new workshop - advice please

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
A

Anonymous

Guest
Lucky enough to be moving home so planning a workshop for the new garden.

spent the last two hours reading all the posts on here so I'm planning a

- 30 * 20 workshop sat on concrete strip base
- armoured cable to workshop consumer board split 3 ways into ring main, dedicated points and lightning circuit + cat 5 cable.
- heating popular 2 stove from hotspot.co.uk

Any advice on wood vs breeze block building (not sure if I'm allowed the latter - planning permission needed?).

current design favourite:

http://www.gardensheds.com/greenhouses.html - not for inside but light level for inside.

Worried about making too much noise for neighbours - anyone used soundproofing board or have other tips?

Any other advice before I rescue the credit card would be gratefully appreciated.

Regards

Paul
 
20x30 feet i'm guessing, thats a good size.

Don't quote me on this, but I seem to remember reading that if its built from bricks/blocks it counts as a permenant structure, so wood is temporary - you can make it as big as you like too - as long as the height isn't over X meters.

As I said, don't quote me on that - I would advise ringing or emailing the local council and asking what their terms are.
 
Hi
Welcome to the forum
In my area, if you own a house (i.e. not a flat) then you can build what you like in your garden as long as it isn't more than 4.5m high (pitched) 3m high (flat roof) and doesn't take up more than xx% of the area of your property (can't remember that figure, but it's pretty big). Doesn't matter what it's built from. Your local planning office will be able to tell you all this free of charge. If you're in a conservation area, you're stuffed - have to get planning permission to change a lightbulb. :roll:
For a woodworker, the advantage of wood is that you can build it yourself! :D
When I built my workshop, soundproofing was about the biggest concern as it backs onto 5 neighbours and I really didn't want complaints!
I took advice from a couple of soundproofing firms. The basic advice was to limit sound by making it pass through a range of different materials including air.
So, the structure of my walls and ceiling is, from inside to out: 12mm plasterboard, 19mm plywood screwed onto 3x2 studs of which the first 1" is air, then 2" of stiff rockwool insulation, then a plastic membrane to make everything waterproof on the outside surface of the studs, then the external batons and featheredge exterior.
Your doors must be really well fitting and sealed around the openings. I have double glazed windows that don't open made up of 6mm toughened glass with a 19mm gap in between. Very soundproof!
This works so well as far as soundproofing is concerned, that I can run my dust extraction with two of the noisiest machines and from 2m outside the door it sounds like a quite hum. From my neighbour's nearest window, you can't hear anything. Good job!
Having plywood under the plasterboard all round the walls is invaluable. You can stick up shelves, hang jigs etc etc wherever you like.
 
Thankyou both,

help noted - now have emailed my planning officer for guidance on use of breeze blocks - wonders of modern day technology. the 3m flat roof vs 4.5m pitched roof and 50% of garden space seems to be our general rule too :)

liked the plasterboard, chip baton airspace, rock wool outerface set-up - will implement unless anyone has a better suggestion (winces waiting for mad eggbox suggestions).

Please keep the suggestions coming.

Regards

paul
 
For me, I used the following (and you can see the results in the Gallery section if you click under workshops - then Adams workshop....)

Inside to out,

18mm Chipboard (painted white to make it brighter on the inside)
50mm Polystyrene (like the chips you get as packaging but in sheet form from Wickes)
I have a frame of 3x2, and the polysyrene is between the gaps
Roofing felt for waterproofing (the entire structure is clad in this, vertical walls especially)
Featheredge on the outside.

I too, despite it being a glorified "shed" have double glazed windows.
These were free from a neighbour, who was stripping out old "aluminium framed" windows to replace with PVC versions.

