littleplop
Member
I don't know if this might help, but I made this a couple of years ago to be our gym using all SIP panels:
I designed it and then got a company to cut the panels then built it myself.
SIP panels for the floor, sides, back and roof.
We are in the New Forest National Park and planning is a total c4nt so we were limited by the 2.5m height restriction.
When ompleted, I also designed and built the power rack but to make it work for both my height and the available internal height I had to scrape literally every last mm in height.
I axtually saved some height by cutting out the turf and taking it down a few inches, leaving an air gap all round the building.
But, not wanting to use a concrete base for eco hippy reasons, I found these:
EasyPads - The easy-to-use foundation system for modular buildings
and mounted it on wooden beams. Saved tonnes of concrete and meant minimal spoil removal so very quick to do and perfectly leveled in minutes.
For the ceiling, I planed down the battens to save about 8mm and used really shallow LED lights set inside.
For the floor covering, I used the thinnest solid rubber matting for horse boxes I could find rather than the full thickness, saving another few mm, but still handy for (hopefully not) dropping weights.
The upshot was the power rack was built to within 2mm of the ceiling so I can get full length pull downs but when doing pullups, I made a lowered bar at the front so I can get my head over it but I still need my knees bent.
Works brilliantly though and really pleased with the building and the kit inside now.
Also, putting down the floor, walls and roof in a weekend was fantastic - it only took this long because I had to buttocks about putting solid aluminium sheets on the back wall to protect it from the dreadful hedge coming through from next door. All vented and will never need maintenance which is handy as precisely zero access along the back.
I get on the roof to cut the hedge but for easy clearing put in a waist height ally tray connected the hedge all the way along the back so rubbish can be scooped out easily. In the pick you can see the green plastic voer on the ally sheet I screwed into the crappy fencing to manage the hedge. This was left on both sides as it helps it blend through the hedge for our neighbours.
The only tricky bit was lifting the 6.5m back wall up as it was all in one piece - it had to pop onto the screwed down connector block along the length that the OSB panels sit either side off. This block does stop it slipping back into the hedge which is great and 4 of us did it fairly easily even with the extra weight of the ally sheeting.
We have now installed an air source heater / cooler at the end in the pic which is awesome. Freezes it down in summer and only needs heating for a few minutes in the winter with the incredible insulation. Really happy with this and it runs off our solar so basically free to run either way.
To sum up, I cannot recommend SIP enough and would have used it on my recent workshop if I wasn't so incredibly limited for space (mainly width).
Certainly, if we ever build a house from scratch will be SIP and oak frame all the way.
Hope this might help?
Last edited:
