DBT85s Workshop - Moved in and now time to fit it out

[MikeG.]

I've drawn it up with the 2 large windows that are kicking around here. 960x1750 and 960x 1140. May be too large for that 4x6 lintel??.........

Looks great, I have to say. However, you are losing a lot of valuable wall space, and I'd want to be certain of having at least 1m below the cill, 1100 preferably. That bigger window is on the limit for a 145 x 95 lintel.

 

[DBT85]

I've drawn it up with the 2 large windows that are kicking around here. 960x1750 and 960x 1140. May be too large for that 4x6 lintel??

Thought they'd look too big but its not too bad. Given though that I can just order windows any size I want (and would eventually have to replace these dead ones anyway) I might just not bother with them at all.

Large windows

Smaller windows

Large windows are probably nice, but that’s a whole lot of real estate of wall lost.

The ground hole Looks massive, a wheelbarrow would have been depressing carting all the aggregate across, one barrow, tip, no impression whatsoever, a couple of hundred times good old Richard. =D>

Yeah it's huge! It's oversize naturally, maybe by 4-500mm on each side, but still, barrowing that lot was hurting and I'd not even started!

With the plinth and everything else the windows would just about be 1100 off the floor.

I think it looks better but as mentioned it's a lot of wall lost. I think a happy medium of slightly smaller windows, but larger than the first drawing.

I'll just make a nice sized hole and get some glass to fit.

 

[DBT85]

Concrete booked for 8am Wednesday. Gives me plenty of time to get it all ready. Could possibly have had it done Monday but couldn't be 100% sure it would be ready so figured it was best to wait.

Not sure what to do with the featheredge. Kellaway can get 200*32 rebated but its a fair bit dearer than the 175*38 that Davies were selling.

 

[MikeG.]

The normal around here is ex 175 x 32. Ex 38 would look extremely chunky, I reckon. That may be suitable for a large building, but not for a small outbuilding like this. Rebated feather edge sits really flat on the wall, and can look great for a modern building. It is a bit over the top for a workshop, though. There's no rush to have the outside clad, though. You can keep looking for some months, because your breather membrane will keep the worst of the weather out.

 

[DBT85]

As you say that I just ordered the 38 :lol:

We shall have to see how she looks. It'll be reet! I could always hand plane down each board (homer)

Thats 360m of cladding ordered, 75 lengths for £576 including the £30 delivery. They aren't 100% sure when its coming but as you say there's no major rush. I can get the roof done and go from there. Plenty to keep me busy.

 

[DBT85]

Busy day today made much less deadly thanks to Richard once again. He arrived at 2 with his big red tractor to lift 10 bags of type 1 into the hole he dug just 2 days ago. He managed to get the entire tractor into the pit in the end, we split the bags and then he drove little digger in and levelled it off a bit. Despite that I still ended up knackered as I was still shovelling and also had to dig the first part of the service trench...right through where the bigger birch once lived. Roots everywhere :evil: .

Also popped to the hire shop and got the Leica level and the whacker plate and ordered my roof and wall membrane.

I was actually concerned that we wouldn't have enough type 1. I calculated for a 7.2x5m hole and we ended up with one nearer 7.6 and 5.5, despite that, the 10 bags did it pretty much bang on. I've gone over it a couple of times with the whacker but had to stop for the evening, so will do more and check it all again. First time over I could feel it was still too undulating so moved some around and it had a better feeling after a second pass.

Obligatory pics
We have a slight high spot in this one

Pretty good in the end

8:30 tomorrow the sand arrives and Richard shall valiantly return again to drop it next to the pit. Saving me considerable work. After that is done I can form up, DPM down, mesh down and relax till Wednesday morning when concrete occurs.

On that subject, given the current weather and the projections for it to continue until Wednesday, what do I need to do to this slab after I've floated it? It's been baking out there and naturally I don't want all this work to be for naught. Before anyone asks, I don't have 30m2 of hessian in my cupboard.

 

[MikeG.]

That looks really neat.

Concrete in the heat............keep it as wet as you can for as long as you can. After you've floated it wait until misting it with a spray attachment doesn't make any marks on the surface, and then flood it. Hopefully this will be in the afternoon/ evening of the day concrete is poured in the morning. The following morning, wet it again and if you've got some plastic sheeting or a tarpaulin, pull that over it. Try and keep it wet for 2 or 3 days if you can, but it's surprisingly difficult to do. All that water is the first test of whether or not you got the slab level!

 

[DBT85]

Thanks mike, yeah its turned out ok so far. Hopefully the next bit goes as smoothly.

I don't have a tarp that large but i can get one or two by Wednesday. Would it matter if its light or dark? I figure dark will just warm up the surface more. Some things I read say the tarp needs to be 4mm thick. I want to see the people that lift a tarp that thick.

Just lay the tarp right on the surface and as lightly as possible weigh it down?

I jsut read about pond curing, so I'm in no way worried now about over watering.

