Men's Shed Blog
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After a short wait due to the rain and freezing weather, David and his team at Surrey Lawns and Gardens have been installing our 2.4m security fence. The storage shed has been delivered and is waiting to be built. The workshop will arrive within the next few days and we have a working party ready to build it. Once built we need to add in the insulation, cladding and some security measures. Then we'll be ready for the water and electrics. After that we install the workbenches and then we should be ready to go!
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While the rest of us have been busy with our mince pies and turkey, David and his team have been busy and have completed all the concreting and other bases. The pictures show the foundations for the workshop and storage shed, together with the gravel patio area. The electricity, water and waste water pipes are also ready to be connected.
We also decided to lay some railway sleepers to help with levelling the site. This was a bit unexpected and has increased the costs but we hope to save some money elsewhere. It also looks great.
The next job is to install the security fencing. This should happen week beginning 15th January.
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The weather has been wet and cold but work proceeds regardless! David and his team have moved many tons of earth and the site is now flat. The position of the workshop, storage shed and paving have been finalised and marked out. The paving will be porous gravel and the bases are ready for concrete which should happen on Wednesday 13th December (weather dependant). The pictures show the position of the workshop, entrance and patio. The storage shed will be between the workshop and path.
Once the bases have been completed there will be a retaining wall made from railway sleepers installed adjacent to the fence. Then we are ready for the fencing to be erected.
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A workshop needs electricity for tools, lighting, heating and most importantly a kettle. It also needs a water supply for the all important cups of tea and coffee. Fortunately Reigate and Banstead Council have given us permission to take a metered supply of electricity and the cold water out of the back of our garage and this work started today with the laying of the various cables into a trench dug into our land.
There will now be a short delay as concrete cannot be laid during the cold snap that is forecast.
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David and his team at Surrey lawns and Gardens started work on levelling the site and by the end of Monday 13th November he and Mark had moved a huge skips worth of top soil and the site is now ready for the concrete bases to be laid. This is dependant on the weather but will hopefully be during the week of the 20th November.
We have also started enabling work to bring power and water from the Community Centre Garage onto the site and this work will also carry on next week.
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It is always a shame when trees have to be removed and we made sure that all of the work took place outside the nesting season. However we had to remove a large robinia, an even larger sycamore and a few smaller trees to make way for the workshop. The Tree Surgeons started work in the rain on Saturday 4th November and will finish the job next Saturday 11th. Thanks to James Cruikshank and his team from Fair Oaks Tree Surgery. Once the trees are gone and the stumps are ground we move on to site clearance!
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The Trustees have been talking about creating a Men's Shed since 2015. The piece of scrubland (pictured above), which is immediately behind our garage was identified as a suitable spot about a year later.
After a few false starts Surrey County Council have finally granted us with a lease and we are ready to start work in developing our shed. This blog will be updated to show the progress being made. The first noticeable change will be the removal of all of the scrub which should all happen before the end of October.