DIY Garden Pavilion ideas?

I’ve got about a week or so to build a pavilion at the end of what was a grass tennis court. In reality it is now a grass terrace, with a great rolling view down to the Forth and over to the Bass Rock and East Lothian and te East Neuk of Fife.

To get the best of the view and not to dominate the site, I have managed to find some large panes of clear glass (think adshell bus shelter). They are probably standard door sized panes. I also have some similarly sized panes of etched glass in with a feint blue/green tint.

I can readily get 4×4 posts and 4x2s, and a some galvanised corrugated tin roofing sheets. I was thinking along the lines of a glazed cube. Using a design similar to last section of my woodshed.

I’d extend the roofline at each end to create an overhanging detail, and add a floor and door. I’d use a 4×4 pillar between each section of glass.

I have a badminton court sized amount of maple flooring which I could use both as a floor and cladding.

I’d be interested to see images or to hear notions of plans as to what you have seen or would create with these materials.

Here are some previous garden projects, using similar materials.

Badmington sized court amount …the most middle class thing I will read this week 😉

What you are saying really is you have managed to source some more wood but the wife will not let you build another wood store so by calling it a different name “Garden Pavilion” you are going to build yourself another wood store 😉

Oh and if you could copy the design of the glass fronted building then you could watch tennis if you reserected the court.

Rusty Mac

Nope it’s a genuine request for input. The chances of reurrecting the court are nil, the moss is about eight inches deep.

Junkyard.

I doubt the middle classes could ever conceive of sourcing their pavilion construction materials from a bus shelter or badminton court. Your chances of finding me perusing the pavilion selection at Dobbies are nil.

It’s to be sited at the other end of this.

I just found these. I see a plan forming.

Something like this would be fun

would keep you busy with your new stock of cutting disks

Come on man, have a bit of ambition.

MM – those pavilions look like the kinda thing they have in Hotel gardens…, surely you could come up with something more ‘in keeping’?

MM – those pavilions look like the kinda thing they have in Hotel gardens…, surely you could come up with something more ‘in keeping’?

Fear not, it WILL be rustic.

I’ve made a start, bad weather and work got in the way.

I have 13 huge panes of bus shelter glass, a trailer load of wood, a big box of nails and a long weekend.

Watch this space.

mcmoont, yer’ a legend.

But if that’s you up that ladder, I hate to break it to you but you’re balding.

And more to the point, where the hell does someone come by “13 huge panes of bus shelter glass” without there being a couple of dozen Scottish women standing in a draft unexpectedly?

Baldness is an occupational hazzard for serial folly builders. There are lots of head scratching tea drinking breaks.

The glass? Well, I took my car for its MOT test to the council testing centre and noticed the piles of slavaged glass. A year or so later, I thought of a way I could use it, I went back fully expecting it to be gone. Many sheets had been broken, but I managed to get enough for this project. It had been stored there for years and the shelters it had been saved for are now obsolete. It just needs a wash.

So, today I got the remaining posts in and made a temporary template for the roof truss. Once the roof is up and clad, it shouldn’t take too long to fit the floor and glass.

Loving the way you roll mate, love the fact you have an old tennis court to build on!

I think we should all come round to your place for a party.

Sunday update for the followers of follies.

I made up the roof trusses and got them fitted, I managed to get the dwangs fitted to nail the roof sheets to on one side. Maybe tomorrow if the weather stays fair, I’ll get the shiplap on the front and under the eaves and I can make a start on the roof.

I love your garden, what an amazing place to live.

Ski, the garden is pretty special but a lot of work. We are open under the Scottish Garden Scheme throughout the summer.

Monday update,

I’m not that happy with either the shiplap on the front or the way it fails to reach the intersection between the roof and window lines. I’ll whip it off tomorrow and try another design.

I trial fitted some glass, it has some comedy graffiti on it from its previous life in a bus shelter.

Rain stopped play early today, but I’m happier with the gable treatment. I took the ship lap off the front and replaced it ridged side inwards on the rear. I’ll fit some ogee framing around the edge then project the roof sheets over it a little.

I have to say, it’s been a bit more rewarding spending the long weekend building something by the seat of my pants than waving a flag in the Mall.

nice.
Going to go for a raised deck floor? Got some nice reclaimed boards for it?

I will have some pics to put up tomorrow too: Building a “pole barn” style wood store at the end of the field. Taking some of your tips – open on four sides – will stack up three sides and fill from the end. It’s a good position, under some trees for shelter from driven rain. Will be able to have a bit of overhang cover too. Using some reclaimed elm beams (knackered ones, I sold the good ones) from the barn and my neighbours build too. I need to go and get some 12ft 4″x2″ though for the rafters – builder’s merchant should be open tomorrow finally! I hate bank holidays 🙂

The mcmoonterisation of the shires continues!

