Woodwork/Model making workshop. Scale 1:1

[Charter33]

With the groundwork and the concrete slab base now done, as described in the 'What have you done in the garden' thread, it seems about time to branch out into a build log of its own.

Initial design thoughts have evolved, and evenings have been spent researching materials, techniques and costs and these were used to draught out some plans. A quick 1/10th card model helped with visualizing the concept. I no longer have access to the CAD packages I used to work with, so it was back to earlier tech ie. Tee square, drawing board, set squares and sharp pencils - happy days!

 

A few finer details still need to be resolved. These include things like the position and types of roof lights. With the structure enclosed on three sides the roof is the only practical source of natural light. At the moment I'm leaning towards using sun tunnels, but this may change. Another modification to the outline 'aspirations' explained before is the move from a half glazed stable door to a pair of fully glazed French doors to also improve the amount of usable daylight and to provide wider access. Limitations in terms of access to the site, limited storage and construction space will need to be carefully managed but my plan seems viable and I'm now in a position to start building.

So today the first batch of materials arrived - enough to construct the floor. This insulated OSB box, complete with an air gap between it and the concrete, will eventually be clad with T&G floorboards once the shell is complete and weather tight.

Now...... if the rain would only stop falling, I could get started......

Cheers,

Graham.

[thibaultron]

Not having followed the Garden thread, what size is the building?

[Charter33]

The appropriate dimensions are:

5 M (16') long, 2.5 M (8') to the top roof ridge, the far end, with the round window, is 2.4 M wide, and the width tapers to 2 M (6' 6") wide at the end with the doors. These sizes will maximize the area available while still conforming to planning regs.

 

The rain that had been forcast held off long enough for me to sort out gravel drainage channels around the concrete slab and to lay the plastic air gap forming base. It was dark by the time I'd finished for the day, so no pictures today.

[Charter33]

Air gap forming base roughly in place and showing the issue of the tapering plot. The gravel/weed control matting drainage channel around the slab works well as proved by a morning of torrential rain. 

Construction of the wooden floor went as planned. First two panels completed, the other two internally braced and with the insulation panels in place. Twilight coming on.......

..... but all finished by the end of the day - thanks to the built in LED lights on the cordless screwdriver. Had to clear up and cover things with tarpaulins by the light of the streetlamp behind the fence, but all is now weather protected, and this week target has been met. 

Walls next......

Cheers,

Graham.

[Charter33]

Thanks for the 'likes'!

Moving on to the walls......

Side walls comprise of four 4' wide x 6' high treated softwood frames faced with OSB board each. A modular design with each section to be covered in breathable membrane and composite cladding.  Completed sections will then be bolted together and secured to the floor.........

Far gable end next.  Framed and faced the same way but it will be covered in membrane and clad once all the elements are finally assembled - I can just about manage to lift this panel on my own..... no chance if it's clad! The bottom fence panel will be temporarily removed to do this.

First test assembly........

....... all good and now fully faced.

A meeting with the surveyor from the company who are making the French doors ironed out the finer details of the nearer gable end, and this will be the next stage.

Making progress!

Cheers,

Graham.

[Charter33]

Well.... what a day!

This could just as well been posted in the 'What have you received today' thread 🙂

 

I wanted a window in the far gable end that would increase the amount of natural light to the 'clean/dust free' model making section of the workshop (the Captain's day cabin?). I thought it would be appropriate to have some sort of nautical theme as a nod to the workshop's primary use and have a few ideas about how to do this. Then the Admiral asked for ideas for a Christmas present. "A porthole would be nice...."

Today we drove over to Trinity Marine near Exeter. Remember when you were a child and were taken to the most amazing toy shop and you felt like all your Christmases had come at once? This marine reclamation/salvage company has some jaw dropping stuff. Their website is impressive, but really does not do justice to the stunning stock they have - for example the very detailed model paddle steamer that currently has pride of place in one of the two display showrooms -it must be at least 8' long, or the model of a French frigate, or the gear reclaimed from HMS Hermes....... To call the place an Aladdin's cave is an understatement and I recommend a visit if you are ever in the area.

trinitymarine.co.uk if you want to browse their website.

 

So, I am now the proud owner of a 19" diameter, aluminium opening porthole reclaimed from the MV Orient Well.

and one of my next tasks is to adapt the timber framework to accept it.

 

Christmas has come a bit early this year 😁

Ho ho ho

Cheers,

Graham.

[king derelict]

The Trinity Marine website is fascinating. I browse and lust!

Congrats on the porthole

 

Alan

[Canute]

What a novel way to add a vent/window. Looks good.

[Charter33]

The weather, plus seasonal events have slowed progress down but today, the first in a while with no rain forecast, enough work has been done to warrant an up-date. 

