DBT85s Workshop - Moved in and now time to fit it out

[Westwood]

".....and then realised no more roof to climb. A large grin appeared."
Read this too quickly, thought you wrote, A large gin appeared

 

[Lons]

A large grin appeared.

How do you get away with that? If I grin for no obvious reason the question posed would be " what are you up to now?" or "what have you bought?".......As if. :roll:

Ha, she pointed out the bruise the size of a saucer on my backside so she knows exactly why I'm grinning!

My wife would have said "where did you get that?"

".....and then realised no more roof to climb. A large grin appeared."
Read this too quickly, thought you wrote, A large gin appeared

Now a large gin can be a good reason for a grin. :wink:

 

[DBT85]

With no hope at all of getting the cladding done (still no paint) and no materials or an idea where to start on a door and work looming on Wednesday, I started on the inside instead. First up was to cover the void under the ridge. Some OSB cut to width and then with a shallower angle than the roof cut on either side meant it went up quite well. Then it was time to paint. Yay.

1st coat done

15l of paint later and it's as done as it's going to get. Sadly I don't have a nice Graco sprayer like Phil so it was all done with a roller. One downside of the OSB is that with all the little surface voids it can be a pain getting a perfect finish, but at the end of the day it's only a workshop. I'm happy enough. It was at least nice to have it completely empty while painting so none of the usual trying to move things around or climb over stuff as you go.

With that done I started mounting the frames for some of the lights. I'm putting 4 up on the ceiling either side in the vaulted section and then 2 each at either end mounted on the underside of the joists. Those will probably be added to in time to balance the light out a bit if I feel like it needs it.

6 LED panel mounts up

Very short day today as its movie day and then I've decided to give myself the afternoon watching the F1 and the football, something I've not actually done since its all come back as I've been doing all this.

Once the lights are mounted I can start on sorting sockets out and running the SWA and ethernet in.

 

[Sheptonphil]

Sadly I don't have a nice Graco sprayer like Phil so it was all done with a roller.

With that done I started mounting the frames for some of the lights. I'm putting 4 up on the ceiling either side in the vaulted section and then 2 each at either end mounted on the underside of the joists. Those will probably be added to in time to balance the light out a bit if I feel like it needs it.

Sprayer took thirty five minutes a coat , cracks and all painted, no neck ache. Almost worth hiring one for a day. You can do the two coats in one day.

Think the eight lights in that space will be super bright 8) 8) 8) . I have four in that length and it’s probably overkill. Might be worth wiring half up on a fly lead and see effect. Perhaps two either side and two in the middle suspended may give more even light?

All the same, looking good. Now get back to work, us retired need you to pay our pensions.

 

[DBT85]

Sprayer took thirty five minutes a coat , cracks and all painted, no neck ache. Almost worth hiring one for a day. You can do the two coats in one day.

Think the eight lights in that space will be super bright 8) 8) 8) . I have four in that length and it’s probably overkill. Might be worth wiring half up on a fly lead and see effect. Perhaps two either side and two in the middle suspended may give more even light?

All the same, looking good. Now get back to work, us retired need you to pay our pensions.

Yeah I wish I'd invested in a decent sprayer 5 years ago when we moved in to be honest. Our living room is 8m long 4.5m wide with similarly raised ceilings and it was all new plaster on the walls. It never seemed to flippin end!

With regard to the lights, It may end up a bit bright but I'm ok with that. Don't forget mine are not pointing straight down like yours are either. The top 4 are nearly 3m off the ground and pointing down at 30 degrees. Sadly I've run out of cable so I've only actually got 4 mounted. The frames were at least easy enough to snip notches out of for the cables.

With no cable to continue (and screwfix not having any either) I cracked on mounting sockets and conduit. I got a nice height with my little laser level (step 4 on my ladder!) and put the first ones in 50cm from the wall and then divided the gap into a number that looked ok. They are on about 815mm centres in the end Way more than I'll ever need, but I'll never be looking for a socket at least. I ran out of sockets so I have 8 more to go in. You do have to be careful doing the knockouts though as if you just go for brute force you'll bend the boxes!

It's not going to get much more done for a bit now as I'm back at work for 4 days as of Wednesday. Now I'm going to have to go back to balancing work, parenting and nobbing around in the garden doing this!

 

[MikeG.]

Well, that's been a fantastic project for lockdown, and you're 95%+ done. Huge congratulations. =D> =D> =D> =D>

 

[Bm101]

Great job. =D> Really enjoyed the read. Don't forget to complete the build for us!
ps: see what you mean about the sockets now.

 

[flying haggis]

did you discount the idea of hanging the light panels? four in one area seems overkill imo

 

[DBT85]

did you discount the idea of hanging the light panels? four in one area seems overkill imo

To be fair its 8. I like a tan :lol:

I really didn't want them hanging on chains. The other 4 I'm putting up will be fixed to the underside of the joists and I'm not really happy about that!

I'll see how it all looks. If its too bright I can mvoe them around easily enough as it's all just flex and wagos. I'm fairly sure I'm going to want at least 2 more panels but if I remove some from the vaulted section then I won't have to buy more.

This is where I've ended for now. I finished putting my sockets up and running the conduit and then used what 2.5mm t&e I had to get some cable in. Since I also had the smoke detector in hand I secured that in place.

