Danny's Small Workshop Build (WIP)

[Danny]

For years I have always wanted a reasonable place to be able to work on projects, as I'm still living with my parents I usually have to resort to an extremely crowded cellar or work outside depending on the weather. Not having a nice place to work usually means I don't bother at all however I’m about to change that! I have finally talked my parents into losing a good portion of the garden so that I could have a small workshop.

I did consider just purchasing a large ready made garden shed however I quickly changed my mind after looking at many of them. I came to the conclusion that they are incredibly poor value considering the size of the “timber” used in them, I've seen thicker bits of wood fall down the insert on a table saw. :lol:

Obviously not all sheds are so terrible, there are a few good options out there but you definitely pay a premium for them and even then they aren't perfect. For about the same money I might as well build my own using much better materials and end up with a well built and insulated building.

 

[Danny]

01/11/2014
I spent the whole day taking down the greenhouse, I thought it would take me about 3 hours at most but It actually took over 7 hours! I had forgotten that a lot of silicone had been used in the construction :shock: and a lot of the nuts and bolts were rusty too. I was hoping to get the wooden base cleared too but it started to rain heavily at about 17:00 and it was about to start getting dark anyway so I decided to call it quits for the day.

 

[Danny]

02/11/2014
Rather then continue removing the wooden base from the greenhouse I decided to take advantage of the good weather and started the not so fun task of installing 17m of 6mm² 3 Core SWA cable through the house. The best route to take was to go through the extension wall underneath the bathroom where there is a small cellar/crawlspace which is full of junk and of course had to be emptied. :roll:

The cable then went up through the wall into the kitchen behind the rear legs of all the cabinets and then through another wall into under the stairs where the electric meter is located. I also installed 30m of Cat5e UTP data cable along side the SWA and through the rest of the house to the nearest network switch.

 

[Danny]

05/11/2014
Today started out with the first delivery of materials! OK it's not a very exiting one but it's certainly a start. This delivery contained 7 600x600x50mm concrete paving slabs, 5 25kg bags of grit sand and a 25kg bag of building sand. Although I’m not quite ready for them I got them in-case I need them this weekend.

The first job of the day was carrying everything from the delivery around the back which took me about 20 minutes as my fitness is rubbish. After that I started to remove the wooden base that the greenhouse was built onto which turned out to be a total pain. :roll: Not only was it screwed to the paving slabs with a bunch of L brackets and heavily corroded screws but the 6x100mm screws used to hold it together just wouldn’t budge, even my 18V 3 speed impact driver wouldn't budge them on its highest torque setting, I ended up getting the bar and hammer on them.

I then started moving some raised beds that will be in the way of the build, this was a fair bit of hassle too as I had to move some plants into pots and then bag all of the soil so it can be reused into new raised beds after the build. Not exactly hard work but it was very time consuming and I still didn't get them all moved today.

Finally I gave the paving slabs from under the greenhouse a quick power wash as well as the fence in hopes that I get the chance to paint it this weekend as once my workshop is built it would no longer be accessible other then possibly standing on the roof and lifting the panels out.

 

[Danny]

08/11/2014
Today was a rubbish, It rained for most of the day so I tried to make the most of it. First of all I went to Toolstation and purchased a “few” screws and misc supplies and then late in the afternoon the rain let off a bit and I managed to get in about an hours work. I moved the last of the raised beds over, I had ran out of bags to put the soil into so I went about moving it the hard way.

You want to know what the hard way was don't you. :lol: Well go on then I suppose I’ll tell you. I dug out the soil about 6 inches wide and piled it to one side of the raised bed and then knocked the wooden frame across the ground with a lump hammer, I repeated this process another 5 times to move the bed about 3 feet. :roll:

 

[Danny]

09/11/2014
Today’s weather was looking a little bit more promising so I decided to take the opportunity to paint the fence as I may not get many more good weather days, though saying that it was only 1 degree above the minimum stated on the tin and I lashed the paint on very quickly in fear of rain. I got just as much paint on the concrete posts as I did the fence panels. :roll: And then about an hour later the rain came along again so I didn't really get to do much else today.

