Very cool! Thanks for sharing.

I can’t imagine our recent homes built here in the USA lasting 200 years.

daepp and TinT, my initial estimate was for a foundation as per building ie 2ft/0.6m wide x 3.3ft/1m deep

VV, remind me to post up a pic of the neighbours boundary wall which is a dry stone wall ie no mortar/cement holding it together

Big day today had a digger dude and small digger on site this morning and dug out the footings

As I suspected foundations were just a layer or two of large stones, so digging was easy up to the point we hit rock. On one side we stopped at 1.5ft/0.5m, the other sides ranged from 2.5ft/0.75m to full depth 3.3ft/1m. I'd already talked to the inspector and he was ok for me to stop rather than dig deeper and remove stone to replace it with cement
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1531248213.jpg

This afternoon, a great big truck arrived to take away another 20 tons of my property, still got another 10-12 tons to go tomorrow, bringing the grand total of 165 tons :eek: of earth.stone/rubble removed and no cave in sight :D
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1531248353.jpg

This afternoon was hard work Mrs. Ahab and I cutting in the edges of the footings and clearing up some undug corners with a spade to make everything a bit neater. Our builder attacked an old drainage concrete lump with a demolition hammer.

A quick recalculation of how much concrete is needed, glad to say only 282 cubic ft should do it, still needs two trucks though, not sure how much concrete is in the US but I'm paying $4 cubic ft or £102 cubic meter including tax and delivery, seems pretty good value to me

2500 PSI concrete (a basic mix) runs around $70-$75 + 9% tax per cubic yard here. Or about $2.5 per cubic foot.

Damn, everything is more expensive here, UK is an expensive place to live, no wonder none of us can afford a good dentist or fridge to chill our beers :(

Thats a lot of material! I think the earth's rotation just shifted a few degrees. My place is mostly sand, so lots more digging but it goes quickly.

Not finished removing material just yet :(

Building inspector dude visited yesterday, left me with a good news, bad news, good news sandwich.

Good news, he signed off my foundation digging, I even swept the bottom out so he could see all the rock we had hit ;)

Bad news, I'm going to shift the earth's rotation a few more degrees as he didn't like the original slab which we planned to lay the new slab on. All of it has got to come up and any loose rubble underneath too. Then replaced with packed hardcore :confused: Another couple of days, one more 20 ton grab truck and another $500 and we should be back on track.

Good news, I'll gain a a few extra inches of height in my garage which may allow me to sprinkle some F1 magic on the ceiling :cool:

Concrete truck should be here early tomorrow morning and we are ready for the big pour of the foundations :)

Extending an old building is never straight forward as your uncovering centuries of previous building work. When we extended the back of our house years ago I uncovered a dry stone water well (nearly fell down it while hanging onto a demolition hammer) it was about 4ft diameter and only about 14ft deep, was originally probably around 60-80ft deep but had been filled in with rubble.

It was dead centre on our foundation trench so instead of filling it in we made a feature of it. The front door should have been central so we shunted it over to the right and built a semi-circular wall around the half of the well that was outside the building foot print. This gave us a feature very in keeping with other houses in the village as the same style of semi-circular bulge is for an internal bakers oven. Spent ages cutting the roof tiles, still need to climb down into it to add some spot lights and a have glass cover panel cut.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1531429428.jpg

The way they used to build dry stone wells (no mortar, cement or mud used) is very cool, they build it from the bottom up. Start by digging down 2-3ft, then hammer in a radial array of steel pegs which the stone is built up on, keep repeating until you hit water :cool:

The good news is your thread. I enjoy the details and your telling.

Thanks!

"Ride a cockhorse to Banbury cross, to see a fine lady..." ?

Seahawk, thanks

tcar, there is a cross in Banbury and a lady on horse too

Forgot to show a picture of our neighbors dry stone wall, built without any mortor/cement, the digger dude had a steady hand as one knock with the bucket and I'd have some extra building work to do

Steel rods were a neat touch from our builder, basically the top ends are all level so its easy to make sure everything is level

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1531496217.jpg

Really good feeling to be adding stuff rather than more taking away :)

daepp, this is for you!

Concrete truck arrived this morning, all the way from London 107 miles away :confused: quite a trick set up, ballast/gravel in the front compartment, dry cement in a separate rear compartment and an on board water tank too

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1531496364.jpg

Ballast/gravel drops onto a centre belt that moves it to the truck end of the pouring chute, cement drops in there from above and water is added. A big screw mixes it all up and feeds it down the pouring chute. Operator can tweak the mix as required and there is a metering sensor so I only got charged for what we used which was 10.15 cubic meters or in old money 358 cubic ft :eek:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1531496492.jpg

From parking the truck to driving off it was all done in an hour, much easier than wheel barrowing back and forth.

