# Trying to make outside pretty



## Cookies

Hi all

Over the past couple of months, we have been trying to make our back garden a more pleasant and usable space to spend time in, especially given our rapidly shifting weather conditions.

So, the plan was to get the paving upgraded, and to build a covered outdoor patio.

I wanted the work done in sections, purely so I could cordon off a safe area for our wee dog while the work was ongoing.

The starting point. I started lifting the 3x2 flags, and had completely forgotten how heavy a thing they are. This was the path at the back of our house.










Me and my cousin's partner got them all cleared, and started digging out the grass a bit further. The existing path was 1m wide from the wall of the house. I had intended extending this a bit, using 3x 400mm flags, plus 2x 100mm borders of stone. This required an additional 400mm to be removed from the lawn.










You'll see the D rail sitting on the lawn. This gave us a straight edge to work to, and provides an excellent border for the stones. It's held in place by lengths of rebar. More on that in a bit - I'll explain.










Anyhoo, the back of the house was sorted after a couple of weeks. This of us who are fussy, will appreciate my attention to detail here. I dyed the pointing to correspond with the charcoal flags.










The finished article at the back of the house.


























So, we could then move on to the path at the side.

Flags lifted.










New flags down.










And the dyed pointing theme continues










The paving was continued down as far as the gate.... I had a rotten gate post, so the project took a different direction briefly.

Cooks

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## DLGWRX02

Nice work, always good to stand back and admire your own handy work.


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## Cookies

So, in order to be able to pave down to the gate, I needed to replace the gate post.

Upon closer inspection, the other fence posts were also looser than they should have been. So, I decided to replace everything.

I ripped out the old post with a bit of effort, and got the new one put in. Sorry, I didn't take any pics of the removal and install, time and weather were against me.










I decided to pull out the other posts too. These were heavy......










Noew posts in, and I had to improvise as I had no help, so used a couple of lengths of timber to help me level it.



















Make the noise...... 









String pulled taut.










And the bevel rail installed with 24" spacing, leaving 12" at the top and bottom.










Boards screwed in using stainless 5x50mm screws.










And a grass border added



















And stones added.










And painted.










Then set about doubling up the boards for privacy, again using stainless screws.










Cooks

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## Cookies

DLGWRX02 said:


> Nice work, always good to stand back and admire your own handy work.


Thanks mate. I'll admit, I contracted out the installation of the paving at the side of the house, as time was just running away. It paid off, as the paver had the side path largely completed in 1 day...... Unbelievably quick and perfect too.

I fitted the D rail border and stones etc, and saved my poor back lol.

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## Cookies

The covered patio is a bit of a work in progress.

Robert and I made a frame from 4no 7x7" posts, and 4x2" timber. Distance between the posts is 3m exactly. I decided not to sink the posts in concrete, as this would sacrifice too much of the height. Instead, the ground was broken until a solid base was found, and each post set on a pad of concrete slab.



















I painted the frame at each stage, to make sure it was covered well. The roof frame was, again created using 4x2, and lifted into place. I also pained the wall in behind the frame black, to ensure it wouldn't be too visible through the walls.



















I had bought polycarbonate sheets and fixings, but could only get white or brown fixings. I went with white.. Hingsight has made me realise that I should have went with brown. Anyhoo, it was a very easy system to fit.



















The sides of the structure were created using slating lath, nailed into place with a ompressor powered nail gun set with a 3mm gap between EA h length.. I managed to fire a nail into my hand when the gun bounced off a knot in the wood.... Painful is a huge understatement.



















And the completed article.


















This brings me largely to date, apart from having painted all of the fences to match.

I've spoken to my paving contractor, and he will come and pave the base of the patio. Hell be much quicker than I would ever be, and his hand doesn't hurt like hell lol.

Edit - One thing I should have added was that the corner where this patio is going is where my garden shed was. The issue was, that in the evenings, it was in a really gorgeous wee sun trap.




























So after a lot of head scratching, I decided that the shed had to be moved. I still haven't figured out where I'm going to put it. Lots of chin stroking needs to happen......

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## Cookies

I mentioned earlier that the timber D rail edging was held in place with lengths of rebar.










Using a 12mm spade bit, drill holes down through the timber edging. Then, I cut lengths of rebar to between 12 and 16", and hammered then down through the timber edging and into the ground with a lump hammer. You'll need to have an angle grinder with a metal cutting disc to cut the rebar. I spaced the rebar at 36" intervals, and it's really not going anywhere quickly.










Ps - that's my dog's football....










Cooks

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## 20vKarlos

Cooks, this looks brilliant mate! 

