Building a honey house

[Foxylad]

After many years, my wife kicked me out of the kitchen last year. I have a garage 9mx4m I have been intending on converting. But I knew it was a big project and the cost put me off.
I saved up and started the project on the 29/2/24. I am about to jar up my first batch of honey from the new room over the weekend, 3/5/24
29/2/24 Started
8/3/24 Floor sealed, walls stabilised
24/3/24 Walls painted
26/3/24 carpenter on site, Stud walls & celling started
28/3/24 Self levelling floor down
8/4/24 Electrician in, new sockets lights fitted
9/4/24 Filling and painting, kitchen units fitted,
10/4/24 Extractor back from storage
13/4/24 Racking in, Still painting!
15/4/24 Stainless tables in, tiling on the sinks
20/4/24 Plummer fitted taps, drainage, hot water
22/4/24 Dishwasher, cleaning
24/4/24 Final floor coating
28/4/24 Soap, towel dispensers, HS stuff
2/5/24 Given the ok from EH

Anyone else thinking of doing this, things I have learned from this project
Tradesmen are expensive, and unreliable. Calling in favours from friends is cheaper and just as good.
Paint is to expensive
However long you think it will take, x3
How ever much you think it will cost, x2
All in it cost me about 2.5k

 

[Nannysbees]

After many years, my wife kicked me out of the kitchen last year. I have a garage 9mx4m I have been intending on converting. But I knew it was a big project and the cost put me off.
I saved up and started the project on the 29/2/24. I am about to jar up my first batch of honey from the new room over the weekend, 3/5/24
29/2/24 Started
8/3/24 Floor sealed, walls stabilised
24/3/24 Walls painted
26/3/24 carpenter on site, Stud walls & celling started
28/3/24 Self levelling floor down
8/4/24 Electrician in, new sockets lights fitted
9/4/24 Filling and painting, kitchen units fitted,
10/4/24 Extractor back from storage
13/4/24 Racking in, Still painting!
15/4/24 Stainless tables in, tiling on the sinks
20/4/24 Plummer fitted taps, drainage, hot water
22/4/24 Dishwasher, cleaning
24/4/24 Final floor coating
28/4/24 Soap, towel dispensers, HS stuff
2/5/24 Given the ok from EH

Anyone else thinking of doing this, things I have learned from this project
Tradesmen are expensive, and unreliable. Calling in favours from friends is cheaper and just as good.
Paint is to expensive
However long you think it will take, x3
How ever much you think it will cost, x2
All in it cost me about 2.5k

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Wow that looks amazing, print off the photos put in an album before and after. How many hives do you have?

 

[pargyle]

OMG I have serious honey room envy .... and a dishwasher installed ! Brilliant job though. As a long time served DIYer (Usually because I could rarely afford tradesmen - down here a painter is now £300 a day !) I know the feeling of - "How could that possibly take me that long ?" - but it does. Every sort of material or equipment is expensive - paint has gone up dramatically in price as has timber and plywood - so, if you can plan ahead, buy the things you need when they are on offer or pre-loved then you can save a lot but you need patience and you have to be selective. If you buy second hand you need to be sure it both works and fits your plan.

Well done .. looks a fantastic honey room - you just need to up your production to pay for it !

You did well painting the brickword and filling the cracks ... my efforts at painting brickwork has always looked dreadful.... how many coats did it take ? I tried painting the concrete sectional garage that is now my workshop ... gave up in the end as it was costing more in paint than dry lining it with plasterboard and it still looked rubbish.

 

[The Poot]

After many years, my wife kicked me out of the kitchen last year. I have a garage 9mx4m I have been intending on converting. But I knew it was a big project and the cost put me off.
I saved up and started the project on the 29/2/24. I am about to jar up my first batch of honey from the new room over the weekend, 3/5/24
29/2/24 Started
8/3/24 Floor sealed, walls stabilised
24/3/24 Walls painted
26/3/24 carpenter on site, Stud walls & celling started
28/3/24 Self levelling floor down
8/4/24 Electrician in, new sockets lights fitted
9/4/24 Filling and painting, kitchen units fitted,
10/4/24 Extractor back from storage
13/4/24 Racking in, Still painting!
15/4/24 Stainless tables in, tiling on the sinks
20/4/24 Plummer fitted taps, drainage, hot water
22/4/24 Dishwasher, cleaning
24/4/24 Final floor coating
28/4/24 Soap, towel dispensers, HS stuff
2/5/24 Given the ok from EH

Anyone else thinking of doing this, things I have learned from this project
Tradesmen are expensive, and unreliable. Calling in favours from friends is cheaper and just as good.
Paint is to expensive
However long you think it will take, x3
How ever much you think it will cost, x2
All in it cost me about 2.5k

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You did well at 2.5k I reckon. Looks brilliant!

 

[inthewoods]

i would of dug that floor up .you never no whats under it ..very nice job...

 

[pargyle]

i would of dug that floor up .you never no whats under it ..very nice job...

Perhaps better NOT to know !! Looks pretty ancient.

