Shed / Workshop Build

[Haldane]

Hello All

Now its almost finished I thought I'd post some pictures of my new shed / workshop (not sure what the difference is?) Any way started the build in middle of last Feb when had week off work ordered the materials for the base the previous week great weather and lots of sunshine, which changed completely as soon as I set foot outdoors on my weeks holiday

Area dug out and marked with pegs to try and level

Armoured power and alarm cable buried and run out from house in readiness (shed to have its own zone on the main alarm panel) also
start to move roadstone (about 6 tonne) from front of house by
wheelbarrow no access for deliveries around back

Shuttering installed and roadstone leveled and compacted

DPM layed then it snowed bloody typical! worried about laying concrete in such cold conditions but took advice from builders merchant where I got ballast and cement from, used additive to help cure the mix and went for it, especially as the mixer had to go back at the end of the week.

Layed the slab in three sections outer two first then filled in centre section
using outer slabs as reference to get centre level as best as possible

Took 4 days hard work to get base down in freezing conditions but it
turned out ok (worried a lot about the possibility of it cracking or the
surface finish flaking badly)

Concrete blocks for part retaining wall along the two back edges but also for keeping timber frame well away from damp thanks to Mike Garnham
and other who answered my question and gave advise last year when I was at the planning stage

Not a very good builder so brought one of those Marshall Bricky tools
you usually see advertised on shopping channels works really well and
surprised how good results and finish I got. spent a lot of time measuring and double checking everything square and level

Timber arrives Yeh!

When I was building the wall I inserted 10mm threaded rods between the blocks to anchor the frame too (Tommy Walshs ultimate workshop?) strip of polythene DPC between blocks and 4x2 timber drilled and bolted down

Tried to base the design on 8x4 sheet material to be used in modular way
Started to build frames for wall

Bit of a shock when first put up. I mean you do a scale drawing and in your minds eye you know what 8 ft tall looks like But once the wall was up it looked massive far to big, the missus wanted to know if I was building a snooker hall in the garden!
Almost paniced at this point and reduced the height but decided to keep it as the design and plough on regardless (really glad I did)

18mm OSB boards for roof starting to go on

Slight detour in pictures. This stand for the mitre saw was made from the concrete shuttering after it was pulled up (based on one of Norms designs)
really useful and made the joinery a lot easier to complete.

Shiplap cladding going on whilst waiting for the roof to be made waterproof (praying for no rain)

2mm torch on ashphalt underlay applied roof now watertight thank god it didn't rain for 4 days while waiting for the roofer to arrive!

Wanted to insulate with kingspan type boarding but just could not afford it
ended up using wickes loft insulation for the roof and walls (on offer 2 for 1) covering with vapour barrier then 18mm ply on the walls and 11mm OSB on the ceiling.

Contacted the company who had fitted widows for our house couple of years earlier explained I was building the shed and asked if he had got anything suitable that were seconds/cheap. He had the widow in the picture in his shed it had been removed from one off his clients because she did not like it and wanted it replacing with a bay type window, anyway I got it complete with double glazed units for £80 which seemed a bargin very happy with it.

Started to paint interior while relatively empty.

More to follow soon

 

[rileytoolworks]

You jammy turnip! I'd pull your legs off for that shed!
Looking forward to more pictures, though I hate you already :wink: :wink: :lol:

 

[rileytoolworks]

Ooh. The censorship doesn't recognise THAT word.... :shock:

 

[Max Power]

Great looking workshop, good idea getting the shiplap tanalised.

 

[Boz62]

Very impressed. That will make a lovely working space.

Boz

 

[MikeG.]

That's (almost) the way to do it!

To make it perfect I would have put a membrane around the outside and battened out to create an inch void behind the cladding, but that aside, this is a super shed. Have you got the door in the right place? It looks a bit tucked in behind that other shed.

Mike

 

[Gordon T]

What a project...., will you be pulling the other shed down now?

GT

 

[chippy1970]

Is there a big sag in the ridge board or is that an optical illusion ?

 

[Mike.C]

Brilliant build =D> =D> =D> =D>

Cheers

Mike

 

[mailee]

Very nice build, nice looking shop too. It is surprising how large these shed builds look when in framework, it's only when you start moving in the machinery that you wish you had built it even bigger! Look forward to seeing it completed up and running.

 

[OPJ]

Is there a big sag in the ridge board or is that an optical illusion ?

That's exactly what I thought... :-k

Otherwise, it's an excellent build and it looks like it's going to be a superb workshop. If you do find it's too small, you could always build a second shed and use one as a machine shop! :wink:

Look forward to seeing the doors go on and everything finished.

 

[MikeG.]

Is there a big sag in the ridge board or is that an optical illusion ?

I'm guessing that the walls are spreading at the top, pushed apart by the roof gently saggingt. I note from the photos that the only tie seems to be some twisted wire of some sort, which I presume is temporary. It shouldn't take much to pull the walls together, which should raise the ridge. This should be a priority.

Mike

 

[Shultzy]

Nice build, but they take their time going up eh! :lol:

 

[Haldane]

Hello

More pics but first some answers to questions

Gordon - yes the old concrete slab garage will be coming down
but not until another small shed is made for the few items left in it gardening tools etc.. Have already made one concession in having
the tumble dryer in the workshop (only because it needs electricty)
I have now put my foot down with a firm hand, drawn a line in the sand
and locked the doors to any other non workshop type equipment.

