• 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 Workshop Build (Extension & slates)

What are you drilling the concrete with? (or not drilling rather)

The floor at my daughters seemed impenetrable with a hammer drill but my cheapo SDS drill went through it like a knife through butter.

Good to read the explanations along the way as well as see the progress pictures. looks good already!
 
Robert":252g4foi said:
The floor at my daughters seemed impenetrable with a hammer drill but my cheapo SDS drill went through it like a knife through butter.
Click to expand...

A hammer drill.

When it comes to the holes for the door bolts I'll be borrowing a friends SDS drill. I contemplated casting those into the base, incidentally, but it seemed to difficult an exercise, unfortunately.
 
I started the blockwork this evening. This was a first for me, laying blocks, and they're not that easy. Anyway, I got 5 corners in. Grey muck (mortar), as these blocks will never be seen.

B6FxmoR.png

AVSAtU0.png

To show just how friable these things are, I obviously tapped this once too often!

nXgDNUD.png
 
Yes, they're 600 long...........and yes, with an old wood saw.
 
Just does not feel right (to me that is) the have building blocks that can be cut with handsaw eh?
And that crack as soon as you look at them.
I ended up using high density blocks for my shop (different construction to Mikes)

Those look to be about 3 brick long ~ 650 ish?

Bob
 
Mike G":30eccnge said:
Headroom needn't be much of an issue, though, however low the building, because you needn't have any joists in the ceiling
Click to expand...

OK, I've taken the bait, how do I build a roof with no joists?

Wizard9999.
 
Joists are the horizontal element, and aren't necessary if you have a structural ridge beam (ridge purlin), or have a ring beam at wall plate level, or have traditional purlins.

Start a thread with your sketches, and I'll comment more fully there when I can see what you are aiming to achieve.

My workshop is going to have a bit of a combination, with a section of ridge purlin to enable me to leave out some of the ties (joists).
 
Loving the brickwork Mike.

Personally I prefer the (I think it's called) Common Bond (or English Garden Wall, or Scottish Bond) over the Flemish, then English. I like the English but think it's a little overwhelming with the alternating header/stretcher rows and prefer the look of the Common/Garden Wall/Scottish alternative of a single header row per 4-6 stretchers.

Obviously this wouldn't work for your plinth, so I don't know why I'm writing it :) but just thought I would chip in.

Cheers
Mark
 
9fingers":5wc4yut0 said:
Just does not feel right (to me that is) the have building blocks that can be cut with handsaw eh?
And that crack as soon as you look at them.
I ended up using high density blocks for my shop (different construction to Mikes)

Those look to be about 3 brick long ~ 650 ish?

Bob
Click to expand...

So what density are those blocks Mike. I had assumed they would be high density, but they don't look it. Maybe that is why I couldn't find 50mm deep blocks? Does this mean it is the bricks that are the structural element here?

Terry.
 
Goodness knows what their density is, Terry. The weight of this building is negligible, and the blocks are perfectly strong enough in compression to take a shed. Half the load goes through the bricks, and half through the blocks. The blocks are weak when a point load or force is applied to their broad face, but when a uniformly distributed load is applied to the edge, they are plenty strong enough. Any block would be in this situation.
 
TrimTheKing":1y71ngzo said:
Loving the brickwork Mike.

Personally I prefer the (I think it's called) Common Bond (or English Garden Wall, or Scottish Bond) over the Flemish, then English. I like the English but think it's a little overwhelming with the alternating header/stretcher rows and prefer the look of the Common/Garden Wall/Scottish alternative of a single header row per 4-6 stretchers.

Obviously this wouldn't work for your plinth, so I don't know why I'm writing it :) but just thought I would chip in.

Cheers
Mark
Click to expand...

Thanks Mark. A friend of mine suggested I use English Garden Wall bond, but I pointed out that this would mean 2 rows of headers sandwiching one row of stretchers, or the other way around. That'd look pretty silly.
 
Haha, yes indeed. I almost deleted my post before hitting Submit as I thought that myself, but then the sentiment is still valid so I went with it. :)

Cheers
Mark
 
Just as an aside, I have come up with a new bond ( a variation on English Garden Wall bond) I am going to try as a retaining wall:

LcMFLDD.png
 
Mike:

I've got to ask: Are building permits and other paperwork there so onerous, expensive, and time-consuming? It seems like almost every shop building project I see posted on this list and it's predecessor results in a very small shop with very little headroom. At least from your pictures you don't have to build cheek-by-jowl with the neighbors like most folks have done.

The brick/block combo is different. I'll going to watch to see how this will come out and why you did it that way.

Kirk
again, puzzled by ways and customs different from my own...
 
Toolstation sell a SDS hammer drill £49.95 item 17425 comes with chisels and drill bits a small cost in your project for a tool that will drill the concrete so as to make a proper job of the strapping (You would reject that work if it had been done by a contractor) and will be useful in your further renovations.
 
Mike that wall makes me feel dizzy - I take it is rippled in plan?

How frost resistant are your bricks - I've seen lots of walls spall in the past especially garden ones where a proper coping hadn't been provided?

For Kirk - Perhaps we should start a separate thread about the foibles of our country ( leaving alone politics and other banned topics)?

Rod
 
Anyone thinking of buying an SDS hammer drill, make sure you get one with three modes of working...not two. The key one is hammer only, IMO.
 
kirkpoore1":182r1ruf said:
Mike:

I've got to ask: Are building permits and other paperwork there so onerous, expensive, and time-consuming?...
Click to expand...

