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DarthKermit

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#116854 12-May-2013 09:41

One of my (many) on going projects is fixing up my man cave.

A lot of the weatherboards are rotten, so I'm replacing the whole lot with corrigated iron. Got two and a bit sides of the shed completed so far.

Weatherboards removed, awaiting the next corri sheet:

And the view from down below:

What are you working on?

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#816100 12-May-2013 10:22

Funny time of the year for that sort of project!

Current project for me is a slat bed, I've got it to a sleep-able stage with 4x2 and plywood (cut into the slats). Note the geek feature in the headboard power/usb outlet

Next stage is to 'clad' the headboard and footboard, along the lines of this mockup (the edging will be stained/polyurethaned to that dark colour)

But like any good DIYer, I'm distracted by the next project - a chest of drawers

DarthKermit

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#816102 12-May-2013 10:33

Well, it was too bloody hot to do it over summer, even though it was nice and dry most of the time.
I'm just going to continue with it for now as time, motivation and the weather allow.

Your slat bed looks good!

Whatifthespacekeyhadneverbeeninvented?

timmmay

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#816116 12-May-2013 11:14

I want to build a basic greenhouse, but it's a bit much for me (on the edge of a bank) so I'm having a builder friend do it. I also want planter boxes for the deck, so I figured he might as well do them at the same time.

DarthKermit

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#880447 18-Aug-2013 10:28

This project has been occupying a bit of my time lately.

A lot of water gets under our house when it rains, and I dug a hole and installed a sump pump a few years ago.

The hole has been collapsing over time so I've been forced to do something with it. I dug it out a lot larger and have started lining it with concrete.

This shows the sump hole (1 metre deep) with some of the concrete I've installed so far. The finished hole is about 310 mm diameter.

timmmay

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#880474 18-Aug-2013 11:24

Wow that is a lot of water. I hope you have a good layer of plastic underneath the floor boards so they house doesn't get wet.

Where does the water come from? Could you put in draining to prevent it arriving, or is it from underground?

richms

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#880488 18-Aug-2013 11:47

I really need to do something like that under my house, heaps comes in thru the basement wall from outside which I cant really do anything about without pulling up heaps of concrete to put some drainage in. Which can wait till I re-landscape outside which will be waiting on a massive list of more important things.

Richard rich.ms

DarthKermit

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#880537 18-Aug-2013 13:08

timmmay: Wow that is a lot of water. I hope you have a good layer of plastic underneath the floor boards so they house doesn't get wet.

Where does the water come from? Could you put in draining to prevent it arriving, or is it from underground?

Actually, I need to put down a plastic vapour barrier one of these days...

The water leaks under the ring foundation (but only on the south side, which is the lowest part of the house). The house is surrounded by a concrete path, but I could put some novaflow in next to that path to hopefully catch some of the water.

I initally dug that sump hole a bit too close to the foundation, hence why I'm concreting it now. I don't want the foundations undermined.

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DarthKermit

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#880542 18-Aug-2013 13:15

richms: I really need to do something like that under my house, heaps comes in thru the basement wall from outside which I cant really do anything about without pulling up heaps of concrete to put some drainage in. Which can wait till I re-landscape outside which will be waiting on a massive list of more important things.

Could you perhaps have a trench cut in the concrete and lay novaflow in it to collect the water?

Whatifthespacekeyhadneverbeeninvented?

richms

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#880657 18-Aug-2013 18:14

DarthKermit:

Could you perhaps have a trench cut in the concrete and lay novaflow in it to collect the water?

Not really, its so much higher outside than where the water comes in thru the wall in the basement I would have to dig so deep to achieve anything, plan is to develop the basement at which time there would be a new wall with waterproofing and a drain go in and a new slab which would become the floor of a conservitory above, so not wanting to put any money into breaking stuff up and digging right now.

Richard rich.ms

minimoke

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#880969 19-Aug-2013 12:40

DarthKermit: This project has been occupying a bit of my time lately.

A lot of water gets under our house when it rains, and I dug a hole and installed a sump pump a few years ago.

The hole has been collapsing over time so I've been forced to do something with it. I dug it out a lot larger and have started lining it with concrete.

This shows the sump hole (1 metre deep) with some of concrete I've installed so far. The finished hole is about 310 mm diameter.

