# workshop build



## pitch pine (28 Apr 2009)

Inspired by "simple garage construction" I thought I'd post a few photos of my efforts. I will also be learning how to post photos so please be patient!

My foundations were dug by hand and consisted of a "rubble trench" with a french drain away from the lowest corner.







The trench is about 2 feet deep and was hard work. My neighbour built a rockery from the stone I removed!






Going to have my tea now, back later.


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## pitch pine (28 Apr 2009)

So after digging the foundation trench it was partially filled with gravel (approx 25mm) and then I cast 12 plinths in concrete to support the sill beams.






I used scaffold board to make the forms and painted old engine oil on the inside as a release agent. When the plinths were cured I built them up to the final height with some natural dressed stone.






This shows the foundations complete with the sill beams in place. On top are the wall plates. Each long side is 2 pieces scarfed together. The timber is reclaimed from the Morecombe Bay rollercoaster, 8x4" section and a mixture of different pines including alot of very heavy resinous pitch pine. The corner joint of the wall plate is a simple lap. I used a Shark saw for alot of the cutting which was good, but often needed to stop and clean the resin from the blade with paraffin.






This shows the detail at a corner plinth. In the run up to this build I had read about and looked at loads of timber framed buildings and I knew that off the ground with ventilation was good, especially with having a timber floor. 

I built the frame as a kit using the foundations for layout. Later on I have a photo of the roof structure "mocked up" on the sill beams.

Will post more later.


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## MikeG. (28 Apr 2009)

Interesting so far!

Tell me, why didn't you just cast a concrete slab.......your floor would have been quick, solid, warm, strong and about 18 inches lower down!

Mike


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## head clansman (28 Apr 2009)

Hi pitch pine


Your shop take me back to when i made my workshop , your using the exact same method as i did , nice one look forward to following this post , keep it coming . Those timber will certainly out last your lifetime nice beams .hc


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## PowerTool (28 Apr 2009)

Nice pictures,interesting build - and is it a Dolomite in the background?

Andrew


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## pitch pine (29 Apr 2009)

Mike I really wanted a wooden floor so thats why. Also my labour is free and time wasn't an issue......I might not mix the small amount of concrete I used by hand if I did it again though.....

Andrew yes it is a Dolomite. Extra points if you can work out which model!

Martin it is nice to know others go down the over-engineered route.

So this shows the roof timbers cut and trial fitted on to the wall plates:






The rafters are full 8x4" section with a birdsmouth to seat on the wall plate. The end pairs are bolted to the wall plate with stainless steel studding. The ridge beam is a piece of Douglas Fir scarfed in the middle, probably not necessary for the structure but I wanted one. I had never used Douglas before and it is a lovely timber to work. Easy to shape, good looking nice smell. I think it would make an excellent frame in itself.

By this stage my head was swimming with ideas for different joints and methods of construction. To give you a picture before I started this build I had read loads of books which was helpful, but did induce building paralysis for 18 months.....so I did it all "wrong" and started without clear plans just rough ideas. I gave myself a kick up the backside by buying the timbers (longest were 23' !) stacking them in the back garden so everytime I went out there I saw them and thought I must start building. It worked.

This a different view of the roof structure:





I later added 3 sets of purlins. These were "red pine" from old council houses. As I bought more reclaimed timber through the project I found that what you actually got varied hugely. I am sure the main 8x4s consisted of 3 or 4 species and there was some yellow in with the red pine. It all looks grey when you buy it!

The best book I read was Stiles "Sheds". I bought a copy when I visited the Weald and Downland museum. Really good for inspiration. I used his design for my skylights, more of that later.


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## head clansman (29 Apr 2009)

hi pitch pine 




> Martin it is nice to know others go down the over-engineered route.



to right mate it's the only way , being a carpenter / joiner it's got to be wood, anyway concrete is cold in winter when i work on the bench many years ago along side on the concrete floor we had to have duck-boards to stand on to stop your feet getting cold as we were right next to the slipway in Portland harbour about 1/4 mile from chesil beach not the place to be when we had a south westerly gale force nine blowing rattling the joiners shop to pieces believe me.hc


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## PowerTool (29 Apr 2009)

pitch pine":1hpm4r3e said:


> Andrew yes it is a Dolomite. Extra points if you can work out which model!



1850 Sprint ?

And yes,also like the over-engineered approach to your construction  

Andrew


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## head clansman (29 Apr 2009)

HI pitch pine 

just looking at your roof construction with braces attached, so I'm assuming it ready to be fix to workshop sides/framing when there constructed and ready, that's going to bloody heavy mate , how do you intend to lift it :?: hc


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## MikeG. (29 Apr 2009)

Hmmm.....this gets more curious!!

