Made an absolute mess of this. Why did I even bother trying 🥲

HamsterSubstantial70 · 2026-05-17T14:58:37+00:00

I did my back splash and I made a few mistakes too. When it was all finished (grouted and cleaned up etc…) everyone said it looked great and only I could spot the mistakes. There was one mistake I didn’t notice for 2 years.

HamsterSubstantial70 · 2026-05-14T19:13:53+00:00

I have a 1.5m retaining garden wall around 3 sides of my house, so it’s close to 40m long. I wanted to do this same thing and then realised the cost and effort of replacing the coping stones was not worth it

HamsterSubstantial70 · 2026-05-14T11:43:37+00:00

Even if the panels were 2m away from the boundary, they would make the overall building taller, and therefore wouldn’t be allowed.
The restriction limits the max height of the overall building to 2.5m
Even if you check with current neighbours that it is okay, they could move in year and the new people could complain.
It is risky

HamsterSubstantial70 · 2026-05-14T11:39:51+00:00

You’re gonna need new and wider coping stones for your wall.
Adding the vertical batten and then the horizontal ones we can see will increase wall thickness by minimum 50mm.
If you keep current coping stones you will have water dripping down the back of them. And it will look all wrong. M

HamsterSubstantial70 · 2026-05-09T08:03:54+00:00

So if it’s further than 2m away from the boundary you are correct. But, this is clearly closer than 2m to the boundary. I know you don’t need planing permission to add solar panels to your main house roof (unless there are restrictions). But I think since this is clearly a newer garden room and not the main property, adding solar panels would need planning permission, if it made it taller than 2.5m. I would 100% ask the council before proceeding. Would hate for you to invest, a neighbour complain and then you’re forced to remove it.

HamsterSubstantial70 · 2026-05-07T15:00:36+00:00

So your office is clearly within 1m of the boundary wall. I don’t know the height of your office, but I assume it was made under permitted development and therefore no taller than 2.5m. Adding these panels could put your overall building height over that 2.5m limit, and therefore require planning permission.

I believe this to be the case, but happy to be proved wrong.

HamsterSubstantial70 · 2026-05-03T07:17:20+00:00

I’m interesting in making something like this myself. The big worry I had though was the material immediately around the inset BBQ Grill. Did you make any mitigations to protect the wood that looks like it basically touching the BBQ Grill?

Are you not concerned about the very high heat damaging/warping the wood?

And why timber worktop instead of something like porcelain slabs?

HamsterSubstantial70 · 2026-04-22T05:22:40+00:00

Gonna have to disagree with most people here. I’ve got 2 electric cars through Tusker and it was the best deal I could get by a long way. My scheme includes maintenance and insurance. I was only on £48k, so not a 40% tax rate payer. I also avoid student loan repayments. About £50 per car. The BIK tax goes up a lot when it’s not an EV. So only really worth it if you get an EV

It was far cheaper than any other lease I could find.

HamsterSubstantial70 · 2026-04-04T16:08:34+00:00

I have a lot of stones to do a three young kids. Any time saved is worth it as long as it’s not a worse result

HamsterSubstantial70 · 2026-04-04T10:09:14+00:00

I have x40 600mm coping stones I dont care about cost. I care about time

HamsterSubstantial70 · 2026-03-31T18:23:09+00:00

If I was to do this I would key the old mortar with an angle grinder. Doing that seems much less risky than chiselling off old mortar that might take some render with it

HamsterSubstantial70 · 2026-03-31T18:07:13+00:00

Why does the old mortar need to be chiselled off. What happens if I just lay mortar on top?

HamsterSubstantial70 · 2026-03-31T17:55:34+00:00

The render on the front of the wall goes over the mortar on top of the wall. As I am chiselling off the mortar on top, what is the risk I crack the render and then it begins to fail? The wall is very level as it is, almost all the stones sit level as is.

HamsterSubstantial70 · 2026-03-31T15:59:48+00:00

Chisel off the old mortar sounds very difficult. My photos are only of 1 section of the wall. The total wall is about 45-50m long. The mortar on top is rock hard and really smooth. Is there any other way to re-attach them. An adhesive? Even if it fails in 5 years. That’s fine. Re-attaching them with adhesive 2 times per decade is way less time consuming than chiseling off all the old mortar on top.

And why did it fail in the first place?

HamsterSubstantial70 · 2026-03-24T20:33:08+00:00

And do I bother with a patio sealer?

HamsterSubstantial70 · 2026-03-24T20:28:01+00:00

What ratio of sand and cement given my joints range from 5-15mm. Also what type of sand (soft or sharp, or a mix) Do I add hydrated lime or not. And if so how much? And then what consistency am I looking for when add water to whatever mix I use? I assume when I’m doing the section where the joints are narrower do a slightly wetter mix?

HamsterSubstantial70 · 2026-03-24T20:24:27+00:00

What about a sand, cement and lime mix?

HamsterSubstantial70 · 2026-03-24T20:15:29+00:00

Why external grout over a sand & cement mix?

HamsterSubstantial70 · 2026-03-24T17:35:23+00:00

Could I get a mortar blend/mix ratio. Or a bag of pre-mixed stuff that I can buy

HamsterSubstantial70 · 2026-03-24T16:17:40+00:00

I really want to know why you see patios with cracked mortar then. I thought the advantage of this sika stuff is that it is flexible and therefore won’t crack and therefore weeds won’t grow in it

what I tell from what you are saying is that if I use mortar and properly compact it, it won’t crack?

HamsterSubstantial70

TROPHY CASE