Christmas Eve: I made a MDF routing jig for the porthole which includes the position of the mounting holes. The plan is to use four 20 mm x 100 mm coach bolts with dome head nuts for the main fixing but with the remaining holes covered with the same nuts but on dummy wooden pegs to save a bit on the expense.

The position of the porthole has also been lowered a touch.

A profile cutter in the router shaped the additional timber framing.

After roughing out the hole in the OSB board with a jigsaw the opening was worked from the other side with the router.

Today, after machining the recess for the door cill, all external edge timbers of the base were given a couple of coats of bitumen paint to seal and improve water resistance.

The final wall panel, the near gable end with the French doors, was framed up on top of the far wall to ensure the roof angles were maintained. 

It was built around a temporary timber door frame made to the exact size for the unit on order.

Couldn't resist the temptation to slot it all together........ just to check....

With the sun beginning to set it was time to return it all to it's flat pack form and under tarpaulins to await the arrival of the composite wall cladding.

 

Happy New Year  

 

[AJohnson]

Happy New Year to you Graham, your workshop is coming along nicely!

[Jaager]

Graham,

 

Oh fun,  a chance to fantasize!  and remember,

 

I would find it difficult not to over engineer (a thick layer of) sheet Styrofoam insulation and Tyvek.  In the past, I learned that you have to be VERY careful with:  if and where a vapor barrier is placed.  Do it wrong and you have a condensation trap and liquid water in closed spaces.  What works for a house, with a conditioned interior, does not work in a garage that is not heated or cooled.  Your structure could be both if you only heat or cool when in use.

 

I have a cousin who likes the sound of rain hitting a metal roof.  He built his house with one.  He discovered that a sheet steel roof will rust,  with one side at the outside and one side at a conditioned space.   I am thinking that if both sides are under outside conditions, no condensation - less propensity to rust.  The metal would essentially have to float above the structure with freedom for underside air circulation.   But, I guess with the nature of your structure, the fixed life span of asphalt shingles is not a problem.  The structure will probably go first.

 

For a sky light, if your budget is unlimited take a look at what Kalwall has available.

[Charter33]

Hi,

Thanks Andrew, it all seems to be coming together at last. Looking forward to completing the weather proof shell so I can work on the interior ..... just the small matter of the roof to overcome, but I'll deal with that hurdle once the walls are finally erected - working out the dimensions of the roof trusses will keep me busy with each one differing in size due to the taper.

Thanks for the advice Jaager. The condensation issue has been given a lot of thought. The Tyvek is already here and ready. This vapour barrier will go over the outside of the OSB and under the composite cladding. The profile of the system I'm using (Claddo) leaves a good air gap behind it. Wall and roof insulation might end up Rockwool, or possibly a natural wool fleece product. As I hope to spend a lot of time using this building it will need to have some form of heating to make it comfortable in the colder months and also to protect the equipment that will be in it. The French doors have also had the trickle vent option for ventilation too. Earlier in the design process a curved corrugated roof was a strong contender - sort of like a Shepard's hut without the wheels. The difficulty of adding affordable roof lights put a halt to that idea. Not wanting to have a flat roof or a normal pitched roof the 'gambrel' style seemed a workable alternative, the inspirational spark for this actually came from Knocklouder's pictures of his vegetable and herb garden! 

The products Kalwall produce are very impressive but unfortunately my budget is definitely limited! I have found a small company in West Sussex called Activent who specialise in roof windows, fixed or opening, single or double glazed, specifically for wooden garden buildings. These seem ideal for my purposes and I'll probably go for the fixed double glazed version with an opening one for those times when a bit of extra air flow is need.

Grotty weather back in force today, but the cladding order has now been placed and it's arrival eagerly awaited!

Cheers,

Graham.

[thibaultron]

For the intermediate trusses, are you going to build actual trusses, or just place rafters? If just individual rafters, it would be much quicker to just measure and cut them in place. Cut a board a little long, drop it in place above the wall and center ridge beam, then run lines onto the board with a straight edge. This will also take into account any warpage in the walls. This should take a fraction of the time to design the rafters.

[Charter33]

The plan is to build the intermediate trusses using structural ply, Ron. Something like this:

The angles are constant, just the lengths of each member need adjusting, and I can get these measurements once the walls are erected. Fitting six of these trusses will give me room to comfortably fit the 500 mm square roof lights. I'm also planning to re-enforce the joints where the side wall panels meet with galvanized metal straps on their top edge to hopefully minimise any tendency for them to distort under load. Might add some collar ties as well, doubling as storage supports for longer lengths of timber.

Cheers,

Graham.