While I'm away at work I can try and work out wtf I'm going to do about a door as well as how to build it and window frames. I'll only have 3 days at home before I have to go away again so there may be no updated now until early August when I have time off for a prolonged period again.

So
I need thoughts on heaters and or split units that I can hang out the back that can deal with hot cold and humidity
how to make a door
how to make a pair of frames, possibly opening ones

 

[DomD]

I need thoughts on heaters and or split units that I can hang out the back that can deal with hot cold and humidity

I used the cheapest convection heaters I could find on Amazon - they work well for me but I can't say how they will perform in the long run. They have holes in the back you can use for wall mounting.
Dom

 

[Sheptonphil]

So
I need thoughts on heaters and or split units that I can hang out the back that can deal with hot cold and humidity
how to make a door
how to make a pair of frames, possibly opening ones

I have installed a Milek curtain heater, which also has a fan only setting, remote control and timer. Works very well, but will need sub zero outside temp to test its mettle.

Windows aren’t too bad to make if you can get hold of window frame and opening light profiled timber, if not, don’t bother, just buy one ready made or go without.

What type of door are you thinking of, and what dimensions. I’m half way through making a stable door 955mm wide and 2100mm high, they aren’t available that size off the shelf. The joinery grade pine was over £160 to make it, I wasn’t going to put that much effort in to making one using c24 timber just for it to twist or warp.

 

[DBT85]

Well its been mealy a month since my last update but such is life and work when it gets in the way.

Over the last couple of days I managed to get all 12 lights up and lit. Their connections should be final but the lashed up plug to see how it looks is naturally not final.

My paint is also in stock so I might actually be able to get this cladded this year!

It's not as overly bright in the middle as I expected which I'm guessing is down to the height of the top 4 lights spreading the love everywhere. I may end up changing things but right now I'm happy with the lighting.

I've just started running the SWA around the house and right now I'm cowering from the heat.

Nice to see the forum finally got an upgrade.

Not sure my thread warrants being a sticky!

 

[DBT85]

Right chaps.

I'm at a dead end with this in part due to work and everything else going on on the farm. I need help.

The paint is here and so is the FE so I can maybe get cracking on that if it ever stops raining again, but I have literally no idea what to do about doors and I'm running so low on energy and time you wouldn't believe. I don't have the time or the skill to do what Steve Maskery did so that's out of the question.

What can I do, what can I use. Drawings if you've got them.

 

[Nelsun]

Peter Parfit did a recent video on making shed doors which may give some inspiration in one direction or another

 

[DBT85]

Thanks Nelsun but I'm going to have to get some made up as I'm too busy at work and don't have the confidence to get this done myself in the time I do have. It seems ridiculous after doing all the rest of it to be quite honest.

I've only spent a little time using the tiny titan PT that I have and not enough to be confident getting material prepared for something that I NEED done sooner than later. The weather has been utterly rubbish at home in the last week and its not likely to get better as the year wears on and I really want a door on to stop the rain getting in. Until I have a door there's no point thinking about the floor and until I've done the floor I can't begin to think about actually fitting out the inside in any meaningful way.

Exactly what I feared would happen has happened. Time has evaporated as soon as I had to go back to work.

I have at least got just over half of the featheredge painted ready to start fitting this coming week. Hopefully the weather plays ball. I'll not be able to get anything done again after this week for at least 2 weeks.

 

[siggy_7]

Exactly what I feared would happen has happened. Time has evaporated as soon as I had to go back to work.

I feel your pain - similar situation to you with a young family (although I have been fortunate enough to have continued working full-time, from home, throughout recent events). Massive congrats to you for getting so much done in a very short space of time. Don't be too disheartened, the end definitely looks to be in sight!

I made my own doors for my workshop a while ago - depending on what equipment you have they aren't actually too bad to make up. Thread here: Double workshop doors If it's mainly the planing that you're worried about (and with a tiny P/T I can see why) then I'm sure there are solutions available to getting some timber prepared.

 

[Sheptonphil]

The bigger problem is actually finding timber at the moment that is fit for making a door. The usual cr@p available at most timber yards and big sheds is no where near stable enough or straight and true to do joinery with. Bring it indoors and it twists and splits like a Can Can dancers legs. Get them made by a local joinery shop, hang them and enjoy doing the internals in the dry.

There’s still plenty to do, don’t think of it as cheating or failing, you’ve done more than most will ever attempt as it is, you should be well proud of your self earned achievements this year.

 

[Blister]

Not sure what your budget is for the doors , Why not use 2 sheets of marine ply and frame them internally , Quick and easy build

 

[DBT85]

Thanks chaps. It does feel a bit cheating though but with life as it is its the only sensible option. I'm away from home for work and then when in home it's dad duties, other household duties, helping run the holiday cottages etc. It's exactly the type of thing I build the workshop to be able to learn how to make though, just bad timing.

I've had one quote for £280 for 2 doors, one of about 900 wide and one I think about 550 to fill the gap.

 

[MikeG.]

You've probably seen my doors.........6x1 sawn boards with a half-lap, ledged and braced. Quick and cheap, but pretty agricultural. You could make the pair in half an afternoon.

After a spate of break-ins at local outbuildings, I'm considering either replacing them with steel doors, or lining their edges with some strategically placed steel.