PROJECT: Building A Sand School On A Budget *PICS*

[tandp]

Hello all,

Just a project thread, follow it if you like!

We're building our own 'budget' sandschool. I say 'budget' in inverted commas because it will cost us in total around £3000. :eek: Considerably less than a professional job, but certainly not free! :o

We have well drained, good sandy land. A lady up the road has a DIY school, and hers is awesome!

So, what have we done so far?

STEP 1: Re position the fence, and unwittingly replace it because its rotten.
COST: £200 inc materials

This made the school approximately 45m x 23m wide. (No pictures unfortunately, but the fencing guys weren't studs if it counts for anything :o).

STEP 2: Level the ground off. Contact a friend of a friend who has a JCB.
COST: £80

(Picture taken before work began)

http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo78/abiscott1/Photo-0810_1.jpg

Admittedly it's still not 100% level, but we had some big mounds which were levelled off. Exciting times!


STEP 3: Locate some kickboards. Avoid railway sleepers at all costs - £20 per sleeper! Contact another friend of a friend who is a scaffolder, and get some cheap scaffold boards. Perfecto! Buy nails and extra wood for the side of the school where there is no fence to nail boards to. Stake into ground and mount.
COST: £122 including the boards, delivery, nails and additional lengths of treated wood for stakes.

http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo78/abiscott1/Photo-0955.jpg

STEP 4: Order and take delivery of the membrane
COST: £450

Roll it out at 6:30am and await delivery of your sand!

STEP 5: Say Hello To five 20 tonne lorry-loads of silica sand!
COST: £18 +VAT per tonne, total £2070 delivered.

And here is our first 20 tonne pile...



http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo78/abiscott1/Photo-0948.jpg

Just kidding! This is more like it....

http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo78/abiscott1/Photo-0951.jpg

http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo78/abiscott1/Photo-0952.jpg

You can't quite see, but the effort of the hydraulic lift was blowing our membrane about, making us flap about like chickens. Note to self. Pin it down better next time...

And just one more step for progress so far...

STEP 6: Figure out how to get the 20 tonne lorry out your standard size gateway, complete with low roofs, guttering and low trees...
COST: PRICELESS

Please note: Only one mirror and one fence post were hurt during this exercise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGsU6bhAvdA


Stay tuned for the next step - Leveling the sand out...

:D

[zeb]

haha, that is one pretty brave lorry driver!

I love the way you wrote it, I want to see the finished product now!

How can sand cost so much money:eek::mad::rolleyes:

[ginny!]

I don't think my dad will like you much, I asked him if we move can we get a sand school and he said no, they cost 20,000+. I told him they can be built for 3000-4000 (which he still said was a lot but at least mum agreed it was cheap:p) he said that was impossible, so no. YOU ARE PROOF!! HA, can't wait to show him this thread :D

Well done too, It's interesting to see it in stages :)

[Kate&TheHerd]

wow this is a brilliant thread, loving it :D i didnt think that was 20 tonnes :o hehehe

[Virago]

Fascinating thread, TandP. I love the way you're writing about your project!

[ArcticShowjumpa]

ooh fab :D will follow this with interest, looking great!

[IrishDQ]

looks great! wish I lived on well draining land, the amount of money I spent on stones :eek: I never realised stones could be so expensive! love the way you've written it lol. :D

[titch_]

wow thats really interesting! :D can't wait for more pics!

[Chip]

Drainage? You don't appear to have put in any drainage, which is a must, no matter how well drianing your land is or what you place underfoot.


Did you have any problems getting Planning? Some areas seem to be a nightmare for that

[jordanross]

inspiring! will be good to see the end result! I DREAM about having my own sand school too one day! :)

[Howengold]

that first photo got me lol!! I thought thats not alot of sand!

[hdonna]

Keep us all updated and i would love to see pictures of the finished article.

xx

[Yann]

Like it! :)

[Libbyo]

Waiting for the next installment.

[Harlequin32]

Brilliant- how exciting!
I also looked at first pic of sand and thought OMG their going to need about a million tonnes!:o
My yard is also planning on building a "budget" school- not quite started yet they have just mown the grass where it will go for some reason as i guess it will have to come up anyway!

When will it be completed?

[tandp]

When will it be completed?

Fingers crossed, next week. We're just waiting for our JCB driver to return from his holiday (how dare he go away!!!).

[dessert_storm87]

You must be so excited! I can't wait to see what it's like when it's done :)

[midnightmare]

That looks fab, can't wait to see the finished thing :D

[Melting Moments]

wow thats going to fantastic!

[Clava]

Drainage? You don't appear to have put in any drainage, which is a must, no matter how well drianing your land is or what you place underfoot.


Did you have any problems getting Planning? Some areas seem to be a nightmare for that

You can buy a membrane with internal drainage tubes designed to be laid straight on the ground, but if you are not using that (which is pricey), I agree that drainage is vital....does this field ever get muddy in winter?