Giving myself the day off on Sun. to go to Goodwood Festival of Speed :cool:

Next week will be a busy week as I'd like to have the reinforced floor slab finished

That is a neat setup for concrete. I have never heard of something like that truck.

We had a “scaredy hole” or tornado shelter put in the floor of my garage. Underground is the only safe place in a F5 tornado.
Anyway, two guys showed up, cut the concrete, and used a small backhoe to remove the old slab where the pit was going to go. He was a master, the arm came around and was just under the raised garage door by 6 inches. Scoop up, rotate and dump. The hole was dug, the concrete bed was poured, the steel box lowered, and the box as lined with concrete in short order. They did two per day. I just watched and wrote a check.
It is neat to watch men at work that flat know their job, and do it well.
Nothing like your new man cave, but my only up close and personal brush with a concrete truck.

Rest day done, had an excellent day at Goodwood FOS, celebrating 75 years of Porsche, great event, so much to see, smell and hear.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1531696444.jpg

Back on it tomorrow, got a lot to get through this week :eek:

This is a cool build. I might have missed it, but how is the new space different from the old, apart from being structurally sound?

Thanks, the new space will be very different space and hopefully much improved too

I'll let my updates do the explaining as it isn't going to be a straight forward build of a replacement single story garage ;)

Thats pretty clear with the huge pizza oven/shed :)

OK, end of another busy and productive week, aim of this week to have the concrete floor slab poured, did it with plenty of time to spare :cool:

Last 20 tons of old garage waiting for collection, brings the total of rubble/earth removed to 105 tons for this part of the man cave build, add that to the earth removed for the shed makes it over 200 tons :eek:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1532125889.jpg

Ground prepared and 2nd building inspection, signed off with no problems.

Radon gas trap built, it is vented externally to the building with a 4" pipe, this is a requirement for this part of the country, pretty pointless as far as I can tell :confused:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1532126265.jpg

3rd load of hardcore being delivered, real pain in the a$$ to shovel, 8 tons or 6" of compacted hardcore used for the base and then a covering of compacted sand to protect the damp proof membrane plastic sheeting for damage

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1532125987.jpg

Fitted the poo pipe and various services pipes (gas for cooker, oil for boiler, hot/cold water, electric and air line for shed fitted)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1532126398.jpg

Went for two layers of 6mm dia., 200mm square spacing reinforcing steel mesh, one 2" above the base and one 2" below the top surface, way over the top spec. for a garage floor area but will allow me a degree of freedom when installing equipment later on

Area without reinforcing mesh has 3" or 75mm foam insulation which is for the utility room, can't have Mrs Ahab getting cold feet when she's out using the washing machine
Had 3rd building inspection at this stage, again no problems with sign off

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1532126923.jpg

Another 8.5 cubic meters or 159 cubic feet of concrete poured for the floor slab, our builder, Mrs Ahab and myself spread and leveled it in less than an hour, need to keep it quite dmap over the weekend to stop it cracking as we're having quite a heat wave over here this summer, first time this it's rained in weeks

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1532127042.jpg

Garage internally measures up at 21ft or 6.35m wide by 22ft or 6.75m deep, small by USA standards but as big as I can go, got square corners too unlike the rest of my house. Mrs Ahab will even have a nice sized utility room too, I just can't spoil her enough!

Old garage walls were 2ft or 600 mm thick, new walls will be 1ft or 300mm thick os I've got a lot of stone cutting ahead of me but I'm hoping the extra space I gain will make the extra time and effort worth it.

Really enjoying the physical side of this project but it is also a proper brain workout too as I'm using all my race car design experience to squeeze every last mm of space out of the old building foot print

I am really enjoying your build on the other side of the pond . Keep the updates coming !

Please do - and Mrs. Ahab is a player in my book!

So you had 200 tons of debris removed, using modern trucks and equipment. The obvious statement is that at some point with no modern equipment, over 200 tons was brought in buy human and horse power of real horses. I wonder how many men it took to bring in 200 tons? And to quarry it.

Cool build. Love the thread.

I really enjoy that part too. Still lots of room for improvement but I realized early on I had 1 shot for many things, it was a lot of stress at the time. Very cool you and the Mrs are working together.


Thanks for the updates, cool thread.

Seahawk and VV, yes Mrs Ahab is a star, good fun to work with and puts up with a lot ie me

GH85Carrera, it's quite mind boggling thinking back to how they must have built it, 100 tons was ground removal but the other 100 tons must have taken a bit of effort to move

The stone didn't come from very far away as in the late 1800's there were a number of quarries outside of the village

A relatively relaxing weekend, a couple of 4hr return trips to buy some reclaimed oak beams which will be used for internal/external window lintels and internal window cills

Not worthy of the Craiglist Score thread but a real score for my build was finding these as old reclaimed oak is harder to come by now

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1532281656.jpg

Beams were 15ft x 16" wide x 4" thick before I cut them up to make transporting easier

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1532281703.jpg

Since I know nothing of construction, how in the world do you pour and level the foundation in less than 60 min? And how level is level?

