Home improvements - time the house had some TLC!

[JhnBssll]

I wasn't expecting to get much done today but the weather is glorious here I grabbed the opportunity and swept the finished section of drive then set about fitting the rubber pad to the whacker. I had to reach in to my metal offcuts bin but managed to clamp the rubber pad to the front carry handle nice and securely...

Time for a test drive! It worked as well as I could have hoped for really and within about 15 minutes the drive was whacked 😊

There are a couple of small peaks and dips but overall for a first attempt at block paving I'm pretty pleased with it Just need to brush some more granite dust in to the gaps then I can park a car on it!

Time to cut some blocks and finish the other side now 😊

 

[jowwy]

I wasn't expecting to get much done today but the weather is glorious here I grabbed the opportunity and swept the finished section of drive then set about fitting the rubber pad to the whacker. I had to reach in to my metal offcuts bin but managed to clamp the rubber pad to the front carry handle nice and securely...

View attachment 619621

View attachment 619618

Time for a test drive! It worked as well as I could have hoped for really and within about 15 minutes the drive was whacked 😊 View attachment 619624

View attachment 619623

There are a couple of small peaks and dips but overall for a first attempt at block paving I'm pretty pleased with it Just need to brush some more granite dust in to the gaps then I can park a car on it!

Time to cut some blocks and finish the other side now 😊

Are you then fencing and gating the front or leaving it open……

 

[JhnBssll]

Are you then fencing and gating the front or leaving it open……

It'll be fenced and gated. I've got the panels and posts but am waiting until the drain is done before I put them up for ease of access

 

[MontyVeda]

It'll be fenced and gated. I've got the panels and posts but am waiting until the drain is done before I put them up for ease of access

I was going to mention the drain... again

 

[JhnBssll]

I was going to mention the drain... again

I'm still convinced given a long enough time line the trench will dig itself...

 

[jowwy]

It'll be fenced and gated. I've got the panels and posts but am waiting until the drain is done before I put them up for ease of access

Will look real good when all fenced and gated…..top work indeed

 

[Drago]

Looking mighty fine there Mr B.

 

[JhnBssll]

I cut the last few blocks for the left hand section today then swept granite dust in to the cracks and gave it a whack 😄

Heavy rain overnight had washed the other side nicely so the final colours were visible again, I think mixing the 3 batches of blocks was worth the hassle for the mottled effect it's given

And then I went and spoilt it all by sweeping another load of granite dust across the whole thing to refill the gaps where the whacker had done its thing and compacted it all down... 😊

Now I just need to wait for more rain to clean it all again I might give it a helping hand with the hose later

 

[JhnBssll]

I hosed them down

 

[Gunk]

Personally I like it open plan, with a fence and gate it may look a bit over fussy

 

[JhnBssll]

We now have a nice Acer in a pot to decorate the drive slightly 😊 We were quite pleased with how close the pot colour comes to the door colour without clashing.

Hopefully in spring it will come to life but even now the pot alone helps I think.

You may also notice there's a car parked on the drive - it finally arrived Very pleased to say it fits (just!) and makes it look much more finished having something parked on it. Next job out front will be to get a bit more soil in the raised bed and plant some stuff up ready for spring 😊

 

[raleighnut]

We now have a nice Acer in a pot to decorate the drive slightly 😊 We were quite pleased with how close the pot colour comes to the door colour without clashing.

View attachment 620473

Hopefully in spring it will come to life but even now the pot alone helps I think.

You may also notice there's a car parked on the drive - it finally arrived Very pleased to say it fits (just!) and makes it look much more finished having something parked on it. Next job out front will be to get a bit more soil in the raised bed and plant some stuff up ready for spring 😊

View attachment 620474

Why wait til then, get some Cyclamen or 'winter flowering Pansies' in for a bit of colour.

 

[MichaelW2]

Finally got hold of the arched hinges for my 2 garden gates. Hung one today.
The Gatemate instructions are basically "install hinge then install hinge pin."
Checked out the video by Gate Expectations.
I filed weld bumps off the bottom bearing surface of the hinge to turn smoothly.
My std gate pattern has lots of weak points that wont support screws or bolts so had to place them with care. The hinge pin can be screwed towards the edge of the post if you need to adjust the placement of hinge.

The concrete post with wood post attached started to flex under the strain and took up some of the 10mm clearance that you leave on both sides.

The handle fitting required some reinforcement of the slat grooves in the gate. I just gorilla glued a bit of wood in place.

It seems to work as advertised

 

[raleighnut]

Finally got hold of the arched hinges for my 2 garden gates. Hung one today.
The Gatemate instructions are basically "install hinge then install hinge pin."
Checked out the video by Gate Expectations.
I filed weld bumps off the bottom bearing surface of the hinge to turn smoothly.
My std gate pattern has lots of weak points that wont support screws or bolts so had to place them with care. The hinge pin can be screwed towards the edge of the post if you need to adjust the placement of hinge.

The concrete post with wood post attached started to flex under the strain and took up some of the 10mm clearance that you leave on both sides.

The handle fitting required some reinforcement of the slat grooves in the gate. I just gorilla glued a bit of wood in place.

It seems to work as advertised

I cheated the last time I hung a gate at home, I nipped round to my next door neighbours (Plumber) and nicked* a couple of 15mm Brass pipe olives which I put between the bottom of the hinge and the pin bearing surface, still moves as freely as the day it was put up and no chance of getting grease on me as I squeeze through with my bike/trike.


* I did ask

 

[MichaelW2]

I cheated the last time I hung a gate at home, I nipped round to my next door neighbours (Plumber) and nicked* a couple of 15mm Brass pipe olives which I put between the bottom of the hinge and the pin bearing surface, still moves as freely as the day it was put up and no chance of getting grease on me as I squeeze through with my bike/trike.


* I did ask

It is very tricky to get both pins to be loadbearing. You can install the upper pin inverted to resist lifting the gate. My installation seems to have one pin with vertical loadbearing and the other supporting horizontal loads.