'Garage' progress

It was the garage, soon to be heating room and temporary living accomodation (with bedroom upstairs) eventually workshop and laundry room...

With less junk in here and sand on the floor we can really see that water comes in at the back of the house when it rains...

We have ordered some geotextile to help deal with that which I will explain when it arrives. It will involve relocating the septic tank at the back of the house and digging a trench all along the back. We are not doing what is often called a french drain but rather one called a fin drain - which should be less susceptible to getting clogged over time with sand and silt.

What you see above has been dug out down to what we discovered was a clay base. So the clay has been shaped to flow any water to the middle and front and there is a gravel drain from there through the lawn so any water that does get under the house is encouraged to leave.

There is then 5cm of gravel, covered with some mulch/textile (so the sand doesn't mix with the gravel) then sand. On top of that will be waterproof membrane, then insulation, then concrete. The waste water pipes will be in the concrete. We are desperately thinking if there needs to be anything else in the concrete!

There will be a shower (initially for our use - in the future just to wash the dog or other outdoors type things). There will also be plumbing for a sink and washing machine and in the short term a dishwasher. It is a lot to fit in and has taken a lot of thought.

Pipe work for the waste water in to the septic tank has started. The rest that goes under the concrete has also been done and tested but is removed at the moment until the floor is at the right stage for it to go back in for real (with more testing first).

It is quite a challenge to get sufficient drop on the various pipes to make this work. But Lots of work has gone in to it, and it is looking good now.

The insulation which will be under the floor is standing by. The floor will be quite a bit higher when all finished but there should just be room for the grey water heat reclaim pipe (ie device to recover heat from the waste water from the shower and return it to our tank) which is quite long.

Doug is feeling tired and a bit depressed with slow progress, but it looks amazing to me! Has taken so much thought to get all the plumbing there as well as all that digging work and shovelling gravel and sand.