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Hi all and welcome to TheWoodHaven2 brought into the 21st Century, kicking and screaming! We all have Alasdair to thank for the vast bulk of the heavy lifting to get us here, no more so than me because he's taken away a huge burden of responsibility from my shoulders and brought us to this new shiny home, with all your previous content (hopefully) still intact! Please peruse and feed back. There is still plenty to do, like changing the colour scheme, adding the banner graphic, tweaking the odd setting here and there so I have added a new thread in the 'Technical Issues, Bugs and Feature Requests' forum for you to add any issues you find, any missing settings or just anything you'd like to see added/removed from the feature set that Xenforo offers. We will get to everything over the coming weeks so please be patient, but add anything at all to the thread I mention above and we promise to get to them over the next few days/weeks/months. In the meantime, please enjoy!
Mike's ext'n & renovation (solar panels)
- Thread starter Mike G
- Start date
Mike G
Petrified Pine
The foam is to help with air tightness. I have tried to always lap the sheathing board onto the next panel, so that nowhere is there a straight join all the way through between studs and between sheathing boards.......for the same reason. The less in the way of possible drafts through the structure the better.
Rod
Old Oak
With the airtight construction, what happens to foul smells when it's finished? Or does that help to warm things up? [emoji3]
Rod
Rod
Rod
Old Oak
What are you going to put under the roof tiles where they overhang slightly the facia boards.
On my lean to roof extension, built 20 odd years ago, the cement? sheets are delaminating!
Rod
On my lean to roof extension, built 20 odd years ago, the cement? sheets are delaminating!
Rod
Mike G
Petrified Pine
Rod":2kr01n3d said:
Airtight refers to air entering the walls, where it nullifies the insulation, and this is no different to any modern house in that respect. All possible measures are taken to prevent air movement within the insulation. However, the point you raise about the interior is important. Most houses are ventilated using trickle vents, which are just holes through the window frames. I'm not going to go to all the trouble of putting in masses of insulation and expensive triple glazing only to leave holes through to the outside: no, the ventilation will be via a MVHR (mechanical ventilation with heat recovery) system, which is a simple fan-in-a-box in the loft, with ducts to every room, drawing stale air out and putting fresh air in, continuously, day and night. The difference is that a heat exchanger captures almost all of the heat in the outgoing air, and warms up the incoming air with it. No smells, no mould, no condensation.......ever, anywhere. Climb out of a long hot shower in the middle of winter and you can shave in the mirror straight away without wiping it with a towel. Utterly brilliant bits of kit.
Rod
Old Oak
That sounds great. Does it add a lot to the house build cost - thinking of the future of energy, we should be building all houses this way. And rainwater collecting/use etc (Greywater)?
Rod
Rod
Mike G
Petrified Pine
It costs about £2000 for a house this size. I have put them into every building I have built or designed in the last 20 years. One motor failure in that time, low running costs, and superb performance. They transform buildings....I just can't praise them high enough. Wonderful bits of kit.
I've done rainwater capture a few times, for flushing toilets, using in the washing machine, and watering the garden. That works well, but I am not really sure it is worth the effort. Here, we'll be putting all our roof-water into a pond, but that will overflow to a ditch. Greywater recycling is something I leave for the water companies to do, as they seem to do it rather well. In our case we have no mains connection, so will be installing an electric sewerage treatment plant, discharging into a ditch.
I've done rainwater capture a few times, for flushing toilets, using in the washing machine, and watering the garden. That works well, but I am not really sure it is worth the effort. Here, we'll be putting all our roof-water into a pond, but that will overflow to a ditch. Greywater recycling is something I leave for the water companies to do, as they seem to do it rather well. In our case we have no mains connection, so will be installing an electric sewerage treatment plant, discharging into a ditch.
We have a mechanical extraction system here that takes air out of the two WCs, two bathrooms and kitchen but it does not warm the incoming fresh air. It would be nice to retrofit but with solid concrete floors the upheaval would be too much.