Why build the roof down there, and have the problem of not only lifting it up, but of it being in the way when you build the walls? Why not just build the walls first, then the roof?

Mike


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## Lee J (29 Apr 2009)

maybe thats it all finished and he's actually only 1' 6" tall. :?:


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## Dibs-h (29 Apr 2009)

Lee J":1etrqiw1 said:


> maybe thats it all finished and he's actually only 1' 6" tall. :?:


 :lol: Classic!!

On a serious note - how long did it take you to do the trenches?


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## big soft moose (29 Apr 2009)

Mike Garnham":1tpr2x8s said:


> Hmmm.....this gets more curious!!
> 
> Why build the roof down there, and have the problem of not only lifting it up, but of it being in the way when you build the walls? Why not just build the walls first, then the roof?
> 
> Mike



I had presumed that that was a dry fit of the roof to check the dimensions and that he is going to disemble it then reasemble on top of the walls - or maybe as lee says he's actually a hobbit


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## Creampuff (29 Apr 2009)

I was going to post some picks of my shed, but now I feel like ripping it down and starting again   :lol: 

I must learn to think _before_ nailing things together :wink: 


Great work so far, watching with interest



Regards

Andy


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## wizer (29 Apr 2009)

must admit I wondered why the roof is sitting on the floor?


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## pitch pine (29 Apr 2009)

Dry fit is right, I am not at all hobbit sized! I did this to make sure it all would fit and getting it right "on the ground" was easier than in the air. 

Yes bloody heavy is putting it mildly. When I did put it in situ it was tricky. One of the rafter pairs was really dense and saturated with resin. I put an offcut in water and it only just floated.....hernia time lifting long lengths of that.

Dibs I can't remember how long it took to do the trenches. I set off on the build with an attitude that it will take as long as it takes. Fortunately despite the hard physical work I really enjoyed it. I do remember using my 5 foot crowbar alot....lots of stone embedded in clay subsoil. 

Dolomite is a 1500HL. Nice car but they like to rust.

More photos soon.


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## pitch pine (29 Apr 2009)

Just to keep you lot happy and to deal with the viscious rumours about my height here are some posts:






Another angle showing the tenons:






You can see the recesses I cut to take the braces. I didn't have the confidence to do them properly ie fully tennoned into the frame, but what I did gave a really stable frame.

Off to bed now.


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## Joints (30 Apr 2009)

Looks like a nice solid build! Keep it up.

George


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## adzeman (30 Apr 2009)

What solid construction!
Noticed the bird feeder from next door, looks like an observation post. Does it hide cctv? :twisted:


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## pitch pine (2 May 2009)

so next stage was to fit the wall plates:






The braces are in place and made the frame very rigid. The 2 central "tie beams had dovetail joints to lock them into place and were housed 1" into the wall plate....my fanciest joinery yet!






Here's some detail showing one of the braces. They were cut from 2" pitch pine.






Now the roof attached to the rest of the frame. The boards stacked on the left are the cladding.

More soon.


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## johnf (3 May 2009)

Hi did you get planing permission for this grand design


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## ByronBlack (3 May 2009)

Excuse my ignorance, but what does paining engine oil onto the timbers do?

I'm enjoying the pics so far, with the dolomite, and the faded colours, it looks like these photo's are from the seventies


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## pitch pine (4 May 2009)

The engine oil was painted onto the inside of the formers I used to make the concrete plinths to allow them to be removed when the concrete had set......just like greasing a cake tin... the main timbers I just cleaned up the visible surfaces with a hand plane.

Here is a shot of the roof structure:







Underneath the grey tyvek are some cedar sheathing boards. The battons on top are spaced for cedar shakes. All of this lot (and the pitch pine) came from EBay. The framed openings are for skylights, which in hindsight are one the best features of the building.

I has never used cedar before and was amazed with the smell and surprised that such a light wood is so durable. 

The barge boards are sliced from the 8x4" pitch pine, about 1.25" thick. These were cut on a huge stenner bansaw at a local sawmill. Took some pursuading for him to cut reclaimed timber, though at least the blade was lubricated with diesel to stop everything being coated in resin.


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## head clansman (4 May 2009)

Hi pitch pine 


looking really good now , love the roof lights in hindsight wish i done them when I built mine . a real traditional build with shingles nice , keep the pics coming . just a thought are you going to leave the ridge in where it can be seen through the roof lights . hc


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## pitch pine (4 May 2009)

yes the ridge is visible in the finished building. I like it. See what you think when I post that.

Here's me starting the shakes:


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## Ironballs (4 May 2009)

This looks like a good build, nice work.

