Well in a sudden twist of fate, my builder has contacted me to say the under the current FMB and government guidelines, as long as his sub-contractors are willing and able (which he assures me they are) and everyone observes social distancing measures, he is prepared to start the detached garage/annexe build on Monday, which was due to start in March. We have also approached all of our neighbours to ensure they are happy with the idea of work taking place in our garden and none have objected, as we will still be in compliance with distancing measures. They have known for some time of our intention to build since we lodged the planning application some months ago. At this stage the builder is only planning to complete the groundworks/excavation and foundations. Building Control have said they can still attend on-site inspections (outdoors only) so once the initial one is out the way the builder can then pour the concrete having laid the services, electricity/ water etc and move onto the floor. After that it's block work. If by week three/four lockdown measures ease, he might be in a position to progress onto the next part of the build, else we'll park things until the situation improves. Assuming a brighter outcome come May/June I am hopeful the main structure will be complete by the end of July beginning of August, at which point I might even be able to retrieve our bikes from long term storage. We'll see. Anyhow for now here's an image of the garden as is. It's still very much work in progress hence the ramshackle appearance Lots of work yet be done. In the middle of taking up the old patio and brickwork before the builders arrive, to save for a later date. Trying, in vain, to coax new lawn into life on the old plant beds, after adding some grass seed. Added a raised temporary plant bed to grow our own fruit and veg (if Covid-19 deprives us of essential food for any reason) and a temporary greenhouse, plus we've planted a few young hardy ferns in front of the shed, to hide it from view. Fences yet to be painted, some landscaping etc, so plenty to be getting on with. Oil tank is sited next to house temporarily whilst the build is underway. It will be moved at a later date next to the garage and hidden from view. In the absence of a bike right now, with which to continue my "V4S Start - Finish" thread, I will be updating this one as things move along. The images to follow, are from one of the security cameras I fitted, so the perspective won't change but it's positioned high enough that it will give a good overview of the build.
Double garage with annexe (double bedroom with ensuite) above. Approximately 7.5m x 6.5m footprint and 6m high. Not huge but still a fairly sizeable structure.
Lots of tech going into the build as well, including external/internal POE security cameras, Wifi external mesh aerial, internal WiFi access point, external WiFi bridge transmit/receive to the house, LAN sockets for computers/laptop and TV, 2nd layer VLAN networking cabinet, which hooks into main house CCTV system controller/recorder. All LED lighting, voice controlled lighting & doors, Racedeck flooring (from my old garage), new workbench (i'm fabricating myself). Independent hot water supply (self contained mains pressure immersion tank), electric heating throughout, oh and a weather vane my wife bought me for Christmas. We've also got the entire driveway to repave as well, gates to install yada yada yada. Because we've downsized considerably from our old house (after the kids left home), we decided to use the remaining equity from the sale, on this project, which is pretty much going to swallow it all up. It should at least add some market value to the existing house in the long run.
Sounds great. You'll have to keep all the film of the guys building it, then put it all together and play it back at high speed. It'll be just like the Chinese building that hospital!
Yes, I'm hoping to piece together some footage for a time-lapse video at the end and condense it down into a couple of minutes. Well my builder's the one who will deserve all the credit at the end of the project. My involvement is limited to installing all the electronics, Racedeck garage flooring, building a new workbench, as well as some of the finishing touches in the annexe. To be honest I'm just glad the work is starting under the current conditions. Monday is the official kick-off. Can't wait and it's a pleasant distraction from wallpapering, painting and gardening, on the odd days when I am not at work.
This is going to be epic based on your bike builds! Sounds like you are pretty techie already - but if it was my build, as you are already going to be digging trenches for the electricity cables, water pipes, oil pipe, I would just put some CAT6 in ducting rather than using a wifi bridge - you would have the option of replacing it with fibre if you ever needed to just by pulling it through the ducting. Wifi is fine if you have no choice but wired is always more reliable. Are you taking the opportunity to put a decent power supply in for the inevitable electric charging point?
Yes Noobie, garden is at a slightly higher elevation than the drive, so to save costs, there will be a small gradient from there to the entrance of the garage, which will form part of the new driveway when paved, plus a small level paved area on which to wash/detail the bikes.
Given the level of tech about to be thrown into it, wouldn't it be an ideal opportunity to install solar panels too?
Straight CAT6/7 cable is always king but because of the location of the router and main BT socket in the house, it's not really viable, without a lot of excavation. I had originally thought of a LAN cable feed to the garage but to be honest the Wifi network bridge performance was so good in testing, that I decided this would be the easiest option. I'm using Nano 5AC Ubiquiti units to handle the data transfer which are very impressive and have more than enough of a data rate and bandwidth to support the POE cameras, mesh aerial and access point. As for an electrical charging point, no not a specific one. The main breaker panel is of sufficient size and rating, that it could have a dedicated line to one if needed. However, I am having two double IP66 external weatherproof sockets fitted, but these are purely for power tools/mower/pressure washer etc. so I don't have to snake an extension lead from inside the garage out into the garden every time I want 240V AC. There will also be a dedicated electrical feed dug out to the shed with it's own mini breaker panel for lighting and a couple of sockets. Trunking to the shed will have a further two spurs coming off of it, for IP66 sockets used to power some garden lighting/uplighters.
Wiring will be in place to support them, though the driveway is higher on the list of priorities, so they will get fitted at a later date. Estimated overheads (given the annexe will be ordinarily unoccupied) are fairly low anyway.