Mike G
Petrified Pine
What a day! The bloody weather...... We had roughly an inch of rain this morning, which meant a quick change of plan. I had started off fitting this:
Here. It fitted like a glove:
At this point it started raining. I had planned to have a final tidy-up of the roof plates, put a couple of temporary ties across, then work in the extension cutting rafters. Because of the rain, I had to retreat to my workshop. This was bad news, because my workshop is 40 metres from the house, and 30 metres from the stack of wood which I had planned to convert into a roof today. So each piece had to be carried to the workshop, cut, then carried back to the house. 80 metres times 60 rafters, in horrible slushy mud with standing water on top. Ho hum. Stop moaning and get on with it.
I made up my first pair of rafters, and, as I do, laid them out on the floor to check. To be honest, they weren't great. I noted the necessary adjustments, and made another pair, and got it right this time:
Now, normally I would mark one of them as "pattern", and use it to mark all the others in turn, but I thought I could do better than that. It cost me an hour of messing around and adjusting, but I came up with this:
A jig to guide all the cuts with my hand held circular saw.
So, now the process became this:
Firstly, cut the plumb cut at the ridge using the 12" sliding compound mitre saw. This was fixed in place to the bench, and a back stop was fixed in a straight line with the fence a couple of metres down the bench:
Next, sit the jig on the piece, (now on saw horses), and screw it in place. The underside of the jig has battens to locate it at the ridge cut:
Then just slide the circular saw in and cut to the guide, running along the edge of the base plate:
You do all your power saw cuts, then unscrew the jig and set it aside, turn the board over to complete the cuts with a handsaw:
Some of the rafters need a hole for a bolt. Simple to add a guide to the jig:
Then, just do some work. Walk, lift, cut, screw, cut, unscrew, handsaw, walk.........and repeat all day. In the end you have a pile of stuff which isn't rafters:
And a couple of piles of stuff which is rafters:
Chances are you'll also have a bit of a tired back. Started in the dark, finished by head-torch......but tomorrow, whatever the weather throws at me, I'm going to get some rafters in place
Here. It fitted like a glove:
At this point it started raining. I had planned to have a final tidy-up of the roof plates, put a couple of temporary ties across, then work in the extension cutting rafters. Because of the rain, I had to retreat to my workshop. This was bad news, because my workshop is 40 metres from the house, and 30 metres from the stack of wood which I had planned to convert into a roof today. So each piece had to be carried to the workshop, cut, then carried back to the house. 80 metres times 60 rafters, in horrible slushy mud with standing water on top. Ho hum. Stop moaning and get on with it.
I made up my first pair of rafters, and, as I do, laid them out on the floor to check. To be honest, they weren't great. I noted the necessary adjustments, and made another pair, and got it right this time:
Now, normally I would mark one of them as "pattern", and use it to mark all the others in turn, but I thought I could do better than that. It cost me an hour of messing around and adjusting, but I came up with this:
A jig to guide all the cuts with my hand held circular saw.
So, now the process became this:
Firstly, cut the plumb cut at the ridge using the 12" sliding compound mitre saw. This was fixed in place to the bench, and a back stop was fixed in a straight line with the fence a couple of metres down the bench:
Next, sit the jig on the piece, (now on saw horses), and screw it in place. The underside of the jig has battens to locate it at the ridge cut:
Then just slide the circular saw in and cut to the guide, running along the edge of the base plate:
You do all your power saw cuts, then unscrew the jig and set it aside, turn the board over to complete the cuts with a handsaw:
Some of the rafters need a hole for a bolt. Simple to add a guide to the jig:
Then, just do some work. Walk, lift, cut, screw, cut, unscrew, handsaw, walk.........and repeat all day. In the end you have a pile of stuff which isn't rafters:
And a couple of piles of stuff which is rafters:
Chances are you'll also have a bit of a tired back. Started in the dark, finished by head-torch......but tomorrow, whatever the weather throws at me, I'm going to get some rafters in place
Nice production line Mike.
Cheers
Mark
Cheers
Mark
Mike G":3ciei0xe said:Oooh, I'm having fun! Look out for a locking scarf joint with folding wedges this evening!!bscene-drinkingcheers: :eusa-dance:
Ooooh I remember a discussion about that a while ago. Can't wait!
