Workshop with Tiled roof

[GerryKnowles]

Hi All,

I am designing a fairly simple workshop that I am going to build myself, its to store a lawnmower, fishing tackle, bikes power tools and the usual years and years of stuff accumulated that I will probably never use? It will be 3mx8m in size with three windows an entrance door and doulbe doors on the end to get the mower in and out of, I want to build it in timber so a stud wall construction with weatherboard to finish the outside. I want to build it with a tiled roof , but I cant find any guidelines anywhere as to how strong the walls need to be to support the roof? Will a standard stud wall frame be strong enough or do I need to build a seperate timber frame and fill in with stud walls ?

Thanks for any advice in advance

Gerry

 

[MikeG.]

Hi Gerry.

I've only a minute. Have a read of the threads linked to in my signature for a detailed overview of shed building. Stud walls will take the load of any roof......it's the base you need to have strong enough to support the imposed loads.

 

[GerryKnowles]

Hi Mike,

Great , thanks that hat I was hoping.

I will take a look at your other threads as you suggest

Best Regards


Gerry

 

[GerryKnowles]

Hi Mike,

The tutorial in building a shed is great thanks for doing this. I didnt understand why you counterbatten the walls before nailing featherboard to it? Do you not just nail the featherboard directly onto the stud wall. Also the same for the roof do you nail battens directly to the rafters (realise there will be a membrane inbetween the rafters and the batten)

Thnaks


Gerry

 

[TheTiddles]

It's to do with air movement and condensation (maximising and minimising respectively) there's an "interesting" recent thread where it is "discussed"... Just skip it and look at one of the others
Aidan

 

[MikeG.]

Yep, Aidan has it right. The two fundamentals of building a proper long-lasting shed are to raise the base of the woodwork off the ground on a plinth, and to have an air gap behind the cladding. If you don't do that they're starting to deteriorate as soon as you've finished them. If you adhere to those principles, they'll last almost indefinitely with proper maintenance.

The roof is indeed rafters (with insulation between), membrane, battens, tiles (in to out). It's different if you use a sheet roofing material.

Here's a link to my own workshop build, and here is a current build going on on this forum.

 

[spb]

The short answer is that any empty space inside your structure needs to be ventilated, unless it's completely sealed and filled with inert gas (e.g. double glazing panels). Otherwise, the air inside will stay at whatever humidity it is as the temperature changes, and you get condensation.

If the cladding is nailed directly to the studs with the membrane in between, you'll end up with lots of little spaces behind each cladding board which aren't properly ventilated. Using counterbattens to stand them off slightly gives you a clear space from top to bottom of the wall for air to exchange in and out.

 

[GerryKnowles]

I am making pretty good progress with my design and specification of materials but have hit a snag that I think most will have overcome. I am going to cut my own roof rather than buy trusses, my workshop is going to be 8m in length by 3m deep. The ridge board will therefore need to be 8 m in length , I dont think I will find a ridge board that long so what does everyone do presumably join 2 pieces together if so what is the best way to do this ?

 

[MikeG.]

If you have ties, meaning the roof timbers form a complete triangle (a truss), then you don't even need a ridgboard. However, they are convenient, so you simply scarf the ends of two bits of 6x1 or 8x1 together to form the required length. You can even butt joint the ends together and plant a piece of ply on each side if you really want.

 

[GerryKnowles]

Wondered if anyone can help. I watched DBT85S videos of his workshop build last night that I really enjoyed ( felt a bit sorry for him with the weather he didnt have much luck there) I noticed that he used two layers of wire mesh in his workshop foundation and wondered why? Mikes oroginal spec doesnt mention wire mesh, is it because of the size of the base that DBT85S dug out that wire mesh is reccomended. My base will be 3m x 8m so should I be using wire mesh in the foundation?

Gerry

 

[MikeG.]

