Captain how are you going to insulate this space ? I am assuming you will be . I had a home in FL. that was block construction with stucco exterior and conventional interior sheetrock installed over furring strips . After we had lived in the house a few years I decided to check out how to insulate this type of construction . Found a foam company that drilled holes on the exterior aprox. half way up the wall , they then inserted a nozzle and shot in white colored foam . It was very light weight but was insect repellent which is a plus in Florida ;)

With your construction not finished on the inside yet you could have foam injected on the inside so you don't have to disturb your stone work . Your build is looking good http://forums.pelicanparts.com/suppo...leys/pint1.gif

Steel wool soaked in vinegar until all but dissolved will patinate many woods but oak can be washed with cement dissolved in water and it will turn gray.

Ditto, been doing this for years with tile saws. Makes life exponentially easier and keeps your cutting a bit cleaner to boot.

rfuerst911sc, not so clear in previous pic's but we fit insulation against the inner block work leaving a 2"/50mm air gap to the outer stone work, this stuff

50mm Celotex GA4000 PIR Insulation Board | GA4050
Thermal Conductivity: 0.023W/mK
R-Value: 2.25m2K/W
Compressive Strength: 140kPa
Surface Spread of Flame: Class 1
Water vapour resistivity: 150MN.s/g.m

Zeke, thanks for the tip, I'll try it but in two minds about doing it on the house as to me patina should be earned not created, sort of like those new old rusty air cooled V'dubs

one whipped, I've gone for the 5 gallon bucket way, pump is 3" off the bottom and I swap over fresh water after 3 recycles, much cleaner

A quick thanks and special mention to the Pelican Crew for highlighting this thread in the latest Pit Stop email newsletter edition. What a surprise and feeling quite humbled my rambling thread has been noticed, especially considering the small size of my man cave compared to the copious space you guys have to enjoy in the US

A bitsa week this week, bits of this and bits of that but still progressing in the right direction

Needed to lower the window on the house, this was the front door years ago until I moved it and put in the window. Not a big job but I took my time as I didn't want to smash up the internal plaster and needed to reuse the window and stone window cill, . Lowered it by 7", all in all little over a day of work, on CAD I could have done it in a few sec's ��

I live in a tough hood and didn't want anyone stealing my fridge so home security was strengthened while the window was out

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1536443450.jpg

Spot the difference, I dry fitted the extra stones and my builder cemented everything, then I put the window in with expanding foam, digging it out slightly with a light covering of mortar, as it says on the tin, expanding foam does expand by a lot but luckily when dried it's easy to remove ;)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1536443321.jpg

Mixed up another batch of pad stones, this should be enough for a while

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1536443693.jpg

Biggest job this week was fitting and bolting in 2 steel columns, had to drill 8 off 1"/25mm diameter holes 20"/500mm deep, easy job I thought, ah ha not so easy there cowboy! My builders drill was getting too hot so I went out and bought a new 3ft long/1meter long drill bit, didn't help much so another trip out to hire a big a$$ drill, still tough going as it took half a day to drill, arms and wrists took a beating but got there in the end

Had to McGyver up a plunger for the 2 part resin system cartridges which is used to glue the 8off (4 per column) M16 threaded studs into the concrete foundations for bolting down the steel columns. Took the full weight of my burly builder and myself to squeeze out the resin, not pretty but it worked

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1536443933.jpg

Nearly got caught out on the 1st column by how quick the resin took to set, so we positioned the 2nd column before using the resin. When done and level's checked it felt like we achieved quite a big milestone, high five's and 'good job' whoops all round! Columns are only 8.25ft/2.5m tall but I know how the Roman builders of the Panthean must have felt when they stood back to admire their work ��

Our builder worked his magic on doing more stone wall work and tied the block work inner wall into the steel columns, once the internal walls are finished no one will ever know they are there.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1536444334.jpg

My builder also fitted the front window stone window cill's, same size, shape and stone to match the house and a thick course of stone at the top of the windows again to match the house

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1536445122.jpg

Mrs Ahab and I even managed to fit in time for more stone cutting..

