World Citizen Posted May 15, 2020 Author Share Posted May 15, 2020 thanks 8bucks, Mrs WC has quite a fan club, her stonework receives far more compliments than my meager efforts Beaky, once this thing blows over, you're welcome anytime Got some professional help in this week with Mrs WC and we smashed through the pointing in 3 days to finish the front of the house. Phew, am I glad this fill in job is done! With a bit of trail and error we achieved a close enough match to the smooth, curvy style of pointing on the man cave extension build, just needs a few rainy days and it will weather up nicely Had a visit from a local stonemason who complained people were ruining the Cotswold's because they aren't using lime mortar 🙄 I bid him a good evening, then to his dismay revealed I use the same 5 sand/1 cement every local builder uses on nearly every house in the village before setting the dog and both cats on him! Considering I replaced the full lower 2ft of stone in around 14 different sections the courses all came out pretty level which was a pleasing surprise to me Back to my desk job next week 😩 but I'm hoping the next update will contain some 'Shed' action and a progress report on Mrs WC's amazing floating wall 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GimmeShelter Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 Very impressive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLewis Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 Really nice job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fat fuchs Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 Huge respect. Incredible work.👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
green911 Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 fantastic job!! next time (!!!!), lay the stone on sand and cement, rake it back and point it in lime.......... :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beaky Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 That looks so original, you would never know its just be refurnished! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8bucksagallon Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 C'mon Mrs WC, show us mere mortals how to do it. Please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strosek34 Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 Outstanding work as usual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
World Citizen Posted May 24, 2020 Author Share Posted May 24, 2020 Thanks gents, really appreciate your comments green911, that's cheating!!!! 😁 8bucks, Mrs WC's garden wall gets all the compliments, even from professional builders, she busy lowering it which isn't the easiest of jobs but it's looking good, I'll do a special update for you when it's done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
World Citizen Posted June 5, 2020 Author Share Posted June 5, 2020 As promised this update is all about Mrs WC's project which has kept her busy for a few weeks As we intend to lower the driveway down to make all the various levels work together better than the original plans her curvy garden stone wall she built needs about 0.5m adding to the bottom of it. First job was dig out and lower the ground, then put down a shallow concrete base. The ground is mostly stone so it was a pick axe and demolition hammer job instead of an easy dig with a spade. The stone in the pic was her just practicing I helped a little by cutting and chiseling back the original footings which was made from concrete and very dense concrete blocks. Dusty, horrible job but much easier than digging 😝 Then Mrs WC laid 5 courses of fresh stone with a bit of concrete behind to join up to the bottom of the original wall Mrs WC quite often doubts she has the skills for building work but in reality she is better than very good. I just let her get on with it and try to keep out of her way so as not to slow her up As we would like to add some lighting around the driveway I bought a 50W halogen up lighter to see how it would look. Think a few of these all around will work well but we'll probably dim down the bulb brightness a notch 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strosek34 Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 Great work Mrs WC, I hope you keep her supplied with cups of tea Steve. 😀 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
World Citizen Posted June 5, 2020 Author Share Posted June 5, 2020 4 minutes ago, strosek34 said: Great work Mrs WC, I hope you keep her supplied with cups of tea Steve. 😀 I do with coffee, makes her work faster 😄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy M Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 That is absolutely stunning - something you can be proud of every day. Lighting would enhance it in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beaky Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 I can just about manage to build with Lego.................................................................still in awe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njpcarrera32 Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 1 hour ago, Beaky said: I can just about manage to build with Lego.................................................................still in awe! Likewise 😀 It would be good to see Mrs WC in action so we can all be even more in awe! One of these weekends it would be great to drop by and pay homage in person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
green911 Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 Mrs WC is a world class stone layer!!! Absolutely brilliant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richot1989 Posted June 6, 2020 Share Posted June 6, 2020 I'm in awe.👍 I daren't show Mrs WC's craftsmanship to the wife! No need for Mrs WC to go to the gym!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runnersp Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 Top left corner, can't unsee slightly unwell house face about to vomit building materials. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richot1989 Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 Very good, runnersp👍😄👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
World Citizen Posted June 14, 2020 Author Share Posted June 14, 2020 Giovanni 😲 once seen it can't be unseen 😄 Thanks for the compliments and I have passed on your kind comments to Mrs WC (the management) 👍 Exciting week this week, our builder was back on site to finish off the pillars for the man cave entrance. Not quite as impressive as the pillars on the Pantheon but they do add a little something to the rear aspect The stone around the last window was finished too Mostly tidying up this weekend, easy job this morning was freshly painting the garage opening steel beams then followed by some heavy lifting by Mrs WC and myself getting the beams in place for hopefully the last big lift this week The 'oak' beam I thought was oak isn't. After sanding and cutting it to length I quickly realized it wasn't as it's easily the hardest wood I've ever come across. It's 9" x 9" square and 6m long but with only about 10mm curvature so almost as straight as a straight thing After a bit of internet sleuthing I found out that it's an African hardwood (can't remember the name) with a higher specific gravity than water so it weighs in around 300kgs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njpcarrera32 Posted June 15, 2020 Share Posted June 15, 2020 On 14/06/2020 at 18:26, World Citizen said: Giovanni 😲 once seen it can't be unseen 😄 Thanks for the compliments and I have passed on your kind comments to Mrs WC (the management) 👍 Exciting week this week, our builder was back on site to finish off the pillars for the man cave entrance. Not quite as impressive as the pillars on the Pantheon but they do add a little something to the rear aspect The stone around the last window was finished too Mostly tidying up this weekend, easy job this morning was freshly painting the garage opening steel beams then followed by some heavy lifting by Mrs WC and myself getting the beams in place for hopefully the last big lift this week The 'oak' beam I thought was oak isn't. After sanding and cutting it to length I quickly realized it wasn't as it's easily the hardest wood I've ever come across. It's 9" x 9" square and 6m long but with only about 10mm curvature so almost as straight as a straight thing After a bit of internet sleuthing I found out that it's an African hardwood (can't remember the name) with a higher specific gravity than water so it weighs in around 300kgs One feels that if that piece of wood could talk it would have some very interesting stories to tell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesworth Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 Great progress Stephen. Loving the home brew civil engineering wall underpinning adventures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
World Citizen Posted June 16, 2020 Author Share Posted June 16, 2020 cheers Les, you're in luck, I'm onto another under pinning adventure as I've just started tackling the mahousivley high 2.5m boundary wall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GimmeShelter Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 As already said, stunning! I've just shown this recent part of the thread to Mrs GS and the two of us are equally in awe. BTW, is that wood Lignum Vitae, by any chance? A hard, heavy wood that sinks in water and that I only know of because it is (or used to be, at any rate) used as the core material in the best snowboards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Bernau Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 Your lawn needs mowing. Slacker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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