Some
Really quality workmanship here pal :thumb:


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## Cookies

20vKarlos said:


> Cooks, this looks brilliant mate!
> 
> Some
> Really quality workmanship here pal :thumb:


Thank you mate, credit to my cousin's partner for his excellent ideas, it has turned out really well, and we are absolutely delighted with it.

I'm now going to sleep for a month....

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## Fentum

And that, gentlemen, is how a good detailer tackles a DIY job! Dyeing the pointing, forsooth. Of course, the paint depth gauge will be needed to be used every subsequent summer to ensure a consistency between the flags and the pointing…and Niall will be telling us in the spring that he’s had to put and maintain a ceramic coating on the surface.

Nice job(s), Niall. You really took advantage the NI heatwave.

P


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## grunty-motor

you could get a job doing that!


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## Rappy

A fantastic job Cooks & so rewarding. 

Now sit back, relax & enjoy. :thumb:


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## bluechimp

Fantastic work Cooks, great ingenuity from you and your cousins partner. Looks really good quality. I’d be proper chuffed with that as I’m sure you are.


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## WHIZZER

that looks great


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## slim_boy_fat

Just caught up with this  - a great job well executed.:thumb:


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## Starbuck88

Absolutely fantastic! Literal blood, sweat and tears has made that a fantastic Job. Looks stunning!


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## Cookies

Fentum said:


> And that, gentlemen, is how a good detailer tackles a DIY job! Dyeing the pointing, forsooth. Of course, the paint depth gauge will be needed to be used every subsequent summer to ensure a consistency between the flags and the pointing…and Niall will be telling us in the spring that he's had to put and maintain a ceramic coating on the surface.
> 
> Nice job(s), Niall. You really took advantage the NI heatwave.
> 
> P


Aah Peter. You're far too kind. Funny, a good friend noticed the dyed pointing, and said "That's a very Niall thing to do." I chose to take it as a complement. Lol.


grunty-motor said:


> you could get a job doing that!


Thank you mate. As long as it was only a couple of days a month, I'd think about it - I really needed to recover from the aches and pains. It probably took me 4 or 5 times the amount of time a professional would need. But we got there in the end.


Rappy said:


> A fantastic job Cooks & so rewarding.
> 
> Now sit back, relax & enjoy. :thumb:


Thank you mate - totally agree. A wee bit of work to go, but I'm getting the professionals finish off the paving.


bluechimp said:


> Fantastic work Cooks, great ingenuity from you and your cousins partner. Looks really good quality. I'd be proper chuffed with that as I'm sure you are.


Thanks buddy. He's the brains and I'm the pretty one....

I like things to be right, and tend to take my time over anything I do. There's a wee bit of snagging needed, but nothing major, thankfully.


WHIZZER said:


> that looks great


Cheers Whizzy.


slim_boy_fat said:


> Just caught up with this  - a great job well executed.:thumb:


Thank you mate.

Guys, you're all far too kind. All the comments are very much appreciated.

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## Andyblue

Looks amazing and a huge improvement over what was there, definitely a much nicer place to sit in and use now… 

Those nail guns are amazing, I used one when I did all our fencing and came quick addicted to using it  

Enjoy :thumb:


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## nbray67

Cracking effort my friend. :thumb:

We've got our landscaper hopefully starting our back garden in the coming weeks, he's been booked since March!!

I'd toyed with the idea of doing it myself but there's a lot to do and my body wouldn't be able to take it, plus, I'd end up with an injury or 2 no doubt.

I like the rebar mod though as I've previously hammered wooden spikes in and then fixed wooden edging to them but the wooden spikes rarely go in straight and take some hammering home.

Any pics of the nail in the hand injury, gruesome I know but I'm intrigued!!


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## Cookies

nbray67 said:


> Cracking effort my friend. :thumb:
> 
> We've got our landscaper hopefully starting our back garden in the coming weeks, he's been booked since March!!
> 
> I'd toyed with the idea of doing it myself but there's a lot to do and my body wouldn't be able to take it, plus, I'd end up with an injury or 2 no doubt.
> 
> I like the rebar mod though as I've previously hammered wooden spikes in and then fixed wooden edging to them but the wooden spikes rarely go in straight and take some hammering home.
> 
> Any pics of the nail in the hand injury, gruesome I know but I'm intrigued!!


I'm 47, and will definitely consider whether it's worth doing jobs like this in future myself. Aches and pains, and sciatica prove for a memorable project lol.

The injury was, from the outside, fairly inconspicuous. I'll text it to you as Tapatalk has just popped up to say I've reached my image upload limit for the month...