Rear stone 'to be cut' mountain going down nicely, first time I've seen our rear garden wall in years :)

Driveway 'stone to be cut' mountain got taller than me (again) but not more, just re-stacked it to make more maneuvering room

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1536445557.jpg

I've had a few site visits from friends this week, all of them gave me the impression we must be mad, I already knew I was but nice to have it confirmed by people that know me.

Since I stopped work end of June I've tried my best to stay away from work but the last couple of weeks work has pursued me to ask if I'm available. All have been told they'll have to wait until I've finished my roof, hopefully the offers will still be there when I'm done.

Nice to be wanted but the most flattering approach for me was when a neighbour asked if I could help with a problem he was having with the chimney on his house :D

Well done . Truly monumental!

Any updates on the pizza oven? :D

Pizza oven is on hold, needed to use it to store everything from my garage and building supplies/tools.

My underfloor storage area has become very handy, it's full to bursting mostly of old reclaimed oak. I think I have enough oak now :)

Ahoy Catpain, have you given any thought to the idea of extending the shop roof over the driveway and tying it into the side of the house?
This would connect the two buildings visually, and offer dry access from the kitchen over to the laundry and shop. Also allowing dry unloading of groceries from the car into the house.

A number of advantages to consider. I think it would look nice too.

This change would likely require revisiting the permit folks for consideration. But it seems you have enough more time to go in the walls to get it OKed.

Cheers Richard

You have a good eye Richard,

No need for a new permit as I guess it's time for me to confess this was always the case and my man cave is not just simple rebuild of my garage

I'm so glad to hear that is the plan Captain.
Sorry to push you into the early reveal, I just thought it was an idea worth thinking about while there is time to " make it so"

When we got that glimps into the kitchen, thru the window at that end of the house, that just reinforced the benefits of tying it all together that way.

Plus the wall on that end of the house is ripe for a roof connection there. Should improve the apearance of the house from that end.

What height of overhead clearance will you be able to get for the driveway?

Cheers Richard

Mrs Ahab and I spent half a day wheel barrowing, throwing and shoveling over our shoulder the stone off cut mountain into the back of a big farm trailer, hard start to our week but glad to see it go!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1536965251.jpg

Neatened up the bigger of the two 'to be cut' stone mountains, all 7ft tall of it, reminds me of Chichen Itza in Mexico :D

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1536965327.jpg

As tevake suggested the plan was always to join the man cave and house together. Planning authority wouldn't allow us (I didn't even bother asking) to move the driveway between the house and the old garage due to road safety considerations (too close to a blind corner).

Only one way to do it, join the house to the man cave with more house above the driveway :cool:

Man cave access is by a 20.5ft/6.2m wide opening in the rear wall. As there will be a section of new house above the driveway and partially on top of my man cave some extra structure is required to support the upper walls.

To take us to 1st floor level, 12 steel beams and 6 oak beams are needed, 5500lbs/2500kgs of steel and roughly 2750lbs/1250kgs of reclaimed oak beams.

Took delivery of the biggest steel beams this week. We had planned to manually move them from the road into the cave but our builders BIL and truck with a crane came to our rescue. Swinging in the air above our new front wall is a 1210lb/550kg steel beam, heaviest of the bunch :eek:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1536965514.jpg

I also started sanding, shaping and cutting down to size the large oak beams to go above the front and rear driveway opening. Can of my favourite beverage included in photo to give perspective to the size of these twigs

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1536965667.jpg

Our builder lowered the driveway window to match the lowered house window and fitted an oak lintel, also a little more stone work added at the top

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1536967107.jpg

A couple of my home made concrete padstones cemented into the new wall to spread the load of the steel beams

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1536966577.jpg

While my builder worked on the new part I attacked the house,, had to remove quite a bit of stone wall and internal stone rubble. Walls are 2ft/600mm thick and the gap between the inner and outer stone courses are filled with rubble and mud so a real dusty job.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1536966658.jpg

Next week is 'big lift' week, getting excited and really looking forward to this part but before then I need to finish preparing my oak beams.

