Wednesday 1 October 2008

Brickworks

The man across the road was renovating his front steps this summer, and was throwing out some nice old red bricks, so The Space Cadet found a use for them around the front of the house. We hate seeing good stuff thrown away. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle is our motto!

1. Starting to dig up the flowerbeds ready for...
2. a layer of plastic and then pouring a solid concrete foundation to support....
3. a double layer of bricks and then a horizontal row to finish it off.
4. It was my job to fill the new gardens with soil, and rearrange the plants.

Once the garden wall was finished, my neighbour from the new house next door wanted this ugly old tree stump disguised, so this time The Space Cadet used leftover textured bricks from when their house was built 4 years ago.

Marking it out.... getting the bricks laid out... then the same procedure, the concrete foundation, and a couple of layers of bricks, fill it with dirt and Voila! No more tree stump.

Pretty good for an amateur brickie.
Apparently Sir Winston Churchill liked to lay bricks as a hobby so The Space Cadet is in good company.

21 comments:

  1. That brickwork is really lovely and professional!

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  2. BEAUTIFUL Brickwork! I think it is better that a lot of so called "professional" Bricklayers do...!
    I love the way the bricks around the Tree Stump look....And the Red Bricks brighten up the whole yard!
    WELL DONE, Oh Space Cadet!

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  3. Nice work indeed!

    So did Space Cadet, like Winston, also smoke a Romeo y Julieta during and after he had finished the job? ... I think that, at least after, he would have desserved it!

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  4. So how much does the space cadet charge an hour? Great recycling!

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  5. Wow.. great jobs! Shammie, you will bring the Space Cadet when you come for coffee, right? ;)

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  6. Heck of a nice job. Makes my man hormones kick in and want to go out and build something right now.

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  7. The Space Cadet did a lovely job both times. The disappearing tree stump was very impressive.

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  8. Wow, I am really impressed. The bricks are perfect for that spot. How fortunate to get them for free too. Nice neighbor.
    Your Space Cadet is a super hero in my eyes.

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  9. Wow! That looks great! Uhm. Can we rent the Space Cadet next spring - with you of course? ;)

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  10. I wonder how many honey-do lists this post is going to affect.

    Let me say right now: No, I won't do it.

    It sure is pretty, though. :-)

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  11. Really nice work....and beautiful results. I'd keep the cadet.

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  12. Wow! You guys are really food with the bricks. They definitely add a touch of class to the garden.

    Great job!!

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  13. It looks really good! I will do it also !!

    I hope, you and Callum managed well during that weekend without Callum`s mom! I was with Melissa also one weekend, but her parents were together away for celebrating their anniversary. I did not sleep at all, but baby was sleeping all night long, hm - I was a little hushing her now and then :)

    Have a happy weekend !

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  14. Some time back I had a pint in the ‘bricklayer’s arms pub’ [some where in the south of England]. It has a painting of Churchill over the front door.

    Nice trades man like job, especially the half circle thing.

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  15. This looks great. It is giving me plenty of ideas! Thank you.

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  16. Beautiful brickwork and gardens! Doing it yourself is so gratifying!

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  17. NICE! I would have never thought of such a smart way to hide a stump (and help it decay) I have a stump in the centre of my front garden--it is going to get this treatment next spring, Thank you for the idea---brilliant. I even have a massive number of old bricks!

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  18. wow, very impressive

    i've always wanted to have a go at brick-laying

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  19. Very impressive! I bet it changed the whole look of your front yard. And your neighbor must be thrilled!

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