GARDEN: The Garden Summerhouse Project ~ Part 4 ~ The Big Day

Today is the big day that the Summerhouse was delivered.

After 18 months of planning; cutting a shed; moving a shed; mixing countless bags of sand and cement to concrete a sub base; then buying another shed; the replacing and repairing the boundarys; and finally laying slabs to level the foundation, we finally got there.


Recapping in pictures what has been going on:-

The second shed in situ between the trees.

Laying the slabs

Using the slabs to level the base.  Note the rebar mesh that was against the fence has now been sandwiched between to keep it all together.  The foundation dimensions were 16 feet across by 12 feet deep.  Things were made a lot easier with the hire of a concrete mixer and the luck of having good weather so the job was completed in about three days.

Looking like a dance floor

A little bit of tree surgery was required as the three birches have a tendency to shed a fair amount of leaf fall (see first picture).  I can already foresee the sweeping of the Summerhouse roof happening at the end of every Autumn.  While I was tempting to have the trees chopped down, the other alternative was to lessen the load by removing as many branches as possible.  It was also with the intention of sweeping any debris to the side to decompose, that earth trenches were left at either side.

Thinning the Birches

  

Finally ready to build.

 I still have a few plans: I have several boxes of white tiles from the previous owner in the shed that could be smashed up to make a Barcelona-like broken tile mosaic trim for the front of the base.  The Summerhouse has partial glass sides so I'd like to reposition that large trellis panel and plant and train a honeysuckle so that there is something nice to look out on instead of the fence panels.

In the next few days the Summerhouse will go up.  Watch this space!  

GARDEN: The Garden Shed Project ~ Part 3

What a disgrace!  I seem to forget that I have a blog to update!  

So continuing from May to October, this is what went on... like a DIY telenovela.

Chopped up shed in situ - Mid May

My recollection of this summer past is one of making endless buckets of concrete as the sub-floor foundation was poured in sections over many dry weekends. While is why it took so long because the English summer is generally unpredictable.  Since the ground was relatively uneven, some parts were 8 inches thick while others around 4 inches.  However, it was a great opportunity to smash up and throw in all the discarded broken bricks, slabs, rubble, stones and any other aggregate I could get my hands on...

Replacing a fence panel - Sept

Overall the space across is around 20ft approx and a depth of around 9ft.  I've left around 1.5ft of earth on the sides and back for leaf decomposition; falling leaves from the silver birches; as well as rain run off - it was to drain somewhere.

Patchwork of concrete

So what we have now is a rough sub-floor. The next step will be to lay down the metal rebar mesh which is to the right side, against the fence of the first photo, and sandwich it between paving slabs.  It will be during the laying of the slabs that the floor will be levelled.  

Finished sub-floor

 
Basic grey utility slabs waiting until next summer to be laid as there just wasn't enough time this year.  If you look closely at the picture above you'll see the Pepper Kitty surveying the space between two birches. That's about 4ft wide but we'll come back to that.

Slabs

Since the Summerhouse will sit a few feet in front of the shed and trees, it did get me thinking about the space between the trees.  Why not put a second shed for additional storage in there?  It won't be possible after the Summerhouse is built so enter shed number two...

Not a toilet! Shed #2 - Oct

 
After measuring the space, it was decided that a 4ft x 3ft Sentry style shed could be crammed in there...just.

Bad Photoshopped mock up

At the moment the second shed is sitting in the middle of the floor until I can concrete and level the area between the trees but that's going to have to wait until next year.

 

GARDEN: The Garden Shed Project ~ Part 2

The new pimped up and painted shed now looks like this:-

Window less & Cornered

After removing the concrete corrugated roof it was time to push & shove it into position.

In situ

If you look past the junk; old shelving, wood fencing,and other rubbish, you can see that there is now a nice large space to put in the Summerhouse.  The depth of the mini shed was determined by the silver birch on the right - leaving a walkway behind the Summerhouse to store pots and accommodate the compost bin, between trees.

Foundation

 Using all the broken paving, bricks and other bits of stone as ballast, a foundation can be poured - like the one on the right.  Once that is done the whole thing can be levelled even by laying basic concrete paving slabs. You can buy these from most builders merchants for less than £3 for square foot and a half coverage.

The Shed

 The little outhouse is now ready to store the lawn mower, garden tools, plant food, paint cans, and any other unsightly stuff.

Finishing touches

And hopefully by the end of Summer there will be one of these...

 

GARDEN: The Garden Shed Project ~ Part 1

Spring arrived early this year and it is great to be pottering around the garden in April in weather that we'd normally get in May. 

The bigger picture for this Summer's garden project involves the dream of a big Summerhouse stretched across the back, providing additional space as a workshop, studio or just a super shed that can be filled with accumulated junk.

But before that can even happen a few things need to be moved around - like the existing shed.

The shed as it was

The plan is to magic it to a size that sits in the far corner between the line of Silver Birches that flank the boundary. Surprisingly, when clearing out the back area I discovered that there was already foundation of sorts buried under 6 inches of dirt; the built up of falling leaves from the trees, decomposing over the years and making excellent compost. 

The designated shed space & old paving

Poured concrete foundation

Like a magic trick, the shed was sawn in half and put back together again. 

Look closely and you can see the saw

You can see the new concrete base behind the shed

The back panel is moved forward

The discarded timber recycled to cover the old windows and replace any split slats.  

Windows gone

The new mini-shed still needs finishing but is beginning to resemble an old fashioned outhouse!    My trusted assistant, Pepper Kitty checks to see that the neighbours aren't watching...

View from the back

The base now needs to be sawn and the shed finished with corners, repainted, etc. Without the roof it should be a two man lift to get it into its new position... to come in part 2.

There is still plenty of space inside for the lawn mower, pressure washer, shovels, rakes and garden tools.  

Plenty of years left in the old thing

Part 2 coming soon...