Cheers
Mark
- Joined
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Yes they are really useful. I used two in my 10m long ridge board for the workshop. I was doing a single handed cut roof and having the ridge constructed from no longer than 3.9m timbers made the initial stage of propping everything up on sky hooks so much easier and doing the joint with temporary wedges whilst setting the next roof section plumb and true was a doddle. Get every thing spot on the drive the wedges home and pin with a couple of nails.TrimTheKing":1ef5qg3t said:Mike G":1ef5qg3t said:Oooh, I'm having fun! Look out for a locking scarf joint with folding wedges this evening!!
Ooooh I remember a discussion about that a while ago. Can't wait!
Cheers
Mark
Bob
Mike G":1q1seakb said:Oooh, I'm having fun! Look out for a locking scarf joint with folding wedges this evening!!
Is that all
I was hoping for something more complicated 
Having tried a scissor scarf just for fun I am looking forward to the wip and the result.
Mike G
Petrified Pine
Big day today. Have I ever mentioned how much I love rooves? There is just something about putting together a really neat ("tight") roof.......
Anyway, a good roof starts with the plates being parallel. I spent a bit of time checking, and putting a couple of battens across as temporary ties. Then, the long job, but the job you must get right: marking out the ridge and the plates. I ordered two lengths of 5.1m 200 x 38s for ridgeboards, and the roof is 9885 long. That would have left me about 300mm to do a join. However, they actually delivered this:
195 x 45 x 5.4m. Look at all that overlap to play with!
Ooooh.......do I have an hour to spare for a little fun? Hell, it's my roof, and my time, so yes, absolutely. Without a second's hesitation, I did a quick sketch, and then marked out a locking scarf joint with folding wedges. I've seen a few of them in old rooves, but I have never made one.
Rather than mess around transferring the marking out to the other piece of board, I simply placed one on top of the other and used the first as a template for the second.
A minor annoyance is that the boards aren't of the same width:
No problem, as the important line is the top, and the bottom is irrelevant.
Then I ground to a complete halt. It took me a good 10 minutes to work out whether I was taking the marked line, or leaving it, when cutting out the second half of the joint. I ummed and ahhed, decided one thing, then changed my mind.......but in the end:
Bang on, first time! It was worth scratching my head over which side of the line to cut. And it was certainly well worth the extra 45 minutes the joint took me. It locks absolutely solid just by tapping in a pair of wedges, which will make placing the second ridge board an absolute doddle. Those old boys way back when knew exactly what they were doing when they developed all those seemingly complicated joints:
Right, better get it up in the air, then. Here are some of the rafter locations marked on the ridge, with the markings transferred to the plates using a marked batten. That sentence hides an awful lot of work, both drawing work, and measuring and marking on site, then checking and re-checking. It's an absolute pain if you get it wrong (the standard error is to put a rafter the wrong side of the line):
There are a number of different ways of tackling a hand-cut roof alone, but it seemed easiest to me this time to put up temporary props for the ridge board:
I know how much you all worry about my safety on site, so I put up a scaffold under the centreline:
Then lifting the ridgeboard roughly into place was simple:
So long as the temporary position was lower than the final position, it isn't really important where the ridge sits. The rafters will place the ridge exactly:
Careful positioning of a pair of rafters at either end of the board (or at least, as far as I can safely reach on the scaffold), and we're away. At this point, it is really important to remember that nothing is stable. Don't grab onto any roof timbers as you are moving about the scaffold, or you could bring the whole lot crashing down. That first diagonal brace is critical, and I added a second for luck:
The pitch of the new roof is 40 degrees. The old roof is around 30 degrees. In those days, nobody used degrees. They worked on so-many-inches-rise in-so-many-inches-going, so this roof was probably 7" rise per foot. Anyway, I'm going to be replacing the old roof with a new one at 40 degrees, exactly the same as the one I'm building, but for a while they are going to look rather odd together:
After fixing the gable rafters in place (they have a different foot detail), and plumbing the gable to get the roof upright, it is a simple case of infilling with pairs of rafters. However, 2 or 3 pairs in and I noticed the tips of the rafters were just creeping down the ridgeboard a smidgeon, a sure sign that the plates were spreading. I eased the nailing open , then used a twisted rope to pull everything back to where it should be before nailing in another temporary tie:
All's square and true, and I got one or two more pairs of rafters done before a client turned up to drag me away to look at a job......so an early finish. I'm chuffed to bits to have the ridge in and a few rafters fixed. That's a good day in my book, even if a short one:
Other than oak work, there is nothing I enjoy more than building a good roof, so I'm a happy chap this evening. I'll probably just go up and check the bracing this evening, as I think we have another gale coming.
