New Workshop

[johnny]

I'm not sure why you think I'm doing this bit by bit. .

well maybe its because youve cleared the site and started talking about construction and material sizes but you don't seem to have any idea about your overall design or given any thought about how your shed is going to be constructed. :wink:

You are talking about height restrictions but I thought that you intended to build the shed a minimum of 2.0 metres from any boundary . ?
if there is a 2.5mt height restriction due to permitted development limitations then this should be your first concern and will largely determine your ground levels , workshop design ,construction methods and materials. 2.5m is extemely restrictive and you'll barely have sufficient headroom inside your workshop with a pitched roof construction and the roof will have insufficient fall for rainwater runoff.

if you have a 4'0m height restriction then there shouldn't be any significant problems with height but you need to bear in mind that a Planning Officer will measure the overall height of your structure from the lowest natural ground point around your workshop.If you excavate to reduce levels then the measurement will be taken from an average of surrounding original ground levels prior to work not from your new ground level .

I would suggest you start at the finished surface of your original concrete base as your datum .
Find the lowest point of your original natural ground level where you haven't excavated it. Add or subtract to your datum point depending on whether the concrete is above or below the original ground level. That will then be your new site datum. Hopefully you won't have a minus figure

Then add up the height of all your construction from your datum point and subtract it from your height restriction and you'll know if you have sufficient headroom or if you'll need to alter your construction design to keep under that height.

you might find this base system of interest .http://www.shedbase.com/quickjackpro/

 

[defsdoor]

Nice weather means no excuse for doing some work....

I've decided to locate the shed 2m from the boundary. It makes little difference to the loss of ground and adds significant benefits.

The obvious one is the height restriction - I can now go up to 4m if needed - but additionally I have less concerns about the height difference from our garden to the rear neighbour's.

This is where we (my Dad's helping) left things on Wednesday -

Incidentally, I should point out at this point that the fences you can see here are all my neighbours. The fence that is my responsibility can't be seen. It pretty much vanished under all the years of unrestrained plant growth and when my neighbour tidied up their side and all the ivy was ripped up the fence was gone :O

You can tell from this that there's been a change of plan on the base. I'm sinking 8 post holes at 2.5m x 3m spacing, and building up from the existing shed base for support in the corner that will overhang it.

So the job is significantly simpler - we just need to level the ground as best we can to allow the support posts to be as low as possible.

The camera doesn't give away the height difference very well - looking at these photos even I am wondering what the fuss was

But at the end of day one we'd cleared the big left hump and lifted some slabs.

And after 2 days, the skip is full and we're pretty much level throughout.

We walked the spirit level over via some stakes

Pulled up a load of slabs - some from a long lost path around the outside of the shed and some from the retaining "wall" (will re-use these for a path around the new shed.)

And filled a 2nd skip.

My costs for this so far are -
2 * Skip @180 - 360
1 * Wheel Barrow - 45
Concrete - 140

For the supports the current plan is to shutter up to height (I've a friend with a spinny laser thing coming to help with this) some 400mmx400mm holes and to concrete up to the top. This will avoid the need for additional bricks/mortar to get level.

Is there a recommended height above ground level for the underside of the base joists ?

As far as the base goes, I'm thinking of making it from 4 - 2.5x3m square sections - bolted together 2 by 2. This will give double thickness support across the middle of the shed and be easier for me to handle (I'm on my own from now on.)

I welcome any suggestions....

 

[flying haggis]

good idea making the base in sections

when you have done one bit you have a template for the others and something to work from
i used 6x2 joists and 22mm gravel boards for my base

yet-another-shed-build-t60331.html

 

[Markvk]

I built mine last summer and thought that id read those height restrictions to be to the eaves so within 2m from the boundary it was something like 2.4 to eaves with a max ridge of 4m. if that's not the case I got away with murder... and my neighbour is an architect....

here's mine 5x3.5m, solid concreate 4" base insulated lined, all for £2300 although dare I say some of its made from recycled pallets??? (homer)

 

[defsdoor]

You might not have gotten away with it yet

Within less than 2 metres your maximum height is 2.5

2m or more and its 2.5 for eaves and 4m max for a dual pitched roof and 3 metres max for anything else.

Dug all the support holes today and have some concrete being delivered tomorrow.

Have shuttered the holes up to a common height close to ground level and will cement concrete block atop to get to final base supporting height.

 

[defsdoor]

Holes filled.

 

[Markvk]

You might not have gotten away with it yet

Within less than 2 metres your maximum height is 2.5

2m or more and its 2.5 for eaves and 4m max for a dual pitched roof and 3 metres max for anything else.

Dug all the support holes today and have some concrete being delivered tomorrow.

Have shuttered the holes up to a common height close to ground level and will cement concrete block atop to get to final base supporting height.

Nope my BAD! I did know the regs.... just checked my notes on the build and I'm crack on the 2.5 height.... senility is obviously settling in.....

Are you still doing beam and blocks? if so are you screeding over? if not you might get problems with blocks cracking over time....

Other points that I learnt from my build are:

The double doors at the end were a cosmetic gift to the wife to "make it look pretty" theve turned out to be really useful, so useful that id have installed some retrospectively had they not been there. They allow me to park a saw just inside the shop and machine it out into the garden. Access is also much improved for machinery.

Sockets have loads, about twice as many as you might think youll need.

don't run lights into your eaves, I ran 3 fittings down the ridge and then fittings running from the ridge board to the eave, the result is any shelving and stuff stacked on them catches the tubes and fittings, ive got to turn them around to run parallel with the ridge now.

If you plan to have shelving above any fixed bench, plan your lighting to avoid shading of the bench by the shelving.

Plan locations of fixed equipment and provide power supplies. I put a dust filter mounted on the ceiling but hadn't put in a dedicated supply. Ive decided that ive no room internally for a compressor or chip extractor, so they are going outside in a lean too, again no supply.

Will you need any 16 amp supplies, if so plan for them.

Ive 3 pieces of equipment that run on VFD's if id have known before hand I could have installed 1 VFD to run all of the equipment and saved some cash.

Don't forget the interweb! I get fed up with having to go to the house to get a good interweb connection!

intercom to the main house.

Leave space for a beer fridge......

These may or may not be of any help, but they are things that I didn't think of beforehand and I should have.... ive pretty much sorted it all but could have saved some time if id just thought about it.

mark

 

[defsdoor]

Are you still doing beam and blocks? if so are you screeding over? if not you might get problems with blocks cracking over time....

No - Wooden joist base, insulated between joists, one layer of insulation above to get the floor up to above sole-plate, and boarded (boarding yet to be determined). I've set out 9 supports at 3m and 2.5m spacing. Will make 4 floor frames and bolt them together. This will give me a double thickness support along both centre lines.

As I am 2m from all boundaries, the original garden path is clear so I will put the door on that side - although I'm thinking about having some sort of double doors along the house facing wall. This really depends on what I can find and how much it costs.

For internet I either use outdoor APs or directional wifi.

For intercom I will resurrect the house phone system (I build asterisk systems) and just put an extension over the wifi in. Can program intercom buttons on handsets then or just dial it

Thanks for the other reminders/pointers - I'm probably going flat roof up to my 3m max with epdm - but I'm open for persuasion otherwise. I just think flat will be much simpler.

Am cementing the blocks and building the final support (the one on the old shed base) this weekend and sorting out access to a trade discount at a local building supplies company. I need to source doors and windows so I know what sizes I'm dealing with and can then start planning above floor level.

 

[Glynne]

Hi Andy,
Some time since you kindly lent me your chainsaw so apologies for noticing this thread before.
If it would help, you're welcome to pop around and have a look at my workshop which has been up for about 10 years now.

It is a brick & breeze block construction with external & internal cladding and a concrete floor and I'm sure I can drag out my design notes / invoices etc. It cost about £4.5k at the time so will be more expensive now but I'd be happy to tell you how I went about things.
I'm just at the back of Good Hope hospital so not a million miles away. Drop me a PM if you're interested.
Regards,
Glynne

PS It was that big conifer on the left that I needed the saw for.

