New workshop build, with a difference!

[wobblycogs]

Merry Christmas, hope you passed your building inspection.

This project (and Dibs workshop build) are slowly causing me to think that I can build a workshop extension on our place. Unfortunately I'll need planning and listed building permissions, sigh, so I probably won't get started till next year! That's some nice brick work by the way, very neat and tidy.

 

[Cegidfa]

Hello wobblycogs,
I am glad that Dibs and I have given you the ‘inspiration’ to start your build. It was part of the reason for me doing the write up.....if we can do it, anyone can, with a bit of careful planning. The good brickwork is down to Diane, as you may have seen on page 2.

Oh, and the ‘Inspector’ passed the construction, but couldn’t sign it off as he had forgotten his pen, and an opposable digit :wink:

I was out working in -3°C today in the open front barnette. To my surprise it didn’t seem cold, I fully expect to start talking in Inuit any day now, and have a strange hankering for blubber :shock: So, if it's not snowing tomorrow, we might try putting up some more roof sheet. OK, so we are barking mad...no sense, no feeling.

Have a cool yule...Dick.

 

[chris_d]

...but couldn’t sign it off as he had forgotten his pen...Dick.

Surely he was equipped with a quill?

Sorry, I couldn't resist!

I have a great admiration for you and your wife - most inspiring. Good luck with the remainder of the build.

Kind regards,
Chris

 

[Cegidfa]

Hi Chris,
Thanks for the kind words; we hadn't the heart to spoil his lovely plumage, just so that he could sign off. And would you risk that beak or feet? He is after all an upgraded chicken who could give one a good scratch. :shock:
Hi to all,
It's a good job that we are getting used to the cold as the boiler conked out yesterday - again, on frozen condense, and 'ionising probe failure'. This, in spite of insulating the pipe in a box and then adding a celotex covering as well as the 200mm of fibreglass. Just as we were about to go out and 'try' to buy some electric heaters, we had a power cut that lasted until seven in the evening.....Have we upset someone? We then spent the day trying to buy plumbing parts to divert the condense pipe into the d/washer upstand which exits the house quite low down (ie. short exposure) and is cover by the insulating box. Luckily, once the flooded boiler had emptied, it dried over night and fired up without faulting, just as the spare probe arrived in the post. ' There's no finer thing' :norm: than having to wreck the kitchen cabinets and worktop just before Christmas Eve, so I'd best away and refit it all.

:ho2 Have a happy - (warm) "Winterval" :ho2 :deer ccasion5: ccasion5:

Dick and Diane.

 

[bucephalus]

Thanks for posting this inspirational and informative build - like Dibs' build, it is a ongoing source of motivation and fascination... can't wait to see the finished product.

It might seem like a long time ago now, but I was really glad to see the 'no noggins' approach - I am doing without them in mine (as the studwork is fixed to concrete walls) but was a still bit unsure as I have never done anything remotely like this before.

Keep up the great work and write-ups, and have a Happy (and safe) New Year.

 

[Charlie Woody]

Hi Dick

I have recently joined this forum and one of the things that I have enjoyed is your workshop build. Love the shape of the building .... is that a North American influence?

Hopefully you managed to get your central heating problems resolved and enjoyed Christmas and New Year festivities.

Good luck with the rest of the build. I look forward to reading and seeing more photos.

 

[Cegidfa]

Hello bucephalus,
I was going to say that you were a bit of a dark horse, but I was given ‘the look’ that said ‘put away the Christmas cracker jokes’.........

‘Inspirational, ongoing source of motivation and satisfaction’ but thanks for the encouragement; and I am glad that it is useful.

As to noggings, I mentioned to Dibs, a study, some pages back, that concluded that they didn’t offer that much extra. And if it’s good enough for American builds, it’s good enough for my faux American style workshop.

Regards....Dick.

 

[Cegidfa]

Hi Charlie,
Welcome to the fold. With you and bucephalus’ comments, I must be doing something right for once in my life :smile: It is very satisfying to give something back in this life.

