Assumption is the mother of all,

[Russell griffiths]

So having a wooden cabin on our site I had 

 

Presumed 

 

it would be sitting on probably 100mm thick concrete slab

 

 

wrong. 

 

 

So 350mm thick seems to be the requirement around here to put a glorified shed on. 

 

I have been in the heavy side of the landscaping industry for 30 years and I should have known to expect the unexpected. 

 

 

for anybody out there embarking on a new project be aware of things like this

if I had been doing this for a client I have estimated it would have been an extra £4000 to remove it all. 

 

 

[Russell griffiths]

Oh how I laughed 

after removing the estimated extra 60 tonne of concrete, we skimmed off the surface to find .........?

 

yep more concrete.      A row of three strip foundations, not very thick as foundations go

 

600mm deep 600wide and about 40m in length 

 

im afraid the little digger refused to play with this so I had to hire in a bit bigger machine. 

 

I had machine envy after this, so smooth loads of power and the reach is incredible. 

Edited August 11, 2018 by Russell griffiths

[ProDave]

When Scottish water turned up to connect our water and make the road crossing, they cut through the tarmac and pulled that up, only to find a thick concrete road underneath. Much cursing and swearing and off to fetch a concrete breaker.  Good job the road crossing was a fixed price.

[nod]

25 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said:

Oh how I laughed 

after removing the estimated extra 60 tonne of concrete, we skimmed off the surface to find .........?

 

yep more concrete.      A row of three strip foundations, not very thick as foundations go

 

600mm deep 600wide and about 40m in length 

 

im afraid the little digger refused to play with this so I had to hire in a bit bigger machine. 

 

I had machine envy after this, so smooth loads of power and the reach is incredible. 

Wow I’ve seen house extensions on less Talk about belt and braces

[Jeremy Harris]

Makes me wonder whether that concrete slab may have originally had something really heavy on it, dating back to when all the quarry workings were going on at your site. 

 

Any chance that the cabin was just stuck on an existing slab on the site?

[Russell griffiths]

2 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

Makes me wonder whether that concrete slab may have originally had something really heavy on it, dating back to when all the quarry workings were going on at your site. 

 

Any chance that the cabin was just stuck on an existing slab on the site?

 

I think you are spot on

 

we think the top slab was just over kill and someone with a mate who could get cheap concrete 

but the footings underneath we think may have had some sort of plant machinery sat on top. Maybe a conveyor belt or something similar. 

[Russell griffiths]

Thinking of doing a blog. 

Anybody interested ?

does anybody read them ?

[Dreadnaught]

1 hour ago, Russell griffiths said:

Anybody interested ?

 does anybody read them ?

 

Hi Russell, with your level of practical knowledge, I think that I for one would benefit hugely from reading your blog, particularly as you are doing almost everything yourself.

And don't spare us the nitty gritty detail.

And an occasional photo across your lovely lake would be a cherry on the cake.

[Cpd]

I think blogs are a great contribution to this forum, they reveal more of the daily nitty gritty detail  that is both important and interesting to other self builders and enthusiasts. I take my hat of to all who dedicate a little bit of there time to produce a blog and only wish that I could muster the extra energy to do so..... 

[Cpd]

6 minutes ago, Dreadnaught said:

nitty gritty detail.

 Posted before a read this ! It’s summarises what I think a lot of us are after !  

[Ferdinand]

Is this mid-century?

 

Our neighbours 194x bungalow had an 18" thick sweep driveway with the same washboard finish.

 

The new purchasers had to dig it up.

 

Like you Russell, he was in the heavy game .. in this case demolition.

 

F

 

Edited August 11, 2018 by Ferdinand

[Jeremy Harris]

1 minute ago, Ferdinand said:

Is this mid-century?

 

Our neighbours 1954x bungalow had an 18" thick sweep driveway with the same washboard finish.

 

The new purchasers had to dig it up.

 

Like you Russell, he was in the heavy game .. in this case demolition.

 

F

 

 

 

IIRC, gravel extraction started at Russell's site sometime around the 1950's, and was a massive operation, with lots of heavy equipment.  The legacy today is a massive area of lakes and some very nice scenery.

 

We've had holidays in the cabins around the lake adjacent to Russell's a couple of times, plus our disorganised group of boaters semi-organised a weekend on the next but one lake, where we camped on the shore and sailed around the lake during the day.  As a consequence I'm reasonably familiar with the general area, but haven't actually seen Russells's site, although I must have driven by the entrance to it loads of times, usually on the way to the pub...

[Ferdinand]

3 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

 

 

IIRC, gravel extraction started at Russell's site sometime around the 1950's, and was a massive operation, with lots of heavy equipment.  The legacy today is a massive area of lakes and some very nice scenery.

 

We've had holidays in the cabins around the lake adjacent to Russell's a couple of times, plus our disorganised group of boaters semi-organised a weekend on the next but one lake, where we camped on the shore and sailed around the lake during the day.  As a consequence I'm reasonably familiar with the general area, but haven't actually seen Russells's site, although I must have driven by the entrance to it loads of times, usually on the way to the pub...

 

Interesting. The people who owned the farm where it was built put in fishing lakes.

[Onoff]

6 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

 

Interesting. The people who owned the farm where it was built put in fishing lakes.

 

Landowners would often extract the gravel to sell then develop fishing lakes from the resultant "hole(s)". They did this at Lullingstone Castle near me when the family fortunes waned I believe (along with converting parts of the castle to private apartments). 

Edited August 11, 2018 by Onoff

[newhome]

On 11/08/2018 at 10:36, Cpd said:

I take my hat of to all who dedicate a little bit of there time to produce a blog and only wish that I could muster the extra energy to do so..... 

 

Oooh! Go on, please do a little blog. Your site is stunning and I’m sure we’d all love to see how you’re getting on. A monthly entry would only need a few photos and a couple of sentences. Hubby started a blog when we started the project. I ended up writing all the content ?. The things I wish I’d done differently were take more photos and write more content as it’s good to look back to remind myself how various things were built etc but there are gaps that I wish I had the details of as I can’t remember / never knew. Those would be helpful to me now I’m in ‘fixing’ mode. 

[Nickfromwales]

On 11/08/2018 at 10:36, Cpd said:

and only wish that I could muster the extra energy to do so..... 

The power of Christ compels you! ⚡

[Ferdinand]

Having estimated Russell’s lake, I am planning for him to host the Buildhub Hovercraft Grand Prix.