I like the new color

nice dog too

What are the Falkland's ceiling heights? Adequate for 6 feet or taller? It looks like a great place to knock back a few.

Was in Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem in Nottingham years ago and the ceiling was LOW.

Speechless. I have been watching this off and on for many moons and I just do not have suitable words. Mr. Ahab Sir, the quality of your build, and your wife and your life, and your character, are unexcelled. VERY glad you are sharing this with us.

Thanks Superduperman, your post made my day as I read it when I came in after a wet evening of digging last week

Autumn has arrived and the weather has been very wet, this is the reason why England and my house this time of year is so green :(

I've been keeping fit digging away in the evenings, lowering the driveway under floodlight and another full 20 ton grab truck load of my diggings gone 😎 💪 This is the before!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1605398448.jpg

Also used my 9" grinder with it's infamous diamond tipped blade to do tricky curved cuts on 3" thick flagstones so they fit neatly around our 'surprise find' dry stone water well. The gravel border against the walls is for drainage

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1605398597.jpg

The 'surprise' was all on me, years ago when breaking up a concrete path while building our rear extension, my demolition hammer fell into the well hole with me nearly following it 😲

Well is only 12ft deep as it's been partially filled in with rubble but I'm convinced it's a lot deeper as a neighbor's is 75ft deep.

I tidied up the dry stone well sides and started digging it out but got paranoid I was standing on a blocked plug of earth/rubble which was stopping me having a long fall to the bottom 😟 Still need to add spotlights and replace the temporary oak boards covering it with some thick glass

Why glass?

BTW, I've been following this thread all along. Simply fantastic!!!!

Captain, throw an old Roman coin in the well, and then call Time Team and have them excavate the well! ;)

When you showed that opening around that turret earlier, I was hopping that you were going to creat a nice planter to soften that area near your door.

Are you saying that there is a big hollow under that area?

Could you fill it with the diggings, then add some nice potting soil and nice planting, herbs, flowers, what ever to soften the all stone look.
Just a thought.

Carry on with your amazing project. You are doing great!

Cheers Richard

Any chance we can see the exact 180 deg shot of this from the inside (wood or no wood)? I'd love to see how it's incorporated into the inner space!


Ps - you two have done an amazing job, and I'm grateful you've shared this project with us!

Zeke, apologies, don't think I explained the well very well :D Behind the curved wall on the floor on the inside of my house is a 4ft wide 12ft deep hole. Glass cover is so you can see down the well with some discrete spotlights while standing over it

Glen, that's a genius idea, like your devious thinking !!!!

Richard, Mrs Ahab prefers the the flexibility of plants in pots so there will be some green thumb action going on there although I'm not sure what yet

daepp, not much to show on the other side as it's clutter with stuff

Excitement this week was 16 yew trees arrived, Mrs Ahab had them unpacked, holes dug, tree's planted with equal spaces and even checked they were vertical using a spirit level before the day was out :cool:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1606088052.jpg

Should mature into a solid, ever green hedge which will add privacy to the garden and some grandeur to the driveway

I'm thinking of how I can design, make and attach a track so I can clip in a hedge trimmer to a sliding trolley/frame so I can trim it perfectly each time without it taking me hours to do

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1606088698.jpg

In a few years from now we're hoping it will look like a more curvy version of this

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1606088431.jpg

Driveway is now lowered, only have a small area under the drive through to do, lost count of how much I've dug up and shifted, must be easily more than 50 tons

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1606664615.jpg

Access is now a bit tight so clearing up of the drive through is needed. A local farmer is all booked up to drop off a trailer next weekend so we can enjoy an afternoon full of healthy, family activities :D

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1606664446.jpg

Bottom of the shed opening was only 6" above ground level, so I built a small retaining wall during the summer to go with the lowered driveway height. Added some teeth too! :D

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1606664904.jpg

Still got a lots of 'keep fit' digging to do for the rain water soak away/pipes and before pouring the car turntable slab. Should keep me fit during the long winter nights

At it's most untidy.....

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1606665082.jpg

Not there yet but progress none the less :cool:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1606665595.jpg

What a project.

You need to add some upper teeth.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1606666107.jpg

What is easier to dig, wet or dry?

Is the indoor well so you wouldn't have to go outside for water?

The possibilities are nearly endless. There could be temporary 'expressions.' eyebrows, cheeks, moustache, lipstick.... In fact eyebrows hung from chains could be moved daily according to mood, even remotely. Fun!

It's not got off to a good start so far but I sincerely hope everyone has a Happy and COVID-Free New Year :)

Lots of man cave stuff done, lots more to do, so many more updates to come……

Almost 3 yrs into this now :eek: still enjoying our build most of the time but it's all starting to drag on a bit. Mrs Ahab deserves a finished house and I want my man cave :cool:

Only really 2 options for hurrying up progress,

easy route is buying in trades people to do everything
satisfying route is getting on with it ourselves and buying in a few trades for the trickier work we can't do ie electrical and plastering

No prizes for guessing which way 2021 is going to go........ ;)

I have been missing the updates from this thread...
Happy New Year to you too.

Pay through the nose, get substandard workmanship and regret not having done it yourself... BTDT.

Happy New Year!

Yes, Happy New Year!

Yes, Mrs. Ahab does deserve that.

