A thread about the shed

[tomparryharry]

Hello Folks, I thought I'd  like to start a sub-forum about sheds. No, not diesels, but those places where some of us 'escape'. 

 

It's coming about to that time of year, where shed building or raising has the most chances of success, whether building, raising or improving sheds.  Hopefully, threads about insulation, security, lighting,etc,. In fact, anything to help  things along. 

 

There are a lot of skilled & practical people who model with railways, who are adept at creating modelling space. But, there are an even greater number who would love to emulate this, but haven't got there yet. 

 

Best wishes,

Ian.

Edited April 10, 2020 by tomparryharry
Awful Spellinge corrected:- 3/10

[MartinWales]

Oh...thought you meant knackered old cars.........

[The Johnster]

I've read a thread about the shed, Fred...

[newbryford]

On 04/04/2020 at 21:20, MartinWales said:

Oh...thought you meant knackered old cars.........

 

Or Class 66s..............

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Ian, I build a log cabin style shed starting last Sept and I have just about completed it now. I have done a blow by blow photo account of the build in my layout thread in the 7mm sub forum. You can read it here:

 

Cheers, Ade.

[tomparryharry]

Hello Ade, thanks for the e-mail. 

 

With this lockdown situation, I 'thought' I'd get on with it. After all, I can't go anywhere, can I?

 

The beams for the shed floor is all 'in stock'. All I needed, was to put it together. But! Real life has a habit of biting you on the ar$e, and it's no different for me. It seems my stock of beams isn't enough to complete the floor phase, and some extra structural C24 beams are required.

 

But..... They import these at Newport Docks, and the importers are closed... Bu66er! It looks as though I'll have to wait it out for a week or 3.

 

When I bricked (blocked) up the central piers, the one pier came out 50mm too low. No worry! Get a block under the beam! However, we've got an excess of sand, gravel & cement, so today's exercise was to make some shuttering, and pour a cap on the top of the pier, bringing up the correct height with the others. I've never done shuttering  work before, so this has been a bit of a departure for me. So far, so good, so we'll see how we go. 

 

As usual, the photography is carp, so apologies for the quality of the photos. 

 

Have a glorious Easter, and stay safe.

[The Johnster]

Tangible progress, Ian, reassurance that the shed is real and so will your layout be soon!

 

Stay in, stay safe!

[tomparryharry]

today's efforts saw me taking the shuttering off for our lowest pier. A bit of trepidation here, as I said, I haven't done this before. Will it work? So far, yes, it's looking good. I put the spirit level on, just to see what we've got..... Success!  As a friend used to say,  "Very Nearly Almost Professional" Needless to say, I'm quite pleased. 

 

Apart from a bit of tidying up, there'll be no work until Tuesday next. Being a scorching Bank holiday, my near neighbours  don't need to hear me going hammer & tongs....

 

....Or, my finest Colloquial Anglo-Saxon.... Cider, methinks.

 

Keep it safe, everyone!

 

Ian.

[The Johnster]

Close enough for jazz!  Well done mate!

[tomparryharry]

To quote Spike Milligan... " I must be bored, I thought of Catford". Today's little exercise was to clean out the rubble from within the walls. I don't know yet what will end up there, but at least it's relatively clean. That done, it was time to have a little play with the beams, as a setting- out adventure.

 

The beams are 9"x 3", and are all about 7'9" in length. These are all recovered new from a project that didn't take place. I've set out 3 of these beams down the centre, to rest on the pillars & internal piers. As I said, I thought I had enough, but it wasn't to be. Still, plenty to be getting on with.  Joist hangers will, or should be, affixed to the central spine to allow the floorboards to be fixed down. The rib beams are set out at 400mm, or 16" centres, The excess length will be cut off, and hopefully there will be enough material to provide for noggins. Setting out these beams confirmed I needed 32 total, against a stock of 28. Blast! Oh well....

 

No work until Tuesday. Or until I can find a supplier.... The photo quality is rubbish as usual. The beam in the picture is dead level, despite what the picture says! 

 

Keep safe, folks,

 

Ian.

[polybear]

With a bit of planning and a trapdoor you could use all that space under the floor for storage.....

[tomparryharry]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

With a bit of planning and a trapdoor you could use all that space under the floor for storage.....

 

Thank you. I did consider what to do with it. With a bit of forward planning, I could have added some housing standard insulation. In fact, your opinion is pretty sound. After all, that's one big fiddle yard.... In reality, Mrs Smith will probably want to put 'something' under there (me, probably). I haven't planned on a lower door, as the topography is partially cut into the bank, and I wanted as much sideways support as I can. 