I have yet to sound-proof the extension for the dust extractor. I must get round to this..... I still haven't been around to see them to see if it is a problem :oops:

Adam
 
Hello, Paul. Welcome to the forum. Can't add anything of value really, but the comment about egg boxes rang a bell so I can do a bit of confirmation. In the last FWW Tools and Shops issue there was an article on sound proofing and in essence it pretty much says what Aragorn's already suggested. Apparently polystyrene isn't particularly effective btw, Adam. You sure you're not unwittingly driving your neighbours insane? :lol:

Cheers, Alf

P.S. 20x30? I'm jealous. 'Course it still won't be big enough...
 
Alf":1u9icbde said:
You sure you're not unwittingly driving your neighbours insane?

Well, they were the only people who didn't vote for Adam in the recent "Pollster of the Month" competition.

:D

Yours

Gill
 
don't build it from breeze blocks.
go and buy a 1000 cases of french beer drink the contents then build it from the bottles!!!!

LOL
 
Alf":2hn2pcqi said:
Apparently polystyrene isn't particularly effective btw, Adam. You sure you're not unwittingly driving your neighbours insane? :lol:
Cheers, Alf

The polystyrene is mainly for insulation, rather than sound proofing. A carpeted floor helps sound proofing.

Adam
 
I saw a program on the telly yesterday where they recommended a specialized membrane for sound proofing.I don't know the name but it might be worth a search for "sound proofing". It was claimed to be very effective.
 
Well a lovely amount of response thankyou all.

Sound proof membrane barrier - I'll look into it.

Currently negotiating with wif on design - cheap with trellis up the side to cover it or a nice looking one to add an asset to the garden (latter my preferred). Ok ok I want to build my own :)

Will go look for membrane brb.

back now - in case its useful for anyone else:

http://www.customaudiodesigns.co.uk/sou ... iermat.htm

Paul
 
Ooops my initial posting referenced a stove I was considering I got the web site wrong.

I wrote hotspot.co.uk when the web address I meant to write was www.thehotspot.co.uk. I hope no-one was offended by visiting hotspot.co.uk as a result of my initial posting - apologies if so.

Paul :oops:
 
I am also new to alot of this and planning to build a work shop. Tried of having to wait for a dry day to work in the garden.

Found the comments on this thread very useful.
 
30x20 is 3 times bigger than mine but, as said elsewhere, no matter how big it is you will always fill every square inch.
Size does matter. ;)
 
asleitch":232hnahy said:
I have yet to sound-proof the extension for the dust extractor. I must get round to this..... I still haven't been around to see them to see if it is a problem :oops:

Adam

Probably safe to assume that it's not a problem for them...or else they would have been rounf to see *you* by now!

Mark.
 
Rather than spending loads of money on sound proofing just open the windows of your house and turn your stereo up full blast .If they can still hear your router buy a louder stereo :twisted:
 
mhannah":2etylzpz said:
asleitch":2etylzpz said:
I have yet to sound-proof the extension for the dust extractor. I must get round to this..... I still haven't been around to see them to see if it is a problem :oops:

Adam

Probably safe to assume that it's not a problem for them...or else they would have been rounf to see *you* by now!

Mark.

I finally spoke to my neighbours the other day. They said it's not a problem, although it's not so much the noise, but the vibration that gets coupled through into their house vibrations. This surprised me, as A) The table saw is quiet and smooth, B) it sits on a carpeted floor, C) which is on plywood on wooden bearers D) which are on roofing felt strips for dampproofing E) which is on a patio F) on a bed of sand which is on hardcore G) which is seperated by a retaining wall, H) and a 2.5 foot alley way which is just scrub/soil etc.

Now, this being the case, my immediate neighbour to the left as I face my workshop has an observatory at the end of his garden. Real serious job, 1meter dome, telescope you could buy a new car with, and the entire observatory is sunk into the ground by 1.5m to ensure the top of the dome doesn't break planning restrictions. My workshop, and his observatory are probably less than 80cm from each other. Now if the other neighbours are suffering from vibration, god only knows whay he must be suffering. I'd better go round for a chat this evening me thinks! :oops:
 
Back
Top