The design is definitely 100% North American. It is referred to as Dutch Colonial, because the early Dutch immigrants brought the style with them from the Netherlands.

We did manage to resolve the central heating problem by reading the manual; it’s a pity the plumber didn’t.

Regards....Dick.

 

[Cegidfa]

Hello All,
Whilst it’s been cold, wet and windy, we have beavered away at making the overhang supports. Did we need them? A long straight edge showed a drop of 12mm, so yes we did. They also add interest to the corners.
As to dimensions and form - Sketchup to the rescue. Then transfer them to a sheet of ply, draw a line at 45° from the corner and site the first piece having cut 45° at both ends, allowing extra for the tenons. For a trammel bar, I had a door length piece of 25mm wide thin ply (don’t ask why I have it ). Fit pencil one end and a nail the other; scribe the curve and bandsaw to shape. I was going to have shoulders at both ends but it dawned on me that if the allowance for insulation,battens and cladding didn’t quite work out, it would look poor. So back to the trammel bar and establish a new arc....doh.

Now then, how to hold the overhang at 90° - forward the trusty trolley jack and a suitably long piece of 2 x 2. Mark the tenon shoulders and route the mortices; has anyone tried routing above their head? It’s not fun.

The next ‘interesting’ experience is how to fit the tenons between two fixed points?
Forward the jack again, and pump until the wood protests. Fit the bottom tenon and insert the top one as far as it will go. Cross everything and pump again until I run out of nerve, and then whack the top of the curve with a large rubber mallet until it pops in....phew!
Only three more to go. See the finished thing below.

Now the weather has improved we have fitted the lower chord sheathing and cut the holes for the rooflights. See below.

The next job is to cover the kickouts and fit the fascia, watch this space.

Regards...Dick.

 

[xy mosian]

Cracking stuff Dick, there is no holding the two of you. More power to your elbow.

xy

 

[kirkpoore1]

Nice solution, Dick. Functional, and decorative. I really like that you mortised it in, rather than just bolting it on.

Kirk

 

[Cegidfa]

Hi folks,

No, we haven’t died from exposure, just hibernating However, working in 5°C with a mild easterly wind is colder than -3 with no wind...brrrr.

The kickouts have now been ply clad, 40mm of PIR added to the outside :shock: and the cladding battens fitted.

We had one problem; shingles require a drip cill across the bottom edge of the roof. We couldn’t source them anywhere (an easy task for our American cousins).
A vented soffit was also required, at £86 for two lengths of ready perforated I think not. We tried a local chap, who suggested over fascia venting, which we hadn’t come across before.
This was £25 + another £25 for 9mm WBP ply for the soffit, so we are quids in.

See below for the build to date.

It dawned on us that, because of the profile of the vent, we could use it as a drip edge. This saved a lot of money, and work, as we were going to use zinc flashing bent to a drip cill shape.

The fascia has been cut from 18mm ply and is in the process of being painted all round, in best Tom Silva style (that is, if anyone remembers This Old House. Strewth, he must nearly be a pensioner now.........ah.....so am I). For the uninitiated that means painting ‘clabbords’ on all faces. This helps with the longevity of the paintwork. We also have the windows in the conservatory, being stripped, rubbed down and painted - what a tedious task.
All we need now is some warmer weather, preferably wind free, for fitting the shingles.

That’s all for now.

 

[Mcluma]

Who did you get the shingles from, and what type are they

 

[Cegidfa]

Hi mcluma,
The shingles are Amourglass square butt shingles by Iko; sourced from Tudor Griffiths of Oswestry. Not a lot of use to you in Surrey

Regards...Dick.

 

[Halo Jones]

Hi Dick / McLuma,

I've been following this thread for a while and it is good to see the workshop starting to look solid.

I used the same shingles on my (not so grand) workshop and sourced them from the online "roofingsuperstore". I am happy with the result but I would mention that in this cold weather I would store the tiles in the house and bring them out a few at a time or they will have a tendency to crack (especially any ridge tiles). I also found it a lot easier to cut the tiles on the reverse.

