Yes the van…..we all want to see the finished van
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GM
Legendary Member
- Location
- North of the river
....and the garage! 
cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
- Location
- Land of confusion
how did it go ? we tried the same with stuff that was supposed to be hard wearing especially for floor tiles and within 6 months it looked crap .
With the van away with Mrs Bssll I was left at home to do more jobs 
I've got some fencing bits arriving in the week so decided to do some digging in preparation.
First job - take down the old fence. This was pretty easy, and actually took itself down in a few places
Whilst taking it down I came across a problem I had feared I would find. A long section of the neighbours retaining wall isn't really retaining anything
As you can see in this photo, ivy had grown all the way through the mortar bed in places, and these places were dotted all along the wall. It was visibly moving while I took the fence down so it was fairly obvious it needed a closer inspection
I'm pretty sure this wall should be more than a single skin of lightweight concrete blocks anyway so I knocked on the neighbours door and had a chat. Turns out he built this section of wall 30 years ago as a temporary measure We've agreed that I'll knock it down and rebuilt it properly - my original plan was to build a secondary retaining wall inside my boundary so the cost will be similar but may as well get it right, despite it being a little more work. Originally I was going to leave the existing concrete posts in situ and re-use them, but with the wall coming down they had to come down too so I got digging
Once down I couldn't budge them so had to get the breaker out to knock the concrete off the bottoms I was then able to drag them out of the hole and lift them on to the pile - the grab lorry can take them from there
I decided to dig until I'd reached the end of the retaining wall and get the last of it knocked down before I packed up, finally got finished about half an hour ago
Tomorrow I have a work call first thing, then I'll get back out do hopefully get the last course of blocks up and get a foundation trench dug for the new wall. I've then got an appointment at the tip in the afternoon to get rid of the old fence bits - or as much of it that will fit in the van This is the current situation 😊
I've got some fencing bits arriving in the week so decided to do some digging in preparation.First job - take down the old fence. This was pretty easy, and actually took itself down in a few places
Whilst taking it down I came across a problem I had feared I would find. A long section of the neighbours retaining wall isn't really retaining anything
As you can see in this photo, ivy had grown all the way through the mortar bed in places, and these places were dotted all along the wall. It was visibly moving while I took the fence down so it was fairly obvious it needed a closer inspection I'm pretty sure this wall should be more than a single skin of lightweight concrete blocks anyway so I knocked on the neighbours door and had a chat. Turns out he built this section of wall 30 years ago as a temporary measure
We've agreed that I'll knock it down and rebuilt it properly - my original plan was to build a secondary retaining wall inside my boundary so the cost will be similar but may as well get it right, despite it being a little more work. Originally I was going to leave the existing concrete posts in situ and re-use them, but with the wall coming down they had to come down too so I got digging Once down I couldn't budge them so had to get the breaker out to knock the concrete off the bottoms
I was then able to drag them out of the hole and lift them on to the pile - the grab lorry can take them from there I decided to dig until I'd reached the end of the retaining wall and get the last of it knocked down before I packed up, finally got finished about half an hour ago
Tomorrow I have a work call first thing, then I'll get back out do hopefully get the last course of blocks up and get a foundation trench dug for the new wall. I've then got an appointment at the tip in the afternoon to get rid of the old fence bits - or as much of it that will fit in the van This is the current situation 😊
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You left the tv in there with all the rubbish…..lolAccidental rest day from digging today as it has rained most of the day
View attachment 606835
Bloody handy these vans 😋
Nothing like 3 hours of digging straight after work to keep you busy 
I've made some progress but its slow going at the moment! I've taken out the last course of blockwork for a short stretch of the wall then broken up the concrete footing and dug down to about where I want the bottom of the new footing to be. I'm slowly working my way back towards the road, I reckon I've done a little over a third of it so far but am hoping this was the toughest bit - the digging should get easier as the ground gets shallower
These two post stakes were a pig to get out and theres at least one more of them I've found so far 😄 I'm a glutton for punishment!
I'll try and spend another few hours on it after work tomorrow and see where that gets me, then consider getting another muck away booked before my pile gets too big again
Once I've got the trench at the right depth all the way along I'll widen it up and get it nice and straight, then think about mixing some concrete It's pretty depressing knowing I'm basically gonna fill this all in again very soon and that the finished wall won't even be mine Oh well, needs must - It not like I can do much else until it's done!