It's your call, but there should be a photo portfolio upon completion. Your house belongs in a calendar. I have never had so much fun watching a Man Cave build. You were smart to create and maintain this diary of progress and photos, and we are the beneficiaries.

Really too bad you guys didn't video this whole build. Would have been a great TV series....

A friend of mine worked at a restoration shop that became a show.
It brought the restoration process to a snails pace.

Very gratifying to know people haven't lost interest in our build and we both enjoy reading the comments

Mrs Ahab would be great on a TV show but I've got a face for radio :D

This has taken a back seat to my F1 clients work for too long now. Only taken 2 days holiday in the last 8 months chasing yet another championship :(

All of this is about to change, from next month I cut that work down to 3 days a week and from June I'm back to being a full time builder again :cool: with hopefully only the occasional F1 interruption as, when and if my help is needed

I know it's not the smartest financial move to make in the middle of a global pandemic and impending double dip recession :confused:

My thinking is, why should I pay tradesmen to take my building fun away from me and if I don't finish my man cave soon I'll never get started on my other projects

This thread is already legendary and will take its place with the greatest of human literature. Homer. Aristotle. Ahab.

I think that one building should have eyebrows. Moveable ones. I think there should be a pivot in the middle of each one, so that the insides and outsides of the eyebrows are separately adjustable. Insides of eyebrows down: scowl. outside down and insides up: sad/worried. Middle up: Interested/intrigued. One eyebrow up: Tell me more. Or...Oh really." There was an American talk show/interviewer guy. Tom Snyder. Eyebrows like caterpillars.

Lisa and I have things in the house we move and reconfigure, and when the other finds it there is amusement. Just an idea. Your place is becoming a Dream Castle. Your wife with the radio-face husband is a lucky lady. What princess would not prefer to live in such as castle?

I'll bet if you made it a stop on the "Hop on Hop off" bus tours, plenty of us would sign up.

test

Yes, legendary is right!

Today was goodbye F1 but call me if any drama's need my attention :rolleyes:

Tomorrow and the the next 6 months will be hello man cave, remember me? :confused:

Real time updates to recommence as we make progress :cool:

I'm in!

Get busy:cool:

Yesss!!!

Oh hell yes.

This is the weather for it.

What IS the weather in merry old "central England" Captain ?

just a bit warmer
almost drinking weather ;)

Woohoo!

Daily updates with pix!

looking forward to more

Thanks for the interest, only taken me a day and I'm back into the swing of building, my tools not so, already burnt out my small Makita angle grinder :(

The sun has shown itself again and with the hour change I have come out of hibernation :cool:

Weather is dry, but not too warm, around 45F, was up a ladder yesterday painting and I sure felt it as it was a north wind

Not quite drinking weather, due to COVID, pubs will serve outside after mid-April, I feel for these businesses so plan to support them ;)

1st shopping trip today, bought a few 10ft long 6 x 2 floor joists, compared to some of the beams I've used these are mere twigs :D

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1617487160.jpg

Building material prices over here have gone up too :rolleyes: Got lots to buy so guess I just got to grin and bear it

I guess they salt the roads in England?

Porsches and yotas! Loved catching up on this thread!

Your 2x6 looks better her than ours... 1-1/2” x 5-1/2”

My 1st full week in a longtime, 1st day was so tiring I put myself to bed 3 hrs early, was great to be back at it, really into the swing of it now and pleased to have some progress to show :cool:

We've had, rain, hail, snow and sunshine this week but jumping between indoor and outdoor jobs it didn't slow me up

Must have been asleep when giving our builder upstairs window opening measurements :confused: Windows are too low and too tall, nowhere near a close match to the original house upstairs windows

What was needed was more 'cowbell' ie more exposed oak lintel showing below the green painted soffet board as per the original house.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1618156536.jpg

A bit of keyhole surgery, added another course of stone on the bottom which is almost impossible to spot. Also added another 4" oak lintel underneath the original lintel,. Window on the left is before and on the right after.

Was hoping to just lower the original lintel but I did such a good job of fixing them in I'd have needed to remove roof tiles to do that. Also returned the stone in towards the inner block work as the window frames will be recessed 6" from the outer wall face.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1618156621.jpg

Spot the difference, looks much better now, very happy with the new front window openings matching with the original front window openings on the house. Painting the original fascia boards and replacing the rain gutter on the old house is one of my weekend jobs

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1618157217.JPG

Most important indoor job was to make a set of temporary stairs, only took a couple of hours and my knees thanked me! Also threw some Ebay bargain plywood off cuts down as temporary flooring so I don't do myself a mischief falling between the 1st floor joists.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1618157775.JPG

Made good progress on joisting out the top floor. One half was very easy, only took a morning, just a notch each end needed to fit each joist snugly into the steel beams. I now understand why you guys like building your houses out of sticks :D

The other half was brutal on my hands as I cut vertical slots into the stone of the original house, played safe and used my small angle grinder with a diamond tipped masonary blade. Then hand chiseled each hole and mortared in each joist

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1618158563.JPG

That the top floor joists almost done, will finish it after I have knocked through the top floor and 1st floor doorways through the 2ft thick original stone walls.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1618159027.JPG

Looks great. For cutting openings in masonry walls around here we have companies that will bring out a wall-mounted concrete saw for a couple hundred bucks and be done in two hours.