New House, New Workshop Build.

[deema]

But Planning Permission will be needed for ground mount.

Wow! just astonished that you can’t do it under permitted development?

 

[deema]

The liberal use of bristle strips to seal the bottom edges & sides etc solves the mouse and draught issue

Tried that, didn’t work, I think the mousey blighters just like a good ‘comb‘ and scratch of their fur as they slither through them.

 

[Inspector]

You could put an industrial roll up door on the outside for security, perhaps the mechanism in the soffits to hide them and another insulated rollup inside. Least intrusion into the workspace that way and double hard for crooks to get through. Another option is the same industrial rollup outside and the insulated overhead doors inside ( the insulated steel sandwich 5+ panel types). Even better insulation and mouse resistance but the tracks intrude more into the workspace. Cost is greater with doubling the doors but in the long run might be made up in energy savings and the security/insurance.

Pete

 

[Dave Moore]

The project is being designed by an architect, I have asked for the roof to be open with no internal bracing or support. Im not sure exactly how the roof will be designed! I believe however that this can be achieved by using engineered wood beams and fitch plates rather than steel I beams as you suggest which aesthetically will be nicer and it’s also more cost effective. I also like wood compared to steel as it’s more tolerant to fire.

Also less condensation problems with wood. Steel really creates a lot of condensation and cold spots. Regards,
Dave

 

[Dave Moore]

If your architect uses scissor trusses you don't need ridge beams as they span from one side to the other. Your roof shapes may make full use of them more complicated. My shop has them and the external pitch is 4/12 and inside closer to 3/12 pitch. They are also lighter and can be placed on the walls by the delivery truck with a folding crane, a telehandler forklift or lifted by hand. I would also skip the skylights because of cost, lowered insulation values and they are a source of future leaks. LED lights can be like being outside at noon if you pick the right ones.

Have fun
Pete

Yes the prefabbed wooden beams are light enough to lift by hand.

 

[Matt_0222]

From a garage door perspective, we went with the insulated Securoglide Excel roller garage door which has been decent. Two reasons for our selection: it’s a ‘secured by design’ design as otherwise roller garage doors can be easy to break into and 2) we chose roller because it minimises space loss. That said, not cheap and from an insulation perspective - even though it’s insulated - it won’t be up to the same level as the rest of the space. Sectional garage doors are solid and secure too (typically more secure and more insulated than roller garage doors and have less to go wrong) but their ‘up and over’ nature can eat into space. Might be worth looking at something a bit more custom?

 

[johnianb]

What about insulated side hinged doors like Ryterna. This gives the option of a smaller personal door avoiding the need to open up the whole door space when you just want to bring a few sheets of wood in.

 

[MikeH]

I may have something missing here but I thought permitted development was restricted to 30 sq m maximum.

 

[deema]

I may have something missing here but I thought permitted development was restricted to 30 sq m maximum.

I thought so too, and believed I’d need to attach it to the house to comply. But according to my architect, what is proposed fully complies in my circumstances with PD.

 

[MikeH]

Fair enough, you pay them to be the experts.

Have you stayed around Chester? I moved up from Devon about 6 years ago now, over near Delamere.

 

[Fitzroy]

I may have something missing here but I thought permitted development was restricted to 30 sq m maximum.

I don't think permitted dev rights have a maximum absolute area, it is more about the percentage of the curtiage of the property that will be covered. The 30m2 is related to the need for the building to adhere to building regs if larger than this.

 

[Jester129]

As this is going to incorporate both woodwork and metalwork, have you thought about internal partitioning of some kind? Just thinking...HTH

 

[Jameshow]

As this is going to incorporate both woodwork and metalwork, have you thought about internal partitioning of some kind? Just thinking...HTH

Also swafega on tap?!