Going to go for a raised deck floor? Got some nice reclaimed boards for it?

The windows on the front and rear are much larger. The strip of wood at the front shows where floor meets glass level. I have some reclaimed boards from a gymnasium floor, but I think they are too good for this project, the kitchen floor really needs doing first.

I’m intrigued by your wood store, bring on the pics!

I can’t help thinking that if Stoner and McMooter teamed up it would make great television.

Is that a RR or a Rover being used as a tool box?

have you postcreted the uprights or just sand filled/tamped?
side windows look like theyve gone in well.

what kind of door/frame – I assume you dont have a “smaller” pane to fill a door?

Is that a RR or a Rover being used as a tool box?

It’s a rusty Corniche, much more useful as a tool box.

have you postcreted the uprights or just sand filled/tamped?

I read somewhere that postcrete and the tanin in the wood dont get along too well together, I dug the posts two feet down and just refilled them with the material from the holes. It was some sort of crushed stone used when leveling the terrace originally.

It took a bit of headscratching to space the posts out accurately, but I found a very simple solution. I made spacers with about half an inch of clearance for the glass to fit into. So far its worked a treat.

I dont have a door plan yet, something will turn up. I only had five of the smaller panes, so that is where the door had to go.

Dear Stoner & McMoonter,
Please can you come round to my house and build / fix / complete all the things we want done.
I can pay you in beer, cake & tea and you can sleep in my tent.
I love you long time.

XxX

ah, I see, door to the side, not to the lawn front.

It took a bit of headscratching to space the posts out accurately

similar problem – but fortunately not so vital for a wood store. Fortunately had some fence post ends around that I could use as tapered wedges for shimmying the big beams along a few cm in the hole. Im about 1cm/480cm out so happy with that.

what kind of beer?

ha! It even looks like he’s pushing Beelzebub!

Im sold! So are you local qwerty (Glos-ish way)?

aha, got some photos mcmoonter.

Got to chop and log this lot up when my chainsaw gets back from it’s service.
4x corner posts put in postcrete. Theyre some knackered elm ones that werent worth selling on eBay (I got £100 each for the 4x I did sell last year). Went to the timber yard today and ordered some joists for the roof but at 4.8m I cant get them home so have to wait for delivery 🙁

4.8m for the single span were still cheaper than smaller 3.6m with 2x intermediate posts though.

Also got some corrugated bitumen board for the roof coming as well.

Will finish it off on Friday.

I think I have a bit of a man crush on McMooter.

I think I have a bit of a man crush on McMooter.

😯

Nice work Stoner, I like the rustic look. If you feel the span is too wide you could brace it a little like this. If you are using a 6×2 I doubt you’d need any bracing at all.

I dont have a door plan yet, something will turn up.

Something turned up! A plate glass shop door. It’ll fit too, it will project slightly above the top glazing rail on the inside. I should be able to drill through the metal top and bottom and make a heavy duty hinge bracket. It’s even drilled for a door handle.

Something turned up!

If ever there was a reason not to worry about Scotland it is this 🙂

For every need there appears to be a recycled solution!

You could of course cut the pane down and make a door yourself….

Between the showers today I managed to clad the front gable and put on some old skirting board as a detail. I’ve also got one side of the roof on. I might skip a ride tomorrow and try and get the other side of the roof on and maybe the floor. It’ll be easier to crack on with the roof overhead.

McMoonter- I met up with NBT and Bunnyhop today on the Quantocks. I thought I’d let you know just how much we all like your work. Keep Calm and Carry On. Great stuff.

Thanks guys.

My future as a quantity surveyor looks bleak. I ran short of a couple of sheets of tin, so I couldn’t get the ridge on the roof. But I did manage to nail in the floor joists. For an end of the day thrill, we put four panes of glass in the front elevation.

sweet.

I ran short of a couple of sheets of tin

Common problem, Rodney, common problem. 😀

tin roof? going to be fun in an auld Scottish downpour!

Has Mrs Mcm started on the blinds yet? 🙂

Blinds?

I was trying to think of a way to get my Morris into it in a Ferris Beuller stylee.

What I wanted from the outset was a building that didn’t interrupt the view. So I just want to keep the glass open. I’m thinking bird strikes are going to be a problem though.

I’m thinking bird strikes are going to be a problem though.

Very true. They can see right through it.

How about a kind of roman blind in muslin/calico for the back to make it opaque?

It will take you a long time to get the reverse the miles off one of your cars I reckon 😉

How about a kind of roman blind in muslin/calico for the back to make it opaque?

Now who do we know from STW who could make one of those 🙂

You two need to get a room 😉