Construction of a historic gardening shed

[Anne Repnow]

I had a dream...

For various complicated reasons I need a place to put my gardening tools. In reverence to the age of our ancient village (first mentioned in documents round about the year 800) I had this dream to have a little "gardener's house" made of historic materials. (Mind you none of the neighbours bothers to make their houses blend in...)

Foto 1 (taken April 1): This is where the little house will be (the house in the background belongs to one of our neighbours)
Foto 2 (taken April 1): Site from another angle (there is a little shed which is to be taken away - as well as the huge chaenomeles)

[Anne Repnow]

Although I told the workmen well in advance that I would be away for a long weekend the foundation was dug while I was away...  And although I clearly marked the course of a couple of power lines one of them was damaged...

I almost feinted when I saw the trenches for the foundation - I hadn't planned to build The Shard in my garden...

Photo 1 and 2 (taken today): Trenches for the foundation
Photo 3: From another angle: The wooden shed is gone, the chaenomeles is still there - and a large heap of earth

[Anne Repnow]

Photo 1: Damaged power lines (the white bits in the bottom of the trench are petals form the big cherry tree)
Photo 2:    I don't feel happy leaving that as it is - even though the inner cables aren't damaged...

[Anne Repnow]

Isn't it wonderful to have a husband who can mend just about anything? Just the sort of work for a glorious sunny Sunday afternoon... 

[Maggi Young]

Isn't it wonderful to have a husband who can mend just about anything? Just the sort of work for a glorious sunny Sunday afternoon... 

Worth his weight in gold, Anne!

[Anne Repnow]

That trench - 60 cm wide and 100 cm deep - gave me nightmares. The detailed plan, which the "hard gardening" firm got, explicitly  showed a foundation 30 cm wide and about 80 cm deep...  I hoped that the workmen planned to build the foundation with hollow blocks filled with concrete. Surely they wouldn't just fill that massive trench with concrete... ... ... would they?

I got up very early and arrived at my garden (my 2nd garden - not where I live) at 7.15 a.m. Too late. There was a huge concrete truck and 3 men were just filling the whole trench with concrete. And then there were these massive hollow blocks lying around.... 

[Anne Repnow]

Normally of mild disposition I'm afraid I had a little fit there and then.
All work (and further pouring of concrete) ceased while the boss of the hard gardening firm was called. I explained to him that - as it said in the plan - I wanted to have a foundation 30 cm wide.

While I simmered down the huge hollow blocks were bodily carried away and replaced by blocks of the correct format which were then - this time perfectly - placed on top of the concrete and filled with the same.

[Anne Repnow]

At the end of the day the foundation doesn't look too bad - and the measurements are even correct. I am relieved (though I still grumble about all that surplus concrete).

Unfortunately the garden slopes more than I took into account. So some landscaping is necessary. But it is unlikely that I'll manage to get that done before the little house arrives (in parts) on Wednesday - all the way from the north of Germany. There a specialised firm built the framework using beams at least 200 years old. And subsequently everything was taken apart again for transport.

[Maggi Young]

Wow, there are sheds - and then there are SHEDS! This is going to be a thing of real beauty, Anne.
I hope your blood pressure does not get too upset in the rest of the build - the cement saga sounds quite stressful enough.

[Anne Repnow]

I'm sure I'll be a nervous wreck by the time that wee house is finished. Telling you all about it is therapeutic, I hope you'll bear with me...

[Margaret]

What a nightmare about the concrete, but the wood work looks fantastic.  Did you say the size of the shed and are you on the lookout for suitable vintage tools?

[Anne Repnow]

The outside measurements are 3.5 by 3.5 metres.
As to vintage tools... There is a derelict barn on the premises. Inside a lot of vintage gardening tools are gradually nibbled away by woodworm and the tooth of time.

[Anne Repnow]

This afternoon the lorry (plus trailer) arrived carrying piles of building material. To my horror I was informed that because of weight restrictions they didn't manage to get everything loaded and had to send the bricks for filling the frame work by freight transport. All in all the material weights 12 tons!!!
The bricks will arrive on Friday - which means I have to organise a wheel-loader once again. Not an easy feat as everybody is extremely busy just now and I don't even know exactly when the second lorry will arrive! The coordination of this project is awful and I think I must have been mad to undertake this...

The lorry and trailer parked in the middle of the road (a major thoroughfare) and it took 2 hours and much bodily work to unload everything. As my garden is not accessible for a wheel-loader everything had to be carried through our neighbours driveway. Bottles of wine and boxes of chocolates were distributed beforehand...

[Anne Repnow]

The man from the "historic building material firm" is - by the way - from Kazakhstan. A highly competent man as a driver as well as a builder - God bless him. In the late afternoon he was joined by a carpenter I had organised.

They searched out the beams with which to start. Each beam is marked with a roman number and a plan shows where each numbered beam is to go.

First of all blocks of wood were placed on the foundation on which the ring-base of wooden beams was placed. At a later stage the blocks of wood will be replaced by stonework that will fill the space between the concrete foundation and the wooden ring-beams. To me that seems to be an unusual order of doing things, but apparently it is proven and tested.

[Graeme]

looks great - cannot wait to see that wooden framed building - what size is the base 3.5m x 3.5m?