That was a little more than wire mesh. It's reinforcement: a pre-made grid of reinforcing bars. It was necessary in that case because of the proximity of large trees and a clay sub-soil. There were major roots through the excavation.

If you have some site photos it would help, but in an urban environment without large trees reinforcing is less likely to be required.

 

[GerryKnowles]

Yes sorry for my rather generic terminology , I think it was A142 that was used. Anyway it does answer my question, I dont think I will have any problems with roots but will only find out once I put my back into digging out for the foundation, if I do I will be using a reinforced grid

 

[GerryKnowles]

Does anyone have any door advice that they can give me for my workshop? I will be installing a single door on the side of my workshop and a double door on the end of my workshop to get my ride on mower in and out. I am dreading fittings doors especially double doors, so I am interested to know what most people use for doors. Framed ledged and braced doors cheap but possible difficult to fit , double glazed more secure but more expensive , roller shutter doors expensive can possibly fit yourself and give more space in the workshop or other? I am also a bit stumped with door openings, I am going to put 2 courses of bricks down as reccomended but will have to leave gaps for the single and double door openings . I am not sure what gap size I should leave? The door width plus the frame seems logical but was wondering if there are any catches to doing that and by the time the bricks are laid its too late - Gerry

 

[user22161]

I am also a bit stumped with door openings, I am going to put 2 courses of bricks down as reccomended but will have to leave gaps for the single and double door openings . I am not sure what gap size I should leave? The door width plus the frame seems logical but was wondering if there are any catches to doing that and by the time the bricks are laid its too late - Gerry

I find it easiest to build around door frames rather than leaving a gap and then find the frame has to be modified slightly. When I extended my garage, for the access door I used an external frame with a 2XGG door with Georgian wired glass.

 

[MikeG.]

If you are making your own doors, the problem goes away. If you aren't, then buy the doors, and frames if that's what you plan to use, before you start laying bricks.

 

[GerryKnowles]

to Insulate or not to insulate?

I have decided to get a contractor friend in to dig out my footing and most probably put the slab in as well as I will be doing this on my own I can see the groundworks taking a lot out of me , I wanted to do it all myself but I can see the groundworks taking ages by hand and consuming a lot of personal resource as I would dig out by hand.

I am not sure if I should insulate my workshop or not. It will be used primarily for storage of lawmower fishing tackle chainsaw etc and for me when I want to get away from it for a couple of hours or when I am making or fixing things things (which isnt that often) . If I insulate it will be great but there is the additional cost inolved and I want to stick as close as I can to a budget . Looking at all the reccomendations here it seems that workshops are always insulated , would it be a grave mistake not to insulate my workshop?

Gerry

 

[MikeG.]

The difference in cost between insulated and uninsulated is entirely down to the cost of the insulation. No other additional material or cost is involved. The only thing is, your sheathing board has to be on the inside. So for £50 or so, I believe some of our younger brethren say something along the lines of "it's a no-brainer". Mineral wool (fibreglass) is cheap as chips, and if you are ever going to stand in the shed fiddling about in spring or autumn, never mind winter, you'll regret not insulating it when you had the chance.

 

[samhay]

Mineral wool is also pretty good at sound deadening, so even if you never heat the shed it will still be of use if you start making any noise inside it.

 

[GerryKnowles]

OK thats convincing enough for me to insulate.

Is mineral wool OK for both the walls and the roof ? or do I need to use something different for the roof? To keep it all in place , OBS, plaster board ply or cladding are suitable materials ?

 

[MikeG.]

Yep, it's fine for both.

It's very important to get the wall build up right. Have a look at the threads in my signature. You need a vapour barrier on the inside of the insulation, and OSB does that job nicely, as well as being the sheathing board which stiffens up the structure and stops it racking. If you don't want to use OSB (or ply), then you will need an actual vapour barrier, which can be either a sheet of polythene, or foil backed plasterboard. However, that leaves you needing diagonal bracing, which will complicate matters.