Shultzy's Shed (Workshop Build really - lots of pics)

[Shultzy]

Hi all, I thought it was time to start another workshop build thread. I hope it comes up to the standards of this site.

A little bit of background. I've lived in my house since 1972 and although I wasn't very good at woodwork when I was at school, the thought of trying to kit the house with furniture on my salary was a no-no. Working in a garage I managed to purloin "green shield stamps" (hand up who remembers them ) to add to my collection and had a B&D drill with circular saw and jigsaw attachments from their catalogue. Those together with a box of Stanley tools (saw, square, marking gauge etc.) were the start of my kit.

My first project was a coffee table and then a set of built in wardrobes. This was the start of my love of woodwork. All my projects were made in the garage which had to be cleaned out and the car put away after work. Most of my project pics are on my web site and it just shows what can be made with a modest amount of tools and a bit of space.

I digress.

It was not possible to build a workshop in the garden until now (kids, and more kids), so after 35 years one of my dreams is about to come true.

Here is the cad drawing of my proposed workshop. Its 16ft x 8ft (4.88m x 2.44m in new money) with 7'10" (2.36m) headroom. It has three, 2ft wide doors, two hinged together. The floor will be 7/8" x 5in t&g floorboards on 4"x2" @16" ctrs infilled with 4" fibreglass, with a vapour barrier and hardboard underneath. This will sit on dpc on top of block paving bricks. Walls of 4" x 2" covered with a vapour barrier and 3/4" x 5" shiplap. Roof trusses of 4" x 2" covered with a vapour barrier, exterior ply and Wickes "easyseal" covering. All internal coverings of 1/2" mdf over an infill of 4" fibreglass.

BTW the colours are only for my benefit so that I can see each section separately. If you want to know any more details, or any different views, I'll be happy to oblige.

After moving the existing garden shed to the other side of the garden I had to take down a 40ft sycamore tree. After lopping off the branches it left a 10ft trunk. My chainsaw was next to useless when trying to detach the roots from the trunk as the number of stones embedded into the roots meant a re-sharpen after almost every cut. So a 1in chisel and mallet and almost 4 weeks later (on and off), it ended up like this.

This is the trunk trimmed to about 8ft.

Area surrounded by edgings, dug out to a depth of 7 1/2in (4in hardcore, 2in sharp sand, 1 1/2in slabs). All of the hardcore is bricks I collected from around the estate, a nice bit of recycling.

Finished at last, well the base at least. This part has cost about £240, I don't want to bore you all but if anybody wants a breakdown I'll be happy to oblige. I've ordered the wood and I should be able to start on Thursday.

Will post more info and pics as work progresses.

 

[greggy]

well done shultzy, that looked like back braking work,but now you should start to enjoy it as the build gets under way, and its looking good. =D>

 

[gwaithcoed]

Looking forward to the rest of the build. Keep the pics coming in.

Alan.

 

[DomValente]

Schultzy if you remember using Green shield stamps( and I do ) you must be tired, take a break

Dom

 

[Paul Chapman]

if you remember using Green shield stamps

Bought my first electric drill with Green Shield Stamps - top of the range, 2-speed Black & Decker, with half-inch chuck for 17 1/2 books (Funny, I can remember that but can't remember what happened half an hour ago :? :? )

Looking good, Shultzy :wink:

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[DomValente]

(Funny, I can remember that but can't remember what happened half an hour ago :?

Paul

Just sit down Paul I'll bring you a nice cuppa.

My first with green shield too was a grey and orange drill(still got it)

Dom

 

[bobscarle]

Shultzy

Looking good. Its exciting when things start to arrive, all of a sudden drawings and ideas become real. I know from my own experience that those tree roots are a real "!£$%^&* to get out. I had to dig / hack 2 of them when I built my shed.

Yes, I remember Green Shield Stamps and going to the shop in Birmingham City Centre. Now I think I need a sit down, 1 sugar in mine please Dom .

Keep it going.

Bob

 

[PowerTool]

Looks nice,looking forward to the rest of it;glad I didn't have to dig the tree roots out,but could happily have given the trunk a new home :lol:

Andrew (yes,I remember Green Shield Stamps as well.. )

 

[Shultzy]

Thanks all for your comments, I didn't think green shield stamp would provoke such nostalgia. I bet the youngsters wonder what we are talking about . I too still have the blue B&D, I wonder if my new drills will last as long. I think the cordless drill batteries will cease to exist long before the actual drill fails.

Sorry Andrew the trunk is mine :twisted: , but I do have a few branches of 4/5" dia if anybody close wants to pick up a couple of feet.

 

[mrbingley]

I'd be very tempted to make it 10' wide if I were you.
Seems like you have enough foundation space to cope.

Mine was 16' X 10', added another 4' in length, but wish it could be 2' wider.

I think the width of a workshop should be as wide as possible, right up to a square building if possible. It gives you so much more layout possibilities & more a "sense" of s p a c e.

Just my 2ps worth.

Chris.

