Shed build (WIP)

[angelboy]

Like Steve and Mike I've been busy building a new 'shed' at the bottom of the garden. I say shed because it's initially for storage but who knows what we'll use it for in years to come. I have a garage that needs to be demolished to make way for a new build so rather than get a container or a cheap shed I'd opted to build something that I won't mind looking at for the next decade……that is if it survives for the next decade!

I know now that I've made a few mistakes that I'm aware of and I'm sure there's a few that I'm not aware of and I do know some of my detailing is a lot to be desired - I'm definitely a member of the 80/20 club in that respect.

There's still a few trimming jobs needed (or not) to be done, I'll install the downpipes once the landscaping is done and I have to lay a concrete door cill but all in all I've learnt a lot and I'm generally pretty pleased with the result

I've got 185 photos but I'll slim it down a little.

Here's a quick taster of the near completed building.

 

[celston]

Beautiful, looking forward to the rest of the pics

 

[angelboy]

Beautiful, looking forward to the rest of the pics

Thanks!


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I planned to build this shed in a part of the garden that had previously only been used for tipping grass. It's in the shadow of quite a large sycamore tree so I always knew that it wasn't the best spot construction-wise but I wanted it to appear as if it has always been there and for it to almost be a little 'enchanted' hut at the the bottom of the garden - stretching it I know! If this were to fall under building regs (under 15sqm so I'm OK) then I'd have either had to dig down to 2.5m or pile it - not going to happen! It might be arguable wether there's a full 2m distance to the boundary but as the hedge is over 1.5m thick I should be OK. For this I decided not to push too far above 2.5m although the ridge is actually 3.2m. I'd have preferred a steeper roof pitch but I didn't want to push it. There's a neighbours garage just over the hedge that is pretty much the same height as this shed so I it shouldn't offend anyone.


On with the digging.

It's a little hard to get any scale from these shots but I'm about 500mm down and 300mm across the bottom of the trench. I had to take out some branch like tree roots when digging out the front trench, so much so that I did wonder if I might undermine the stability of the tree. A year on and the tree seems OK - no stability issues but I did notice a few branches looking a little dry over the summer. Too late now!

When starting to dig there's a real sense that it's well within the ability of my trusty spade and a bit of sweat but after 300mm down and dried out clay and I realised my little spade just wasn't going to do the job.

I bought this lot for £50 and it was money very well spent!

 

[angelboy]

The trenches were filled with 300mm of concrete - mixed by hand but in a Belle 150 mixer - with two parallel 6mm rebar inserted to be around half way in each trench. The concrete was poured all at the same time and the rebar is to help keep the whole trench together if there happens to be any future root issues. I'd also stuck some A142 mesh in the slab and put in some brick reinforcement into every 4th course of brickwork - so fingers crossed if it moves it moves together.

Once the concrete had gone off my wife and I removed all the remaining spoil so that it was level with the top of the trench. You'll notice on some other photos that we dumped it to the other side of the tree so we still need to get rid of it around the rest of the garden. I think it's supposed to be a bulking factor of 1.5x so it's quite surprising how much spoil you actually end up with.

 

[angelboy]

Next I laid all the concrete blocks. I'd been on one of those 5 day bricklayer courses and I do admit, it gave me the courage to give it a go. One of the main reasons for the design of this building was because I had some materials left over from the new garage - built my next door neighbour who's a bricky - and so I wanted to try my newly learnt skills. The actual size of the building was based around the fact I had so many blocks so I wanted to use them all. They were the bloody heavy 7n blocks as well so a little more difficult for me to get them down right first time. When we demolish the garage I plan to reuse the bricks to build and brick gazebo with an outdoor fireplace as well as a hot tub enclosure (I'm going to build a hot tub as well....but that's another story!) so by the time I'm done the bricklaying course will have paid for itself quite a few times over.

The engineering bricks on this photo hadn't been laid, I was just estimating how many I'd need. Before I laid this course I wanted to get the sub-base in and whacked. The whacker plate I have is a big 18" bed so it's a beast to control. If I'd laid the red bricks then I'd have no doubt knocked a few out before I'd finished.

I'd filled up a bit of the bottom with a few larger bits of rubble, half bricks and such, then stuck some MOT Type 1 to a total of 150mm. I'd whacked it for a good hour or so afterwards to make sure the base was well compacted.

 

[Wildman]

looking really nice

 

[angelboy]

For some reason I must have forgotten to take the picture of prepping the base for the slab so I'll just have to explain what I did.

After the sub-base was thoroughly compacted I built up a layer of red bricks which would then act as a guide for the top level of the slab and then put in a 50mm sand screed. The sand I had was left over from a garage base and it's a filler sand direct from the quarry. On top of this I laid a 300mu DPM - again, left over from the garage - and put in some overlapped sheets of A142 mesh sat on 50mm bits of broken slab so that the mesh sits in the middle of the slab. I'd read about putting the mesh at the top at the bottom and in the middle, all supposing to have different reasons so I opted for the middle in the end. As the MOT sits on the foundations then the slab effectively sits on the foundations so if anything drops it drops together and vice versa.