What do the neighbors think of the project?

astrochex, last post wasn't for the foundation but for the floor slab, pour the concrete into the middle of the pad, then the the 3 off us spread it about with rakes and shovels, it's quite a runny mix but still hard work as we leveled about 20 tons, level I would say would be around about an inch level

This week was quite tough, I spent 10 hrs a day every day hanging of the safe end of a 14" stone saw chopping up stone for the exterior wall, my right wrist and arm is feeling a bit beat up

We started with this, first pile is from the demolished garage, 2nd pile was bought years ago, it was from an old barn from a local country estate, should match the stone on the front of the house very well.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1532781622.jpg

and this, nibbled each pile down by a noticeable amount but still got a long way to go. Don't think we'll run out of stone somehow :eek:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1532781835.jpg

Turned it into this after 2 days for the exterior wall courses, every piece was chopped down to 5" wide. The garage wall thickness was 2ft/600mm and now 1ft/300mm. As the building regs require a gap to the 2" cavity insulation foam every single piece needs chopping down to size :( keep telling myself the extra 1ft of floor space on each side will be worth all this effort ;)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1532781898.jpg

This was the fruits of our labour at the end of the week. Mrs. Ahab was busy feeding me with stone to be cut and stacking the cut stone into neat piles of various thicknesses ranging from 2" to 8". Doesn't look like much but chopping stone is very labour intensive.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1532781985.jpg

It was quite hot and lots of sunshine this week, the slurry water spray from the saw was very refreshing, finished up each evening as brown as the stone :D

700 lightweight thermal concrete blocks delivered and our builder did this in 2.5 days, inner walls went up pretty quickly

Door will be access into a utility room and there will be a partition wall with another door to access the garage.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1532782182.jpg

Positioned the windows the same height as the house but had a slight debate on the horizontal position, in the end we agreed to make them symmetrical. Sometimes it can be a juggle keeping things odd to match the old house and me accepting I'm not working to my usual comfort zone tolerances of thousands of an inch ;) Mrs Ahab and the builder are very good at keeping me honest and putting up with my dithering.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1532782348.jpg

With the inner walls almost up its starting to take shape and gives me a real feeling of the size of my man cave. You can never have enough room but I think I'm going to be ok for what I've got planned for the inside.

Such a cool thread. I love that the build quality is modern, but there is so much time being invested in making it look old.

Thanks, it's like one giant backdate project ;) but without a ducktail :D

Forgot to answer astrochex's question about what my neighbor's think?

Most are very supportive as they've seen our level of work and attention to detail on a rear extension we added years ago.

Only one has complained to me about the noise (well it was Sunday evening so rightly deserved) and only one has moved house, don't think our building work was the reason why ;)

After a 23hr drive across Europe and stupid o'clock arrival time to end a relaxing vacation I woke up yesterday excited to see what progress had been made by our builder while we were away relaxing in the mountains.

All the hard work Mrs. Ahab and I put into cutting down the reclaimed stone before we left was time well spent. Couldn't be happier with the match of the new build stone compared to our existing house.

Driveway wall looks great
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1535055002.jpg

End wall is a slightly different style to the front, slightly different joint detail and use of other types of stone in places, looks like a good match too.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1535055673.jpg

The best wall by far is the all important front wall facing the road. After I repoint (remove the old mortar between the stone and replace with new mortar) and replace the eroded lower stone on the house both old and new walls should hopefully look like they were built at the same time rather than around 250yrs apart :cool:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1535055264.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1535055328.jpg

As it took us a week to cut down 30m2 or 36yd2 I invested in an ex-demo 16"/400mm dia. diamond tipped stone clipping saw. I always try to buy the best tools I can afford and what a joyful piece of kit this is to use. Will sell it on when done and hopefully get back most of my money compared to £1000/$1280 in rental costs.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1535056247.jpg

Other than stone cutting and more stone cutting next on the job list is putting up the first of the steel work.

A couple of points. How long did it take to get planning permission from the local council to build this? It all looks great.

i did not know that Husqvuarna made stone cutting tools.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1535055328.jpg

If I didnt see the pictures I'm not sure I would believe the new structure is, er, new. I'm blown away by your project, really well done. Makes my reno seem like childs play.

Thanks for the updates

Well done sir. Looking forward to seeing more!

You are a hard worker sir (and the misses)

I really get a kick out of the original Man Cave Build and this one.

The level of effort and care is really neat to see.

There are two other builds on Garage Journal in Switzerland that are equally impressive.

