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Mike's ext'n & renovation (sunroom stone floor & plinth)

This is where we don't want anything but evidence of your finest wood butchering in all its glorious, and photograph laden glory. Bring your finished products or WIP's, we love them all, so long as there's pictures, and plenty of 'em!

Re: Mike's extension & renovation (shed extension and garden

Postby Jimmy Mack » 09 Apr 2017, 21:42

Mike G wrote:Hi Jim.

There's a bit of a hiatus on the house whilst I await the delivery of the replacement oak, so a few jobs which have hung around outside now become a priority. Who know, there might even be some slates on my workshop roof by week's end.

We have a couple of honeysuckle trained on wires up the end of my workshop, and I am completely comfortable with that. Each to their own on ivy, but I wouldn't start it up any of my buildings. Clematis is fine up a trellis on a building.

I think I started a separate thread on the greenhouse/ potting shed that you refer to, next to the veggie patch. There won't be much progress on that for a while, but I did use up some left over mortar yesterday, laying a dozen bricks.

Thanks for the horticultural tips there Mike, my wife and I are pretty shocking when it comes to gardening, we are very much at the early learning stages. I'm in the process of putting the garden back together again, just seeded a lawn and ploughed a path right through the last surviving flowerbed I'm thinking timber boardwalk up to the doors, I'll update my build post for some landscaping and shrubbery thoughts from the forum soon.

Jim



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Re: Mike's extension & renovation (shed extension and garden

Postby Mike G » 09 Apr 2017, 21:49

Jim, if you go for a timber boardwalk, use the "non-slip" inserts you can get for standard decking, otherwise the boards can turn into a skating rink with algae, moss and water (or ice).
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Re: Mike's extension & renovation (retaining walls)

Postby Mike G » 07 May 2017, 21:37

We dug the ground out around the house a couple of years ago, and I poured foundations for the retaining walls last year. Since then, the "cliffs" have just sat there weathering. They've stood up fairly well:

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Both of those photos are after I had cleaned up the collapses and the weed growth. Setting out the straight wall outside the utility doors was easy. Just a matter of getting a level peg or two in place, measuring 1210 out from the wall, and laying a few bricks:

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Note the expanded metal lath built into the brickwork, and the spike of reinforcing rod sticking up in a couple of places out of the footing:

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Setting out this curve was easy too. I simply drilled a hole in a batten at the right length of the radius, slipped it over the nail in the top of the centre peg, and used this to located the centre of each brick:

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If you look closely you'll see a number of steps in the foundation. These are 3" each time (or would be if I had got the levels completely accurate!) to amount to a brick course. This is because the patio will slope down to surface water drains at the points furthest from the house, so the wall will be taller there than closer to the house.

Setting out the next curve was bit of a pig, though, because the centre point of the arc was inaccessible, being inside the house behind a solid wall. This meant lots of careful measuring to establish the corner, the mid-point, and distance out from the house to the curve every 1500 (5').

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Then, out on the lawn, I set up some off-cuts of OSB and a centre-point, and swung the appropriate arc, which I cut out carefully with a jigsaw (I knew there was a reason for owning one!):

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I then carefully aligned the template with the marks on the foundation I had set out earlier, and laid a few bricks. The above paragraph covers about 3 hours work!

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I since laid bricks around to the steps position, which will be on the midline. No photo, sorry.

I only laid 3 course of bricks (approx), for a reason. This is a bit of an over-kill retaining wall structure. My next job was to backfill behind the wall with concrete:

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Remember the rods sticking out of the foundation, and the mesh sticking out of the brickwork? Well, the concrete ties everything together now. The wall can't be pushed off the foundation by earth or groundwater movement. Above the concrete the wall will be 9" thick, with a brick face and blockwork behind. There'll be drainage and a membrane, and a coping of brick-on-edge to take it up to just above the ground level behind the wall. The curved shape also helps with the strength, of course, but this really is all a bit OTT. I just don't want anything to go wrong in years to come.
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Re: Mike's extension & renovation (retaining walls)

Postby Malc2098 » 07 May 2017, 22:36

I think I'll revert to just nice.
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Re: Mike's extension & renovation (retaining walls)

Postby TrimTheKing » 08 May 2017, 10:19

Very nice Mike.

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Re: Mike's extension & renovation (retaining walls)

Postby RogerS » 08 May 2017, 19:19

Your attention to detail and forward planning is impeccable, Mike. I'm still recovering from my latest faux-pas. Must summon up the courage to post about it.
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Re: Mike's extension & renovation (retaining walls)

Postby Mike G » 08 May 2017, 19:33

Hey, I post all of my faux-pas, Roger! Spit it out!! :lol:
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Re: Mike's extension & renovation (retaining walls)

Postby Phil » 09 May 2017, 07:15

MG we have a local expression which I am unable to translate.

Dit lyk sommer bakgat! :D
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Re: Mike's extension & renovation (retaining walls)

Postby Mike G » 09 May 2017, 07:58

Yeah, I've heard that, and never quite got it. "It's (looks?) like just a.....something"
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Re: Mike's extension & renovation (retaining walls)

Postby chataigner » 09 May 2017, 08:01

Good idea to reinforce behind the brick retaining wall with poured concrete, easy to do and very strong. We had a lot of retaining walls to build at my previous property which was on a slope and while we built in random stone, not brick, we used the same idea and the method has stood the test of time so far (18yrs).