There is just something about putting together a really neat ("tight") roof.......Anyway, a good roof starts with the plates being parallel. I spent a bit of time checking, and putting a couple of battens across as temporary ties. Then, the long job, but the job you must get right: marking out the ridge and the plates. I ordered two lengths of 5.1m 200 x 38s for ridgeboards, and the roof is 9885 long. That would have left me about 300mm to do a join. However, they actually delivered this:
195 x 45 x 5.4m. Look at all that overlap to play with!
Ooooh.......do I have an hour to spare for a little fun? Hell, it's my roof, and my time, so yes, absolutely. Without a second's hesitation, I did a quick sketch, and then marked out a locking scarf joint with folding wedges. I've seen a few of them in old rooves, but I have never made one.
Rather than mess around transferring the marking out to the other piece of board, I simply placed one on top of the other and used the first as a template for the second.
A minor annoyance is that the boards aren't of the same width:
No problem, as the important line is the top, and the bottom is irrelevant.
Then I ground to a complete halt. It took me a good 10 minutes to work out whether I was taking the marked line, or leaving it, when cutting out the second half of the joint. I ummed and ahhed, decided one thing, then changed my mind.......but in the end:
Bang on, first time!
It was worth scratching my head over which side of the line to cut. And it was certainly well worth the extra 45 minutes the joint took me. It locks absolutely solid just by tapping in a pair of wedges, which will make placing the second ridge board an absolute doddle. Those old boys way back when knew exactly what they were doing when they developed all those seemingly complicated joints:Right, better get it up in the air, then. Here are some of the rafter locations marked on the ridge, with the markings transferred to the plates using a marked batten. That sentence hides an awful lot of work, both drawing work, and measuring and marking on site, then checking and re-checking. It's an absolute pain if you get it wrong (the standard error is to put a rafter the wrong side of the line):
There are a number of different ways of tackling a hand-cut roof alone, but it seemed easiest to me this time to put up temporary props for the ridge board:
I know how much you all worry about my safety on site, so I put up a scaffold under the centreline:
Then lifting the ridgeboard roughly into place was simple:
So long as the temporary position was lower than the final position, it isn't really important where the ridge sits. The rafters will place the ridge exactly:
Careful positioning of a pair of rafters at either end of the board (or at least, as far as I can safely reach on the scaffold), and we're away. At this point, it is really important to remember that nothing is stable. Don't grab onto any roof timbers as you are moving about the scaffold, or you could bring the whole lot crashing down. That first diagonal brace is critical, and I added a second for luck:
The pitch of the new roof is 40 degrees. The old roof is around 30 degrees. In those days, nobody used degrees. They worked on so-many-inches-rise in-so-many-inches-going, so this roof was probably 7" rise per foot. Anyway, I'm going to be replacing the old roof with a new one at 40 degrees, exactly the same as the one I'm building, but for a while they are going to look rather odd together:
After fixing the gable rafters in place (they have a different foot detail), and plumbing the gable to get the roof upright, it is a simple case of infilling with pairs of rafters. However, 2 or 3 pairs in and I noticed the tips of the rafters were just creeping down the ridgeboard a smidgeon, a sure sign that the plates were spreading. I eased the nailing open , then used a twisted rope to pull everything back to where it should be before nailing in another temporary tie:
All's square and true, and I got one or two more pairs of rafters done before a client turned up to drag me away to look at a job......so an early finish. I'm chuffed to bits to have the ridge in and a few rafters fixed. That's a good day in my book, even if a short one:
Other than oak work, there is nothing I enjoy more than building a good roof, so I'm a happy chap this evening. I'll probably just go up and check the bracing this evening, as I think we have another gale coming.
Rod
Old Oak
Nice work - just amazed you are doing all this single handed!
Rod
Rod
Wot Rod said! Well impressed. It's making me want to be at roof level and I've not even broken ground yet!