I've made some progress but its slow going at the moment! I've taken out the last course of blockwork for a short stretch of the wall then broken up the concrete footing and dug down to about where I want the bottom of the new footing to be. I'm slowly working my way back towards the road, I reckon I've done a little over a third of it so far but am hoping this was the toughest bit - the digging should get easier as the ground gets shallower These two post stakes were a pig to get out and theres at least one more of them I've found so far 😄 I'm a glutton for punishment!
I'll try and spend another few hours on it after work tomorrow and see where that gets me, then consider getting another muck away booked before my pile gets too big again
Once I've got the trench at the right depth all the way along I'll widen it up and get it nice and straight, then think about mixing some concrete
It's pretty depressing knowing I'm basically gonna fill this all in again very soon and that the finished wall won't even be mine Oh well, needs must - It not like I can do much else until it's done!
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Stuff hasn't dried properly yet after 2 weeks.
I'm down to final depth for about two thirds of the run now and have taken down the majority of the wall, just a couple more meters of footings to break up
Unfortunately there are also 3 lumps of concrete to break out and 2 more metal post stakes to dig out as well, so several more hours of graft to go before it's ready for concreting. Still, progress is progress
Unfortunately there are also 3 lumps of concrete to break out and 2 more metal post stakes to dig out as well, so several more hours of graft to go before it's ready for concreting. Still, progress is progress
We have ripped open the mattress and taken a few sheckles out,going to have four windows replaced,the wind whistles through two of them so much so the blinds rattle.The bay window is going to be changed in design completly. Local chap five streets away is going to get the job,as they say you don't sheet in your own,whatever.Backyard.
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I gave myself an evening off yesterday and attacked it again this afternoon - the strategy seemed to pay off as I made better progress than I'd hoped! My goal was to get the trench complete and the concrete lumps and metal stakes removed ready to spend tomorrow mixing concrete so I started by getting the breaker out and tacking the last bit of wall and the concrete lumps. These put up less resistance than I'd feared which was a great start Once they were out I moved on to the two metal stakes - these were stubborn like the last two but came up eventually With them out of the way it was just a case of extending the trench 
Unfortunately I quite quickly uncovered metal stake number 5 hiding just below ground level
I was encouraged to find the soil easier to dig in this area so the stake come out a little easier than the previous four, and the last few meters of trench were fairly easy digging With the trench dug full depth along its length I put a line up to check it was straight, then went along and nibbled bits off the edges to get the sides relatively parallel along its length. I also roughly went along the bottom with a spirit level to check it wasn't too far off level and adjusted the depth to suit.
At this point it was about half past three so I figured I may as well just push on through and mix some concrete I'm pretty knackered now
Thats an 8" thick slab so a fair few mixes went in to the hole, I used a whole bulk bag of ballast up
You may also notice I've had a fencing delivery It would have been perfectly timed had I not had to demolish and rebuild the retaining wall 😄
Once they were out I moved on to the two metal stakes - these were stubborn like the last two but came up eventually With them out of the way it was just a case of extending the trench Unfortunately I quite quickly uncovered metal stake number 5 hiding just below ground level I was encouraged to find the soil easier to dig in this area so the stake come out a little easier than the previous four, and the last few meters of trench were fairly easy digging
With the trench dug full depth along its length I put a line up to check it was straight, then went along and nibbled bits off the edges to get the sides relatively parallel along its length. I also roughly went along the bottom with a spirit level to check it wasn't too far off level and adjusted the depth to suit.At this point it was about half past three so I figured I may as well just push on through and mix some concrete
I'm pretty knackered now Thats an 8" thick slab so a fair few mixes went in to the hole, I used a whole bulk bag of ballast up
You may also notice I've had a fencing delivery
It would have been perfectly timed had I not had to demolish and rebuild the retaining wall 😄I figured I'd milked the concrete curing time as long as I could and got back to it after work this evening. I didn't have a lot of time, but just enough to mix a barrow full of mortar and lay the first of the blocks 😊
Hope to get some more done tomorrow evening
Hope to get some more done tomorrow evening
