Bitpipe Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 It was a tight squeeze but we got it out the opposite side of the site that it came in on. Ended up selling to the caravan mover as I kept getting messed about by other self builders. Hard to believe that it's been on site for nearly 3 years and we lived in it for 18 months. Can't say I was sad to let it go... Can start work in the back garden now (funds allowing)! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney12 Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Must be a fantastic feeling. "Closure". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 My that was a big un. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bitpipe Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 8 minutes ago, Barney12 said: Must be a fantastic feeling. "Closure". As with most things self build, temporary feeling of happiness then a dawning realisation of what's next plus no longer having the excuse of why having the van there was preventing progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bitpipe Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 5 minutes ago, ProDave said: My that was a big un. 12ft x 38ft, two beds. Roomy inside but our lane is barely 12ft wide! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 I found sorting the landscaping out to be a long and very drawn out task, and one that soaks up a surprisingly large amount of money. We had the same chap that laid the paths, patio, drive etc back the week before last to do another weeks work, really just doing a load of smaller jobs, like laying a small concrete hardstanding in the space behind the garage (where I'm going to stick a small shed), laying another sandstone path around the edge of the drive, putting in an area by the gate, paved with sandstone, to take the wheelie bins on bin day, sorting out the levels and tidying up the odd corners of the plot and doing some stone walling. I think we're probably around 90% complete in the garden, at least for now, but it's taken a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bitpipe Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 Agree Jeremy, we have quite a long garden so plan for now is to level and turf the area immediately behind the house (which currently has veg patches and greenhouses ) and then work on getting the levels correct around the house before paving to get the BR completion cert Work to the front (drive way, walls, gates etc) will have to wait - at some point I'll need to make the decision when to pull the trigger on the cert and then VAT rebate to release some funds. Hoping that remainder of work can be supply & fit and still at zero VAT as any material purchased thereafter will not be VAT reclaimable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 i took a different view. I levelled and grassed most of the site before I sold the digger. So now all I have to do is some paths, some raised decking, and some more sheds. I am the only idiot that now has to mow the lawn around the unfinished house. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 If I'd owned a digger I'd have done just the same! We had a minidigger in for one day during the work the week before last, but it was the landscaping chaps own one, so a lot cheaper than hiring one. I hate grass with a passion, and if I'd had my way the whole garden would have been hard landscaped, but SWMBO was insistent about having a lawn, so we laid turf last year. My condition for laying the turf was that she would have to cut it regularly, and I even went and bought a lightweight, easy to use, Makita cordless mower for her (good bit of kit if you already have Makita tools and battery packs). Needless to say I've ended up doing the lion's share of the grass cutting........... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stones Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 20 minutes ago, JSHarris said: Needless to say I've ended up doing the lion's share of the grass cutting........... ...and you didn't see that coming? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeSharp01 Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 3 hours ago, JSHarris said: Needless to say I've ended up doing the lion's share of the grass cutting........... Mowing the lawns is great exercise Jeremy - but I am sure you could do away with it and install an automaton (robot lawn mower), imagine the fun you will have designing, building, programming and then watching it progress across the lawn leaving perfect stripes. You might have it mulching the cuttings or, with some extra work designing, building and programming popping up the manure heap and dumping its load appropriately. For ideas why not look at this: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 Funny thing, but around 20 years ago I made a robotic lawnmower. Not very sophisticated, and very slow, but it worked OK. Mine was small, with very little intelligence, just a small microcontroller driving the wheel motors and cutter and controlling the solar charge system. That used a wire antenna that was hooked up around the edge of the lawn in a loop, with a modulated 50kHz signal on it. There was a receiver in the mower that detected the wire and caused the mower to back away and turn if it encountered it, the same avoidance action was triggered by buffer switches mounted around the outside of the thing, so it could avoid obstacles. It was a very low power mower, and ran (slowly) all the time, in a random pattern over the lawn. It only had a Stanley knife blade as the cutter, and relied on the fact that the grass would never get very high between passes, as it would cover the whole lawn about once every two days. If the battery got below a certain level the thing would just stop, and let the solar panel on top charge the battery back up, then it would set off again. It worked OK, but did tend to need a fair bit of maintenance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 Jeremy You could totally redesign the lawnmower. All that research you did at Culdrose should come in handy. Probably best to wait till Now 5th for the initial tests. You would also find out how strong the window film is. Just think, you could 'mow' the lawn from several thousand miles away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToughButterCup Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 16 hours ago, Bitpipe said: As with most things self build, temporary feeling of happiness then a dawning realisation of what's next plus no longer having the excuse of why having the van there was preventing progress. + a million Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 You know you will come to miss it. When done with for living in, ours will become a 28 square metre garden outbuilding. It will probably then get a bit more insulation and some timber cladding to make it look less like a caravan. I would never otherwise build a shed that large. This will give us a decent amount of work space to compensate for a smaller house. The toilet will remain, every self respecting shed needs a toilet.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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