I once took up the vinyl that was on the kitchen floor of the house we bought, then the lino that had been left underneath it, then the rotting plywood (with Tea chest writing on it), then the floorboards and sections of chipboard that had seen much better days and found wet rot in the floor joists - which then had to be replaced - I found the source of the rot as a small leak in the floor standing central heating boiler not visible from above - so that had to come out and be replaced with a new one hung on the wall, so the flu and pipework had to be moved.

What was supposed to be a weekend job took the kitchen out of use for the better part of a month as all the units had to come out to replace the joists and floor and when they came out the tiles fell off the wall above so they had to be replaced after the wall was replastered.

It seemed like a good idea at the time just so that I could put some new vinyl down on the floor !

 

[Erichalfbee]

I love this and I am super envious. Well done

 

[Foxylad]

Wow that looks amazing, print off the photos put in an album before and after. How many hives do you have?

Currently have around 15 colonies, producing honey now to supply 2 small shops.

 

[Foxylad]

Carpenter was £280 a day
Electrician and plumber should be £320. But managed to get the to do it for a favour.

 

[Newbeeneil]

I'm envious of your space!
I made a honey room in the corner of a barn it ended up at 7'x10' internally with the floor made from 8x2 T&G flooring sheets on 8x2s. The walls were the same boards on 2x1 battens and the ceiling was 1/2" OSB screwed to 3x2s. All internal surfaces were coated with resin, the floor with industrial MMA and the walls with a water based epoxy.
I did the electrics and plumbing myself. I think it cost me about £600 as I got quite a bit of the stuff off freecycle or cadged it.
So it was cheap but it a tight squeeze if there are two of you at work!

 

[JamezF]

I think there should be rules against posting photos like this

If my wife saw them, she'd certainly think there should be

James

 

[Foxylad]

I'm envious of your space!
I made a honey room in the corner of a barn it ended up at 7'x10' internally with the floor made from 8x2 T&G flooring sheets on 8x2s. The walls were the same boards on 2x1 battens and the ceiling was 1/2" OSB screwed to 3x2s. All internal surfaces were coated with resin, the floor with industrial MMA and the walls with a water based epoxy.
I did the electrics and plumbing myself. I think it cost me about £600 as I got quite a bit of the stuff off freecycle or cadged it.
So it was cheap but it a tight squeeze if there are two of you at work!

The flooring is a Silka self levelling compound, which was built up in two separate pours. There was a large fall to the back. I wanted to be able to properly wash it down. There is a floor drain in the storage room.
The floor covering was initially a polyurethane paint, but I couldn’t keep off it for long enough for it to set. Cold temperatures and it raining outside made drying difficult. The final covering was bradite dp9, which is acrylic based, I would highly recommend this floor covering, 2.5l did the whole floor twice over.
I could always do with it to be bigger, but you need to work with the space you have.
I’m lucky to have a separate lock up for all my hives and equipment.
Very pleased with the results, just need to some honey to extract now!

 

[Jack00scarecrow]

looks great, love that big sink, it will be very handy.

 

[JamezF]

looks great, love that big sink, it will be very handy.

Yeah, when it's raining you can do a few lengths to keep fit

James

 

[Moobee]

After many years, my wife kicked me out of the kitchen last year. I have a garage 9mx4m I have been intending on converting. But I knew it was a big project and the cost put me off.
I saved up and started the project on the 29/2/24. I am about to jar up my first batch of honey from the new room over the weekend, 3/5/24
29/2/24 Started
8/3/24 Floor sealed, walls stabilised
24/3/24 Walls painted
26/3/24 carpenter on site, Stud walls & celling started
28/3/24 Self levelling floor down
8/4/24 Electrician in, new sockets lights fitted
9/4/24 Filling and painting, kitchen units fitted,
10/4/24 Extractor back from storage
13/4/24 Racking in, Still painting!
15/4/24 Stainless tables in, tiling on the sinks
20/4/24 Plummer fitted taps, drainage, hot water
22/4/24 Dishwasher, cleaning
24/4/24 Final floor coating
28/4/24 Soap, towel dispensers, HS stuff
2/5/24 Given the ok from EH

Anyone else thinking of doing this, things I have learned from this project
Tradesmen are expensive, and unreliable. Calling in favours from friends is cheaper and just as good.
Paint is to expensive
However long you think it will take, x3
How ever much you think it will cost, x2
All in it cost me about 2.5k

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That looks AMAZING! Want one!

 

[solonik29]

Looks great. Amazing job.

From my experience I can also add some tips

1) Things cost more than you think.
2) You need more materials than you think
3) Think about your process first, it's harder to change design later.
4)Make sure you have sufficient sockets and plumbing first.
5) Work out how much electricity you are going to use and when you need to consider 3 phase upgrade.
6)This one is a big one. Think about EHO(HACCP) and regular cleaning. Best to have a plan written down with exactly how you want it. For example I went the route of tiling the walls and only later work out that plastic could much cheaper and more efficient.Ideally you want to be able to just pressure washer everything and minimise moving stuff.

The dedicated honey house is absolutely worth it as it is fully compliant and keeps all the sticky mess away from the kitchen.