Dumb question I know - but have you tried putting the sump pump in there. Reason I ask is Ive done the same thing. Except I used a premade pipe (a "farmers" grade second from Humes") and got a couple of holes (for the inflowing water and out flowing pumped water) drilled in it. Its quite a wide pipe because the pump itself is fairly big and then you need enough space for the float arm to work properly. I haven't teh measurement on me but the pipe is somethign like 750 - 1,000 mm

DarthKermit

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#881103 19-Aug-2013 16:34

richms: Not really, its so much higher outside than where the water comes in thru the wall in the basement I would have to dig so deep to achieve anything, plan is to develop the basement at which time there would be a new wall with waterproofing and a drain go in and a new slab which would become the floor of a conservitory above, so not wanting to put any money into breaking stuff up and digging right now.

Have a look at this YouTube video; this system (or something similar) might be suitable for your problem:
Sump pump

(Skip to 2:30)

Whatifthespacekeyhadneverbeeninvented?

DarthKermit

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#881109 19-Aug-2013 16:46

minimoke:
DarthKermit: This project has been occupying a bit of my time lately.

A lot of water gets under our house when it rains, and I dug a hole and installed a sump pump a few years ago.

The hole has been collapsing over time so I've been forced to do something with it. I dug it out a lot larger and have started lining it with concrete.

This shows the sump hole (1 metre deep) with some of concrete I've installed so far. The finished hole is about 310 mm diameter.

Dumb question I know - but have you tried putting the sump pump in there. Reason I ask is Ive done the same thing. Except I used a premade pipe (a "farmers" grade second from Humes") and got a couple of holes (for the inflowing water and out flowing pumped water) drilled in it. Its quite a wide pipe because the pump itself is fairly big and then you need enough space for the float arm to work properly. I haven't teh measurement on me but the pipe is somethign like 750 - 1,000 mm

Yes, I have put my sump pump in the hole. This just shows it with the pump removed. The reason I chose to line the hole with concrete is to work around the existing fixtures that I had installed in my sump hole.

The small white pipe on the top left is where the water enters the sump hole after being collected from around the perimeter of the foundation.

The black thing to the right in the recess you can see is a float switch that I got from Jaycar. I built an electronic timer to control the sump pump, rather than using the pump's float switch.

The timer is designed to let the pump run for a set number of seconds after the water drops below that float switch. Also, I have a second timer to prevent the sump pump from activating at night, since it's directly below one of our bedrooms.

As I said, the sump hole is a full metre deep (so that it can hold a reasonable amount of water). The concrete that you can see in the pic is about 500 mm tall, with the same amount again yet to be finished.

I bought a 6 metre length of rebar from Bunnings and used those steel wire rings that hold car hub caps in place to make my reinforcing. Seems to work pretty good.

Whatifthespacekeyhadneverbeeninvented?

jaymz

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#881118 19-Aug-2013 16:57

In true DIY'er style i have loads of projects on the go:

1. Rebuild and install 5L V8 engine in my Commodore
2. Install window (maybe ranch slider) into the East side of the garage to get more light/heat in
3. Install insulation and line the inside of the garage with plywood
4. Build raised garden shed, install posts to lift it up about 1.5m then take two steel frames and build shed out of that
5. Finish off lining and insulating man cave/office under the house (have already laid a moisture barrier on the ground which made a HUGE difference to moisture levels like above)
6. Spray, level, weedmat the side of the driveway and lay railway sleepers to keep in lime chip covering

That is about it :D not much huh?

nickb800

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#881140 19-Aug-2013 17:50

jaymz: In true DIY'er style i have loads of projects on the go:

1. Rebuild and install 5L V8 engine in my Commodore
2. Install window (maybe ranch slider) into the East side of the garage to get more light/heat in
3. Install insulation and line the inside of the garage with plywood
4. Build raised garden shed, install posts to lift it up about 1.5m then take two steel frames and build shed out of that
5. Finish off lining and insulating man cave/office under the house (have already laid a moisture barrier on the ground which made a HUGE difference to moisture levels like above)
6. Spray, level, weedmat the side of the driveway and lay railway sleepers to keep in lime chip covering

That is about it :D not much huh?

Yeah what is it with all these people and just having one project on the go? That's not the Kiwi DIY spirit, you need at least half a dozen partially completed projects on the go at a time

BTR

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#881331 20-Aug-2013 07:51

I have a few on the go.

1. Finish spare room renovations
2. New Bathroom
3. New Kitchen
4. New Garage (Starting next Year but plans underway)
5. Front yard landscaping (Finishing in spring)
6. Back yard drainage & landscaping (Starting in Spring)

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