Sunday 4 December 2011

GAZEEBO



The Idea



The area to put the new building

First move the Oil tank.....












Break the ten inch thick slab


























Clear the ground which includes the turf.




















Lower the ground to the desired depth  and Level. mark out the 13' Pentagon shape.





I managed to fill three skips with topsoil.













Now mark out where the posts are going on the Pentagon.













 Using fast setting post creet set Post One... Two and so on till all six are in place.Stiffen and hold vertically level until cement has cured.




All posts in and solid as bed rock.





Lay out the outside of the Pentagonal floor then I can string line to find the true center.






A Pentagonal collar 12" in diameter has been made to bolt the 12 floor 3 x 4s to at the center to add strength.






Also we can use this center space as it will be the driest  place to store the electrics.





The Pentagonal collar at the center sits on an old paving slab, this is not going to sag.













Start to fill in the deck boards one quadrant at a time. Lay out the cut deck boards before screwing down as if you remove the screws later to adjust they lift part of the board and split. not nice!

















At the front on both sides I decided toadd small balcony to utilise more of the surrounding ground.













































Floor finished I am so glad l used the Herringbone design although it was very taxing to do it looks great.



















Now start on the roof brassing

















A view from below of my handy joint work.
























































Wednesday 30 November 2011

THE LAWN


THE OLD LAWN                                                                                              


         



















First things first dig up old lawn I did hire a turf remover but ended up doing most of it by hand. Well I know for next time.
   









The ground was 12 inches to high toward the garage and 3 inches to low the other end so I needed to remove about a ton of earth.



We packed 96 bags of stones and old turf




I made a riddle three feet by four feet out of 3 x 2 and chicken wire then set it at 45 degrees and made a ramp to wheel barrow the soil in at the top.



My master plan was to dig out all the soil and riddle out the stones,this would reduce the amount of good soil going to waste and give me high quality topsoil for my nice new turf.





We then spent several days rolling and raking to get  it truly level.

























































A drum of chicken manure to spread before laying the turf.










Finally it was ready for the turf. I ordered 52 square meters for the coming weekend.



















Lush quality and three feet wide easy to lay. Using the scaffold plank to keep the rolls straight.

















































The finished item level and green.

















I had to include my nine feet sunflower Berty.