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Re: Mike's extension & renovation (retaining walls)

Postby Mike G » 09 May 2017, 08:13

Did you build them vertically, David, or did you batter them back?
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Re: Mike's extension & renovation (retaining walls)

Postby chataigner » 09 May 2017, 08:35

Vertical - we had almost unlimited quantities of stone available from ruined buildings on the site, so we could use sheer weight for stability and I prefer the look of a vertical wall. Also, there were numerous existing retaining walls on the site, these were all vertical and I wanted to keep "in style".

Thickness was typically 50-60cm of stone with 30cm of concrete behind at the base and tapering off to the top where less weight is needed. Another advantage is that the concrete helps prevent ground water getting into the mortar joints and freezing. For drainage we had a supply of ridge tiles left over from a roofing project and built these into the walls at intervals.
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Re: Mike's extension & renovation (retaining walls)

Postby RogerS » 09 May 2017, 09:02

chataigner wrote:..... For drainage we had a supply of ridge tiles left over from a roofing project and built these into the walls at intervals.


I've often seen weepholes built into walls and yet despite any amount of deluge never seen anything coming out of them ! I think they're like French drains...a good idea at the time.
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Re: Mike's extension & renovation (retaining walls part 3)

Postby Mike G » 16 May 2017, 20:52

Lots of progress on the retaining walls. Well, lots considering how much time I have to spend sitting drawing at the moment! Anyway, here is the sequence:

Behind the part-built walls I cast concrete:

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Then some off-cuts of basin waste pipe, to form drainage weep holes:

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A bit more brickwork:

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This part of the wall is at the lowest part of the garden, so is not really representative. Most of the walls are about 800 to 900mm (getting on for 3 feet) high.

Behind the brickwork goes a skin of blockwork. Note the 3 bricks sitting on top, which show the soldier course finish:

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Rinse and repeat around the rest of the circle:

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And then on around the adjacent arc:

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You'll note the gap for the steps out of the circle, but probably can't quite see the proposed steps out of the arc. The circle steps are just secondary steps, leading to my workshop, but the ones from the arc are rather more important. Eventually they'll sit directly in front of double doors leading out of the conservatory, and will be something like this:

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However, I can't begin to set out the steps until I have sorted the drains and thus the final paving level. Hence the gaps in the walls, waiting for later.
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Re: Mike's extension & renovation (retaining walls part 3)

Postby Malc2098 » 16 May 2017, 21:03

Yep, nice again!
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Re: Mike's extension & renovation (retaining walls part 3)

Postby Norty Raskel » 16 May 2017, 22:42

Mike, how did you manage the top course of block, did you cut slices from a full size block, they look a non standard size.

Also is that Terca Renaissance facing brick?

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Re: Mike's extension & renovation (retaining walls part 3)

Postby Mike G » 16 May 2017, 23:28

Yes and yes, Jon.
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Re: Mike's extension & renovation (retaining walls part 3)

Postby TrimTheKing » 17 May 2017, 00:04

Looking lovely Mike.

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Re: Mike's extension & renovation (retaining walls part 3)

Postby Crispylettuce » 17 May 2017, 07:22

Excellent work and WIP as always. How do you find the time!!

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Re: Mike's extension & renovation (retaining walls part 3)

Postby Rod » 17 May 2017, 10:50

Nice work Mike - I take it the bricks are frost resistant.
I've experienced lots of brick failures over the years due to frost damage especially in boundary/retaining walls. One large wall in a very prominent position in a town centre was built with very nice local bricks, which unknown at the time contained very tiny chalk occlusions. First winter the front faces of a lot of the bricks spalled off!

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Re: Mike's extension & renovation (retaining walls part 3)

Postby Mike G » 17 May 2017, 12:26

They're fine, Rod. I too hate to see spalled bricks, but these are tested and certified.
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Re: Mike's extension & renovation (retaining walls part 3)

Postby firedfromthecircus » 19 May 2017, 17:31

Who's the Liberace looking chap at the top of the stairs Mike? :lol:
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Re: Mike's extension & renovation (retaining walls part 3)

Postby Mike G » 20 May 2017, 07:14

:D

Yeah, I should import a few alternatives. I have him scaled to my height, so I can drop him into drawings if I ever want to check the proportions of things. One day I'll give him a nose.
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Re: Mike's extension & renovation (retaining walls part 4)

Postby Mike G » 20 May 2017, 21:08

I'll be brief. The piers in the drawing in my last post are a change of plan, so I had to adjust/ adapt somewhat:

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Marking out took ages:

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Then it was just a question of piling bricks on top of mortar on top of bricks:

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With the occasional annoying interruption:

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Re: Mike's extension & renovation (retaining walls part 4)

Postby paulrees1 » 23 May 2017, 09:18

Hi Mike, I'm going to have to do a couple of retaining walls later this year, can I ask why you cast concrete halfway up the wall, rather than coking direct from the foundations? Is it a strength thing?

Thanks


Paul

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