My man cave build - UK edition

[Sooner or later]

Nicely done.

Any pics of the interior space?

[tevake]

Sorry to hear of your injury Captn! Too ironic to do it in that way after all of that heavy lifting.
Must be great to be able to use some of your new space with parking out of the weather, YEAH!
Also great to see the front with the scaffolding gone, it does look so well blended into the house and the neighborhood, as to seem like it's allways been there! Well done!

I hope you are able to give yourself time to get repaired and to recover..
Must be just a little left to get the rear roof and details completed.

Do you have someone lined up to put the windows in? Those two details should see it dried in nicely.

Be kind to your body, it has performed very well for you.

Cheers Richard

[911 Rod]

Wow.
Says it all.

[daepp]

So very cool. And such mastery of materials to make the modern seem positively ancient. Great job Ahab!

[tcar]

That wood beam is a nice detail....

[Evans, Marv]

Congrats on such a beautiful project. Your place is a real treasure. There is a special feel about old structures in the old(er) part of the world. Living on the west coast of the U.S. something a century old is considered ancient. I always loved the beauty of old looking buildings when traveling in Europe. I had hernias repaired on both sides some years ago. You'll be down for a while and shouldn't push it while on the mend, but the time you're out of commission isn't all that long. Good luck!

[93nav]

Very nice, very interesting.

Thanks for taking the time to show us.

[rfuerst911sc]

Looking good captain and glad you are on the mend ......... it's ironic you get injured AFTER the hard work is done Take care of yourself and keep the updates and pics coming !

[porsche tech]

I've been lurking and following but no posting. Really nice attention to detail. BTW, I've also had hernias repaired on both sides, years apart. First one they cut me and I was on the down low for 3 weeks. Second one was laparoscopic and amazingly quick recovery. Had it on a Friday and played golf Saturday a week later. See if they can't do it laparoscopically...you'll be glad.--Dave

[billybek]

Since this has turned into a hernia thread...
I have had one side done twice and the other once.
The side done twice has never been "right" since the original repair.
Both sides were done with mesh. You could say that I am all meshed up...
Regardless, investigate what repair would be the best for you. I wish that I had a more standard repair done and had only found out about the Shouldice Clinic in Canada that specializes in this procedure after.
There have been lawsuits about defective mesh etc.
If you have a good doc and trust his recommended surgeon, that is good but do your research too.
First few days after surgery are kind of miserable but you should be back to normal in fairly short order.
Watch what you lift and how you lift for the rest of your days....

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Thanks for the kind words gents, on a scale of 1 to dead, hernia isn't really a biggie so I'm more annoyed than worried. Op is booked up for early May so still got time to finish the roof.

Some excitement in our old man cave last night!

Base of our chimney is as wide as the full 8ft width of the fire place stone opening but has a metal register plate just above the oak beam to help draw air up through the black steel canopy and out through the brick chimney stack on the roof.

Crows like to chuck sticks down during nesting time, below is what I cleared out the last time.



We like to enjoy a roaring open fire but last nights roar sounded louder than it should for the size of fire we had. A quick look up the canopy and I found we had a chimney fire going on

Luckily for us last night the crows hadn't been too busy. Ignoring the 999 operator's advise to evacuate while we waited for the fire brigade to arrive Mrs Ahab and I got stuck in getting the fire under control by flicking bottles of water up the canopy Bet they don't teach that technique at fire fighting school!

Everything tuned out well, no one died, no one hurt, no harm done to the house but no more fires until I've fitted some anti-crow mesh to the top of the chimney.

Not had too many free weekend days so new man cave work has been slow going, first up is Mrs Ahab has been extending our boundary wall to meet the house stone work. There has been the odd grumble as Mrs. Ahab has had to lower her stone wall building quality while matching in her stone work with mine



The ground floor garage part of our build is an extra 1.5m/5ft deeper than the width of the house. I'll be able to walk around both the front and rear of my truck instead of climbing over it as I had to before. As I didn't want this extension to distract from the overall shape of the house we've hidden it from public view behind the boundary wall. By the time we're done no one will know



I'm still busy on the rear roof, finished trimming up the last of the fascia boards but these still need painting before fitting. Battened the dormer window and started on the lead work.

Milestone today was finishing all the roof lights, fiddly time consuming work as it involved tile trimming, some leadwork and a bit of cementing. The vertical bars on the bigger roof lights are to make them look period correct ie ye olde world. I may make up a bar for the smaller window but it's not up there on my job list.



One last picture taken from a different angle to prove spring has arrived, shame I'll be spending it working inside behind a desk

[daepp]

Great looking work Cap'n. And take good care of that hernia!

BTW - saw the pic below somewhere and immediately worried it was your place. Glad I was wrong!

[p911dad]

Totally remarkable concept and execution! I have been following this for quite a while and I am glad it turned out so well.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Thanks David, nice car, shame it's sticking out of a building

Thanks p911dad, glad you like it

Feeling quite crufted this week, last Sun. the Jaguar FE team won their first race the Rome E-Prix race and the first major win for Jaguar in 28 yrs. I looked after 2 of the 5 areas of a car the team is free to design. Satisfying feeling of accomplishment but nothing compared to the feeling I get from our house build

I knew the rear half of the roof would take so much longer than the front but was hoping it wouldn't have gone on for so long.

Lots and lots of tile cutting needed, used a combination of a 4.5" and 9" angle grinder with a diamond tipping cutting blade. Diamond tipped blades are well worth the extra cost compared to abrasive blades, cut's easier, safer and wear out very slowly.

Long time coming as I've only had weekend time to work on it but the roof is all done







Mrs Ahab has been busy on the boundary wall, diagonal timber is a quick mock up of the rear ground floor garage extension roof. A bit more boundary wall stonework to go but looking good so far.

I'll make a more accurate roof line guide once the scaffolding has been removed



Had a quick clean up in the house part of this man cave with an attached house build , It's reasonable sized space, good job too as we need to fit in a master bedroom, ensuite bathroom and family bathroom



Next update the rear scaffolding will be gone, looking forward and interested to see how the shape of the building turns out with an unobstructed view

[astrochex]

Beautiful work. Beautiful images of said work.

I find the second image quite peaceful. The color of the stonework really pops in that one.

[URY914]

You're kickin' my workshop's azz....

Great job.

[Sooner or later]

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Paul, glad you like the stone, colour really changes depending on the time of day/amount of light

Paul, our's are two very different builds but both have the same end goal, creating our own individual man caves, really enjoying your build

Supercalifragilisticespendyialidocious

Finally after many rear roofing weekends the rear scaffolding was taken down. Not something I'd envisaged but the shape/proportions of a building really changes as it goes up and at times quite difficult to visualize the positions of various features when viewed through lots of scaffolding poles/walkways etc



This side was always going to be the difficult side to get the look just right. Not 100% happy with the rear elevation look but will reserve final judgement until we've finished the garage extension and entrance

I'm however extremely happy with width of the entrance to my man cave



Today's work was tough, Mrs Ahab and I cleared all the rubble away and tidied up the driveway, has really opened up the driveway space. A very satisfying day!



Just need to get rid of my old Toyota, feel the need to reduce my projects a little



One last hoorah of heavy lifting before I'll be on post op light duties for the next few weeks

[Sooner or later]

A big project can create a big mess.

[Superman]

Sincere appreciation for your story and pictures. In America, this is what we would call a "massive" residential remodel. The design and execution are amazing. The stone façade is exquisite. We are looking forward to more pics.