Well Captain, I guess everyone here must be stunned into silence by the ambitious new scope of your project.
It is going to be truly amazing to see it continue on to the second floor and across the driveway.

Now I'm coming to understand the mountains of stone remaining onsite, and those stout columns you put in.

Doubt you can hear it, but I'm rubbing my hands together and licking my chops in excitement to see the next phase of your man cave build.

Cheers Richard

I hope people don't go quiet as a few of the comments have given me food for thought

Today we achieved too big a milestone and was too good a day to wait until the end of the week for the next update, best described as a day of polar opposites,

It started with me dressed smartly being interviewed for a F1 design position where I'd measure weight saving design improvements in 0.5 gram increments and ended with me back on site dressed in old jeans/torn t-shirt assembling steel beams weighing 100's kgs :cool:

While away my builder had lifted up one beam in place but had left some fun for me to enjoy. Lifting rigs were very easy to use, wind the handle one way to go up, wind it the other way to go down, then move the lifts around like shopping trolleys until the bolt holes line up

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1537218788.jpg

Went safe and used 2 lifting rigs as the beams were so heavy and also to help with positioning. Bolt holes nearly lined up but we had to resort to using the 'BFH' or 'persuader' to help tap one stubborn bolt in.

A couple of hours later and everything done and in place. My builder and I were very impressed that no shimming was required for all the beams to be level

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1537219030.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1537219898.jpg

Me pretending to be a Kahnawake Skywalker while tightening up the joining bolts, my face isn't shown to hide my fear of being so far off the ground :eek::rolleyes: Joining bolts and box section spacers are there to stop the beams twisting as we build up the upper walls

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1537219117.jpg

For the rest of the week there is more heavy steel beam lifting action planned and then it's oak time :)

With all this old English stone it would be very cool to have one of those big ass old English doors that you still see in the pubs that are hundreds of years old. Just throwing it out there.


How about a picture of you and the misses? We have no idea if you are 20 or 200 years old. :D

Sir you have good taste, big ass English oak doors for the garage and utility room, I'm looking forward to making those.

Made our front door which is nearly 3" thick, outside planks were new oak, inside planks +500yr old reclaimed oak floorboards but I cheated in the middle was high grade plywood

I'll do a team photo at the end, until then I'll paint you a picture of my rugged good looks, I've just turned 50 years old, been mentally thrashed and put away wet after 18yrs working in F1 design and have only died the once which was just over a year ago ;)

This project just gets more spectacular!

I am not surprised that those beams did not need shimming given your relentless penchant for detail. And, you make your own big-ass, antique doors! I would not have been surprised to hear you quarried the stone also.

Thank-you for sharing the adventure.

astrochex, thanks you for reading!

My builder should take all the credit for not needing any shimming, we put some more steel beams up today and they are all square and within an 1/8"/3mm tolerance to his internal block work :)

Sorry to disappoint I didn't quarry the stone but did move the rear end of a barn 1ton at a time on my way home from work using my little pick up truck over a couple of weeks after the estate owner I'd bought it from had it knocked down for me ;)

I'm loving it. Big projects are loads of work but also fun and satisfying when completed. I love the old architecture of Europe. Living on the west coast of the U.S., anything before 1900 is considered ancient.

These updates are so so fine - THANK YOU for letting us watch as this come together for you!

Here's a request that might be fun (for us): I assume you've got structural and architectural plans - any chance you might post a few elevations or structural plan details?

Thanks again, Cap'n, for all the eye-candy!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What they said!! 3 So. Cal. guys in a row SmileWavy