 

[Markvk]

Hi Andy.

I used these people for windows and the doors, they are exceptionally well priced! but are for sheds so not as robust as household windows and doors

Mark

 

[defsdoor]

Blocks are in and level -

And everything to get me up to floor level is being delivered today!

Have enough air hose to get to the bottom now without needing to move the compressor from the garage and I tested the framing nailer yesterday.

Stupidly though I've gone and got a job :| Will be weekends and evenings only from Monday.

 

[defsdoor]

Floor frame done!

Am knackered - took me almost 3 whole days.

Had to make some adjustments as I went but all in all I'm really happy with it. The adjustments left me with a nice channel down the middle for power to the middle.

It looks huge!

 

[skipdiver]

It'll look even bigger when you start to go up. Buildings always appear smaller when they are at the base stage.

Looking good.

 

[defsdoor]

My next load of materials arrived so I had no excuse to carry on this weekend.

First job was to finish the base - I had 2 more joists and the insulation between them to do.

Next job was to get the OSB on the base so I had a nice flat area to frame on. This OSB will ultimately be covered with some Caberdek so the floor should be solid.

Unfortunately I ran out of OSB - I have about a 4inch gap left to fill at the front. The gaps around the sides are the width of the sole plate.

Then I tackled the back wall - this is one of two walls without openings so pretty straightforward - if it wasn't for some twists I need to rack out. The timber is approx 5x2 - thick enough for some 100mm celotex.

The hardest part was getting it upright. All on my own I started with a couple of timbers and a ladder to lever it up, followed by some uprights to prop it at rest heights. But I soon ran out of leverage as the wall eventually needed to go horizontal as much as vertical. So my next approach was to single nail a prop at each end and move it 6 inches each end in turn.

This was a little scary - especially as one end was on a paving slab and kept slipping but eventually I got there.

Next weekend I'll hopefully get the next wall complete - then I need to decide what I am doing for windows and doors before I can do the remaining walls.

My roof is going to be flat with EPDM covering. I'm not certain how I am going to span it yet.

 

[Fitzroy]

Looking good! Can I ask a few Qs.

1. Did you do any calculations for the loads on your foundation pads? Looks like you have 9 pads for a building about twice the size of mine (6m x 3x), where as I have 18 pads (3 rows of 6), i think i may have overdone it!
2. Any reason why you didn't take the OSB to the edge of the deck and then the wall plates on top and nailed through?

F.

 

[defsdoor]

Didn't do any load calculations. The pads are on 2'x2' and at least 2' deep concrete.

With regards to sole plates on top of the floor - everyone on here said it was a bad idea

 

[Fitzroy]

That all makes sense as my pads are only 100mm deep and made of compressed sub base as my planning permission did not allow anything else! I'd missed the advice of not putting the walls on top of the floor, plans now changed!

F.

 

[defsdoor]

2 more walls up. Need more wood. I've left a hole for the moment until I figure out what windows I'm putting in. Hoping to get hold of some bifolds.

 

[defsdoor]

Got some 4 panel bifold doors coming to fill the hole in the front

Just need to sort out a side door now.

 

[defsdoor]

A bit slow going here but recently had some time to progress.

Got all four walls up now - although I nearly lost one when it tipped it down and the tarp started to pull it down.

Support is in for my bifolds and joists starting to go up. I can hardly lift the joists - getting them on the top is a challenge.

The random OSB is to add some diagonal torsion.

All the joists up -

and so began the task of getting the OSB on the roof -

I pushed the boards up the "spare" ceiling joists with long length of lath.

I finished boarding the roof today and put a few more sheets on the walls. I have a random overhang of the roof that I will trim with a flush cutting router bit against some temporary fascias that I have tacked up.

It's been slow going but had a few good days work this week due to the completion of our other project -

This is Jonah - aged 7 days and completely amazing