 

[deema]

I have now had the first response from Scottish Power to my request for a 3 phase connection to the workshop. It’s always a bum clenching moment, as you wonder if they are going to say the transformer needs upgrading as it has insufficient capacity. The cost then spirals as they usually bill you with the upgrade cost!! Anyway, the first look see at providing me with a supply resulted in them concluding that the transformer has indeed insufficient capacity and will need exchanging.……big sigh, wallet feeling unwell……….however, the very nice lady from SP said, that from the 1 April (couldn’t they have picked a different date?) the DNO now pays for any transformer costs and it does not affect my quote, I’m not going to get the upgrade costs loaded onto my quote!! What!!?..wow! I felt like I’d won the lottery! So, she is passing my request on to someone else who deals with projects that require a transformer upgrade…….the tense wait continues.

 

[MF1000]

Anything that SP say I’d take with a huge pinch of salt …stupendously inefficient and contradictory company in my experience

 

[deema]

The topographic survey has been completed and the architect now has the files. We are still waiting for the results of the soil sampling in order for the foundations to be designed. I was really impressed with the detail that the survey was able to produce all done in about half a day on site. Only the area where the building is going and its immediate surroundings were surveyed.

 

[Hornbeam]

Large access doors will have a much poorer U value than brickwork so consider options. Roller shutter insulated are not great. The larger folded panel doors can be a lot better.
Air leakage is a big factor. Soft seals/bristles work OK on the slides and at the base but the biggest air leakage route is at the head of te door

 

[Hornbeam]

From your drawings it looks like you dont have any internal walls.
Is it worth considering a dedicated area for woodwork and an area for metal machining with a general area between.
Smaller spaces are easier to heat and also keeps dust in one area and oils/swarf etc in another

 

[Spectric]

What is amazing apart from all the detail is that we have been building for centuries and that we still have 800 year old structures still standing that were built long before any of this sort of ground survey, so are we now just doing things because we can and there is money to be had or is it a case of knowing allows the lowest cost option to be used.

 

[BradyS]

The fun and stress of planning the build which is on a schedule is the learning curve of all the various bits. My bandwidth is narrow, and I’m finding it more stress than fun! I will have to live with the decisions for while!!
Solar is another rabbit hole, but I do have a very good friend who has researched this and is IMO an expert in this subject…..is your facing colouring up a nice shade of rouge yet? Who I’m hoping will guide me through this conundrum. The roof lights or PV? The PV built into the workshop roof or popped on the main house roof?? I’m lucky that the main house roof is facing about 1 degree off due south and is large enough to accommodate PV and or Solar Heating tubes. It could also be ground based…..

Solar is another rabbit hole

Good day. I know there probably are huge differences between everything from PV systems and urban planning, to weather and other factors between my country and the UK.
However, I will share a bit of my experience for the chance it may help. It's been 2 years now since we installed photovoltaic panels. We have 5kw of PV output power and one water heating panel on a distinct system. What we do not have is natural gas or another heating source. We also don't use hvac (because we are stupid). Back to PV, our system is on-grid with a special contract that was induced by the EU last year called a compensation contract. We produce, supply the excess to the network, then overnight get back the same quality for only the price of transportation.
Ok, now back to the topic at hand. It's been almost one year since we haven't been issued a utility invoice for electricity. We have a three-phase system but the house uses both 3-phase and single phase. I don't have industrial machinery, my most powerful ones go around 4 hp. What we do have is an electrolytic heating system. But it's basically electric, just has a chemical reaction reactor that reduces the power consumption a little. It is a 50 to 64 amps system. Over 30 kW, I don't remember the specifics.
I related the details just to show how things stand from the point of view of the user. I do have some advantages like half of the roof oriented towards south in the ideal position for PV panels (not random, it was calculated). Our house is on a small hill without shadowing vegetation. So plenty of sun.
From what I learned, 3-phase PV systems with quality panels and inverter, not Chinese ones, are very efficient. I do recommend them to anyone that has appropriate conditions for a good yield.

LED strips. Still not as good as daylight

There is a way to turn led light into almost daylight, at least from the visibility point of view. I can give details on the matter but only if someone is interested, don't want to spam this post.

Regards,
Brad