[thibaultron]

Might I suggest, if the trusses are going to line up with the vertical studs, widening the bottom of the truss and running it down 3" or so and screwing it ti the stud. You could also run a straight strap across the side of the stud, and the side of the truss, instead of screwing through the edge of the plywood. This would solidly tie them together, and lock them from allowing the base to spread. Not being famillar with UK weather, I don't know if you have to deal with snow loads or not.

[Charter33]

Good idea to extend the trusses down further and widening them where they rest on the walls, Ron. The metal straps I'm thinking of using are 30 mm wide and will screw to the top horizontal CLS timber. I could add them to the sides as well - they will all be hidden once the wall insulation and interior facing boards are in place. I'm also planning to add some additional bracing between the trusses too. I've dropped the number of trusses from seven to six to increase the width between them for the roof lights and one other advantage of this is it moves them away from being directly in line with the vertical wall panel joints.

As for snow loads - this far south we rarely get more than a couple of inches, 4"- 6" is regarded as extreme. Unfortunately in the UK anything above 1/2" is enough to bring traffic chaos and bring the railways to a halt....😂

[Charter33]

With the arrival of the cladding at last it's time to assemble this large 'flat pack' kit......

The height of the side walls was determined from the standard length of the cladding - 3.6 M. Cut in half and fitted vertically there was no waste. Two panels were clamped together and the run of cladding strips screwed on until the first two lengths were fixed to the second panel. At this point the panels were separated and the finished section lifted and screwed in position.

Confession time.... my original plan was to clad each panel flat on the floor and then lift it and slide it into position. Maybe 30 years ago I could have succeeded ...... managed the first one, just! So a rethink led to the panels being covered in a more vertical position.

The plan worked and each section snapped nicely into place

 

Galvanized 3 x 30 mm straps set into recesses routed into the top of the sections bridging the joints stiffened the structure further.

The cladding on the end panels runs horizontally. On the far end the four 20 dia. x 100 mm coach bolts that secure the porthole had to be added first. This meant temporarily fitting the porthole. 

Careful trimming with a jigsaw followed by a large drum sander completed the shaping of this feature.

After this picture was taken the fence panel was dragged back into place and secured for the final time.

Cladding the near end panel will wait until the door has been fitted. This is due to arrive at the middle of next month. For now this end has been left with the vapour barrier for protection.

Spent the afternoon clearing up the site and a quick trip to the local recycling centre to dispose of a car full of offcuts etc. that were to small to be of any further use. Also needed to clear the part of the garden I've been using to store materials as the Admiral's spring bulbs are pushing themselves up in the adjacent flower beds!

Time to start working on the roof......

Cheers,

Graham.

 

 

 

[Charter33]

At last the door unit has been installed so the final wall could have its cladding added...

The weather has held things up a bit - its been very wet recently. 'Catch 22' - to construct the roof trusses it helps to have a workshop, to use a workshop it helps to have a roof...... To protect the work completed so far weather proofing has taken the form of plastic sheeting and tarpaulins. A moderately successful solution, but not ideal, and high wind really tests its integrity. It's a bit dark inside, but usable.

Measurements have been taken at the six positions where the frames will be fitted, for each of the four main elements that will form each truss. This has now been drawn out full size on a building board. The structural ply has arrived and my next task is preparing this for assembly. There are 18 parts for each truss frame, and each frame is slightly different to deal with the taper the workshop has in order to make the best of the available space. 

I have also received the six roof lights, bought earlier than needed to take advantage of a bulk purchase offer and to also beat a planned product price rise. These are currently stored in an already very cramped model making room...... but it will be worth it - eventually!

Cheers,

Graham.

[Charter33]

Please excuse the mess, but I've been busy!

The roof truss building board, complete with all six variants laid out in preparation, has been set up as a workbench.

The addition of a temporary light over it helped......

I've made a set of templates to mark out the four main parts for each truss

Once roughly cut to shape these are adjusted to suit one of the profiles.

and then the assembly is glued, nailed and clamped.

Three down, three to go.....

When all have been completed the building board will be cut up to make the plates that reenforce the corners and ends.

Cheers,

Graham

 

[Charter33]

After a break to clear the Admiral's extensive project list, which apparently take precedent over a humble work space, the six roof frames are now complete apart from a final sanding.

The ply reenforcing pieces glued and screwed to the corners have been modified to take the spacing beams. These beams have been machined to profile and are made from treated pine off-cuts from a flight of sleeper based garden steps built last year. The ends have been widened and extended following Ron's suggestions. I was hoping to cut pairs of knees to go either side of each end to fix the frames to the top of the wall panels but was scuppered by the bandsaw blade snapping. New blade due to arrive at the end of the week......

Cheers,

Graham.

[Charter33]

New blade arrived and I also took the opportunity to carry out some maintenance on the blade guides, the thrust bearing behind the blade in particular had seen better days.

