My man cave build - UK edition

[AskewRSR]

Cool Captain. I bought that 7R wheel from you years ago. I was in England last year for Goodwood Speed Festival. Wish I had looked you up. Thanks. Tate

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Thanks Richard, you're right about the contrast, some of my F1 work can have as short a lifespan of a couple of races and at best a season, the house will be here for hopefully 100-200 years

Hi Tate, hope you enjoyed Goodwood, was there too, it's an amazing event, one of the best I've been to, so many different types of race cars in one place, please shout next time you come over would be good to meet up

Good news, snow only last a few days so I've made some roofing progress

Spent the weekend working on the front and due to the sequence of roof work I couldn't just carry on the tiling from the old house a couple difficult parts on the rear roof raised their ugly head's and wouldn't go away.

2 new tiles rows had to blend into one old tile row (my builder informed me this is called a 'pig' )

Also had to add some tile and halves above the LH roof light window to get the tile spacing to work. Was quite pleased when my builder said this was fine as I'd considered slicing a few mm off 8-10 tiles on each course to try and disguise the mismatch which would have taken forever

All part of the fun of blending new into old, close up of the difficult areas



Hard to spot from the ground and once covered in green moss should be impossible to spot. With Mrs Ahab's help we also finished off the ridge tiles



Took a day off work today, a bit short notice as I only asked yesterday lunchtime but the weather yesterday was dreadful and I was on a mission to finish the front roof, so needs must

Tiling done, lead work flashing to the old house done, fascia boards done and guttering all done, my front roof work is complete



Reason for the big push on the roof is I'm fed up of the scaffolding blocking the view as I'm getting impatient and want to see what we've built. Next update will be the big reveal with front and gable end scaffolding removed

[Sooner or later]

What do your neighbors think?

[A930Rocket]

Nice job!

What holds the tiles in place?

[astrochex]

Who would have thunk “pig” would be a term for a roofing anomaly?

Captain, I’m excited for you and Mrs. Ahab on the imminent external completion. Any intermediate celebration plans?

[JacobS911]

Wow. Just. WOW.

[Sooner or later]

It's spectacular.

[oldE]

Originally Posted by astrochex

Who would have thunk “pig” would be a term for a roofing anomaly?

"Pig" is a term you use when you don't have time to say,"Sodding recalcitrant wanker!"

Great work, Captain and Mrs. Ahab!

Best
Les

[Captain Ahab Jr]

sooner or later, thanks, all the neighbors except one have been very supportive, lots of complements mostly about the stonework and even one about how good the front tiles looked

A930Rocket most tiles are held on by the nibs on the back hanging onto the battens and the weight of tiles on top, nails used here and there

Paul, once the structure is finished we'll be celebrating with a a spa break and watching the bank balance climb up from zero, was down to my last £500 before being paid with work

JakobS911, hope that is a WOW it looks great and not a WOW what have you done to the neighborhood

Peter, thanks, when I'm on the roof I can see 360 views, our village is in a dip on the landscape so the roof grows well!

oldE, thanks I will pass on your compliments to Mrs Ahab

Had confirmation today the front and side scaffolding is being removed on Thurs., the village dogs will have to find some new poles to frequent when out on their walks

[Captain Ahab Jr]

As most F1 teams are busy revealing their new car creations this week I thought I'd get in on the action and reveal what our small team has created

Before pic, back last June it looked like this


Roll on a few month's and with the scaffolding gone today the front now looks like this. Not seen it in the daylight yet but when I parked up across the road tonight after work I first was thought 'WOW! WOW! WOW!





A close up of our builders superb stone work, think we did a reasonable job picking out the subtle stone details and matching the new to the old



Little bit left to do on the front, upstairs stone window cills, deeper stone reveal around all the windows (like the gable end window) and I'm not completely happy with the height of the upstairs oak window lintel's so will have these taken out and dropped 2" down

Have a few weekend's left of work on the rear roof and then we're scaffolding free!

[Sooner or later]

WOW! WOW! WOW! is correct

[astrochex]

Wow. They’re twins!

[billybek]

Very impressive!
Can hardly wait to see the finish work.

[A930Rocket]

Looks fantastic!

My first thought was why not have the roof/house flat all the way across. I’m sure there was a reason, but can’t remember. Then I thought it’s good to have it broken up and not so cookie cutter and boring.

[MFAFF]

Sold yourself and team short Capt.... That is a very serious piece of work... and beautifully done in all sorts of ways.

In two years nobody will be able to remember what was there before and it will all look period.

Hats off to the team and you.

[oldE]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

Looks fantastic!

My first thought was why not have the roof/house flat all the way across. I’m sure there was a reason, but can’t remember. Then I thought it’s good to have it broken up and not so cookie cutter and boring.

The old garage was set back from the house almost a foot. Since the new construction was following the old footprint, the extension over the drive intersected the house wall about a foot back from the front face. That meant without changing the overhang on the front of the garage to a "non-period" profile, the ridgeline would be broken.

Beautiful work.I will hoist a nut brown ale in honour.

Best
Les

[rfuerst911sc]

Looks great you and your wife have something to be proud of ! You have added value to your home and a nice work space . Your contractor and team Capt. have done a great job of incorporating new into old . In a few years time after the new weathers in you'll never know it was an addition . You and Mrs. Capt. should toast a few adult cocktails

Well done sir !

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Captain Ahab Jr

...and I'm not completely happy with the height of the upstairs oak window lintel's so will have these taken out and dropped 2" down.

I was hoping you would catch that - really stuck out like a sore thumb to me

Fantastic, Captain. I decided to go through the would thread again and delighted I did so.

[LJ851]

Absolutely fantastic and amazing !

Cant wait to see more.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Thanks guys, the general comment we've heard a few times from neighbors and people walking by is 'it looks like it's always been there' which is very pleasing as this is the look we tried so hard to achieve

Not much to update as we had a family week off of R and R in the mountains and sun but not much snow the week before last, for me it was R and I as in 'Rest and Injury'

Embarrassingly I gave myself a inguinal hernia while fighting on one of my snowboard boots It's not overly painful, just a case of 'Keep Calm, Stuff My Guts Back In and Carry On'. I'll need an op but will schedule it in after I've finished the rear roof so my recovery time doesn't hinder progress too much.

Yesterday Mrs Ahab restricted me to half bucket loads while we removed/loaded 10ish tons of rubble and roof tiles as we spent a day clearing up our driveway space. Looks so much neater now and the work was long over due.



As we were building we did everything to make the 'underpass' as high as we could to add some scale to our build and also to allow me to drive our 4x4 out with a roof tent or roof rack fitted



No more windscreen ice scraping for me this winter, old house soil tack vent pipe, green heating oil tank, boiler are only temporary



Until the next update I'll be taking it easy and leaving any heavy lifting to Mrs Ahab