 

[Danny]

16/11/2014
Today I finally spent a couple of hours paving the area for my workshop. The original plan was to pave just the area underneath and in front of the door but my parents are now thinking of paving the whole garden, so I just got the 6 directly underneath down so that I can continue the build, the others can be done later on. Obviously I wasn't going for looks with these as there’s already 2 different sizes in the garden so another won't hurt. :lol:

 

[Danny]

20/11/2014
Today started out with a delivery of materials, this ones a little bit more exciting and contained 12 4.8m lengths of 100x47mm PAR treated and graded timber, 4 sheets of 18mm plywood and 4 sheets of 50mm polyisocyanurate insulation (Celotex ). My dad and the delivery driver :shock: helped me take everything it into the back garden in no time at all which meant I could get an early start.

I couldn't be bothered setting up a chop saw so I cut everything with a handsaw, wait that’s the opposite of lazy isn't it? :? Anyway within an hour or so I had all the floor joists cut to length and screwed together which meant I could start levelling it. It's worth pointing out that the paved area isn't level for drainage reasons, but it meant that levelling the floor was a real pain in the rear and it was quite time consuming and since all I had at hand for packers was various combinations of treated batten and offcuts of various uPVC trims which I cut into packers.

Having now got it level around the perimeter I cut and installed all the noggins to pick the edge of the plywood up. Although there really wasn't as much flex in the joists as I was expecting, I still went ahead and packed under the middle of each joist to bring the span down from 2400 to 1200mm as planned. You never know what weight in machinery you may end up putting on a floor.

After double and triple checking for level, I then went around and skewed some screws through the joists into all the packers to prevent them from ever moving. At this point it was getting dark so I laid out the insulation and plywood over the framing and threw a big tarpaulin over the lot. And you will never guess what? It wasn't big enough, it was short by about 100mm and to really pee me off it started to rain.

My biggest concern was keeping the plywood dry so taking the tarpaulin off again and stacking the plywood in a pile in the middle while the heavens opened wasn't really an option. I had another tarpaulin the same size but it was full of holes so I quickly folded it 4 times to get to a good bit of the tarpaulin and then proceeded to build a makeshift box gutter using the old timber from the greenhouse base, this was placed under where the tarpaulins overlapped. At this point I crossed my fingers and called it a day!

 

[Danny]

22/11/2014
There had been heavy rain all day yesterday, so much in fact that due to my constant worry I picked up a 4x25m roll of light duty polythene sheeting early in the evening, I would of preferred something heavier like a damp proofing membrane but it's what I could get at the time and as long as I’m careful with it, it should keep things dry. However when I got the first chance to have a look under the tarpaulins everything was dry so I didn't bother with it, my makeshift box gutter seemed to work a treat!

Today was forecast to be the same as yesterday but the sky looked pretty clear so I decided I should try and do a bit but just be ready with the polythene sheeting. The first task was to drill through the bottom of the edge joist and run the SWA and Cat5e cables through, since I wasn't using SWA data cable or even outdoor rated data cable I ran it through a short length of garden hose for a bit of extra protection.

Next up was to install battens to support the insulation between the floor joists, I made up a simple jig for locating the battens 50mm from the top of the floor joists so it didn't take long to do all 48 of them.

I then started installing the insulation and plywood, as I was installing the last of the insulation under the second sheet of plywood the heavens opened so I had to quickly cover everything and just as I got everything covered the sky cleared again. :roll: I figured I would just try and get the second sheet of plywood installed and then call it a day, I dragged the polythene back again and then marked and drilled through the plywood and brought the cables through and then trimmed the excess off with a hand saw. I covered everything back up again and called it a day!

 

[Danny]

23/11/2014
Today I just spent a couple of hours getting the last 2 sheets of insulation and plywood installed.

Since I'm not sure when I'll be able to continue with the build I went back to using a tarpaulin over the top of the polythene as its a bit heavier and is less likely to be damaged by strong winds, and now that the plywood has been trimmed to size the tarpaulin actually fits (barely!)

