge thickness too much.

On the inside, started on ripping up some of the floor where the joists are rotten. The infill beneath the joists is high so will dig that out a bit to minimise damp along with a damp proof course under some new wall plates. Got to remove the remains of the dividing walls and put new joists across the gaps, so decided to replace all of the joists and wall plates rather than patch it in. All of the boards have to come off regardless to insulate the floor, so the only extra cost are the joists. Got a job lot of C24 coming this week at a very good price.

Also had a go at snapping a cricket match. Lens was dirty. Couple of shots below.

[b33fy]

Woods turned up for the floor, so in poor weather we’re inside working on that. Been using a Dewalt first fix nail gun up til now which is ok, but sometimes struggles to drive in 90mm nails. It’s an electric gun which I think works on a flywheel principle. The advantages over a gas nailer is it doesn’t need gas canisters or regular cleaning and servicing and will work in all temperatures as long as it’s not too cold to recharge the lithium battery packs. It struggles with 90mm galvanised ring shank nails which are the nail of choice for constructing the new floor and general framing, so a new Paslode gas nailer has been ordered. This should smash the nails in no problem.

Outside we are working on the block work which we haven’t made easy for ourselves as the trenches are stepped and not to gauge with the blocks. This is because we were limited by the position of the existing drain and the runs to the en-suites which need to be spot on to avoid problems down the road. This means a lot of cutting. The cut blocks are put at the bottom so we can get clean runs of whole block above. Corners are going up first then hopefully the infill won’t take too long. Using a site laser to check heights to ensure the blocks are set at the correct slab level. It’s a very steep learning curve, especially as the only thing I’ve built previously was a rockery! Tops of the corners are within 2mm of each other so I’ll take that. More of the same over the next week or so.

[b33fy]

Floor starting to take shape. Levels are all over the place. Old floor didn’t feel too bad but wasn’t 100% level. Wall plates are on the slope and different heights so will have to pack each joist. Using the fireplace hearth as a reference point, hopefully all will be good once done.

Chipping away at the block work. Looking a bit neater with James on the pointing. Need to improve and get it right, even though it will be buried, as there is some expensive stone going on next.