Cheers
Matk
Cheers
Matk
Mike G
Petrified Pine
Thanks Rod, Mark. Being single handed means thinking ahead a bit, but it also means that I don't have to worry about how badly someone else is doing something. There are times someone giving a hand passing stuff up from ground to first floor would be a bit of a help, but I'm very used to working alone, and more than happy to do it. And when it's finished...........I'll be able to say "I made that".
Mike G":ehslkzvt said:
And that's what it's all about at the end of the day, for me anyway!
Well done that man. :eusa-clap:
bscene-drinkingcheers: Cheers
Mark
berncarpenter
Seedling
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Great job Mike like the twisted rope trick. I have some truckers ratchet straps i use for that sort of job but will use this method when I'm on site without them :eusa-clap: :eusa-clap: Been watching this from the start sorry i havent commented until now very lazy of me 
Cheers Bern
Cheers Bern
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Charlie's perfectly valid question has been moved to the woodmanglers retreat in order to keep this thread on course where I hope responses will be made.
Bob
Bob
I love the shot showing that scarf joint in silhouette against the sky.
Mike G
Petrified Pine
Today started with infilling rafters along the ridge that I had in place from yesterday. All very straightforward until I got to the door openings, where I designed in a trimmer and 2 shortened rafters to give me the headroom for a full height door:
The weather wasn't the best. Here are rafters finished up to where I could reach from the first scaffold position, and once I had moved the scaffold:
The joints are good, top and bottom:
It was about at this point that the storm arrived. Gusting to 60 mph, and with a bit of rain, I wasn't amused:
Still, you just plod on. Next an the agenda was the second half of the ridge. I only needed one post this time:
With the scaffold set up towards the gable end of the roof, I didn't have access to the existing ridge, and my scarf joint, so I fastened a couple of guides to the side of the new ridge board so that it didn't slip sideways off the existing one. The wind was so strong that rafters nailed just at the top were getting blown out of position at the bottom by some 400mm, so I couldn't risk the ridge board, over 5 metres long and pretty heavy, getting blown off the roof:
Just standing up on the tower scaffold, with nothing around you to grab hold of, wasn't easy, but in a lull I managed to drop both ends of the ridge in place, then retreated inside the house to make some bread:
I gave the rain half an hour , then came out and whacked the wedges into the scarf joint:
Then............deep breath...........concentrate...............don't do anything rash.......I went along to the gable end of the scaffold and placed the first pair of rafters. I chose to do the pair one in from the end, as I wasn't feeling brave enough to stand right at a 5 metre drop in a storm. I messed around getting them lined up perfectly, and was just getting the nails out of my pouch to pin them in place when I dropped my damn hammer!! What a fool. I risked leaving the rafters where they were, and rushed down to grab the hammer, and by the time I got back, luckily the wind had only pushed them a few inches. Finally I got a couple of nails in, and could breath again:
Once that first pair were properly secured, I then did the gable pair, safe in the knowledge that I had something solid to hold on to. I trued them up with a spirit level, and then it was just easy infilling as before:
With the passing of the storm the day turned pleasant, and I managed to get all the rafters done:
You can see some temporary 4x2 ties in place here:
It's starting to look like a house, albeit a bit odd without any rafter feet/ eaves overhang:
I managed to get some ceiling ties (joists) cut as the light was fading, and got 2 in place. They are only in the small bedroom, as the main room has the vaulted ceiling and oak principle trusses and ridge purlin, with crown posts and braces. I need some loft space for the MVHR (mechanical ventilation system), so we have an orthodox ceiling over the 4th bedroom for that. It was too dark for photos of that, though, so you'll just have to take my word for it.