Spent the afternoon making the knees that will help fix the roof frames in place using some of the pine boards that were previously shuttering for the concrete base.

Big day tomorrow ... weather promises to be dry, frames all sanded, other commitments cleared, so it's finally time to erect the roof structure ..... fingers crossed!

 

[Charter33]

Well.... I could say that everything went as planned ..... but I'd be lying...

The widths of each frame were spot on, but a couple of them needed a bit of tweeking, trimming or packing to to get them aligned to an acceptable standard. Took a full day to get them set up and to cut and install the top ridge.

Today the side ridge spacers were slotted into place and finally the knees were fitted to brace frames and secure them to the side walls. All is now nice and rigid. Bit like making the tackles for every middle deck gun, the knees will all be hidden eventually, but we know they're there....

Next task will be to add the ply sheets. In the mean time the plastic sheeting and tarpaulin are back in place in anticipation of the heavy rain and thunder storms that have been forecast.

Cheers,

Graham.

 

[Egilman]

You can tell a real ship builder designed and built that roof... {chuckle} Looks like an upside down boat hull....

 

But then tapering like it is it's probably the only way to do it quickly, and truly custom....

 

It's nice to see the principles of hull engineering applied like this, very innovative....

 

Well done...

[Javlin]

On 6/24/2023 at 5:29 PM, Charter33 said:

Well.... I could say that everything went as planned ..... but I'd be lying...

The widths of each frame were spot on, but a couple of them needed a bit of tweeking, trimming or packing to to get them aligned to an acceptable standard. Took a full day to get them set up and to cut and install the top ridge.

Today the side ridge spacers were slotted into place and finally the knees were fitted to brace frames and secure them to the side walls. All is now nice and rigid. Bit like making the tackles for every middle deck gun, the knees will all be hidden eventually, but we know they're there....

Next task will be to add the ply sheets. In the mean time the plastic sheeting and tarpaulin are back in place in anticipation of the heavy rain and thunder storms that have been forecast.

Cheers,

Graham.

 

I like your engineering of the rafters as EG said very innovative in design

[Charter33]

Thank you for your comments Egilman and Javlin, and for all those 'likes'...

I must admit that I'm pleased with the way the roof framing came out. I'm planning to have as much of the 'ribs' as visible as the insulation and ceiling boarding permit.

The next challenge will be the lower section of the roof on the left hand side. As can be seen in the last photo of my previous post, it's very close to my neighbor's garage wall making it difficult to add the covering to the ply once in postion. My current plan is to cut the ply for this section to size, partially cover it with vapour barrier, felt underlay and the first couple of rows of bitumen shingles, and then slide it down into position. I'll get this section sorted first and then, hopefully, the rest of the roof should be straight forward. Should be fun...😉

[Javlin]

From what I can see about 160 sq/ft?A bit bigger than my room of 7'X16' for the office area of the shop should work well if the Wife does not try to commandeer any of your space?Ask me how I know........ 

[Charter33]

Slightly less, Javlin, the internal floor area is around 136 sq/ft, close to the size of your room. This is significantly bigger than my current modelling space.🙂

As for the eternal battle for exclusive ownership with the Admiral I know where you're coming from and share the pain. Work on my Victory build has been severely affected by the current shipyard in the smallest bedroom in the house having been seconded since last October as the storage area for decorating supplies for the Boss's interior design aspirations. This includes the redecorating of the whole of the top floor of the house including the bathroom. Victory has been stored safely under dust sheets while surrounded by paint tins, shower unit, screen and base etc. ceramic floor and wall tiles, adhesives, grout, new window blinds..... the list is endless.....

All these projects, that had apparently been saved up for my retirement, are now happily completed and the only items causing loss of space are the six roof lights for the new workshop roof.

When I move into the new model making area, she will take over the vacated space for her hobbies.

She is also a very keen gardener so I've built her a store in the garden for horticultural tools and consumables to keep these out of 'my' space. I've been polite but firm, the ground rules have been set and agreed..... there is no negotiation..... which is why the unfinished workshop is currently home to this...

...a life size deer, woven from willow by the Admiral on a recent weekend course. The soaked sticks need to dry out thoroughly before the scuplture can be weatherproofed. But then.... it's off to adorn the garden, never to return....honest!

[gjdale]

15 minutes ago, Charter33 said:

But then.... it's off to adorn the garden, never to return....honest!

 

Yeah, right! 🤣 

[Javlin]

She does good work!Oh and everything that breaks or needs some kind of repair including her friends stuff ends up on the other side of the shop the wood work area it's 23'X16'......no rest for the weary

 

I deliberately move slow alot of times 

Edited July 12, 2023 by Javlin

[Charter33]

Three phrases that bring stress onto your life:

'When you've got a minute...'

'While you're out there...'

'Could you just...' 

🤣🤣🤣