Maia28
Established Member
Hi all, having commented on others shed builds I have finally having started my own.
Some background: When we moved to this house five years ago, one of the selling points for me was the good size garden (150' X 50') and the 20'X10 shed at the end of it - somewhere to keep all my Ford Capri spares. A couple of years ago my neighbour gave me an old Coronet Elf lathe, a horizontal whetstone grinder and some nasty chinese turning tools. Having got completely sucked into turning and then generally into woodworking, I filled the old shed to bending point and started to think about making a new one that I could fit out as I wanted and was also more attractive than the old one. The builds on here have been really useful with no two designs being, seemingly, the same. This is the original shed made of 8X2 3/4" Canadian ply:
My plan is a pitched roof workshop on a paving base made from 4X2 with ply floor and internal wall and featheredge outside. I'm still not decided on the roof material: shingles; felt; or sheeting. Reading all the excellent builds on here (and elsewhere) tells me there is no "right way" just different costs. Having just extended our house, the builders left around 2.5 tons of sand, 1 ton of gravel, 10 bags cement etc.
I also had around 100 paving slabs from the old patio the extension now sits on and literally tons of hardcore, some guttering and DG windows etc.
The first task was to remove a greenhouse and move the woodpile, which had grown by then, while still allowing access for the mini-digger for the builders. It then took a couple of weeks to empty the shed into the other shed, garage and under a tarp on the lawn. Pulling the shed down took a couple of days and revealed that the old shed sat on 3X2 with the 3" side face down on the odd brick. There is about a foot difference in height between the two ends and the old shed had started to bend on the downhill side - perhaps that wasn't the best place to store the axles and gearboxes :shock: .
The weekend before last I dug a trench, cast foundations (by hand) and built a section of retaining wall before excavating some of the soil to level the vegetable plot on the other side of the garden. On reflection that was the wrong way round . This was then filled with hardcore, pea-shingle and sand tramped down by my little helper.
All the sand, shingle, cement and some of the hardcore had to come through the back gate which is 4' above the level of the ground at the back and at a slope of around 40 degrees. I used some of the old sheets and timbers to lessen this but it got quite slippery and eventually the wheel on by barrow broke sending sand everywhere.
This was then covered in the old paving slabs and an exhausting weekend completed. It wasn't as level as i wanted, but I simply ran out of energy to go back and sort the small variations (max 1" end to end). I convinced myself it would be good for surface runoff. Apart from wanting to get rid of a load of the building waste, I was convinced that the slab bed was good for two other reasons. Firstly, when the extension foundations where layed the concrete was piped over the back fence up to the house. Despite the operator having performed at Roman Abramovich's house early in the day it did not go so well for me and the pipe literally exploded 20' above the garden :twisted: . I also didn't fancy mixing the amount required or barrowing it up the back gate.
The new workshop will be 6.3X3.3M and the base is made from 4X2s sitting on additional (levelled) slabs with a DPC and various left-over insulation products filling the voids.The outside edges have 3 4X2s, two to support the walls and one for the floor. It's all screwed together with Spax except the noggins which where nailed in before laying it on the slabs/DPC. Additional noggins while installing the flooring where screwed in with 4" deck screws. The floor is currently ply salvaged from the old shed and part of my reasoning for the extra 4X2 that it sits on was that I may want to replace it. Alternatively I may add another layer.
All the floor sheets had to be cut along all four edges so this took a little longer than expected, but by last night the first floor was completed. At the request of SWMBO, I also moved all the timber off the path and lawn onto the base. Because I decided to use stock sizes I ordered an additional 102M of 3M lengths. For some reason the suppliers delivered this twice (I came home on Friday to find a new pile by the base which the driver had carefully unloaded and carried up - shame I hadn't actually ordered it) and the second lot where almost identical lengths. So, as of Sunday I have a solid and level platform to build upon:
I'll make the roof trusses next using the floor/edges as a jig then frame the sides which I will cover in 200mm featheredge from the sawmill at Cocking. SWMBO thinks Oak would be nice but I don't think she knows the cost. I will then fill with more insulation and cover the walls with 12mm ply along with the roof deck. Fortunately an armoured cable supplied mains from the house even if it is connected to the cooker switch - some more rewiring to be done.
I've found peoples costings very helpful and will try to post some figures for that. If it's anything like the extension it'll be twice my estimate. I'll post more as work progresses.