[NoviceNic]

Will you keep us updated throughout the Winter please. My land never really floods and Im tempted to stick in a cheap manege too...:)

[chickflick1066]

Cool :)

[tandp]

You can buy a membrane with internal drainage tubes designed to be laid straight on the ground, but if you are not using that (which is pricey), I agree that drainage is vital....does this field ever get muddy in winter?

Not at all, I rode in it through the depths of last winter, and, if anything, the biggest problem was the odd stone here and there and the obvious loss of grip that comes with any kind of wet grass/ground.

I guess we'll see next week when it's done what it's like, and I'm sure the British weather will bring us rain soon enough so I can tell you if we got away with not having drainage!

Excited fingers crossed!

[coblet]

You are very brave! We helped our neighbours with their school and we did the lot ourself for £9000. The drainage was the most expensive, the trenches were large and the piping and stone (and digger hire) was around £4000 on its own. The sand was around £3k and the rest went on membrane and kick boards. I suppose you are lucky your land is well drained, ours is clay and the extra drainage was vital. I bet you are well chuffed, your school looks like it will be lovely. :D

[Soot]

At my old yard we made our own school, without additional drainage ... There were maybe a few weeks per year when the surface could not be used; i.e. I wouldn't have called it an "all weather surface", BUT when you're used to riding on mud, even mud with a bit of sand mixed in is a huge improvement, let alone a whole surface of sand :D It cost us £500, but we managed to get the stones & sand for free :D :D

[S.J.C]

Great Thread! :D
Good-Luck with the next step! :)

[NoviceNic]

Any more progress on the school OP?? Im watching this with envy...:D

Id really like to know how you go in the Winter without the drainage. My front paddock floods in patches though so will have to look at drainage...

[Ace87]

Oooh looking good guys - love the way you've written this! :D Unfortunately our sand was quite Clay based at our old yard so they had to spend £5k on drainage :( new yard the soil is quite sandy though prone to getting wet fields.. Am thinking of buying some land off YO.. LOL.

[tandp]

Hello all,

I have an update (with pictures and videos!).

Where did we leave it? I assume it was with the sand being dumped...

STEP 7: Roll out the rest of the membrane in preparation for levelling
COST: Just a bit of elbow grease

http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs215.snc1/8220_1245682301463_1211567069_30745689_4661419_n.jpg

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs235.snc1/8220_1245682341464_1211567069_30745690_3617026_n.jpg

STEP 8: Order more membrane, as we're a full roll short
COST: Another £200

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs235.snc1/8220_1245682381465_1211567069_30745691_4498818_n.jpg

STEP 9: Ask nicely ;) one of the farmers from the nearby farm, so he will level the sand out.
COST: Free

It begins...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz-d4Hvj3QE

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs235.snc1/8220_1245682421466_1211567069_30745692_1637741_n.jpg

And after a couple of hours, it became apparent that we were also short on sand :rolleyes:

So, with 7/8 of the school covered, this is what we have so far...

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs235.snc1/8220_1245682461467_1211567069_30745693_7527146_n.jpg

More updates to come when the sand is completed. Our school must be bigger than initally calculated...:o


In terms of how the school will perform in the winter, we had about an inch and a half of rain last night (cunningly left an empty bucket out as an experiment), and the school is brilliant today. We are so happy! :D

Admittedly, a bit of a flash flood is different to the depths of winter, but it certainly bodes well!

Stay tuned for the next installment...

[ginny!]

Step 9?! Pffft, nothing a bit of raking couldn't solve :p

It looks a nice size school too :) (jealous?? me??)
Can't wait to see the end result!! :D

[ragtime]

you could of nicked sand from the beach and saved money! :p
envy btw ! :cool:

[kitcat2]

Wow! Looks great!! Keep the updates coming :)

[HJ]

you could of nicked sand from the beach and saved money! :p
envy btw ! :cool:

We don't have such a thing as a beach in Nottingham :rolleyes:

TandP its looking brill ;)

[Hippyhorse]

wow that looks great, can't wait to see you riding round when it's completed!

[lovejakeyx]

What a great thread, cant wait to see the finished article and I bet you cant wait to get riding in there!

At my old yard we had a self made sand school.. it too had no drainage and there were times in the winter when it was unusable because it was more of a lake than a school but this was for maybe a total of a few weeks out of the whole winter so it wasnt too much of a problem..

Look forward to the next update!!

[Trio]

great school - the place we've just bought has a lovely school which the previous owners had put in without planning permission and the local authority slapped an enforcement order on it to have it removed :eek: thought we were going to lose it and have to build another one- we would have been doing it your way if we had !
can't wait to see the finished school

[myfunkyhorse]

Wow looks brilliant so far!!

[tashanoodles]

Looks fab - you've made it sound so simple!
What's the material of the membrane, is it porous? and how deep are you having the sand out of interest?
Look amazing, bet you can't wait to get out on it!!:)

[lauraandharvey]

brilliant:D

[tandp]

Thanks guys, its coming together and it's very exciting!