[Colin_McLeod]

We moved into our house three years ago today on 12th April 2017. The house ticked all the boxes including not one, but two block built sheds.

One became the utility area and the other was earmarked for the model railway. Work on both sheds took a back seat until we got the house itself sorted out.

The utility shed got the roofing panels replaced, new entrance doors and the mud floor concreted.

My shed required a total new roof as the existing roof was held up with beams consisting of old telegraph poles which after 30 years were rotting and dangerous. A contractor did that job leaving me with a clear space, after planned insulation, of 22ft x 19ft.

I learned a lot of new skills including tanking one end of the shed where the floor was a few inches below ground level and the water soaked in.

 

One wall had a crack in it and I learnt how to stitch it.

I then constructed an insulated wooden floor, insulated wooden ceiling and have now insulated two and a half of the four walls.

Work also included a concrete step and I built a brand new insulated door and frame. I have just finished self installing one of two double glazed windows.

I have just one and a half walls to insulate including the one with the roller shutter vehicle door which I will be sealing shut.

Still got lighting and decorating to do after that. I really hope I can this this all finished soon and get my layout unpacked and reconstructed.

I have just summarised over two years part time work and will dig out some photographs to illustrate the story.

[tomparryharry]

11 hours ago, Colin_McLeod said:

We moved into our house three years ago today on 12th April 2017. The house ticked all the boxes including not one, but two block built sheds.

One became the utility area and the other was earmarked for the model railway. Work on both sheds took a back seat until we got the house itself sorted out.

The utility shed got the roofing panels replaced, new entrance doors and the mud floor concreted.

My shed required a total new roof as the existing roof was held up with beams consisting of old telegraph poles which after 30 years were rotting and dangerous. A contractor did that job leaving me with a clear space, after planned insulation, of 22ft x 19ft.

I learned a lot of new skills including tanking one end of the shed where the floor was a few inches below ground level and the water soaked in.

 

One wall had a crack in it and I learnt how to stitch it.

I then constructed an insulated wooden floor, insulated wooden ceiling and have now insulated two and a half of the four walls.

Work also included a concrete step and I built a brand new insulated door and frame. I have just finished self installing one of two double glazed windows.

I have just one and a half walls to insulate including the one with the roller shutter vehicle door which I will be sealing shut.

Still got lighting and decorating to do after that. I really hope I can this this all finished soon and get my layout unpacked and reconstructed.

I have just summarised over two years part time work and will dig out some photographs to illustrate the story.

 

Nice one Colin, I do like that. Envious? Moi?.....

[chris p bacon]

18 hours ago, tomparryharry said:

I've set out 3 of these beams down the centre, to rest on the pillars & internal piers

 

Probably teaching you to suck eggs but don't forget the DPC, so easy to lay them out for a look but then carry on.

 

On the internal piers I sometimes wrap the joist in some 600mm DPC as well as a layer on the top of the pier, this can guard against any movement while building and grinding the DPC away (bit of a long shot but you never know)

 

Are you strapping it down or fixing plates ?  I saw a similar shed about 10 years ago that had been lifted and turned in very high winds, still sat on the base but askew. I was there to help shift it back into position which took a whole day. It was strapped down after that.

[tomparryharry]

Hello Dave, thanks for the e-mail.

 

Yes, you're dead right. There's no DPC  on the job at the moment. All of the blockwork is straight off the foundations. My intention is partially 'first fix' the beam work, and then introduce the DPC before I strap down the beams to the wall. Like you've said, it saves grinding about on the membrane. The average height of the blockwork is 1,200 mm, so I guess there's enough meat to keep it all in place. The beams run to the outer wall, so there will be a lot of creosote going into the ends, and then faced off. 

 

Naturally, this is an open forum, so viewers can look in, proffer advice, and hopefully avoid any c*ck-ups that I'm liable to encounter. I'll be on the search for some C24 beams this coming week, so I can move (or not) it all along.

 

Keep it safe, everybody.

 

Ian. 

 

[Richard_A]

Will you have any air bricks in this at all? It would help keep the underneath of the structure dry. You can get insect mesh to fit over them to stop the little blighters making use of the area.

[chris p bacon]

4 minutes ago, tomparryharry said:

My intention is partially 'first fix' the beam work, and then introduce the DPC before I strap down the beams to the wall. Like you've said, it saves grinding about on the membrane. The average height of the blockwork is 1,200 mm, so I guess there's enough meat to keep it all in place. The beams run to the outer wall, so there will be a lot of creosote going into the ends, and then faced off. 

