Steve's workshop - Painting the outside walls

[lanemaux]

Well Steve , if it helps , your project is cheering me up a great deal amigo. When I got ill a couple of years ago my gardening shed and it's attendant wood pile was sort of abandoned. Not a real tragedy about the wood as it was my reclaimed softwood planks from pallets , no real value or loss there. However , now that I'm on my feet for brief periods , we (the wife and I) cleared the rotten mess from the side of the shed. Wait a second where is the side of the shed? When we reached the level of the skids they were on , voila , critter and water had put paid to the OSB sheathing. Here you are putting up your new shop, all I need to do is some repair work. I figure I'm coming off easy here , this shouldn't take too long methinks . So thanks for outworking me amigo , your build is an inspiration to the likes of me. Oh and just to be clear, I did not put the little monstrosity up in the first place, that's on the previous tenant. You should see the plumbing in my basement , OUCH!!!

 

[Bluekingfisher]

It's going to be quite a notable structure. I hope you have understanding neighbours?

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Possibly the only workshop visible from space!!

 

[GLFaria]

Steve, you are doing an amazing work - and proving you have some very good friends, which I am sure you deserve.

One can't be envious if one's not certain he would be willing to go to the end of the same effort - I most certainly wouldn't, therapy or not. That shed - but is that a shed or a cottage? - looks larger than my 7th floor appartment (but I do have a splendid view...)

Thank you very much for documenting and sharing your experience (easier to look at than to do :wink: )

 

[Doug B]

Possibly the only workshop visible from space!!

I got to see the build so far on Monday & the photos make it look bigger than it is :-" :-" but not by much :lol:

Any news on the trusses Steve?

 

[Steve Maskery]

Doug! You've destroyed my JIR*!
Trusses are due a week tomorrow. How are you fixed?
S

*Jealosy-Inducing Rating

 

[Steve Maskery]

Today I've fitted most of the noggins.

When I cut the studs I cut them 2.9m from a 3.6m board. The bits left over are now being used for the noggins.

Because the studs are not perfectly straight and true, each noggin has to be cut for its position. So I cut a couple of height spacers and clamped them to the studs.

I can then mark the distance at that point. Here I'm marking on the right from the left, but I found it was more efficient to mark on the left from the right, that way I don't have to use a square to mark across the board, I can locate the saw blade directly on the pencil mark.

Whilst it is easy to nail in from one side:

It's not so..... ah. My camera battery failed and my replacement was dead too. So I carried on and took these photos afterwards. They are staged after the event and on this one, for example, I forgot to replace the supports for the photo. Anyway, the point is to show that for one end I have to toe-nail the joints.

A couple of times the Paslode fired two nails at once:

And here, if I needed one, is a reminder why it is a good idea to use supports rather than just holding it up in my hand. It's not easy to see, but it is the end of the nail coming out rather too far.

You may have spotted in one of the upper photos that in some places there is something of a gap at the end of the noggins. This is because some - well, many, actually - of the studs are twisted and warped. So a square-ended noggin doesn't necessarily look a good fit.

One was so bad I altered the cut to compensate.

 

[Steve Maskery]

From those 3.6 studs, this is all the waste there is:

I went round and did the job all over again at the upper level, but there are no photos of that as my camera has a ten-second delay but not a ten-minute one.....

The level is pretty good, but I still have a kink. This is because one of the studs is badly sprung. The centre is closer to the inside of the building that it should be. I don't think there is much I can do about it now, I should have been more careful in selecting my timber. It means I shall have a bulge in my wall . Mind you, if that is the worst that goes wrong in this caper I think I'll have got away with things quite well.

So now it looks like this:

You'll notice that I have not done the end ones on either wall. That is because some silly person went and nailed supports for the internal walls, so now I have to either notch away my noggins or tear down those supports and re-install them after fitting the end noggins. What sort of sawdust-brain would have done a thing like that, eh?

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Looking good Steve

why didn't you noggin alternately above and below a level line? Then you can paslode through the stud into each and every noggin.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Yes, but the noggins are there to support the edges of the OSB sheathing. If they were staggered then they would support only one sheet, not both.

S

 

[OLD]

This bulge due to a bad stud, my guess is that you are getting very tired because you know that its needs fixing and how to fix it .I think you should take a rest and plan your next portion of work ,because you will always know you could have sorted it to your complete satisfaction and it will bug you in the future.

 

[Steve Maskery]

I'm not sure I do know how to fix it, short of cutting it out and replacing it. Ah, I see. That's how I fix it.
You may well be right. You certainly are about the fatigue part of your analysis, I literally rolled out of bed this morning, I couldn't actually bend my back to sit up.
S

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yes. It'll come back to bite you.

 

[monkeybiter]

Depending on time and energy [and how far it deviates] you could plane the bow in situ close enough to true to never notice. Especially if you have/can borrow a power plane.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Ooh, that's a good idea. It would remove the tanalising, but it is on the inside not the outside and I could re-do it with the green Ronseal stuff I bought.

I think I do have a planer. Mine went, but I'm pretty sure that some generous person has given me one. To my shame I can't remember who. Nor exactly where I've put it, but there can't be many places I could have hidden it. I certainly have not parted with it. I need to hunt. I think that would be a good solution. A hollow on the outside doesn't matter anywhere near as much as a bulge on the inside. I could even shim out the outside sheath with wedges if I were being really fastidious.

Thanks for the idea. I like it a lot more than the idea of cutting out a stud, especially as my few remaining 6x2s are the dregs of the original stock...

S

 

[Graham Orm]

Great job Steve, as is everyone, I'm watching with interest. Have you thought about heating? I know it's a while away, just thought I'd throw in the mix Rocket Stoves. Burn scrap wood at a much slower rate than a wood burner, create far more heat, all with zero emissions....no smoke so no one will know you have it running, and no complaints about smells....and no heating bills!!!

The design allows it to reburn it's own smoke, it's this function that will give you 400 degrees plus at the top from just scraps.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Yes I do like the idea of a Rocket Stove. It does tend to take up a bit of space though, if you build a horizontal version, which is the most efficient, I believe.
I think I'm going to insulate it as best I can. I have quite a lot of insulation scraps already and there may be more. Unfortunately my supply has temporarily dried up because one of the guys fitting the insulation is building an extension and is taking it for himself. How very dare he! I scrounged first!
So I may just see what it is like with a small electric heater. As Doug pointed out, any open flame heater in a wooden workshop may have an impact on any insurance...

 

[xy mosian]

Great WIP Steve, I look in often.
Thinking of the studding and the bent ones. If you are using any of these as a support for the vertical edges of boards, will you not lose material to fix to? I was thinking that you might use the noggins to straighten the studs. Measure noggin length at floor level and coerce the studs to be straight.
Keep up the good work.
xy

 

[Steve Maskery]

Hi xy
I didn't understand your post when I first read it, but I think I do now. The noggins are not bowed (or if they are it is not much of a problem), it's the sprung ones that are the problem. One in particular.
I'll sort it, one way or another.
S

 

[xy mosian]

Sorry Steve,
I assumed that if noggins were not all the same length, then the studs must be bent sideways to the wall surface. hence my concern about the edges of the boards.

Try and enjoy the job!

xy