Chippy OPG and Mike - Yes there is a sag in the roof. When the framed walls were finished there was a couple of inch bow in the centre, I used the galvanized wire with fence tensioning adjusters to pull the wall into the the correct distance (well spotted Mike). The sag did not occur until the 18mm OSB was put on, I just assumed that the sag was caused by a combination of my poor joinery and the fact I'd used 4x2 for the ridge board (with hindsight I think something more substantial should have been used over such a long span (6m) 6x2 maybe? Plus compression from the shear weight of material in the roof. Total of 20 OSB boards inside and out and the ashphalt roofing material 2mm underlay and the 4mm gritted top sheet (struggled to lift just one roll and my own). When the roof had it's final covering torched on there were 2 of us working up there and if felt rock solid. I think the sag looks worse than it is there is only 2 1/2" drop in the centre of the entire span, might try putting some more tension in the cable as I have not touched it since the roof went on and see if it improves things.

More painting

Electrics starting to go in. Two ring main circuits from the main board the return cable in its own plastic conduit (should make it simple to insert any further sockets if needed)

Flooring starting to go down 1" polystyrene sheets straight onto the concrete then 18mm T&G chipboard flooring boards

You can see a vent just the left of door, there is also a bathroom type expel air unit fitted at the top of the wall to the left of the window (another of Mike Garnhams suggestions)

This was then covered with 3mm hardboard nailed at about 6" centre to hold everything in place

Electrics finally wired up with some circuits to spare (one has a 16amp breaker just in case one day I might be able to get a decent tablesaw)

Doors under construction

Due to an upgrade to Windows 7 I seem to have missplaced some photos
will post more as soon as I find them again

 

[MikeG.]

Firstly, the ridgeboard in this roof is non-structural, and has no great influence on whether the ridge sags or not. I bet if you measure the distance between the walls at plate level you will find that your shed is wider in the middle than at the ends!

Personally, I would replace/ augment your single wire-tie. I have done wire ties, and they can work beautifully (I saw a chain used as a tie in an ancient Venitian cathedral, once)........but I don't think I would ever have just one. This puts an awful lot of strain on your roof-plates, as well as being potentially disasterous if the single tie is snapped or damaged. You might consider a couple more wire ties , or a couple of say 10mm steel rods with threaded ends (cheapest way is to weld some threaded rod onto each end) with big spreader plate washers. Crank the nuts up until the walls are parallel!!!

Actually, other than aesthetically, there is no problem with stabilising your building with a sagging roof, so long as you can tolerate not-quite-straight walls, and so long as it doesn't sag any further. But I would still add some more ties.

I'm heartened to see the ventilation set-up (although it would have been better to have the Expelair on the wall opposite the door & vent).......and once the initial drying-out has finished (from the concrete, and the paint.......as well the sweat of your brow!!) I'll be interested to see if you need it. I don't anymore in mine, but it is great to know it's there if you do need it.

Incidentally, you have created a quality building that could easily be converted to a home office. When you come to sell, this can be quite a selling point, depending on the location of your house.

Mike

 

[DeanN]

Would you mind me asking what the materials cost, to-date, has been? A new shed/workshop is on the cards for this year, and I'm considering building rather than buying.

 

[Haldane]

These are only rough figures from memory

Base materials, ballast cement roadstone £700.00
Timber inc sheet materials £1400.00
Electrics materials only £400.00
Roofing felt and laying £500.00

Total approx £3000.00
plus a lot a trips to wickes and DIY sheds for for those little things you
forget another £7/800 (propably more but I don't like to think about it to much)

I did look at kit type sheds but they were nowhere near the quality of what I think I've ended up with. Plus the fun, enjoyment and satisfaction of making it yourself

Hope this helps
Dave

 

[chippy1970]

Dave hope you dont mind me just telling you negative things but if I dont say anything you wont learn......

Have you ever laid any flooring before ? as it looks like you have laid the chipboard flooring totally wrong in your pictures, you have not staggered your joints this makes the floor quiet weak you should have staggered the cross joints by at least 500mm but you have lined them all up.

 

[chippy1970]

Firstly, the ridgeboard in this roof is non-structural,
Mike

No ridgeboard is non structural they all do a job if Dave had used a deeper ridgeboard supported at both ends it would have lessened the sag but as you say he can use wire cross ties to maybe pull the walls back in.

 

[MikeG.]

Firstly, the ridgeboard in this roof is non-structural,
Mike

No ridgeboard is non structural they all do a job.

No, I'm right. Most of them do a non-structural job. They are much more of a locating device and are not counted in the roof calculations unless they span, and take the entire weight of the roof. A structural ridge beam (or ridge purlin), is normally a huge piece of something.........glulam, parallam, steel etc.

If they were structural, scarf joints would not be allowed, and no spec. for a cut roof ever excludes joints (except for fully engineered structural ridge purlins). Incidentally, trussed rooves, and most ancient oak pegged rooves, have no ridge board.

To think that a typical ridgeboard is a structural member is to fundamentally misunderstand where the forces in a roof are going.

Mike