I knew I had to put in about 2m3 of concrete to get a 100mm thick slab in so it was a two man job. I roped my Dad in to help me mix it up and level it so we had a good days work. At one point I thought I was going to run out of cement and as every pour went in I was trying to calculate how much materials I had left. As we were laying it on a Sunday my options were limited until I found out the B & Q were open and they ended up supplying it at around the same price as the builders merchants?!?! I did have to buy 5 bags, which in the end I only needed half a bag!

After the concrete was levelled and cured enough to walk on I could lay the next course of red bricks which carry the DPC, even though the finish floor height is 75mm instead of a house which would be 150mm, the bricks act as a DPC in any case.

On these photos it's the mortar that's making the slabs look untidy - I'm not the neatest with my mix just yet!

You'll see the planned door opening on this shot.

...and where the brick pillar sits on the back wall as it's over 4m and it's usual for a pillar within a 3m run on a single brick wall. I actually forgot to build this into the foundation so this pillar sits on top of the slab.

 

[angelboy]

The brick work was the bit that took a long time. To start with I had to get my corners in so that I could then fill in between on straight runs. I think it took me an entire weekend to get the two back corners in and up to the final course, which was to be 8 after the red bricks. Originally it was 11 in total, which I'd built up to on the far rear corner but when I started to think more about the frame I wanted to double up on the sole plate and the header so that would be an additional 100mm, which I didn't want to push so I got rid of the top course (1 brick!). I think to start with I was averaging at about 60-65 bricks per day in a 6 hour day. That's getting all the equipment out, mixing up, laying bricks, having numerous tea breaks and lunch and then packing away again - so not great but I wasn't trying to beat any records, just trying to keep things level, plumb and square - and make sure the courses were the same from corner to corner. I'd made up a two measuring sticks on the SCMS which marked the brick and the 10mm mortar course, one was up to 1800mm (24 courses) and the other 1050mm (14 courses) but I found that the slab wasn't mm perfect on the corners which then gave a false measurement on the stick corner to corner so I didn't use them in the end.

I think that I spent so much time laying bricks that I forgot to take stage photos. But here we are nearly finished but still a good 8 hour day left to complete.

You can see where the previous day had taken me with the darker coloured mortar.

There's about 75 bricks left to lay on this side - you can see the galvanised brick reinforcement in the 4th course which I'd forgot to tie into the first corner I built - whoops!

All the crap on the floor is from the tree canopy directly above the slab. I think by this point, after the rain had soaked it numerous times, it was like an inch thick sludge. You'll also see how I was going to work out some paving using some solid bricks with some Marshals heritage slabs that I have left over from my house paving. I have a good 57sqm left over (ordered from a 175sqm load!!!) so I want to stretch them as far as I can as it's a discontinued line - but that's another story.

On this shot you can see the solid bricks that I had to use - which were quite a bit different to lay, and especially tying them all into the courses. I don't think I did a bad job to be honest. The solids are what my house and garage is built from and when we split the plot I had to rebuild the garage to the other side of the house. The hollow bricks that you see are the brick matched bricks from the merchants - but they're my 15p per brick bricks!!! Considering their cost I think the match was pretty good - however, the old bricks are longer and wider than the new bricks, which isn't a problem in a detached garage, but when you're mixing old and new I had to compromise.

 

[angelboy]

The centre section, between the built up corners, on this wall and the far wall were filled in with the old solid bricks. On later photos you might be able to see the difference but it's not a bad match from a distance - a fact made sweeter being 15p per brick!

Last of the uncompleted brick photos. You can see the bank that's built up from part of the spoil dug out of the trenches. During the build project this bank all around the building was to prove a real pain the arse as every time I wanted to move ladders or the builders trestles the ground was all over the place. For future reference I'll make sure the ground around any building works will be levelled prior to working at any height.

 

[devonwoody]

I liked looking at your shed build, it also brought back happy memories for me, I built my first shed around the same size nearly 60 years ago, (unfortunately the roof blew off at the first gale).

I do wish you many happy hours and successful projects in the future.

 

[angelboy]

I'd forgot that you might be interested in the wood so this is what £633.36 of framing wood looks like - although I'd already made some cuts for the frame by this point.

See my trusty trench blocks and knackered garden trolly being used as a stop for the cut frame that you see on the floor - Heath Robinson but it worked!

I don't know why it's showing 2 of the last pictures - it's not showing up in the code - sorry!