 

[Mike Saville]

Looking forward to the rest with interest - especially the roof - might give me some food for though for an upcoming 'Garden Office'.

Cheers for now,

Mike.

 

[Shultzy]

Chris, I would have loved to make it bigger, but it took a lot of convincing before swimbo agreed to this size.

Just an update - went to order the timber today armed with a list of varying lengths, what a nightmare as the three timber merchants I visited will only supply in random lengths. I already allowed 10% over so I've had to up that to 15% to make sure I have enough.

A question about the doors - they will each be 6' x 2' made out of 4x2, on edge making the door 4" thick, brace and ledged. Would heavy duty "tee" hinges be ok or should I use heavy-duty hook and band cranked field gate hinges.

 

[Shultzy]

Here is the latest update. The timber arrived on Thursday and according to the delivery note it was two and a half tons. It took me, swimbo and a next door neighbour five hours to carry it around to the back of the house, Phew.

These are the floor boards and internal cladding.

And these are the external cladding, framing timber and roof sheets

For those who are interested the costs so far are :-

Excavate and lay workshop base - £240
Vapour barrier, DPC, and insulation - £201
EasySeal roofing - £250
Screws and nails - £100
4x2 - £625
4x1 - £21
3 x 1 1/2 - £17
4x5/8-t&g - £61
5x3/4-shiplap - £466
5x1-T&G floorboard - £140
8x4 hardboard - £21
MDF-12mm - £170
8x4ply-1/2 - £63
8x4ply-3/4 - £188

which brings the total so far to £2,570

More pics later

 

[Escudo]

Are those Mrs Shultzys undergarments hanging on that line? :shock:

 

[Shultzy]

(oops! Escudo, you are awful ) "dictated" by Swimbo :lol:

 

[Escudo]

All good fun.

Hope all goes well with the new workshop.

Cheers, Esc.

 

[DarrenHorston]

Hi Steve,
I hear that building an ark would have been more useful than the shed at the moment. There's a guy here in Holland who's built one (half Noah's size) in six months. Jan can take his finger out of the dike now! :lol:
Melanie guessed correctly what t&g is (all these DIY programs). And Robert (Darren) wants to know why you didn't just burn the tree :twisted:
Funny how I knocked together a shed for my mother-in-law in a couple of afternoons and it's still standing after 10 years :wink: But there again, I didn't need to remove a forest, build an airstrip underneath and I could carry the wood in one go .... :shock:
Soon you'll have a nice granny annexe ... :idea: won't that be cosy??
Eddie

 

[Shultzy]

Here is a bit more of the build. I started by creating a saw station to cut the long lengths of the floor joists and the noggins. It doesn't look pretty but it is at least flat.

The floor joists laid out and dovetailed nailed ready to connect to the noggins.

I set up this jig to create a floor joist and noggin set. I thought that setting up a production line was the best method to get consistency and as I have a tendency to get backache it helps. The joist was marked out into four quarters and then offset to the left by 2". This offset will become clearer later.

All the sets laid out ready for screwing to the end joists. Something doesn't seem quite right. Perhaps that jig was not such a good idea.

Ah! That’s better ; I knew that 2" offset would come in useful.

One half of the floor completed and the second part under construction. I placed two sets on top of each other and then screwed on the end joists. I squared up the frame with my large triangle (seen by the fence on the right of the picture), and then nailed the noggins. Further sets were placed on top of the last and the process repeated. Once again this method helped with my back problem.

Both parts of the floor completed. They are sat on top of block paving bricks with DPC on top.

I have since filled the voids with 4" rockwool insulation and nailed on about 8 floorboards. Then the rains came and I've had to abandon work till the weather breaks. The forecast shows rain all this week so I don't hold out much hope till the weekend.

 

[Mike Saville]

Hi Shultzy,

I see that you have placed your floor structure onto DPC in turn onto bricks. Is there any other fixing here? Did you mortar the bricks onto the paving? Did you fix your frame to the bricks?

My scenario maybe similar in that I have a paved area where I want my workshop/garden office (more likely workshop now ). There is a picture of the hardcore sub base what did you put over this before your slabs - just sand or did you motar the slabs in place?

Thanks for another interesting update.

 

[Shultzy]

Hi JimJam,

I see that you have placed your floor structure onto DPC in turn onto bricks. Is there any other fixing here? Did you mortar the bricks onto the paving? Did you fix your frame to the bricks?

There are no fixings or mortar. Each half of the floor take two people to lift, so when the sides and roof are on it won't move.

My scenario maybe similar in that I have a paved area where I want my workshop/garden office (more likely workshop now ). There is a picture of the hardcore sub base what did you put over this before your slabs - just sand or did you mortar the slabs in place?

There is 2" of sharp sand over the sub-base. Compact with a "Waker-Plate Rammer", screed off with a long length of timber set 38mm below the edgings, rake in a bag of cement and lay slabs on top. The cement goes off and provides a hard stable base. This is much easier than the method of laying "spots" of mortar, but does require more setting out to make sure the slab is level.