BB you stole the words from my mouth with 70s look  

Does the Dolomite run?


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## crazylilting (5 May 2009)

Nothing to add here but am enjoying the build process. One of the nicest workshop builds so far. Thanks.


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## pitch pine (5 May 2009)

The dolomite is dead. I used to run a Triumph as my everyday car (ie not an immaculate show car) but found myself spending alot of my spare time fixing something that had broken. The crunch came when I had to change the gearbox, in winter, in the snow, with no garage.....and then the cylinder head gasket went!...Then I bought a car built in Japan that always works. Still I really miss driving them, but 15000 miles a year takes its toll. The best was the 1300 front wheel drive. Dead comfy seats, good road holding and a lovely revvy 1300 engine. Anyway this is a wood forum!


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## MikeG. (5 May 2009)

I'm not sure about your ridge detail, but it looks to me that you need another course of (cut) shingles........

Someone is bound to mention the H&S aspects of your home-made access arrangements! You may not have needed it if you had started roofing from the tradtional bottom right-hand corner.

Its all looking good to me!

Mike


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## head clansman (5 May 2009)

Hi pitch pine 

My thoughts on your ridge were , depending where the sun or even day light is at certain time of the day it will throw a shadow across a large amount of the interior of you work shop , seeing you already have a second ridge built above it why not remove it, keep as much natural light as possible.

Mike when the ridge capping is fitted the spacing is fine.

P's never the less it's still a quality build , keep those pic coming .hc


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## MikeG. (5 May 2009)

head clansman":2hq149w3 said:


> Mike when the ridge capping is fitted the spacing is fine.



You can only see what I can see.......and as we have no way of knowing how wide the ridge will be, you can't say with any certainty that there isn't a need for another course. If the ridge comes down to the same line that the next course of shingles would, then you would be right.........it just looks like the ridge would need to be very wide to do that.

Mike


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## head clansman (5 May 2009)

Hi Mike 

well, IMHO if an other half course of shingle go's on then it's a very narrow ridge capping which won't look right with the rest of the shingle depth of spacing, if the view is to keep it all the same spacing then there only space for a wide capping left. anyway it don't really matter what you & I think it's down to pitch pine persnal preference.   hc


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## pitch pine (5 May 2009)

Mike you are right, and I did add another course of (cut) shakes. 

Didn't know about starting from the bottom right hand corner when roofing...like my H&S arrangements most of this build was "home made"!
Rest assured I had frequent safety briefings with myself.....


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## MikeG. (5 May 2009)

pitch pine":2bkgt5js said:


> Didn't know about starting from the bottom right hand corner when roofing...



Almost every roofing type, including thatch, is usually started at the bottom right hand corner. That way, not only do the laps work, but you can stand on the battens to work on the roof.

I hope you are taking notice of your safety briefings!!!

Mike


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## crazylilting (5 May 2009)

What if your left handed?


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## billw (5 May 2009)

crazylilting":39a7yeg1 said:


> What if your left handed?



I was thinking exactly the same thing


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## MikeG. (5 May 2009)

Yep, good question!

With most tiles, it is about the tile lap rather than about you (the tiler).......and so you still would have to start in the botton right hand corner (unless you wanted to pick up the corner of every tile you put on the roof to shove another one underneath!!!).

Thatch, could, I reckon, be started in the bottom left hand corner, as could slate and shingles (as pitch pine did here)......but if he had started in the other corner he could have worked right handed and still kept one foot on a batten.

Mike


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## pitch pine (6 May 2009)

Mike the more I think about starting at the left with the roofing the more sense it makes. I do remember alot of moving around delicately! Ah well, I know for next time.

More progress with the roof. That is frost on some of the shakes, but at least it was a dry winter when I did this:






One side finished showing the colour of the cedar:






The skylights are in too, but without the flashing done yet. Mike I didn't use the ladder at that angle, honest!


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## kityuser (6 May 2009)

Really nice work here, I love the construction, checking back regularly for updates

Steve


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## pitch pine (9 May 2009)

Some more photos. This one shows the timbers I added to form the windows, door and to allow fixing of the vertical siding. The floor joists are in too.






I have also started the siding on the right hand side. This was "board and batten" ie 6" boards with a plain edge fixed vertically butted up to each other and a 2" strip covering the gap. More of those later.

Here is the roof again before I peeled off the protective plastic from the acrylic glazing:






During peeling:






And after with the lead flashing done:






Mike looks like I didn't add an extra row of shingles after all....

My rough temporary bench:






Not a thing of beauty but very useful.