 

[angelboy]

THis shot shows the sole plate completed. There's a DPC then a bed of mortar which the timber sits on to get level. Joints are half lapped the the corners. I've strapped the sole plate down with galvanised banding rather than the L-shaped frame brackets. I felt they might be too long for this job. These photos just show the corners but I did the rest every 1000mm or so around the plate.

There's a little twisting in the far corner which I thought would be OK but it did effect the frame along that back wall. I assumed that the twist would be flattened out with the frame and it did appear though this had worked but when fixing the rafters this entire back wall caused me a few problems - I'll go into that later.

At the door frame I wanted 150mm timbers so that the door could be sat as far back as I could so these were to take the timbers above - a mistake in the making as you'll see later. You'll see the far timber twisted up on the back corner as well.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Looks a very thorough job and fabulous WIP....excellent, keep 'em coming. Cant wait to see the woodwork.

 

[angelboy]

Due to my inexperience I chose to spend a little time working out a Sketchup model of what I wanted. This was an excellent way for me to understand how the frame would go together and what measurements I needed. Every piece of the build could be zoomed into and panned and rotated so it really was an invaluable tool for me.

Right, the frame was made from 100x47mm C16 regularised treated timbers. The reason for the double sole and top plate was so that the frame could be made in 4 large pieces and fixed to the first plate. Each corner was planned to overlap the timber below it so that if the half lap for the front elevation sole plate was at the bottom, then the frame section would be the same to sandwich in the corners. The same technique is used for the top plate so that all the timbers are overlapped and stronger joints.

The frame members we are cut at the same time then each section was laid out on the floor, 90mm nails fired through the top, bottom and toe-nailed each side so each timber end had 3 nail fixings - very solid. If the frame timbers had been cut and fixed in-situ then you'd only be able to toe-nail the fixings. These frames were a two man lift to carry to the bottom of the garden and once lifted into place another pair of hands would have been preferred. Instead they were screwed into place with some cross braces and then fine tuned one corner at a time.

Each corner would end up being 150mm wide so you'll see that instead of 3 timber members attached side by side a spacer is used top and bottom.

You'll see the bottom of the frame bridges the door opening, which is done to give stability to the frame and to stop it twisting until it's fixed in place, then it can be easily cut out after. You'll also notice that the door frame is stepped back 50mm as this is where I wanted to add the 150mm timbers which run vertically in line with the edge of the brick. This is the mistake I made as now these timbers would be 50mm above the first sole plate timbers. I could have fixed it and might still do but it's not having any structural effect. I'll show the photos of it later.

I wanted to double up on the timbers around the door, the sash window and the midpoint where the ridge board would be sitting on but around the stable windows I opted for a single timber. This would prove a small problem later on when fixing the cladding. The frame was nailed to the sole plate every 300mm or so - it's easy to carried away with an air nailer and blast around the frame shooting nails into everything. The frame was tied together with nail plates and then later I'd add another top-plate that would tie the corners together even stronger. I did have a few nails bounce around when adding the next timber as the metal plate below the corners sometimes bounced the nails of course!

This is a close up shot of the twisted front corner. The first sole plate looks nice and level but you can see the frame plates being lifted, only slightly but enough to cause a few problems later.

This is the offending front corner that's slightly twisted. Although the first sole plate look level it does twist up so that the frame does raise a little out of level. I still thought at this point it would be OK.

 

[angelboy]

Now this is where I start to have a few problems - all caused by a twisted ridge board!!!

If you're cutting rafters then do yourself a favour and buy one of these:

It's a roofing square, £8 from B & Q - great little tool to help cut rafter angles and accurate birds-mouths.

I'd used sketch up to give me the exact measurement for the rafters so I knew what to cut and where to cut it. I'd set up a sheet of OSB on some trestles and cut a small piece of the ridge and a section of the top plate. With this I could mark them out on the board and then cut a test rafter to see if it fits OK. My first attempt saw me cutting opposing sides from each of the rafter ends so instead of being parallel cuts they were perpendicular to each other. That was my one and only change to make the cut as otherwise I'd have to order more material - at least these timbers didn't go to waste as they were used for the door frame in the end. Second attempt went fine and the rafter fitted the template board so all that was left to do was cut another 19 rafters. This meant that every rafter was perfect - on the ground - but now I know that a twisted ridge can cause a few problems I might choose to do it slightly different next time! The birds mouths were cut with a circular saw and then cleaned up with a chisel afterwards.

Anyhow - here we are with the ridge, rafters and gable struts in place....oh and my little boy inspecting my days work!

I thought a nice little cut to seat the rafter whilst I was pinning the rafters in place - even though my eldest daughter helped me out on this one - it is slightly off putting when your helper holds the timber in place then before the gun is fired turns away abruptly and drops the timber almost every time. In the end I had to anticipate her flinching and hold it firmly myself once she'd helped get it just about there.