 

[Danny]

26/11/2014
Today was a little bit of a wasted day really, the majority of the morning involved 2 deliveries, the first one contained 24 5m lengths of 300mm uPVC hollow soffit and 8 5m lengths of starter trim. The second delivery contained 38 4.8m lengths of 100x47mm PAR treated and graded timber, 11 4.8m lengths of 150x47mm PAR treated and graded timber, 17 sheets of 11mm OSB3 and another 4 sheets of 50mm polyisocyanurate insulation. This delivery contains enough to get the walls and part of the roof done, just enough to be able to throw a tarpaulin over it to create a mostly dry building.

After all of the materials were stacked in the back garden I decided not to bother doing anything in the afternoon, it had rained on and off all morning so I decided I likely wouldn't get much done anyway. Though by the time it got to 17:00 and it hadn't rained at all in the afternoon. :roll:

 

[Danny]

29/11/2014
The plan for today was to get the rear wall framed, sheathed, cladded and then braced into position and perhaps make a start on the side walls. However as soon as I stepped outside it started to rain for about 15 minutes, looking at the sky the weather didn't look too promising and I didn't feel like uncovering the floor only for it to rain again.

Instead I decided to spend a few hours sorting through the timber and cutting all 50 vertical studs to length and as it kept trying to rain It was all done with a hand saw again. So not really a very productive day but hopefully it should speed things up tomorrow, assuming the weather is reasonable.

 

[Woodchips2]

Well done Danny =D>

How will you maintain the back and side walls that are close to the fence?

Regards Keith

 

[John15]

Very interesting build Danny - looking forward to the next stage.

John

 

[Danny]

How will you maintain the back and side walls that are close to the fence?

It's going to be cladded in uPVC, this stuff (note I did not use this supplier)

 

[flying haggis]

that upvc cladding looks good and per sq metre seems good value

 

[n0legs]

Good work Danny =D>
Cracking start you've made there.

 

[mindthatwhatouch]

Really good start Danny,
Can I ask if you have put anything under the base to stop the damp coming up from the ground?

The best idea before its too late, try and get that base up above ground level a bit, maybe you could lift one end lay a course of bricks or blocks and then lift the other. It will make a huge difference to the longevity of the workshop.

Keep up the good work, I know how you feel battling with the weather.

 

[beech1948]

Danny,

How are you cladding this with soffit boards. Vertical or horizontal and how will you seal the edges since they seem to lack a positive seal to disperse water away from the wall.

I'm not being critical just curious about the possibility as I have to build up to a boundary which the planners are insisting must be non-inflammable.

 

[Danny]

that upvc cladding looks good and per sq metre seems good value

It is good value, assuming you get it from a local dealer and not the likes of Screwfix, it works out cheaper than wood and you don't have to maintain it.

Can I ask if you have put anything under the base to stop the damp coming up from the ground?

The best idea before its too late, try and get that base up above ground level a bit, maybe you could lift one end lay a course of bricks or blocks and then lift the other. It will make a huge difference to the longevity of the workshop.

I presume your asking if I used a damp proof membrane under the base, I didn't bother since really I don't think it's needed in my situation, besides it would probably do more harm then good by holding any rain water that gets in from the build. As for getting the base above ground level.. It already is above ground level, the concrete paving slopes towards the fence to the left for drainage where as the base is level so from right to left the whole base is packed off the ground about 5 to 40mm, there is no wood in direct contact with the paving slabs at any point as there are plastic packers under any wood packers used. Plus it's all treated timber anyway.

How are you cladding this with soffit boards. Vertical or horizontal and how will you seal the edges since they seem to lack a positive seal to disperse water away from the wall.

The cladding is going to be horizontal, the uPVC hollow soffit is usually installed using corner trims such as these however because the trim's are a tight fit onto the cladding and I won't be able to get at them to open them up I'm going to be using this edge trim on the edge of each wall and just run a bead of silicone along where they butt up to each other before I slide the wall into place. By the way if your planners are insisting on fire resistant cladding i'm pretty sure they won't let you use PVC either.