 

[Sheptonphil]

A fantastic start to the project, better than you could have anticipated with the machinery around to do the donkey work.

Got to ask, why didn’t you move the whole lot 2 or three yards to the right, away from the access track? Sure there’s a good reason.

 

[DBT85]

A fantastic start to the project, better than you could have anticipated with the machinery around to do the donkey work.

I'd be dead if I'd tried to barrow that lot. Honestly.

 

[DBT85]

Not much going on today, the second delivery arrived first thing and big red Fergus moved all but the mesh (as well as my tiles which arrived days ago) round the back into the field. The sharp sand for blinding the hardcore he dumped right next to the slab so that I can finish compacting.

I Spy a Tractor in my Garden

Like a Dog With a Bone

Crappy English Weather

Perfection

I got on and did more of that but not much. As you can see from the photo, this very wavy length of 50*200 shows that my initial passes yesterday were perfectly flat. I moved some more around and got another pass with the whacker before I ran out of fuel for the day.

Tomorrow its more compacting, get the sand out and compacted and then at least some of the formwork. I'm not sure how the hell I'm going to stick my stakes through the type 1 to hold the boards in place.

 

[Inspector]

Holding the form can be with the stake driven in as far as you can and then by putting some in deep into the soil outside the excavation. Then you nail 2x to the stakes in the dirt back to the top/sides of the forms and stakes in the excavation as needed to reinforce them. The downside is the horizontal braces become a tripping hazard and get in the way of wheel barrow or machines placing the concrete.

Pete

 

[Yojevol]

Is that a cable duct in the corner? Are you putting in a water supply?
Brian

 

[Sheptonphil]

Nice to have the materials on site ready. I haven’t the room or permission to store all The goods waiting, so have to order on the fly as I go and hope I’ve got the lead times right. That 200x50 looks bendier than a bendy thing. I found it surprisingly difficult getting everything absolutely level, but now is where the success of the build lies, as I found out.

It’s really good seeing the progress of someone else, I can associate with it, but don’t get as tired just watching what you have done. :lol:

 

[DBT85]

Holding the form can be with the stake driven in as far as you can and then by putting some in deep into the soil outside the excavation. Then you nail 2x to the stakes in the dirt back to the top/sides of the forms and stakes in the excavation as needed to reinforce them. The downside is the horizontal braces become a tripping hazard and get in the way of wheel barrow or machines placing the concrete.

Pete

Oh if I can get the stakes through the type 1 thm I'll be fine. I have hammers ranging all the way up to "Thor left this here". It's just getting it through the type 1.

Is that a cable duct in the corner? Are you putting in a water supply?
Brian

It is duct, though only because we had it laying around the farmyard waiting to be used. No plan on water, just ethernet and 2 core SWA. I just prefer duct so that I can pull other things in if needed. There's no real reason I couldn't put some 15mm flex tube in if I really wanted apart from getting rid of it at the other end, though one solution to that did appear in the thread. I may run the pipe in and just leave it in case I want it. At least with conduit I have choice that doesn't mean digging more holes.

Nice to have the materials on site ready. I haven’t the room or permission to store all The goods waiting, so have to order on the fly as I go and hope I’ve got the lead times right. That 200x50 looks bendier than a bendy thing. I found it surprisingly difficult getting everything absolutely level, but now is where the success of the build lies, as I found out.

It’s really good seeing the progress of someone else, I can associate with it, but don’t get as tired just watching what you have done. :lol:

I am VERY lucky to have the space to even build this, let alone to store all the materials. Also then having a father in law who knows people with machines helps too!

I think getting the forms level will be easy enough, its just getting a half decent sub base down that is a bit harder. At the end of the day if your forms are ok then the concrete will match it! I'm not worried if the sub base isn't snooker table flat, but as you can see yesterdays efforts left me with deviations in multiple inches.

 

[DBT85]

I'm in the middle of doing the blinding and am finding that I can whack it down but will always get tramlines and there seems to be nothing I can do that stops it?

 

[MikeG.]

Doesn't matter. Leave it as is. You don't even need a whacker: you can whack it down with the back of a shovel if you like. There is nothing important about blinding other than it's role in protecting the plastic.

 

[DBT85]

Righto. Probably just saved me going mad and rattling my fillings out for hours.

 

[DBT85]

New problem. I made a jig and can nicely make my vampire spikes.

They don't want to go through the type 1. Going to have to rake out around the formwork to allow the stakes. Yay.

The end of today.

Got my formwork made up and sand spread around.

Need stakes, make janky jig

Todays end point. All 4 corners double staked and perfectly level according to the Leica laser level. The diagonal is out by 2mm. I'll live with it.

Tomorrows plan is to get the rest of it staked and anything else I can do after that. I have about half of my stakes cut (about 44 in total) so I can just get on with it.

 

[Sheptonphil]

Looking great. A fantastic week’s progress.