The weather wasn't the best. Here are rafters finished up to where I could reach from the first scaffold position, and once I had moved the scaffold:
The joints are good, top and bottom:
It was about at this point that the storm arrived. Gusting to 60 mph, and with a bit of rain, I wasn't amused:
Still, you just plod on. Next an the agenda was the second half of the ridge. I only needed one post this time:
With the scaffold set up towards the gable end of the roof, I didn't have access to the existing ridge, and my scarf joint, so I fastened a couple of guides to the side of the new ridge board so that it didn't slip sideways off the existing one. The wind was so strong that rafters nailed just at the top were getting blown out of position at the bottom by some 400mm, so I couldn't risk the ridge board, over 5 metres long and pretty heavy, getting blown off the roof:
Just standing up on the tower scaffold, with nothing around you to grab hold of, wasn't easy, but in a lull I managed to drop both ends of the ridge in place, then retreated inside the house to make some bread:
I gave the rain half an hour , then came out and whacked the wedges into the scarf joint:
Then............deep breath...........concentrate...............don't do anything rash.......I went along to the gable end of the scaffold and placed the first pair of rafters. I chose to do the pair one in from the end, as I wasn't feeling brave enough to stand right at a 5 metre drop in a storm. I messed around getting them lined up perfectly, and was just getting the nails out of my pouch to pin them in place when I dropped my damn hammer!! What a fool. I risked leaving the rafters where they were, and rushed down to grab the hammer, and by the time I got back, luckily the wind had only pushed them a few inches. Finally I got a couple of nails in, and could breath again:
Once that first pair were properly secured, I then did the gable pair, safe in the knowledge that I had something solid to hold on to. I trued them up with a spirit level, and then it was just easy infilling as before:
With the passing of the storm the day turned pleasant, and I managed to get all the rafters done:
You can see some temporary 4x2 ties in place here:
It's starting to look like a house, albeit a bit odd without any rafter feet/ eaves overhang:
I managed to get some ceiling ties (joists) cut as the light was fading, and got 2 in place. They are only in the small bedroom, as the main room has the vaulted ceiling and oak principle trusses and ridge purlin, with crown posts and braces. I need some loft space for the MVHR (mechanical ventilation system), so we have an orthodox ceiling over the 4th bedroom for that. It was too dark for photos of that, though, so you'll just have to take my word for it.
Rod
Old Oak
Superman in action again! [emoji2]
Rod
Old Oak
Superman can fly [emoji2]
If I looked at the progress made today and was told there was a team of builders I would not be surprised.
I reckon he has 2 or 3 of the Invisible Man working for him.
I reckon he has 2 or 3 of the Invisible Man working for him.
Phil
Old Oak
Andyp":3656vvez said:If I looked at the progress made today and was told there was a team of builders I would not be surprised.
I reckon he has 2 or 3 of the Invisible Man working for him.
If you look at Google Earth you can see the construction company sign at the gate and their truck and about 20 chaps working!
Cheers
Phil
Stargazer
New Shoots
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- Location
- West Oxfordshire
- Name
- Ian L.
- LOCATION
- West Oxfordshire
Amazing progress considering the weather.....if it had been a team of builders what is the betting they wouldn't have turned up yesterday given the weather forecast?
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When I started to read Mike's latest progress posting, I thought it was leading up to a disaster where the wind had blown the panels out of kilter and a right mess but thankfully I was wrong.
I guess most of us are pretty determined when doing a big project but hats off to Mike for sheer dogged determination and carrying on in what sounded like pretty awful weather.
:text-bravo:
Bob
I guess most of us are pretty determined when doing a big project but hats off to Mike for sheer dogged determination and carrying on in what sounded like pretty awful weather.
:text-bravo:
Bob
tracerman
Sapling
Mike , hats off to you for sheer stamina . What the French might call oncroyahberla . I hope you are enjoying some roast beef and a bottle of red today , but I suspect not .
A brilliant post .
Steve
A brilliant post .
Steve
chataigner
Old Oak
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Fantastic progress as always !
Going back to something you mentioned earlier, you said (I think) that you plan to change the pitch of the original house roof. That will mean some reconstruction of the gable ends ....? Will you simply infill with modern masonry or what ?
Going back to something you mentioned earlier, you said (I think) that you plan to change the pitch of the original house roof. That will mean some reconstruction of the gable ends ....? Will you simply infill with modern masonry or what ?
Mike G
Petrified Pine
Thanks all.........and yes, it is just me, working alone.
David, regarding the change in roof pitch on the old cottage: the cottage is timber framed, and all the render will be stripped off as part of the renovation. In putting on a new roof I will simply put new studs at the gable. There will also be 5 inches of build-up outside the frame, so even if I wasn't stripping it to the frame the join between old and new would be covered.
And no Steve, no wine for me. When you see the scaffold I was on today, you'll understand why not.....
