Ed Poore Posted March 16, 2020 Share Posted March 16, 2020 Since it has been requested by a few people I thought I'll relinquish and post a build thread for the new garage. It's loosely 4x4 related since it'll be housing my two Land Rovers (the 300Tdi 110 and Sandringham 6x6), the latter has proven to be a little pain in the backside... Now there should be other higher priority projects on the go (converting what were stables into a machine shop, electronics lab and office for the business) but in order to get the 18+ tonne lorries to there for doing the slabs for the floor wasn't going to happen with a lawn in the way. I'd been using one end as a dry area for working on the 110 when I needed to and it started tearing up the grass. As I cleared it out of the way I discovered a cobbled driveway under the lawn. Anyway with part of a driveway in place a chap came in and graded another bit of the lawn so we could fill with hardcore to make a driveway for lorries to get to the workshops. Except I needed some hardcore. Then Dad (all of this is his fault I might hasten to add) had suggested a place to build a garage and I knew from planting some fruit trees that the soil wasn't particularly deep and hit shale after about 6 inches. So the plan was hatched to excavate the hole for the garage and this would provide hardcore for the driveway. Once the lorries had driven over it and compacted it further I could grade the top and add some nicer stone rather than shale. So excavations started: Which resulted in the following hole in the bank: The back of the house for reference is off to the right - the house behind the telegraph pole is a neighbour but I own the 1/4 acre or so of "vegetable" garden above the wall between me and them. After having a careful read through the planning regulations / permitted development rules for Wales provided I keep it under 2.5m eaves (4m roof line) and under 2.25 acres then I don't need planning . I'm inclined currently to keep it under that height because the above photo is actually looking south and making it much taller may impact upon sun getting to the house. I'm half considering making it underground so that there can be a grassy / sunny balcony on-top of it. And everyone wants an underground lair don't they? But then some prat decided to go and buy a Sandringham 6 139". So dutifully both vehicles were parked inside the hole to see how they fitted. Hmmm. A little tight and was going to make an interesting shape (the wall was at an angle from roughly the spade to where the camera is). So seeing as I'm unlikely to ever move again from this 7-9 bed mad house I've bought I knew I'd be kicking myself if I didn't make it a bit bigger. Did someone say bigga digga? For reference that's a 13 tonne machine and the back of the bank is above his roof-line so guessing about 3m high. For scale here the smallest bucket for the machine Ben's got (this isn't his biggest machine): And the beauty is his depot is just down the road from me (about 1/4 mile). Unfortunately that's pretty much it for now - I ran down the yard to look at some electrics for him and when I got back puppies were demanding feed and then it got dark. I'll get a comparable picture with the two Land Rovers in there but at the moment there's a 6 tonne dumper and 13 tonne excavator parked in it... As it'll fall under building regs because of the floor area (something like 24x30ft) and I don't have the time looking into getting some local well respected builders in to do the majority of the work. They've also got a friendly building regs gal and structural engineer to hand which will make things smoother. But the structure is going to be reinforced shuttered concrete as it's below ground and that will effectively tank it from the water coming through the sides. There are some old land drains that have been split since doing this work - half tempted to pipe them through the wall into a wash basin . The shuttering should also work out cheaper overall since it'll just be some ply and 2x4 structure, some rebar and then get the concrete in... 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderzander Posted March 16, 2020 Share Posted March 16, 2020 Fantastic read 😊 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arjan Posted March 16, 2020 Share Posted March 16, 2020 That was some serious digging ! Know the feeling - did the same for the Mrs. 20 mtr. round pen 2 years ago.. I need a bigger digger, too 😁 Please keep them coming - totally LR related ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Poore Posted March 16, 2020 Author Share Posted March 16, 2020 45 minutes ago, Arjan said: That was some serious digging ! All in a day's work. Literally. Think we shifted twice the amount of hardcore in half the time. Although the tarmac around the house has taken a walloping having probably 10+ tonnes of dumper flying around it all day. (admiteddly it wasn't in the best of shape). Will have to live with it till all the construction work is done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arjan Posted March 16, 2020 Share Posted March 16, 2020 Know the feeling.... The ground here was totally destroyed when 30 tonnes of grit was delivered... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazzar Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 I TOLD you that you need an underground lair. All you need now is a tank full of sharks with lasers on their heads. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazzar Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 Seriously, go large, cut and shut, you'll never regret it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Poore Posted March 17, 2020 Author Share Posted March 17, 2020 Probably doesn't do the scale any justice - I might sneak the 110 in front of the digger for a photo. I didn't want to get in the way of them because Ben's was meant to be coming back this morning once he'd found out which job the digger was going to next but I guess weather's put the kibosh on his morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 That's quite a large hole! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynic-al Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 (edited) You could blend that into the hillside and have a nice veranda on top. Or go 2 stories and have a workshop above! Edited March 17, 2020 by Cynic-al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Poore Posted March 17, 2020 Author Share Posted March 17, 2020 Right, I know people are going to be asking these questions so I'm going to try and preempt them... And yes I fully acknowledge I'm a lucky / jammy sod to have had the opportunity to acquire this place . Firstly the hole is actually going to be a garage and used as one, the 110 has developed a number of leaks recently because I haven't had the opportunity to fix them as it's been my only vehicle for a while. The P38 was never going to pass another MOT without a lot of work and money thrown at it and I'm working on the 6x6 as quickly as I can. So it'll be nice to have somewhere where it can stay dry until I get around to sorting out the leaks and then have somewhere dry where I can leave doors and roof off for a while while I sort it (that'll require the 6x6 to be on the road). Now the reasons why it's just going to be a garage and not really a workshop (and why I don't really need a second storey) and a bit of a story for the hell of it. The first time I viewed the place - first was a tour of the house, which took about 90 minutes the first time . After that I was shown the outbuildings, the first of which was the old Edwardian / Victorian kitchens. Awesome I thought, machine shop downstairs and then reinstate the first floor and then can have electronics lab and office upstairs. Then we went down to the stable block and I thought scrap that - this can be machine shop, lab and office. Attached to the stable block is another smaller barn which houses a blacksmiths forge (not operational but probably wouldn't take much apart from reinstating the chimney through the roof). The "temporary" workshop. This has been designated the temporary workshop because it's more or less weather proof and I'm working on the jackdaw proofing. You can see the original fireplaces in the background behind the lathe, ladder and hydraulic press. The temporary workshop is the taller of the buildings you can see to the right of the garage hole (ones behind are the neighbours). It's temporary because it's a sod to get the heavy tools up and down the stairs outside. Once the other workshops are completed then I'm not quite sure what I have planned for this space (perhaps a full size snooker table?) Then onto the stables workshop. This has a doorway which the Defender just fits through but it's not quite long (or is it wide?) enough to park inside neatly. This did have a first floor which was riddled with woodworm and I brought it down. The stairs to access it were above the exposed patch of mud. Where the 110 is parked is where I think the original builder / owner of the house kept his cart (it was a doctor in Victorian times apparently). Then there were two stables to the right on the tiled floor, the slate floor was a walkway from one end to the other. Here's a slightly later photo where I've started to remove some of the floor for preservation - the blacksmiths forge barn is through the doorway in front of the Argocat. This is the one is being renovated to have machine shop downstairs (handy since I can drive in when bringing in large machine tools). Then upstairs will be reinstated with electronics labs and office. I'm also thinking of widening the window above the Defender to incorporate floor to ceiling windows because that has a rather good view out over the garden and into the mountains in the distance. So as you can see don't really need the garage to be a workshop, hence why I called it garage project not workshop like @Retroanaconda's thread title. Although in the short term I'll probably put some stuff in there because there will be space for it and then I can perhaps in the background tidy up the temporary workshop (put in the first floor for example). One point to bear in mind is that my house is the last of the big mansions in the area (everything else has been knocked down and turned into cottages) and is in pretty decent nick, so any work I do want to be in keeping with the place, particularly as it'll be becoming a B&B in the near future (bit of extra income but also tax benefits). The garage is also on the southern side of the house so I'll probably experiment with some scaffolding poles as to roof lines but currently winning out is @Cynic-al's thought which I'd also had of blending it into the hillside and having a seating area on top. Hope that helps clarify the situation? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arjan Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 B&B ? Good idea ! looks like you have a good idea what goes where and why. Going to be a very interesting post this... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 That’s the kind of project I’d love to find round here. Somewhere with space! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaklander Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 Wow, what a great place and project. I have a friend who's renovated one of those mansions. He's just outside Cardigan - not sure how far that is from you but it's worth a look... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Poore Posted March 17, 2020 Author Share Posted March 17, 2020 Thankfully don't have to do much work on the house itself (well the list is long but then so is the list of rooms...). The main priority with that is to re-render the whole thing, not a bill I'm particularly going to relish paying... The mansion didn't happen to have a buggered roof? Near Newport, Pembs? (Cardigan's only about 15 miles north of me but takes the best part of an hour to get to because of twisty roads). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaklander Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 Llangoedmor. Immediately east of Cardigan. There was a huge tree growing up through two rooms and the roof. Is that where you mean?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Poore Posted March 17, 2020 Author Share Posted March 17, 2020 Probably not, recently had a random example of how small the world is. At a Christmas shoot got chatting to a girl who was studying at the Royal Vets who despite growing up in NW London knew my house... Long story short but prior to starting her studies she came to gain some experience at a cousin's farm in Newport, Pembs. The two sides of the family hit it off well and the London end loved Pembrokeshire so the parents started looking for properties in the area as a retirement plan. They put an offer in on a mansion / big house and then found out the whole roof needed replacing so dropped their offer but the sellers wouldn't budge. From the sounds of it it doesn't sound like the same place because I suspect they'd notice a tree in the rooms when they viewed it. The roof replacement came up after a more in-depth survey. Can't remember the name of the place they put the offer in on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crclifford Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 (edited) 35 minutes ago, Ed Poore said: Thankfully don't have to do much work on the house itself (well the list is long but then so is the list of rooms...). The main priority with that is to re-render the whole thing, not a bill I'm particularly going to relish paying... The mansion didn't happen to have a buggered roof? Near Newport, Pembs? (Cardigan's only about 15 miles north of me but takes the best part of an hour to get to because of twisty roads). I’m 7 years in to my full renovation on a 3 bed farmhouse in N Wales. I assume from the age of the house, it’s a solid stone wall with no dpc. If so please use breathable materials. Lime render/plaster etc. After I took the old gypsum plaster off the internal walls, the damp smell disappeared in a couple of months, and that was with no heating. Heating is only just going back in. Funnily enough, last Apr I started to clear the ground for my garage (about 6mx6m), however the digger I used was a lot smaller! Edited March 17, 2020 by crclifford Grammer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Poore Posted March 17, 2020 Author Share Posted March 17, 2020 2 minutes ago, crclifford said: I assume from the age of the house, it’s a solid stone wall with no dpc. If so please use breathable materials. Lime render/plaster etc. Don't worry - I'm not going to be tackling a project this size as my first rendering job... Conveniently I have a friend who runs a family firm specialising in restoring old buildings so if possible I want him to do the job but it might have to wait until next year for him. But yes lime render will be used. Outer walls probably average 3ft thick. The two ladies of the house: But it goes on backwards quite a long way... And for completeness here the stables are on the left with the big door way and the blacksmiths is the smaller building to the right The next bigga digga project will be resurrecting the pond in the last photo (the whole mown bit inside the bank used to be a pond before it was a carehome). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 Just seen this, really would love a work area like that, I have to do my LR work in the drive or take the bits off & into garage which 110 won't fit in. That a big excavation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Poore Posted March 17, 2020 Author Share Posted March 17, 2020 I know the pain Ralph, did that for the last 10 years except I didn't have a drive, just a parking bay alongside the road. Had to swap a transfer box on the front patch of lawn lying in an inch of water... My shed unfortunately was through a small passageway so didn't even have the luxury of a garage which might fit at least bits of a 110 in. You should get a boat - it'll be closer that way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arjan Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 Looks a bit like our project here...... Never, never ending renovation.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Poore Posted March 18, 2020 Author Share Posted March 18, 2020 As promised a sense of scale. Funnily enough I was looking at it yesterday thinking it's still not quite big enough . Now that the hole's been dug I'm wondering about making the front line up with the workshop to the right which means recessing it back ~4ft from where the wall was originally. Hopefully the builders will show up tomorrow to measure the house for rendering quotes and I'll speak to them about the garage. Since there'll probably have to be some small foundations there'll need to be some extra digger work so once drawings are complete Ben can come back and finish off things if need-be. Had a nice bonus of having the dumper hire knocked off my bill in exchange for disconnecting some lights in his shop so that some tin could be put up and reconnected them this morning. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arjan Posted March 18, 2020 Share Posted March 18, 2020 Good Project ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazzar Posted March 18, 2020 Share Posted March 18, 2020 Fully agree, go larger, cheap to get right first time. Diggers are cheap once they are on site. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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