No, but in my case, time constraints were everything. The Planning process takes 2 months, and by then, I will be starting the major works on my house, so I needed to get the workshop up in a very short time after moving in here. Planning applications cost about £180. It is the Building Regs which are onerous. I couldn't have built this building under building regulations because it is just on a slab, and there are trees near by: only some plums and the hedge, but nonetheless, that would probably have meant the local authority insisting on 6 foot deep trench-fill foundations, or deeper, costing a small fortune.

There will be no compromise on headroom. I can have a building 4.5m (over 15 feet) high without planning permission, and part of the attraction of my design (to me) is that I have a relatively big building looking and feeling relatively small.
 
I spent the morning block laying. Some tips and hints:

-buy a rubber mallet, and use it, rather than the end of your trowel handle
-use sloppier mortar than you would normally
-do NOT cover the entire back of the block with mortar, as you'll never get the block properly in place. Put a bead around the top, sides, and a dab at the bottom.
-prop the string line temporarily up out of the way when putting your mortared-up block in place. It just gets in the way otherwise.
-put a brick on the straps, because every time you bump them, they will create a void in the mortar.
-accuracy in setting up the corners is paramount. Don't rush.

Anyway, here is the current state of play:

VZJoMD0.png

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Kirk, The reason that you see several uk workshop builders expressing concern on height is that the rules that allow building without planning permission say that if the building is close to the boundary, then the height is limited to 2.5 metres and also has flammability restrictions which usually rule out wooden construction.
This is why my shop is built from high density concrete blocks. The height rules were more relaxed then and I could go to 4m with a pitched roof or 3m with a flat roof.

Most modern UK homes are on relatively small plots with some garden areas not much bigger than the area of the house (unlike Mike's) and so a workshop of any useful floor area, is inevitably close to the boundary.

Bob
 
Rod":smff9ml1 said:
Mike that wall makes me feel dizzy - I take it is rippled in plan?
Click to expand...
No, but I am planning a semi-circular retaining wall in this bond. Nobody would ever know if I made a mistake!! :)

Rod":smff9ml1 said:
How frost resistant are your bricks - I've seen lots of walls spall in the past especially garden ones where a proper coping hadn't been provided?
Rod
Click to expand...

Fully tested, certificated, and compliant. They won't spall. I've used their half-brother, the Olde Essex brick from the same manufacturer, for over 20 years and in all sorts of locations (including path edging, which will suffer even if nowhere else does) and have never had a single brick spall.
 
Looking very good Mike. Glad to see somebody thought to bring you a cuppa while you were working!

Away from home for long weekend so will only be ale to post my plans mid next week. Appreciate all the advice you have provided so far.

Terry.
 
I've only been away for 5 days and you've made some cracking progress.

The only question I have thus far is how deep is the hardcore under the slab?
 
Thanks Andy.

Hardcore varied in depth, but was between 75 and 150mm, covered by a notional 50mm of sand blinding.
 
Well, the lack of progress has been disappointing, but I have finally received this:

QxHpZn2.png

I set up a bench of some of the roof timbers, and put up some supports, screwed the saw to the base, and screwed a stop in place:

6Rp8vAs.png

Then chopped up some 4x2s into the requisite stud lengths:

wwqX1LN.png

I then set out a couple of plates, and got the Paslode nail gun out to start nailing it all together. Unfortunately, that was that. The nail gun is combuggerlypleted, and requires at least 10 or 12 new parts. Using a gun is so much more accurate than bashing in 4" nails with a hammer, so I will wait a day or two until the nailer is working, (unless anyone has an air-nailer or Paslode they could lend me!!)

Frustrated as hell.........
 
Hi Mike
Sorry to here your Plaslode packed up , mines been nothing but trouble since i bought it in 07 . So have bought a Bostich air nailer second hand to try. Your welcome to borrow it . You will need a compressor
hose and a bayonet fitting for it Oh and nails the plaslode nails dont fit.

Cheers Bern :D
 
I really appreciate the offer, but by the time it has got here I will have sorted out bits for the Paslode. Many thanks anyway. Appreciated.

How do you get on with it? What size compressor do you have?
 
I havent used it yet Mike just a few test shots with 4'' nails and they were only driving in half way so sent it off to be overhauled and only just got it back. I have a small portable Bostich compressor not sure of the size its small enough to carry around and big enough to run 2 nail guns .Usually get a few cut roofs of a local builder as his boys cant cut a hip but havent had any this year yet .

Cheers Bern :D
 
I have a couple of Paslodes the IM350 and a smaller brad nailer. They both worked fine and did fire in a few thousand nails but after a couple of years kept failing. They are great when working but do become temperamental with age. I started spending a regular sum on servicing them but to no long term avail.
The workshop build looks great mike.
:text-bravo:
 
I got a couple of hours on the workshop this evening, and built 2 of the frames:

6GFBBrU.png

k9Krk3O.png

The one standing up is there just to get it out of the way. The one on the ground is the far gable wall, with one of my hatches which serves the radial arm saw and router table.

This is the best framing timber I have ever used. Every single one straight and twist free, with minimal knots or shakes, and all of the same cross-sectional dimensions. I had to return the original delivery as they hadn't supplied treated timber.......yet more delay.
 
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