Wizard9999
Old Oak
Well, as some may know my shed thread is currently residing in the nether regions of cyberspace. Hopefully it ill return, at which point it an be merged with this thread.
Having built the frames it took a while to get around to erecting them on the plinth walls. I have to say it was not without a fair degree of trepidation that I approached this task, as having made the frames they were a lot heavier than I had expected and I was rather concerned my block laying skills would be proved insufficient and the walls would crumble when the frames were put into place.
Rob (also no on TWH) had kindly said he would again come around and give me a hand, as well as another friend Ian (particularly generous as he has no interest in woodworking or workshops, he'll learn one day). Rob arrived first and we decided on the order to put the frames up in. The key factors I this were access, the weight of the frames and a particular concern about the strength of one of the walls. So the first wall was the side nearest the trees.
I was planning to put the frame on a bed of mortar as Mike advocates. My understanding (possibly wrong) is that this is for two reasons, to makes levelling easier and helps seal the building reducing the air that can get between frame and plinth. This seemed like it would add an extra element of complexity to the whole process, so we first lifted the first frame up to see the extent of levelling needed. Well, by luck rather than judgement I am sure, when the frame sat on the wall it was almost completely level and certainly better than any tolerance I was looking for, at worst it was about by about 5mm over the c.4.2m length. So after a short conflab Rob and I decided that it would be a lot easier to drop the frames straight onto the wall without any mortar - I'm sure it ends up as a major issue with heat loss I can find a way of sealing the gap.
So we cut a strip of DPC to length took the frame off, put the DPC down and lifted the frame into place. The frame was just as level as the first time. Throughout this build the two large oak trees have caused no end of problems, at last there was plus for building so close to them, one of them was the perfect rock solid point to attach a brace onto. So one up, three to go.
The second frame we decided to put in place was the back frame. Not much to say here, it went up pretty much as per the first, except if anything it was even closer to perfect level. This is very useful, as the roof joists will sit on the front and back frames. as the front frame s a little taller this creates a slight slope on the roof. The resulting triangular gap will then be in-filled. So having the sides level is not key, far more important is front and back.
My friend Ian's timing was perfect as he arrived just as the post frame 2 tea was finished. This was a good job as the next frame to go up was by far the heaviest, the front. Clearly the doubled up 200mm x 50mm timber I have used above the door opening was heavy, but I had expected it the large open section to compensate somewhat. Well this frame was way to heavy for two of us to do anything more than lift it a few inches off the ground, but with a third person we managed to man handle it all the way around the house. It took a huge effort but we managed to put it up onto the plinth and again it was level. You'll see that, like Mike I left the sole plate whole across the bottom for cutting later, the weight is all at the top and if I hadn't I'm pretty sure it would have twisted itself to pieces when we were moving it.
We left the other side frame to last as there were real questions in my mind as to whether this wall could take the weight. My thinking was that if the frame could go up and we could fix it to the two frames adjacent to it then it would be partly supported if the worst happened with the wall. Well I need not have worried, the wall was fine and dandy. Not easy to get an angle for a picture of this wall as it is up against the house.
Now I know whilst Mike tends to have pictures that are in a Haynes manual style (very helpful in providing info on how to do things), mine are a bit more tourists holiday snaps a bit superficial and content free. But the next one probably shows a few things worth pointing out.
First the strap on the left hand side. Here you can see why I had to make one of the uprights removable, so the strap could be fixed and the upright put back into place. You can also see that on the two walls that have a double skin (back and tree side) the frame is sitting on the outside, this will allow me to use the inside wall as a narrow shelf.
Anyway, I'm about out of steam now and my typing fingers are sore. Tomorrow I'm hoping to have a look at getting the roof joists up, they're heavy, but I think it is easy enough to get them in place if I take my time and lift one end at a time.
I did have one question for you though. Once the joists are up I need to start getting the OSB up on the inside of the walls and the underside of the roof. Chances are it will be up one weekend and the outer skin for both roof and walls will not be up the same weekend. But what I don't know is how durable OSB is and how long it could reasonably be up before I get the outer skin covering it. Any advice would be much appreciated.