Looks fab - you've made it sound so simple!
What's the material of the membrane, is it porous? and how deep are you having the sand out of interest?
Look amazing, bet you can't wait to get out on it!!:)

Yes the membrane is porous, it's an F-22 membrane - but that's all i know!

The sand will be about 4 inches deep when we're done, but there are a few shallow spots at the minute.

More sand required, so a family get together is in order to talk about spending some extra pennies.

Personally I think we should get our buckets and spades out...:D

[ArcticShowjumpa]

wow, it's looking great!! and all so quickly :) *jealous* lol

[evie]

You school looks amazing... I'm also building a budget school atm! I've had the diggers in to level, taken delivery of the membrane and am awaiting delivery of the hardcore and shuttering... it's taking such a long time! :(

It's really intersting to see how how we are spending the same budget and doing the work differently (I will try and get some photos and costing of my progress to post as well).

You must be so excited... have you had a sneeky ride on it yet?!

[tandp]

You school looks amazing... I'm also building a budget school atm! I've had the diggers in to level, taken delivery of the membrane and am awaiting delivery of the hardcore and shuttering... it's taking such a long time! :(

It's really intersting to see how how we are spending the same budget and doing the work differently (I will try and get some photos and costing of my progress to post as well).

You must be so excited... have you had a sneeky ride on it yet?!

Please do post pictures!

I will be having a sneaky ride in there on my ponio later today! :D

[mu0ljk]

what an interesting thread - and a good lorry driver! :)

[Hoof-Prints]

have been reading this so i thought id post (so i dont feel like a lurker ;p )
must say how well it looks =] will be wonderful when its done im sure! looking forward to more pics soon

[FayeObs]

any update?? i neeeeeed to see! x

[tandp]

Hello all, we have finished our DIY sand school...nearly!

Ok here's the school as we left it.

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs215.snc1/8220_1249733642744_1211567069_30759203_2551031_n.jpg

We ordered another 40 tonnes of sand, courtesy of our mum (let it be known that this constitutes our Christmas and birthday presents for 2 years!).

The lorry driver delivering the sand was not the same guy - and he managed to smash his indicator lens on a fence post...

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs235.snc1/8220_1249895726796_1211567069_30759630_916804_n.jpg

So we got the sand dumped, and the kind man from the farm across the road came and smoothed it out.

Note Oscar Dog having the time of his life in the left of the photo.

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs235.snc1/8220_1249783403988_1211567069_30759405_4736839_n.jpg

Now it just needed a harrow...

http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs215.snc1/8220_1249824525016_1211567069_30759463_4982074_n.jpg

We have one last step to complete now, and that is putting the fence back!

So there we are! From start to finish.

From this...

http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo78/abiscott1/Photo-0810_1.jpg

To this...

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs215.snc1/8220_1249902486965_1211567069_30759636_5670242_n.jpg

TOTAL COST: £3922.00

Total COST (when split between all contributors): £625

Well worth it :D

[tandp]

Oh and Oscar later on...

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs235.snc1/8220_1250058690870_1211567069_30760426_7856775_n.jpg

Bless him :rolleyes:

[Howengold]

Brilliant! You lucky thing!

[Howengold]

Oh and Oscar later on...

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs235.snc1/8220_1250058690870_1211567069_30760426_7856775_n.jpg

Bless him :rolleyes:


lol! I think he approves x

[lovejakeyx]

Looks great, how big is it? From your pics it looks huge!!
Cant wait to see pics of you riding in it..:)

[kitcat2]

Wow! Im jealous! ;):D (and Oscar is very cute:))

[lauraandharvey]

so when can NR's come over and play on it:D
looking good!
x

[hannah_xx]

wow its brilliant!!
we need photos of you riding on it now!! :D

[HJ]

so when can NR's come over and play on it:D
looking good!
x

This is a rather spiffing idea old chap :p

[Soot]

wowowow! I'd hand over £700 in a heartbeat to have access to that!
I'd rob a bank ...

[dessert_storm87]

Wow that's great, it looks really good!

[crazyhorse97]

£700 for that?!?!? holy crap! (lol)

Thats brilliant - want ridden piccies now! :D

xXx

[lauraandharvey]

£700 for that?!?!? holy crap! (lol)

Thats brilliant - want ridden piccies now! :D

xXx

£700 split lol,
i think she said it was around £3250

[Claire1605]

What type of sand did you use? Also, did you glue the membrane?

Any ridden pictures yet??:D

[Trio]

blimey- my planning permission for the school was nearly £400 alone!! how much was yours then?

[crazyhorse97]

£700 split lol,
i think she said it was around £3250

i know but still... you can pay that for a saddle to ride IN the flippin thing! lol

xXx

[Valaraki]

WOW, well done

I know what you are going through, we are getting the surface delivered hopefully next week for our out door arena. Its so exciting :D:D

[coblet]

WOW! - it is FAB. Well done you. x :D

[myfunkyhorse]

Its HUGGGEEE :D well done! looks ace