Cheers,

Halo

 

[Mcluma]

Hi mcluma,
The shingles are Amourglass square butt shingles by Iko; sourced from Tudor Griffiths of Oswestry. Not a lot of use to you in Surrey

Regards...Dick.

The reason i ask, is that i sourced my tiles directly from Latvia,

They were half the price from the onces you buy in the uk

And the quality and service was very good

I will show some pics in the morning

 

[Cegidfa]

Hello Halo and mcluma,
As yet, I haven't actually bought the shingles; I just have a source and price. I was waiting for it to get warmer :roll: Interestingly, I too had considered keeping some tiles indoors prior to use. Unfortunately, the house is full of tools and machinery :shock: but thanks for the warning Halo. The advice offered is the beauty of this site.

Halo, can I ask, how did you manage the bottom drip edge for your roof, given my difficulty with sourcing suitable material?

mcluma, I would be very interested to see your pics and if possible your supplier info.

Many thanks gents.....Dick.

Back to painting fascias....what joy...I'd rather be (hammer)

 

[Halo Jones]

Just incase there is any confusion I am talking about felt shingles and not cedar shingles.

There seems to be a number of instructions for the drip edge which made it a little confusing and I ended up making it up as I was going along! Iko suggest either using a zinc edging or having a first course of tiles put on upside down with the "tile" section pointing up toward the ridge then another bottom row pointing the right way. I found that the tiles I tried this on cracked but perhaps this was because it was only 5oC at the time. In the end I used two layers of edging felt. One tucked under the eaves and the second layer positioned into the guttering then the first proper row of tiles on top. Given that there is also a water proof membrane over the rest of the roof I figured that 4 layers should be enough. Whether it will last as long at the drip edge remains to be seen. If it helps you the roofing superstore also had a plastic edging strip http://www.roofingsuperstore.co.uk/prod ... of-10.html but decided not to use it.

Also at the ridge I folded the last row of tiles of each side over the top rather than cut them then a single layer of the cut ridge tiles. This also gives a total of 4 waterproof layers at the ridge, all over lapped.

I hope the above is clear.

Cheers,

Halo

 

[Cegidfa]

Thanks for that Halo. There was no confusion, other than my usual state of mind.
We will be using the double layer at the eaves Iko style, over a breathable membrane.

We can’t use your method at the ridge, as shingles require a roof vent for cooling when insulation is used. Do you think that we can find a supplier of Iko Armourvent on the web... ?
We will have to contact them to see if they can provide one.

If Kirk Poore is reading this he must be very unimpressed with our British manufacturers not supplying all the kit needed for the job. No American would put up with this.

Regards...Dick.

 

[kirkpoore1]

If Kirk Poore is reading this he must be very unimpressed with our British manufacturers not supplying all the kit needed for the job. No American would put up with this.

Regards...Dick.

It's all what the local customers demand, Dick. For instance, in reading this site, it seems that tile roofs are pretty typical there. Here (midwest US), nobody has tile roofs. Thus, you can't walk into the local borg (big box hardware/building supply store, aka Home Depot or Lowe's) and get the tiles or any special tools or fittings required. In California or the desert southwest, where tile roofs are common, I bet you can get those things at the same stores. If the felt shingle roofs are common there (say, more than 10% of the homes), then you're right, I would be surprised you can't get all the stuff you need. That sort of thing is often need just for simple repairs, let alone new construction or complete tear-offs.

Which reminds me: When you put the roof on, and perhaps after it passes inspection (since I don't know the local laws), if you get a lot of wind out of a particular direction you should consider gluing down the shingles on the upwind edge of the roof. We get some pretty good wind here during thunderstorms, and I was averaging 2-3 trips onto the roof each year to replace torn off shingles. (This was partly due to the original roofers doing a crappy job, but also due to the climate.) Finally, in the fall of '09, I took some tubes of gutter sealer up on the roof and glued down the leading edge of every shingle that was a little loose, and almost all of them on the upwind edge of the gable end of the roof. 2010? No trips onto the roof. We're getting the roof reshingled this spring, anyway, so it wasn't intended to be permanent.

Kirk