Home improvements - time the house had some TLC!

[Gunk]

the Pampas grass coupled with those minging leaded windows just means they're stuck in the 70s and have no taste

Or they could be really nice people

 

[jowwy]

Last few comments are spoiling what is a very good thread……….

 

[Drago]

The number of likes the posts have received, including from the esteemed handyman OP himself, suggest you are very much in a minority.

Mr Bsslskahllllallssll, whats going on top? Are you actually block paving it yourself? You'll have to show us the process as you go - I'm never planning to have a go, but I've never seen it done before and wouldn't mind understanding the process.

 

[JhnBssll]

I've got a load of smaller grade crushed granite arriving tomorrow to be levelled and whacked down then I'll be block paving over the top. From what I can tell, you compact the base layer and level it with some sort of long, flat levelling device - I'll use my long spirit level - then simply place the blocks on top. Once they're all down you go over the top of them with the whacker plate again to bed them in to the base layer then sweep even finer crushed stone between the gaps, jobs a goodun. I'm hoping it goes down fairly quickly but it really depends how easy it is to get the base layer nice and flat - time will tell I think I'll start with the smaller section on the left to get my eye in before I attempt the bigger area where there's potentially more room for error

 

[Drago]

I admire your courage. Watching with baited breath!

 

[JhnBssll]

I've just been out in the dark with a shovel and a spirit level trying to get the current layer of crushed granite as flat as possible. Despite my calibrated eye telling me it was about right it was actually miles out in places Quite a large bulge in the middle has now been shaved back so I'm pretty confident we'll be there or thereabouts once the next load goes on top tomorrow and gets whacked down 😊

 

[Proto]

Made appointments for architects to visit next week to look at options to improve the house. We would like another bathrooom, a quiet room/snug, and an oak framed 2 or 3 bay carport.

 

[JhnBssll]

The smaller grade crushed granite arrived today so I had asked MrsBssll if I could play outside this evening. She said yes, but I had to come in for dinner at a reasonable hour which I thought was fair enough

I raked it out as evenly as I could across the larger right hand section then went over it with the whacker plate. I then got the trusty spirit level out and a nice straight piece of timber and start levelling it out as best I could.

Once I'd got the back section as level as I could with my random assortment of tools I decided to put a few blocks down to see how they looked. Since they looked ok, I laid some more. Then a few more, and finally another couple. This is where I got to before I got told off for missing dinner...

If the weather stays reasonable I'll crack on tomorrow evening

 

[JhnBssll]

No driveway work this evening. Instead I removed a window cill in the kitchen and removed the temporary tap - the new worktop is being fitted first thing tomorrow Exciting times...

More driveway progress tomorrow evening all being well

 

[jowwy]

No driveway work this evening. Instead I removed a window cill in the kitchen and removed the temporary tap - the new worktop is being fitted first thing tomorrow Exciting times...

More driveway progress tomorrow evening all being well

At least the weather is dry for a few days john……

 

[JhnBssll]

Some good progress today The kitchen worktop went in this morning. There are a few bits I'm not happy with so they're coming back to finish it off another day which means I can't install the tap or hob yet, but looking good for now

We're going for darkish tiles to balance it out a bit then probably a similar colour paint to the existing grey, maybe a little lighter.

After work I set the floodlights up and did another 3 or 4 hours of work on the drive. I worked back from where I'd finished on tuesday until I reached the end...

Then levelled some more of the base and started working forwards... Here's where I've got to so far, I'll do some more tomorrow. Hoping to get all the remaining blocks down for this section fairly quickly so I can start cutting and fitting edge blocks over the weekend

Feels great to get some visible progress finally, all that graft starting to pay off

 

[Colin Grigson]

Some good progress today The kitchen worktop went in this morning. There are a few bits I'm not happy with so they're coming back to finish it off another day which means I can't install the tap or hob yet, but looking good for now

View attachment 618305

We're going for darkish tiles to balance it out a bit then probably a similar colour paint to the existing grey, maybe a little lighter.

After work I set the floodlights up and did another 3 or 4 hours of work on the drive. I worked back from where I'd finished on tuesday until I reached the end...

View attachment 618306

Then levelled some more of the base and started working forwards... Here's where I've got to so far, I'll do some more tomorrow. Hoping to get all the remaining blocks down for this section fairly quickly so I can start cutting and fitting edge blocks over the weekend

View attachment 618307

Feels great to get some visible progress finally, all that graft starting to pay off

Dreading that first oil stain

 

[CXRAndy]

Dreading that first oil stain

He's getting a Tesla, maybe battery acid if he's unlucky

 

[JhnBssll]

He's getting a Tesla, maybe battery acid if he's unlucky

Block paving is flame retardant right?

I've got some more blocks down this afternoon, now having a quick break before I set the floodlights up and crack on

 

[Drago]

Amazing. I admire your wide ranging skills, your aptitude for trying new stuff and getting it right, and ability to juggle multiple projects simultaneously.

My only concern is that you make the rest of us look bad in front of our respective significant others.