JWK's Garden Destruction

shiney: I'm going to make the bottom/seat 400mm width, so I can use a standard slab without too much cutting, I have rigged up a temp seat just to see if it fits me bum OK Also I'm experimenting with the slope/drainage so it throws the water off with me sliding off it as well, haven't quite got that right yet.

kristen: I think I'm going to use a light grey granite slab (can't remember if its Bradstone or the other big supplier) but its only 20mm thick so is OK to handle. I.m using all the same stuff on the patio and living space so it will be to be one area inside and out. I think that rules out any ex display stuff (even though I'm a cheapskate ebayer normally ). I was going to use slate as a contrast for the seat back, but might use a contrasting darker granite now.

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

John, 400mm should be enough but remember to try it with something as a back, becuase it pushes you forward when you are relaxing.

 

Nut, that's only 16 inches. I know that is huge for some people but not for John :thumb: :D

 

I'm built for comfort not speed

 

I've not progressed much over the summer, I didn't want all this work to interfere too much with our normal family life, so we've been away on our hols - went to the Isle of Wight for a couple of weeks which was a welcome break.

I did manage to get all the roof windows in the extension properly fitted.

I have about 20 sheets of 8X4 polysterene insulation sheets lashed down on the roof right now, they are very lightweight, sooner or later one of these gales is going to get under it all and blow it away. :(

So I was hoping to make a start fixing it all down with battens this weekend, but the weather is going to stop me.

There is only a plastic sheet between me and the outside world (having knocked out some of the dining room roof), last night I got really chilly sat here typing so that is spuring me on as well.

 

Over the last 3 weekends I've been back on the roof (having done very little over the summer on it).


Above: All the 8X4 polysterene insulation sheets had been been stacked on the rafters over the summer. I had lashed them down with scaffolding planks on top to stop them blowing away.


Above is a couple of weeks ago, I fitted all the insulation and had to get the Council Building Inspector to approve this stage - it is all OK so I start to cover it with felt.


Above is the flat roof deck with the first layer of felt. Also starting to batten the pitched roof.


Then the top felt layer


This was last Friday - starting to get the tiles on at last. I have been working on my own, but one day my son helped lift half the tiles onto the scaffold - its a lot quicker when there's two, it was taking me ages climbing up and down the ladder carrying a couple at a time - there were about 350 of them in total.


And by last Saturday I got all the tiles on the roof. This photo was during the drizzle in the evening. I was incredibly lucky because I didn't need to cut a single tile, I had positioned the roof windows so that they were exactly 5 tiles to the gable end, then when I laid the rest of the tiles they all fitted to within 1/4 inch to the side of the house and exactly around the roof windows. I had assumed at least a couple of dozen of them would need trimming, so ordered 10% extra in case they broke when I cut them. It saved me a shed load of time.

There are lots of small fiddly jobs left. I've got to mortar on the ridge tiles, and finish off the eaves, barge boards, guttering, lead flashings - I just need another dry weekend to get it fully weatherproof.