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Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (finished)

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Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (finished)

Postby Mike G » 16 May 2016, 08:13

This is my current thinking on the greenhouse/ potting shed:

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Getting this far with the base for the new greenhouse and potting shed involved quite a lot of work. There is a big build-up of hardcore, crushed into place under the steel tracks of the digger, and then blinded by sand. The formwork needed construction, locating, and leveling, before being buttressed to resist the outward pressure of 4 cubic metres of concrete. The DPM was then laid and staple to the formwork, then the steel reinforcement grid was cut, placed on concrete spacers, then twitched together (I have a potato sack puller for this):

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Note the deeper section along the centreline. The building will have a masonry spine wall:

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Then this arrived:

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First job was filling the greenhouse/ potting shed base, which involved filling the 4 ton dumper and ferrying 3/4 of a ton of concrete at a time up to the two of us raking it roughly into place. Reinforcement stops concrete flowing easily, and the dumper could only get to one corner, so this was seriously hard work:

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We used a vibrating screed leveler to pull it level:

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Last edited by Mike G on 11 Apr 2021, 18:24, edited 10 times in total.
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Re: Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (brickwork under way)

Postby Mike G » 07 May 2017, 21:06

Well, I've since laid a few bricks:

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You can see in the last one that once the corners were up enough I made some timber profiles and strung my line between them. This saves using a spirit level at all, as all the bricks are laid to the line. The bricks, you may recall, are all the old hand-made bricks reclaimed from the plinth of the house and the chimney. They are all sorts of shapes and sizes, and I am simply laying them as they come. So, the perps don't line up, sometimes I need little fill-in pieces, sometimes not.

Currently the wall is half a brick thick (4"), but I will be laying blocks on the north side (the far side of the last photo), to make it a 9" wall, and there will be a block pier in the middle. This wall will be just over 3 metres (10') high.
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Re: Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (raft poured)

Postby Malc2098 » 07 May 2017, 21:17

Looking lovely. And you can say it took you less than a year! ;)
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Re: Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (brickwork)

Postby Mike G » 07 May 2017, 22:02

Once I missed the chance to get this building done before this growing season, I didn't bother to do anything with it at all. There are one or other little jobs around the place which have kept me from giving it the attention it deserves. However, missing next growing season as well would be a bit much, so whenever I have mortar on the go from now on I shall lay a few course around this building. My wife wants to invite Monty Don to come and open it when its finished........
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Re: Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (brickwork)

Postby Malc2098 » 07 May 2017, 22:32

:lol:
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Re: Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (brickwork)

Postby Andyp » 08 May 2017, 10:47

Do yo think you will need to provide shading for the greenhouse Mike?

I looked at a lot of options. Ruled out placing shading on top due to securing in the wind and avoiding the auto opening windows.
I did not like the look of the plastic green shading material sold for the purpose so ended up with bamboo Roman blinds from Homebase held close the the angled roof with some stretched out curtain wire. These are hooked on and can be easily removed in the winter
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Re: Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (brickwork)

Postby Mike G » 08 May 2017, 13:22

I actually designed a big pivoting mechanism which would roll up external shading into a neat roll..........but we're probably going to be growing a grape vine over the inside, and that very much acts as summer shading. In the meantime, the exact solution you describe is what we were planning.
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Re: Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (brickwork)

Postby Andyp » 08 May 2017, 13:56

This how mine looks

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I bought all that the local Homebase had over Easter which left us one short until I go back in August.
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Re: Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (brickwork)

Postby Dan0741 » 08 May 2017, 19:13

Those reclaimed bricks look fantastic - having laid my first few today I have a new found respect for those that throw these walls up in hours! Will you be plastering the block side? :D
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Re: Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (brickwork)

Postby Mike G » 08 May 2017, 19:18

Dan0741 wrote:Those reclaimed bricks look fantastic - having laid my first few today I have a new found respect for those that throw these walls up in hours! Will you be plastering the block side? :D


Thanks, Dan. I can't take any great credit for that. They're just nice bricks, and a nice white mortar shows them off. The blockwork side will be painted, I guess. This is my wife's little bolt-hole, and so that sort of thing will be down to her.
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Re: Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (brickwork)

Postby Mike G » 08 May 2017, 19:20

Andyp wrote:This how mine looks

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I bought all that the local Homebase had over Easter which left us one short until I go back in August.


That looks brilliant, Andy.
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Re: Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (brickwork)

Postby Mike G » 16 May 2017, 20:26

A little more progress with the brickwork and blockwork of the spine wall. The hatch between the potting shed and greenhouse is just starting to take shape too:

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You can see in the latter photo a single block standing on end in the middle of the wall. Well, that is just to mock up a pier, which will be built later (I'm leaving ties sticking out of the wall for it as I go).
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Re: Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (brickwork)

Postby Malc2098 » 16 May 2017, 21:01

Nice. A darn site better brick and block laying that I ever managed to achieve!!
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Re: Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (arch)

Postby Mike G » 23 May 2017, 20:26

So far, this is pretty easy brick laying, with nothing other than "running in" to a line (albeit the bricks vary enormously). So, to make things a bit more interesting, I thought I'd build an arch:

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That was close of play that day. The following morning:

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It's a crude "country" arch, using headers (not especially shaped) and orthodox joints. The posh version involves "rubbed" bricks and ultra-fine joints, but that's not for projects like this one. I'm much happier now that the brickwork is in place above it. Everything is safe and sound now.
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Re: Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (arch)

Postby Rod » 23 May 2017, 21:35

That's quite a flat arch but there's plenty of support on either side - what's it's function?

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Re: Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (arch)

Postby Mike G » 23 May 2017, 21:52

It's a hatch between the potting shed and the greenhouse, for passing seed trays, potted up plants etc through from one to t'other. It has a 3" rise, which is typical for a brick arch over a window.
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Re: Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (arch)

Postby Phil » 24 May 2017, 07:03

Coming along nicely Mike. :)

That would be an ideal place for brewing beer and even a small still. :lol:

Serving hatch to the tasting area, some nice oak benches and tables, a BBQ on the lawn ......... 8-)
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Re: Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (arch)

Postby Mike G » 24 May 2017, 07:15

:lol:

In amongst the leaf mold, the manure, the potting compost, and the weed-'n-feed, I can see there being a few quality control issues. :lol:
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Re: Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (arch)

Postby RogerS » 24 May 2017, 19:28

Mike, why do you use a DPM on what is basically an agricultural building ?
If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door.
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Re: Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (arch)

Postby Mike G » 24 May 2017, 20:21

Habit, Roger.........and no harm done by having it.
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Re: Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (arch)

Postby RogerS » 24 May 2017, 21:07

OK, thanks Mike...just curious as SWMBO wants her outdoors building and I wasn't going to put in a DPM....apologies if my post sounded a bit derogatory.
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Re: Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (arch)

Postby Rod » 24 May 2017, 23:21

I suppose if things get wet it stops damp rising which in turn could cause efflorescence?
I've got BS or equivalent somewhere for building walls and it requires a DPM (and copings with drip channels).

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Re: Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (arch)

Postby Mike G » 13 Feb 2021, 15:09

Bumping an old thread which is about to come back to life. Well, you know, when I can make the forum work properly on my computer.
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Re: Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (arch)

Postby TrimTheKing » 13 Feb 2021, 15:30

Looking forward to this one as discussed last week Mike :)
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Re: Mike's greenhouse and potting shed (arch)

Postby NickM » 13 Feb 2021, 21:57

I’m also looking forward to this. I can see a greenhouse build in my future one day.
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