Workshop build, wood frame on concrete foundation

[sirocosm]

I moved to Norwich last year and bought a 1930s detached house that is a bit of a wreck and the first thing I needed was a workshop. We have a deep yard about 9 meters wide, so I thought to use the workshop to divide the yard. I had in mind something that would look like this when viewed from our kitchen windows at the back of the house. It mostly matches the style of the house. We plan to have an open but covered sitting area in the front.

 

[sirocosm]

The foundation plan was a concrete grade beam sitting on a concrete footing.

 

[sirocosm]

I did the ground work with a shovel, and used a small mixer to pour the footing. Here is a picture as the forms are going up for the wall. The rubble is from a small shed that I demolished because the previous owners had let the roof rot and it was full of mold.

 

[sirocosm]

In Canada (where I am from), I would have just poured a slab, but here I wanted it to be a bit off the ground as I was worried otherwise the bottom of the framing might rot. Here is the finished foundation. I embedded stainless rod in the walls to bolt the sill plates to, and it worked way better than drilling and using anchors which I have done before. The bolts on the sides are also stainless rod, and will be cut off as they were only to hold the forms.

 

[sirocosm]

It is framed in 45x150 pressure treated wood, with 45x150 rafters and 45x200 ceiling joists. The bolts tying the rafters to the joists were the leftover cutoffs from the form work.

 

[sirocosm]

The ceiling joists are thicker than they need to be, because I want to use the loft for storage. It is a bit of a trade off between shop height and loft height because the council limits you to 4m total, so the loft is 1.2 from floor to the bottom of the collar ties. The roof is covered in the 18mm plywood which was used for the forms. The floor is 18mm ply.

 

[sirocosm]

Here is a pic from the house after it was framed and covered in tarps for the winter.

 

[sirocosm]

I am now working on the roof, if it would ever stop raining. The tiles are almost an exact match for the house, it is too bad they didn't use the same on the kitchen roof they added on the back of the house.

 

[sirocosm]

The windows were framed but boarded over for the winter, since I need the workshop to make them. This window will let some light in from the back.

 

[Adam W.]

Looks very tidy and I'm impressed with the plinth you made.

 

[Bojam]

Agree - good job!

 

[AJB Temple]

Absolutely top notch concrete work. Very tidy framing and the roof work looks excellent. I would imply you any day!

 

[sirocosm]

Thanks for the kind words. I am getting older, and I take my time, do a lot of stuff the hard way, so it tends to take me a long time to get anything finished.

 

[sirocosm]

Got the first half of the roof tiled, and now will start on the other side. This means I will need to bed the verge and ridge tiles in cement. I was planning to do the verges on one side and the bed the ridge tiles as I go, because after tiling there won't be any easy way to get at them. Is this the way it is normally done?

Any ideas on the best mix? I was thinking 1 cement, 1 lime, 3 sand (sifted ballast actually), and a bit of SBR.

 

[Adam W.]

You need sharp sand for this and I'd use 1:1:4 or 5 of sand otherwise it might crack if it's too strong.

Here they do the whole ridge with the top two courses installed, then tile up to it. It seems a smart way of doing it as you have battens to stand on and you can do that with the tiles you're using.

 

[sirocosm]

That sounds like a plan. I was tiling bottom up in 5 tile widths, and figured to do the ridge tiles as I went along. However, this would likely take me some days to finish, and a lot of stop-start with the cement work, which is not ideal. Doing it the way you suggest would allow me to do the whole ridge in one day, and also solves the problem I would have when I get to the ridge peak at the back (with nothing to stand on).

I read ballast is a mix of sharp sand and aggregate. I was just going to screen out the larger stones as I have a pile of ballast left over from the foundation. Do you think that would be OK?

 

[Adam W.]

Yes, that would be fine. The stones in the sand will add an element of durability and reduce wind erosion. A brushed finish exposes the aggregate which I think is more attractive than a troweled finish.

You may need to add a bit of sand to it as it might not be workable enough and fall straight off the trowel.

 

[MARK.B.]

Looking great so far,as others have said your foundation work is spot on I liked that you used the leftover threaded rod in the roof structure and you reused the ply.
Have you considered underfloor ducting for dust extraction etc as now is the time as wish you had .

 

[sirocosm]

Thanks. Currently my dust extraction consists of one of these:

coupled to a cyclone separator and one of those 25l white plastic buckets.

I guess I am going to have to do something about that. It is not going to be up to the job when I eventually get a thickness planer.

 

[Adam W.]

You might want to have a bit of experiment to see how many courses you need to go down from the ridge, so that you don't disturb the ridge when you come to lay the tiles up under them and finish off.