David, regarding the change in roof pitch on the old cottage: the cottage is timber framed, and all the render will be stripped off as part of the renovation. In putting on a new roof I will simply put new studs at the gable. There will also be 5 inches of build-up outside the frame, so even if I wasn't stripping it to the frame the join between old and new would be covered.
And no Steve, no wine for me. When you see the scaffold I was on today, you'll understand why not.....
Mike G
Petrified Pine
Today was one of those days.......
First job every day is to open the workshop and get my tools out, and open the van to get my extension leads & spirit levels. Only today, my key-fob stopped working, and I couldn't get into the back of the van. What with messing with the fob, trying alternative batteries, trying to unscrew the panel between the front seats and the load bay (unsuccessfully), hunting for an alternative extension and so on, I lost a good 45 minutes. I then messed around with the airline for half an hour, but at least I made a success of the job. By now it was time for a cup of tea, and the first social visit of the day "Just coming to see how you're getting on.........." By mid morning I had achieved absolutely nothing.
When I did finally get cracking, I bolted the furthermost ceiling ties in place, and clamped some straight bits of timber between them:
These acted as guides for the infill joists. What with having to put the joist up, mark the position of the hole, take the joist down to drill the holes, then put it back up again to bolt it, this little job took almost to lunchtime.
Next, I turned to finishing the southern gable. Firstly studs:
The another visitor checking how I was getting on.
I had just popped up a bit of a wooden scaffold to do the boarding on the outside of the gable when DaveL of this parish arrived to relieve me of a car-full of timber off-cuts. Those of you who don't like my ad hoc access arrangements, look away now.
All very securely nailed in place. Dave thought it looked OK, too.
This enabled me to do the boarding in relatively short order:
So, not the most productive day, but they were both jobs that needed doing. Being as I haven't had a day off since boxing day, I packed up half an hour early and toddled off to see a friend who recently fell of his roof........
First job every day is to open the workshop and get my tools out, and open the van to get my extension leads & spirit levels. Only today, my key-fob stopped working, and I couldn't get into the back of the van. What with messing with the fob, trying alternative batteries, trying to unscrew the panel between the front seats and the load bay (unsuccessfully), hunting for an alternative extension and so on, I lost a good 45 minutes. I then messed around with the airline for half an hour, but at least I made a success of the job. By now it was time for a cup of tea, and the first social visit of the day "Just coming to see how you're getting on.........." By mid morning I had achieved absolutely nothing.
When I did finally get cracking, I bolted the furthermost ceiling ties in place, and clamped some straight bits of timber between them:
These acted as guides for the infill joists. What with having to put the joist up, mark the position of the hole, take the joist down to drill the holes, then put it back up again to bolt it, this little job took almost to lunchtime.
Next, I turned to finishing the southern gable. Firstly studs:
The another visitor checking how I was getting on.
I had just popped up a bit of a wooden scaffold to do the boarding on the outside of the gable when DaveL of this parish arrived to relieve me of a car-full of timber off-cuts. Those of you who don't like my ad hoc access arrangements, look away now.
All very securely nailed in place. Dave thought it looked OK, too.
This enabled me to do the boarding in relatively short order:
So, not the most productive day, but they were both jobs that needed doing. Being as I haven't had a day off since boxing day, I packed up half an hour early and toddled off to see a friend who recently fell of his roof........
billybuntus
New Shoots
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2014
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Mike, well done.
I'd hate to post up what little progress I made today boxing in a boiler. It was tricky and I ended up taking a large mdf carcass apart ready to re-think and cut it back up and assemble tomorrow night. Deep joy.
I can hardly believe your efforts. Nice work.
I'd hate to post up what little progress I made today boxing in a boiler. It was tricky and I ended up taking a large mdf carcass apart ready to re-think and cut it back up and assemble tomorrow night. Deep joy.
I can hardly believe your efforts. Nice work.
Just posting to make a key fob suggestion... I was told to take the battery out and press the buttons on the fob for 10 seconds to make sure internal capacitors were fully discharged then fit a battery and it should work as whatever error state it was in will have been cleared. It has worked so far whenever I've had a car fob play up.
Thanks again for the thread. it is fascinating and progress is amazing
Thanks again for the thread. it is fascinating and progress is amazing