A Long List of Compromises - new music space

[Drew Stephenson]

About a year ago I mentioned that I was investigating improving / changing / building some new studio space. At the moment I have a nice enough room but a) the ceiling is more of an amplifier for upstairs space than any kind of baffle and b) my wife and i disagree on the name of the room. We both think the first four letters are S, T, U and D, but she thinks the last letter is a Y rather than the obvious I and O.
So we started digging into options, up to and including moving house. Along the way life has thrown up its usual set of challenges: redundancy, new developments, arsey councils, planning covenants, mortgage terms, stolen motobikes and commuting requirements, future resale, etc. etc. etc.
All of which has led to the current plan that is finally approaching implementation. Hence my starting this thread.
I'll be updating this over the next 3 or 4 months or so (and potentially longer as things carry on and the list of compromises grows).

TLDR: we looked at moving house, extending, building a proper separate building, and finally a 'garden office' space. For the reasons listed above (and others) we've ended up with the last option.
So here's the first set of photos with the clearance work to date.
Before (1):

Before (2):

Chopping the trees and bamboo in prep for the gardener:

The gardener's here:

The gardener's gone:

Breaking up the concrete:

Digging out the post mounts:

Breaking up the hardcore base:


So we're currently at 'bombsite' stage and likely to be for the next few weekends as I break up the hardcore base and then it will improve slightly as I level the ground again in preparation for the base installation in 5 weeks.

This is why I'm not getting any other music stuff done!

[DocBobalot]

Very interested in this, been thinking about the same myself.

(Beautiful garden pics before though Fortunately my garden is just grass...)

[Drew Stephenson]

Yep, the garden was nicely laid out but we weren't keeping on top of it - the bamboo in particular grows like wildfire. We're not gardeners by nature and oop north the weather rarely lends itself to spending time out there. It's about making the best use of the available space.

[DocBobalot]

Makes sense, we're much the same ourselves - I like a nice garden but never find the time to get round to the actual gardening. But there is room for a shed/cabin/studio...

[mellowsouls]

Excellent news! I’m hoping to start soon, too. As you’ve alluded to, it’s all about the compromises. I’d started with huge ambitions and been beaten down to a reasonably treated garden build. Still, feel quite lucky to be able to do it.

Are you getting a company in to do it, or have you drawn up plans yourself?

[Drew Stephenson]

I'm buying pre-fabricated. After much wrestling with the council it's the only real option for their conditions - we can't lay a full concrete base; this effectively rules out all the local builders I know. They're just not set up for building on steel frames and piles. At least not at anything approaching an affordable cost.

[mellowsouls]

It’s not Oeco, is it?

[BillB]

Thanks for sharing Drew. Is the building going just beyond the two maples?

[Drew Stephenson]

It’s not Oeco, is it?

Nope, using a company called Green Retreats. Had a few recommendations of them, including from Tom McRae, and if it's good enough for him...

Thanks for sharing Drew. Is the building going just beyond the two maples?

Yep, we actually picked up and moved the right hand acer so it's still a bit touch and go if it's going to make it, but I'm hopeful. It'll be 3.5m x 4m x 2.15m (average) so it's just going to squeeze into the 'acceptable room sizes'. Yet another in the list of compromises...

[Music Wolf]

3.5 x 4m sounds quite generous compared to my space. From memory I think that I've got 3.65 x 2.2ish m (single garage converted to studio plus small utility area).

I look forward to seeing how it turns out (hopefully I'll be really envious). Have you got a layout that you can share?

[Drew Stephenson]

Yep, it's a good size space for sure. I'll annotate my plan and lob that up later this week.

[BillB]

I know it won't be much of a concern to most others here, but as a landscape architect, I think the studio will look fab with a nice purple maple either side of the entrance - hope you are able to keep them both. Also, the fact that you moved one explains why I thought the photos were a bit weird between the the first couple and the later ones. I couldn't understand how one of the maples seemed far from the house initially then really close...
it all makes sense now

[Music Wolf]

I couldn't understand how one of the maples seemed far from the house initially then really close...

[BillB]

Oo-er
In that case, chop them down while you still can
Hang on a minute! They're maples, not triffids!

[Drew Stephenson]

It's next door that has the plants that do look worryingly like triffids. Fortunately they appear to be very lazy...

[Drew Stephenson]

The upside to the lousy weather this weekend has been that it's much more pleasant for outside manual labour. Which is good because I've had a lot to do.
If anyone ever mentions to you that they're thinking of putting some bamboo in the garden, give them a slap and show them this picture:

Though you can't really see that well because the wide angle lens foreshortens things, but basically I've had to dig over about a quarter of the garden about 2ft down. More in someplaces. Say no to bamboo.

That meant shifting a lot of earth:


Which would have been much easier if it wasn't liberally scattered with bricks:


So yesterday was digging up, today was laying out:


About six hours later:


That's actually more progress than I expected to make this weekend, so there's a small chance that I might get round to actually doing some music at some point in the next fortnight...

[Sam Spoons]

I don't envy you the manual labour (I hate it with a vengeance but have done a fair bit in my time) but I'm sure the results will more than justify the effort.

[Wonks]

He's simply the site manager. It's Mrs Drew that does all the digging and he just tells her where she's gone wrong and has to do it again and better.

[Sam Spoons]

You are standing od very shaky ground there Wonks (probably that dug by Drew himself)

[Drew Stephenson]

Wonks has got the process about right, just the roles slightly the wrong way round...

Currently my back is rather sore and I literally have blisters on my blisters. It's amazing how often i don't tend to be doing stuff like this at work...

Just hoping that right hand acer will survive, this week has not been kind to it.

[Eddy Deegan]

Nice work Drew... thought it looks to me as if you might have saved time getting Hugh to look at the earth problem

[Drew Stephenson]

I think Hugh's focus is more on introducing a stable earth rather than shifting one...

[Sam Spoons]

It's horses for courses (didjaseewotididthere?)

[Wonks]

Just don't dig a circular trench and end up with a ground loop.