The nail went in, and embedded it in my middle finger at a 45 degree angle. Robert was shocked at first, and asked if I was OK. I was. But had a nail sticking out of my hand. I've never seen him laugh so hard. He was actually crying. I had to give the nail a good pull to dislodge it from the bone. It wasn't sore immediately, but fairly quickly afterwards it got. painful.

I can move my fingers OK, but if I squeeze the bone it's flippin sore. Probably a fracture or something. Ah well.....

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## Fentum

:doublesho: More to the point, are your tetanus jabs up to date?!

P


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## Cookies

Fentum said:


> :doublesho: More to the point, are your tetanus jabs up to date?!
> 
> P


Yes sir, they are indeed. The wound was very small indeed, and my good lady wife cleaned it thoroughly for me.

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## vsideboy

Nice work Cooks.


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## Cookies

After a bit of a hiatus, we have a confirmed date for the paver coming to finish off the work.

The meant I had to get busy, so this evening's project was to get the sod taken off the lawn where I'm paving, get blinding delivered, sort the levels and then wait for the paver to some on Thursday.

So, got a tonne bag of blinding delivered earlier today. Me and my son transferred it from the bag to the garden.

Didn't take any pics, as I just wanted to get cracking, but this is what we ended up with.



















The Eagle eyed among you will notice that I ran out of bleeding blinding.......... Have to order another tonne bag tomofrow morning. The levels were dipping down into the inside corner, so theres probably about a 5 inch depth of blinding in the corner, with a very gradual fall out in both directions.

So, another evening's work tomorrow evening then.....

Cheers

Cooks

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## Darlofan

Great work, I love a good DIY project. Looking really good and once patio is done it will finish it off nicely.

Ps- Love the "make the noise" comment. :lol:


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## Cookies

Darlofan said:


> Great work, I love a good DIY project. Looking really good and once patio is done it will finish it off nicely.
> 
> Ps- Love the "make the noise" comment.


Thanks mate. It's taking shape slowly, but the next week or so should see it largely finished. Hopefully.

Re the 'make the noise' I hoped someone would notice that. 

Cheers

Niall

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## Cookies

This evening's episode sees me doing more shovelling. Another tonne bag to be exact, levelling it out, and fitting the edging board.

Just so you're aware, I'm absolutely punctured this evening. 25+ degrees here....

Bag of blinding arrived earlier.










Driling 12mm hole with a spade bit. I cut 14" lengths of rebar (very stoney ground) , and spaced the holes 32" apart in this bit.










And what it looks like at this point. I might need a few small bags of blinding to push out to the edges, but I have to get the whacker plate on it and finalise the levels, so may have to rake it out again.










That's it for this evening folks.

Cheers.

Niall

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## Cookies

Soooo, we are getting there. Slowly.

Paving was completed last week, and I had a bit of a dilemma to get my head around. The bit hatched below,, slopes up towards the path at the top end, and down towards the path at the bottom, the path also runs at a 1 in 10 gradient. So, how do we translate the level paving inside the gazebo, to the sloped path.....









Many hours standing looking at it, trying to see what would make sense and look good. I eventually came up with this.














































All we need now is for the electricity to be wired, and Robert's your Mother's brother.

Oh, I bought this cheap coffee table and chairs to tide us over the winter u til the new stock of sofas arrive in the spring. It's surprisingly comfy.

Will update this in due course.

In the meantime, any suggestions for curtains or waterproof sides, or sliding panels, to keep some of the weather out, would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Cooks

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## Danjc

Looks spot on that mate and some nice tidy workmanship. 
I have a retractable side awning that is great for keeping out the wind and nicely encloses the space. I will get a pic for you mate but can be found on the internet, just search for retractable side awning.


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## Cookies

Danjc said:


> Looks spot on that mate and some nice tidy workmanship.
> I have a retractable side awning that is great for keeping out the wind and nicely encloses the space. I will get a pic for you mate but can be found on the internet, just search for retractable side awning.


Good man. Cheers. Will have a look at those now.

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## Danjc

They come in many sizes and colours mate. 
Be sure to make sure the post the awning attaches to is the right one if you get one as some attach to just a wall or as per mine has a base fixing.

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## Cookies

Danjc said:


> They come in many sizes and colours mate.
> Be sure to make sure the post the awning attaches to is the right one if you get one as some attach to just a wall or as per mine has a base fixing.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thanks for those pics. That's pretty much what I'm after - I'll definitely have a look at those.

Much appreciated.