Well done!

Great return on your efforts with the old rock, Captian!
Must be nice to come home to it looking so good.

Funny that you mentioned repointing the house for color match.
I was marveling at how well the mason had done in matching his mortar to the house. That and the pattern in laying the stone, excellent.

Give it a year to weather in and most folks will be hard pressed to see any difference.

Really nice project!

Cheers Richard

recycled sixtie, from submission of plans to approval takes about 6 weeks, mine took a couple of weeks longer as I had to make a few amendments the council requested

Vincent, I'll pass on your compliment to my builder, he seemed very pleased with the match. I've only just noticed from the pictures the larger stone courses running at the top/bottom and sides of the house windows, will make sure we replicate that on the new stone work

Thanks, Jason911S

911Rod, Mrs Ahab is the hardest worker but I do enjoy a bit of hard manual labour, good for the soul!

Paul, please post links to the Swiss builds and thanks

Richard, I'll post up some close up pic's of the difference between new and old mortar styles, its' not so apparent in the photo

A good week so update time!

Making good progress, mostly been chopping more stone while our builder lays more stone

Off cut stone mountain is growing 😕 done a lot of cutting but it's a fraction of the size of my still to be cut stone mountains, at a guess I'm a 3rd through it all

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1535839182.jpg

If I'm lucky 1 saw cut per stone but can be up to 6 cuts as well as some dressing of the edges and face with a hand axe, top is freshly cut, bottom is hand dressed

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1535839366.jpg

Front wall is going up well and looking great, my OCD kicked in so I went for a large 7" course along side the bottom of the windows to match the original house stone courses. Wood frames are temporary window frames to get the window openings square and in the right place.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1535839453.jpg

Driveway wall is also looking great with built in 18th century period correct EV car charging station/cable storage cupboard 😎 will finish it off with reclaimed oak boarded door and rustic wrought iron hinges

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1535839611.jpg

Theme of the week for me when not cutting stone was lintels and padstones (load spreading blocks built in under where the steel beams will be fitted)

I knocked up a mould using some old scaffolding boards, cut up a bit of spare floor steel mesh to use as reinforcing bars and poured some concrete. 1st batch came out really well, still a bit green and 2nd set I poured today

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1535839763.jpg

Also sanded up some of my reclaimed oak to make some window lintels, didn't go to mad as I'm trying to retain the character of using old wood, even made up some oak pegs to block up a few holes. Finish will be left la naturale so they will silver up nicely after a bit of weathering. Middle beam is as bought, others after a good seeing to with an 80 grit sanding disc

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1535839894.jpg

Had 2 work site injuries today, poor Mrs Ahab has done her ankle in ☹️ while shifting big 8" stone blocks and the water cooling pump on my stone cutter is a bit poorly.

As it's Sunday tomorrow Mrs Ahab will call in sick 😉 but I've got plenty of quiet jobs to be getting on with like measuring up where to smack holes into the house and maybe even a bit of tidying up

Nice progress! Glad you picked up on the accent line under and above the Windows.

Smack holes in the house? Are you going to bridge over the driveway and tie into the house for a covered drive? Could have covered access to the shop, wit a corisponding door into the house.

The Mrs has earned a few days off with her feet up.

Nice cast pieces too.

Zeke, I think mentioned spraying new wood with vinegar I think, to accelerate aging patina. Maybe he'll confirm. Could be a good way to treat the oak after the sanding.

Cheers Richard

Slightly kicking myself, I failed to spot we didn't copy the larger stones along the vertical edges of windows like on the original house lower windows. My builder and I had noticed them, just forgot as the wall went up. Not to worry as I have a plan to remedy this missing detail

I'll let the holes in the house and what happens afterwards answer your questions ;)

Thanks on the cast pieces, they are wide enough to sit on both the inner blocks and outer stone, would have had to buy custom built one's so when my builder suggested it I thought great idea. They probably cost me $1 each in cement as everything else used was just lying around waiting to be thrown away.

I'd like to know more about the vinegar aging trick, hope Zeke spots this thread, with our damp winters it doesn't take long to weather

I spent some time visiting a friend on her Dad's 600 acre estate near Morton in marsh. I thought everyone had lots of land there.

Awesome machine and an awesome build. Thanks so much for sharing!

Not sure if this tip will apply to your stone saw as well as it did for my commercial tile saw that I converted to cut concrete pavers.

I removed the pump from the pan under the saw and placed it in a clean 5 gallon bucket of water. This way the pump only takes in clean fresh water and not the nasty sludge that accumulates in the bottom of the pan.

Use the pan as a catch basin of sorts and draining it as necessary.

Love the stone work!

Billy, thanks for the top tip, will definitely run the new pump this way, wasn't covered on the warranty but I've been sent a new one as a goodwill gesture :)