Andy
Some background: When we moved to this house five years ago, one of the selling points for me was the good size garden (150' X 50') and the 20'X10 shed at the end of it - somewhere to keep all my Ford Capri spares. A couple of years ago my neighbour gave me an old Coronet Elf lathe, a horizontal whetstone grinder and some nasty chinese turning tools. Having got completely sucked into turning and then generally into woodworking, I filled the old shed to bending point and started to think about making a new one that I could fit out as I wanted and was also more attractive than the old one. The builds on here have been really useful with no two designs being, seemingly, the same. This is the original shed made of 8X2 3/4" Canadian ply:
My plan is a pitched roof workshop on a paving base made from 4X2 with ply floor and internal wall and featheredge outside. I'm still not decided on the roof material: shingles; felt; or sheeting. Reading all the excellent builds on here (and elsewhere) tells me there is no "right way" just different costs. Having just extended our house, the builders left around 2.5 tons of sand, 1 ton of gravel, 10 bags cement etc.
I also had around 100 paving slabs from the old patio the extension now sits on and literally tons of hardcore, some guttering and DG windows etc.
The first task was to remove a greenhouse and move the woodpile, which had grown by then, while still allowing access for the mini-digger for the builders. It then took a couple of weeks to empty the shed into the other shed, garage and under a tarp on the lawn. Pulling the shed down took a couple of days and revealed that the old shed sat on 3X2 with the 3" side face down on the odd brick. There is about a foot difference in height between the two ends and the old shed had started to bend on the downhill side - perhaps that wasn't the best place to store the axles and gearboxes :shock: .
The weekend before last I dug a trench, cast foundations (by hand) and built a section of retaining wall before excavating some of the soil to level the vegetable plot on the other side of the garden. On reflection that was the wrong way round
. This was then filled with hardcore, pea-shingle and sand tramped down by my little helper.
All the sand, shingle, cement and some of the hardcore had to come through the back gate which is 4' above the level of the ground at the back and at a slope of around 40 degrees. I used some of the old sheets and timbers to lessen this but it got quite slippery and eventually the wheel on by barrow broke sending sand everywhere.
This was then covered in the old paving slabs and an exhausting weekend completed. It wasn't as level as i wanted, but I simply ran out of energy to go back and sort the small variations (max 1" end to end). I convinced myself it would be good for surface runoff. Apart from wanting to get rid of a load of the building waste, I was convinced that the slab bed was good for two other reasons. Firstly, when the extension foundations where layed the concrete was piped over the back fence up to the house. Despite the operator having performed at Roman Abramovich's house early in the day it did not go so well for me and the pipe literally exploded 20' above the garden :twisted: . I also didn't fancy mixing the amount required or barrowing it up the back gate.
The new workshop will be 6.3X3.3M and the base is made from 4X2s sitting on additional (levelled) slabs with a DPC and various left-over insulation products filling the voids.The outside edges have 3 4X2s, two to support the walls and one for the floor. It's all screwed together with Spax except the noggins which where nailed in before laying it on the slabs/DPC. Additional noggins while installing the flooring where screwed in with 4" deck screws. The floor is currently ply salvaged from the old shed and part of my reasoning for the extra 4X2 that it sits on was that I may want to replace it. Alternatively I may add another layer.
All the floor sheets had to be cut along all four edges so this took a little longer than expected, but by last night the first floor was completed. At the request of SWMBO, I also moved all the timber off the path and lawn onto the base. Because I decided to use stock sizes I ordered an additional 102M of 3M lengths. For some reason the suppliers delivered this twice (I came home on Friday to find a new pile by the base which the driver had carefully unloaded and carried up - shame I hadn't actually ordered it) and the second lot where almost identical lengths. So, as of Sunday I have a solid and level platform to build upon:
I'll make the roof trusses next using the floor/edges as a jig then frame the sides which I will cover in 200mm featheredge from the sawmill at Cocking. SWMBO thinks Oak would be nice but I don't think she knows the cost. I will then fill with more insulation and cover the walls with 12mm ply along with the roof deck. Fortunately an armoured cable supplied mains from the house even if it is connected to the cooker switch - some more rewiring to be done.
I've found peoples costings very helpful and will try to post some figures for that. If it's anything like the extension it'll be twice my estimate. I'll post more as work progresses.
Andy