 

That'll work, it should be easy enough to use a pole and prybar to lift it enough to slide a bit in after.  As well as soaking the ends you could wrap a DPC shoe around it, a bit of overkill but not a bad idea if you've a few spare minutes.

 

So it wraps around the end A bit like one of these.

[tomparryharry]

5 minutes ago, rka said:

Will you have any air bricks in this at all? It would help keep the underneath of the structure dry. You can get insect mesh to fit over them to stop the little blighters making use of the area.

 

I haven't done that:- Yet. We're on a very slight slope here, so the one side has some drain holes. I can core through about every 2-3 metres, just to keep the airflow moving, and some fine mesh to keep the vermin out. 

 

Cheers,

Ian.

[tomparryharry]

8 minutes ago, chris p bacon said:

 

That'll work, it should be easy enough to use a pole and prybar to lift it enough to slide a bit in after.  As well as soaking the ends you could wrap a DPC shoe around it, a bit of overkill but not a bad idea if you've a few spare minutes.

 

So it wraps around the end A bit like one of these.

 

I haven't seen those before. I guess they are for a 50mm beam/joist, introduced at the early stages? As the beams here will-should rest on the blockwork, then it's probably too late for them. 

 

Cheers,

Ian.

[Satan's Goldfish]

On the subject of DPC, it's not something I thought much about before building my 'shed', but have subsequently paid more and more attention to as the project progressed. Ended up with a huge sheet of big under the concrete base, there's strips of it on top of the block walls that the wooden frame sits on. The outside of the blocks have masonry paint on to help resist wicking up water (the exterior cladding substantially over hangs the blocks too!) And on the inside as I add furniture on legs (raised to clear the garden railway) the legs sit on a pad of rubber even though in theory the concrete inside should be bone dry.

 

 

[tomparryharry]

You're quite right about your DPC, and I'd guess you've got a 'raft', where you shutter up, and pour the floor. Here it's a little bit different, where we've got a slope, and the level area is cut into the bank. In terms of height, it's not much, only 4' (1,200mm), but I didn't want any surface water finding its way in. The rearwards block wall is very deliberately built with gaps in the blocks to allow draining  to pass through. The void behind the wall is backfilled with 10mm (3/8" chippings to just under the last course of blocks. It seemed little point in tanking the wall, not least because I couldn't warrant the quality of the tanking, but I've planned to introduce the DPC at the higher point. 

 

Today's efforts should see the continuation of the backfill, and to set out for the armoured cable from the garage to the new build.  I'll post up some photos later.

 

Keep it safe, everyone.

 

Ian.

 

Some of my usual 'not very good' photos, but they hopefully show the rearwards wall, which is gapped & un-tanked

Edited April 15, 2020 by tomparryharry
Forgot the photos!

[chris p bacon]

35 minutes ago, tomparryharry said:

where we've got a slope

 

Which part of Newport are you in ? When I was much younger we used to visit Newport twice a year so mum could visit her sister who lived on the Alway estate, I never thought anything of it at the time but you'd definately have the shed strapped down in parts of that place to stop it going missing..

 I quite liked it though as my auntie always gave me the bedroom that overlooked the ralway and the signals which controlled the approach to Llanwern, being woken in the night for the 3 times daily triple headed 37's was always a bonus to me.

 

'Sandy' is on the move soon ( along with me) but to a very different type of indoor location, I'll find a pic.

 

[tomparryharry]

42 minutes ago, chris p bacon said:

 

Which part of Newport are you in ? When I was much younger we used to visit Newport twice a year so mum could visit her sister who lived on the Alway estate, I never thought anything of it at the time but you'd definately have the shed strapped down in parts of that place to stop it going missing..

 I quite liked it though as my auntie always gave me the bedroom that overlooked the ralway and the signals which controlled the approach to Llanwern, being woken in the night for the 3 times daily triple headed 37's was always a bonus to me.

 

'Sandy' is on the move soon ( along with me) but to a very different type of indoor location, I'll find a pic.

 

 

Yes, the triple header ore jobs were something to see at the time. During the miners strike, the wagons were blacklisted in East Usk, and stayed there for the duration. This end of Newport is very quiet, with excellent neighbours.

[chris p bacon]

1 hour ago, tomparryharry said:

This end of Newport is very quiet, with excellent neighbours.

I always liked visiting Newport, never had a problem and always met nice people (I never went to 'The Pill')  it was always a good jumping off point for trains to Swansea, Crewe, Bristol and East to Swindon. I would get a return ticket to an odd destination then run back and forth along various routes until it eventually got clipped.  

Very fond memories but sadly auntie is no more and the family has dispersed with work etc so nothing to take me back there.

 

I'm sure I've some pictures of the triple headers somewhere.