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## Joints (9 May 2009)

Coming together beautifully, have been following this one from the start.

Can't wait until its finished and you can show use all the kit thats going inside!

george


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## head clansman (9 May 2009)

Hi pitch pine 

looking really good , hmm still not sure about that ridge board though, glad you didn't add that extra row of shingles. looks good.hc


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## WoodnDesign (10 May 2009)

Hi, Pitch pine, 
New on here, I'm look forward to seeing the end result.. Excellent what you are doing.. I've needed a workshop for the past year.. Finally getting one supplied.. Hunted for months to find something good.. Can find thick frame, thin cladding, board floor/roof, or thin frame, thick cladding.. All sorts of mixes, single/double doors, glass/ plastic windows, all types of wood.. :?: :?: :?: . Hopefully, the thin frame, 2 x 1 3/4 with 22mm cladding, that's roof an floor also.. will stand the test of time.. Would like to put something together like yours.. Lucky man.. Happy building an best regards.. David..


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## pitch pine (10 May 2009)

Hi David

I understand your dilema about buying a workshop....if it helps my build wasn't quick (about 18 months) or cheap! I had the time and wanted to enjoy the build, which I did most of the time....apart from when I decided the skylight frames weren't up to scratch and had to take them out and build again from scratch.......


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## WoodnDesign (12 May 2009)

Hi, Pitch pine,

Thank you for reply, I've 10 more slabs to lay for the base, and remember to call today about delivery date.. so I'm getting there..
Look forward to photos of your finished workshop.. I've taken photos, (having seen your, reminded me to take some) so will have to work out posting them on here when finished.. Take care and best regards.. David... 8)


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## pitch pine (13 May 2009)

Here is how the siding boards looked freshly fitted:







And a shot from the inside, still no floor yet:






You can see the scarf joint in the wall plate above the window. No fancy joinery here, held with stainless studding. There is also a scarf in the sill beam below the post between the windows.[/u]


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## MickCheese (14 May 2009)

That is looking fantastic.

I'm so jealous  

Mick


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## WoodnDesign (14 May 2009)

Hi. PP,
Coming on well, you've gone vertical with the cladding ?? and cover board, better for rain run off. Look forward to more photos. David..


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## pitch pine (16 May 2009)

Another angle with the oak cladding finished






The sun always shines in Northumberland!


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## laird (16 May 2009)

The sun certainly wasn't shinig last week when I was in Hexham, in fact it was p*****g down, horizontaly - made me feel quite at home.


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## crazylilting (31 Oct 2009)

took me a long time to search for this thread. I've enjoyed the updates of this build and wondering how your doing?


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## pitch pine (31 Oct 2009)

Done and finished.......!

Sorry I stopped posting photos. I shall dig out some more.


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## pitch pine (31 Oct 2009)

Doors on......only photo I can find at the moment.






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## crazylilting (31 Oct 2009)

Well it's very nice and has settled into the property nicely as well. Really looks like it belongs there. Not like mine it sticks out like a sore thumb and takes up half the garden much to my partners dismay. However she likes that i work at home, she works part time so we get to see each other during the day, have lunch together and watch a bit of something in the afternoon for a half an hour or so. 

Thanks for sharing your project, it has been one of my favorite builds.


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## pitch pine (1 Nov 2009)

Thanks for that. 

I originally set out to build a garage to work on triumph cars but when I had finished decided that I wanted to spend my spare time fiddling with bits of wood rather than old vehicles. Fitting a solid fuel rayburn has made it a rather nice place to sit too!


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## OPJ (1 Nov 2009)

Wow, that does like very nice. And, I'm sure your eyes will benefit from having all that natural light. 

Now, go and make some shavings in it!!


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## pitch pine (1 Nov 2009)

Olly

The best thing about the building is the natural light. It was tricky to do the windows and flashing but worth it. 

Shavings have already been made, in large quantities....no actual furniture yet though...


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## WoodnDesign (10 Jan 2010)

Hi PP,

Now into the New Year, how is your workshop and the weather.. as I look out at a snowy Cannock, Staffs..
Wishing you our as happy as ever with your build..

Reards.. David..


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## paul-c (10 Jan 2010)

thanks pitch pine
i really enjoyed seeing the wip pics of your build  
i hope you get many years enjoyment making shavings in there. :lol: 
cheers paul


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## Dibs-h (11 Jan 2010)

pitch pine":2om765t4 said:


> You can see the scarf joint in the wall plate above the window. No fancy joinery here, held with stainless studding. There is also a scarf in the sill beam below the post between the windows.[/u]



I would have taken the verticals (under the scarf joint) down to the sill plate. But that might be my sense of over-engineering things!


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