Cheers

Cooks

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## Starbuck88

Cookies said:


> Soooo, we are getting there. Slowly.
> 
> Paving was completed last week, and I had a bit of a dilemma to get my head around. The bit hatched below,, slopes up towards the path at the top end, and down towards the path at the bottom, the path also runs at a 1 in 10 gradient. So, how do we translate the level paving inside the gazebo, to the sloped path.....


This looks Epic! To me it looks like a modern Japanese Zen space. Very nice! You have done an amazing job!


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## Cookies

Starbuck88 said:


> This looks Epic! To me it looks like a modern Japanese Zen space. Very nice! You have done an amazing job!


Thank you mate. It's slowly taking shape. Tonight's episode is making a start on the shutters for the big window thingy....









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## Cookies

Today I took the afternoon off and tried to get the shutters finished.

I made a frame from slating path (2x1 planed) and matched the effect of the rest of the structure by spacing the laths with a 3mm gap. To make sure they didn't distort, I added four braces in the corners of each shutter.










Minor issue though. Due to the timber of the structure sorting out, sagging and twisting, the 'window' is 5mm deeper in the centre than at either side. So the shutters had to be tweaked to make sure the gap around the edges is uniform - BUT, this means that the 3mm spacing for the laths won't work by the time I get to the bottom edge. So each lath was positioned and adjusted ever so slightly by eye.

In place


















And both in place.










I managed to get them painted this evening, but light and time was against me, so I'll take a few pics in daylight tomorrow.

Thanks all

Cooks

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## Fentum

Niall, that’s turning into a labour!

But props to you, it’s beautifully done. 

Peter


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## Cookies

Fentum said:


> Niall, that's turning into a labour!
> 
> But props to you, it's beautifully done.
> 
> Peter


Thanks, Peter.

Continuous improvement in action..... Actually, its probably more continuous obsession.

I think it was the drop in temperature and the recent rain that helped me decide to close off the exposed side.

Anyhoo.a few better pics.




























And no outside room would ever be complete without.......










More to come.......

Cheers.

Niall

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## Fentum

Niall, I think you are taking us all for mugs. 

Consider the size, the obsession with levels, privacy screens, bottle opener…Are you sure you haven’t got a hot tub on order?!

Makes more sense than getting a gazebo ready in time for the NI autumn.

P


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## Soul boy 68

That looks fantastic Nail, you're certainly talented and you have a lovely dog. :thumb:


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## Cookies

Fentum said:


> Niall, I think you are taking us all for mugs.
> 
> Consider the size, the obsession with levels, privacy screens, bottle opener…Are you sure you haven't got a hot tub on order?!
> 
> Makes more sense than getting a gazebo ready in time for the NI autumn.
> 
> P


Now there's something worth thinking about, Peter lol...... This work all started in May, and the intent was to have it completed early on in the summer. As with most projects I'm involved in, time tends to be somewhat fluid, although I do keep a tight eye on cost!

Now, hot tubs........

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## Cookies

Soul boy 68 said:


> That looks fantastic Nail, you're certainly talented and you have a lovely dog. :thumb:


Cheers, SB. Very kind of you to say. Our wee dog is lovely alright, and loves getting harnassed in to the passenger's seat of the focus when I'm heading out and about.

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## Soul boy 68

Cookies said:


> Cheers, SB. Very kind of you to say. Our wee dog is lovely alright, and loves getting harnassed in to the passenger's seat of the focus when I'm heading out and about.
> 
> Sent from my VOG-L29 using Tapatalk


I may add that you appear to have a nice secluded garden too with a lovely field view.


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## Cookies

Soul boy 68 said:


> I may add that you appear to have a nice secluded garden too with a lovely field view.


Thanks SB. Those are all my Gardens - I'm fortunate enough to live in a detached house, so the gardens wrap right the way around.

The part I'm building the gazebo on is at the side of the house and gets the sun in the evenings. I've another patio at the rear of the house which is decked, it gets the sun from early morning until 6pm or there abouts.

Cheers.

N

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## Cookies

Minor update time. 

I decided we needed to get another outdoor furniture set, due to having two patio areas. However, as always seems to be the case, I left it a bit too late, and now nowhere has any stock. 

So, I wondered how hard it would be to make an outdoor sofa and table. I have loads of timber left over from last year's room build, soooo....... I'll let the pics do the talking. 






































And the finished article. 









Cheers. 

Cooks


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## Andyblue

Oh very nice 👍 

And a perfect fit as well


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## WHIZZER

looks great


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## enc

Can tell you're a detailer


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## Starbuck88

Would you look at that! That is some fine work there sir! Both looking highly chuffed in that photo and you and J have every right to be!


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