Terry.
Having built the frames it took a while to get around to erecting them on the plinth walls. I have to say it was not without a fair degree of trepidation that I approached this task, as having made the frames they were a lot heavier than I had expected and I was rather concerned my block laying skills would be proved insufficient and the walls would crumble when the frames were put into place.
Rob (also no on TWH) had kindly said he would again come around and give me a hand, as well as another friend Ian (particularly generous as he has no interest in woodworking or workshops, he'll learn one day). Rob arrived first and we decided on the order to put the frames up in. The key factors I this were access, the weight of the frames and a particular concern about the strength of one of the walls. So the first wall was the side nearest the trees.
I was planning to put the frame on a bed of mortar as Mike advocates. My understanding (possibly wrong) is that this is for two reasons, to makes levelling easier and helps seal the building reducing the air that can get between frame and plinth. This seemed like it would add an extra element of complexity to the whole process, so we first lifted the first frame up to see the extent of levelling needed. Well, by luck rather than judgement I am sure, when the frame sat on the wall it was almost completely level and certainly better than any tolerance I was looking for, at worst it was about by about 5mm over the c.4.2m length. So after a short conflab Rob and I decided that it would be a lot easier to drop the frames straight onto the wall without any mortar - I'm sure it ends up as a major issue with heat loss I can find a way of sealing the gap.
So we cut a strip of DPC to length took the frame off, put the DPC down and lifted the frame into place. The frame was just as level as the first time. Throughout this build the two large oak trees have caused no end of problems, at last there was plus for building so close to them, one of them was the perfect rock solid point to attach a brace onto. So one up, three to go.
The second frame we decided to put in place was the back frame. Not much to say here, it went up pretty much as per the first, except if anything it was even closer to perfect level. This is very useful, as the roof joists will sit on the front and back frames. as the front frame s a little taller this creates a slight slope on the roof. The resulting triangular gap will then be in-filled. So having the sides level is not key, far more important is front and back.
My friend Ian's timing was perfect as he arrived just as the post frame 2 tea was finished. This was a good job as the next frame to go up was by far the heaviest, the front. Clearly the doubled up 200mm x 50mm timber I have used above the door opening was heavy, but I had expected it the large open section to compensate somewhat. Well this frame was way to heavy for two of us to do anything more than lift it a few inches off the ground, but with a third person we managed to man handle it all the way around the house. It took a huge effort but we managed to put it up onto the plinth and again it was level. You'll see that, like Mike I left the sole plate whole across the bottom for cutting later, the weight is all at the top and if I hadn't I'm pretty sure it would have twisted itself to pieces when we were moving it.
We left the other side frame to last as there were real questions in my mind as to whether this wall could take the weight. My thinking was that if the frame could go up and we could fix it to the two frames adjacent to it then it would be partly supported if the worst happened with the wall. Well I need not have worried, the wall was fine and dandy. Not easy to get an angle for a picture of this wall as it is up against the house.
Now I know whilst Mike tends to have pictures that are in a Haynes manual style (very helpful in providing info on how to do things), mine are a bit more tourists holiday snaps a bit superficial and content free. But the next one probably shows a few things worth pointing out.
First the strap on the left hand side. Here you can see why I had to make one of the uprights removable, so the strap could be fixed and the upright put back into place. You can also see that on the two walls that have a double skin (back and tree side) the frame is sitting on the outside, this will allow me to use the inside wall as a narrow shelf.
Anyway, I'm about out of steam now and my typing fingers are sore. Tomorrow I'm hoping to have a look at getting the roof joists up, they're heavy, but I think it is easy enough to get them in place if I take my time and lift one end at a time.
I did have one question for you though. Once the joists are up I need to start getting the OSB up on the inside of the walls and the underside of the roof. Chances are it will be up one weekend and the outer skin for both roof and walls will not be up the same weekend. But what I don't know is how durable OSB is and how long it could reasonably be up before I get the outer skin covering it. Any advice would be much appreciated.
Terry.
.