The ridge board is 200x47 and the original plan was for it to be a structural timber which would transfer the loading of the roof down the gable struts, into the frame and onto the walls then into the foundations. The rafters would have been toe-nailed to the ridge board and all would be well. As the ridge was twisted and I'd decided to cut all the rafters the same to the template I then found that at one side the heel of the rafter wouldn't meet the ridge and the other (is it toe?) the 'toe' of the rafter wouldn't sit squarely.

So the only thing I could think of was to steel band across the top of the rafters and add a collar, which would make take away the structural element from the ridge. I think in the end it worked out OK and the roof framing seemed to very strong indeed. We'll see when the snow comes but I'm very optimistic that it's good.

At the birds mouth I toe-nailed and added some truss clips for added security. I'd originally ordered some joist hangars for the rafters at ridge height and it wasn't until they arrived that I'd realised my mistake. The seat of the joist hanger is level whereas the rafter was angled - idiot! Just goes to show that there's only so much you can imagine before needing something tangible to sit in your hands to work it out!

 

[angelboy]

Gable struts in place which were toe-nailed to the top plate and rafter and additional banding on the main support strut. They're placed in-line with the framing below so this end they're above the widow timbers and the other end it's on 600 centres. I'm sure with a double top plate I'd be fine putting them anywhere but why not fit them in-line for extra piece of mind.

Having left the ridge uncut I thought maybe I could add a swing for the kids, but on reflection it would have been a bad idea for a number of reasons.

The sole plate is now cut out so I don't have to do the limbo every time I want to go in.

Other side of the collars - fitted with M8 bolts.

The rafters all look nice and in-line but that twisted ridge had caused some to be out. I didn't realise this until I was fitting the fascia board. You can also see a stray nail that had bounced of the nail plate on the first top plate.

As well as bolting up the end rafters and the collars I'd bolted any doubled up timbers at the top and bottom. You can see also the spacer blocks used in the corner posts. This one had actually worked loose (?!?) so a few pops of the nail gun and it was sorted. It did prompt me to check all the others, which were fine - strange!?

 

[angelboy]

I bought a couple of 100 year old windows off ebay that were from a stable block in an old manor house - I think I paid £40 for the lot. These windows helped to shape the design as they'd been bought when the shed was just an idea. I always wanted it to look as if it'd been there for years and the best way was to use recycled elements. I loved these windows and the sash as they really are made well and have plenty of character. The stable windows had vents at the bottom which I wanted to keep, didn't know how at this point, I just thought that I wanted them to still be able to be opened up.

Originally this end elevation was to have have the large sash window right in the middle and the smaller stable windows were going to go either side of the door. When playing around in Sketchup I became worried that the roof would be so heavy with the clay tiles that the ridge board needed a structural support all the way down to the foundations. I didn't or still don't know if the doubled up top plate would have been sufficient in taking the load around the sash window but I just did not want to risk it and I didn't want to involve a structural engineer at silly money. It would probably have looked better but it was a design sacrifice I'd have to make.

Again sorry for the double post but for some reason there's no coding at all so I can't delete it - weird!

 

[angelboy]

I needed the windows in before I could start to board it out as I wanted to use my faithful galvanised banding as frame clips which I wanted to underneath the boarding. I followed Mike's example of using 11mm OSB as an internal moisture barrier due to the high glue content and once the interior was boarded out then there was zero racking. It really became a sturdy structure once completed. I've seen plenty of shed builds where the OSB is used externally, which is fine until you want to insulate and then you still need a moisture barrier internally. I figured I'd save costs but still get the same effect but the lack of external boarding became a slight issue when needing fixing points for the cladding. More later....

A few gaps which I'd fill later.

I'd have loved to glaze this entire wall as it looks cracking as is.

....and boarded. You might notice a lot of cuts in the OSB - a pure financial reason as I didn't want to order more boards at £13 a piece just to keep it free from fillers. Another annoying thing that Steve mentioned on his thread is the fact that sheet material comes in at 1220 x 2440 and I'd framed the walls at 600 centres which meant that every board had to be trimmed!

The sash in place but looking a little worse for wear.

 

[angelboy]

Sorry about the out of sequence photo. It seems that if I copy an paste in the editor it sometimes looses the coding but still shows it once I post the message. If I try to edit there's no code there so that last image isn't really there......?!

 

[angelboy]

Whilst the structure was still open I added a ring of electric cable so that there's 3 power points through out building and also a lighting cable. I'm assuming that they'll be a small garage RCA consumer unit which will go in the corner. If sufficient then this might be the main unit to power other bits in the lower part of the garden. As we haven't had power to the new plot yet I'll wait until we're getting close for a connection then dig a trench for the garden power. I asked what I needed to do over on another forum and they acted like I'm some kind of dangerous moron and that no electrician would accept the work I was planning to do. Too late now!