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Right, bear with me on this one, but I've got an idea...
- I have 3 bikes (#notahumblebrag), of which the most valuable is kept in the dining room. This is, err, not ideal...
- I have a reasonable sized garden with space to spare.
- Against all odds and common sense, I'm also the father of a child, who's going to be 4 in just over a month's time.
I've developed a plan to combine the above into 1 excellent solution, also misappropriating some funds allocated to my son's birthday present in to the equation. Excellent. *rubs hands*
The plan is as follows:
Concrete base. (I've never laid one of these)
Breeze block walls (I've never laid a brick in my life) up to 'a bit over handlebar height' and roughly '1 slack 29er long x about 5 bikes wide'.
Thus creating a very solid bike store.
Would then be clad in something like feather edge to disguise from prying eyes. Camouflage! Doors on the reverse side.
On top of this, I'd create a wooden platform, and construct a rudimentary playhouse with an open front, a slide, and a balcony. Access by a ladder. I'm capable of all this. Voila, a 4th birthday present!
Does this seem like a feasible plan? Is there anything I'm missing?
I guess the basic question, is how easy would this be for someone with no experience of laying a base or building breeze walls?
On top of that, has anyone got an suggestions of how to make super secure doors?
TIA 🙂
Right, bear with me on this one, but I've got an idea...
The space bar?
If it's in the back garden does it need to be hidden?
Lacks ambition.
No sliding swimming pool or hollowed out volcano.
Lacks ambition.
I agree! Needs something like Tracy Island with bikes stored under a swimming pool. When you're ready to ride the pool drains and out you pop like Thunderbird 1 🙂
It does need to be hidden as my house backs on to open space and a children's play area. It's not super secure.
I'd thought about a volcano, but to be honest I'm toying with the idea of a platform out to a crow's nest.
In all seriousness the wooden side of things is no issue to me at all, I've done more complex things before. It's the brick/mortar I'm concerned about.
It's the brick/mortar I'm concerned about.
Not that hard to do.
Make it easier by making the size of the store in multiples of whole blocks so you need to cut as few as possible
Getting everything level and straight is the tricky bit. If you're prepared to settle for a more "rustic" finish you'll do fine.
Take the opportunity to set in ground anchors to your concrete base.
Youtube is your friend for technique tips.
Excellent. That's what I want to hear. And my wife doesn't.
Rustic is fine as I plan on cladding it in something like T&G or feather edge. I figure there can't be much scope for wrong as rudimentary calcs put it at about 5 courses high.
Good point about the ground anchors as well. What sort of thickness should I be heading for with the base? I'll stick a DPM under it.
Any recommednations on good internal dimensions? I'm obviously a marketers dream, as I have a 160mm long, low and slack enduro bike with 800mm bars amongst others. I'm thinking 2m long by, err, something?
If it's only going to be as high as the bikes, and full of bikes, it's going to be a pain in the arse to get the bikes into and out of (never mind locking them to the ground anchors)
Why not get an Asguard shelter and build a sick fort over the top of it somehow. Put the shelter in the [s] dungeon[/s] bottom bit.
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It'll be a bit higher than the bikes - more of a 'how high is danger zone for a 4 year old' high. It's still less of a pain in the arse than having it in the dining room. 😀 Plus I plan on having most of the back wall as an opening.
Good plan with the Asguard, but the stores alone come in at around £600. I'm hoping to come in a fair bit under that budget for this build.
We had a fort similar to that before, but it had got a bit skanky so I razed it to the ground in an impressive seige. This is fort 2.0.
If it's only going to be as high as the bikes, and full of bikes, it's going to be a pain in the arse to get the bikes into and out of (never mind locking them to the ground anchors)
This. It needs to be tall enough to get in without being bent double or risking a skull fracture if you straighten up a bit.
What are going to use for the roof?
A couple of sheets of concrete reinforcement mesh might be in order if you're planning in making it out of timber.
The 'roof' was one of my other questions. I was thinking a sheet of OSB underneath, then the supports for the decking on top of that. The store section would be covered by a pitched roof on the housefort.
You may need planning permission for that as it's a raised platform, check with your local council planning department. Having been through this with a neighbour the invasion of privacy and reduction in amenity will probably get it thrown out. The neighbour had to remove the top layer and re-roof it.
I've already checked that out, and planning isn't an issue 🙂
Did you know that, technically, you need planning permission for a garden slide?!
MIL has one of [url= https://www.wickentoys.co.uk/plum-premium-wooden-adventure-playhouse.html ]THESE[/url] (or similar) in her garden for the grandkids. I've always thought it would be prime to convert the space underneath in to proper storage rather than the mud patch that it now is.
That's very much the sort of deal I'm thinking. Except the balcony bit would be covered and enclosed, otherwise it's a 'raised platform'. 🙂