Woodwork/Model making workshop. Scale 1:1

[fnick]

Four phrases

 

"As you're not doing anything right now..."

 

Nick

[Charter33]

At last the weather has changed and the forcast is for a several consecutive dry days. I can finally remove the tarpaulin and polythene sheets, which have often appeared more like sagging water balloons recently, and work on making the roof waterproof.

I reversed my original plan and worked on the more straightforward sections first before attempting the more challenging one adjacent to the garage wall.

A bit of advanced planning to find the optimum way to cut the six 8' x 4' 18mm to minimize waste resulted in less than half a square metre of ofcuts.

Not pretty but it does the job. Now for the fun part....

Relying heavily on the three 'Ls', leverage, lateral thinking and luck, the the final panel was constructed on the roof and dropped into place. I took steps to ensure the whole assembly couldn't fall down the narrow gap between garage and workshop wall. At about 16' long and a couple of feet wide it was quite weighty! After marking the end profiles it was pulled back out and trimmed ready for covering.

First a layer of breathable membrane, then one of bitumen felt underlay. Next the detail trim was tacked into place followed by one course of bitumen shingles. I could have added a second but found that they would be accessible for nailing when the section was in place so dropped the idea as the already weighty panel was even heavier now.

With much care and trepidation the section was eased across to its balance point and then nudged over while being supported by a loop of rope. The plan worked! Next I had the Admiral maning a 4' length of 2" x 4" on the inside to lever the panel up to fine tune the fit while I screwed it to the top of the roof frames. Membrane and underlay sheets that had been left unattached were now fixed down. 

Job done. The plan for tomorrow is to complete these two layers across the whole roof making it watertight. The shingles won't be added until the six roof lights are in place. These will be the next challenge 😉

Cheers,

Graham.

[Charter33]

Having achieved a water-tight roof covering 

it's time to start cutting holes through it!

Took the best part of the day, but the six roof lights are now in place....

Here are a couple of 'before' pictures.....

The camera has compensated in the second image and lightened it. In reality it was as dark as the previous picture.

And 'after'.....

All units are double glazed with the right-hand middle one opening for additional ventilation.

Time now to complete the roof by adding the bitumen shingles.

Progress 🙂

[Cold_Fire]

That looks like a good place to hide in!

[Charter33]

That's the plan! 😄

Storm 'Babet' has halted work on the roof shingles for a few days but I'm aiming to complete the last couple of rows and the top ridge tomorrow.

In the meantime I'm working on the recess surrounding the porthole.

Card template made,

After adjusting the amount it projects out of the wall the template was cut to suit the available material, an offcut of aluminium sheet.

I'll add more pictures once these have been cut out and shaped.... 

Cheers,

Graham

 

 

[Charter33]

Bitumen shingles in place. The sun was setting as the top ridge was fitted so sealing with a heat gun and finishing edges with felt adhesive will have to wait until tomorrow...

Top ridge was completed using offcuts of shingles and 'detail strip' minimizing waste. The roof has stood up to some exceptionally wet weather this week without any leaks which is encouraging. I'm going to neaten up the gable ends with facia boards, and apart from adding some guttering, and the porthole lining, the outside is pretty much finished.

Cheers,

Graham.

 

[Charter33]

The roof shingles are now all sealed.

This is my neighbour's view of the build, a better one then I have!

The aluminium porthole lining panels have been cut to size, 'engine turned'

and rolled to profile.

These panels have had a preliminary fixing and my next job is to remove them and then re-fit with additional sealant.

The barge board/ fascia board has also been completed on this gable end using the spare length of wall cladding I had left over.  

Once the front gable end has been finished I can start working on the interior beginning with the floor.

Progress!

Cheers,

Graham.

[Canute]

Nicely done. I really like the finish on your porthole liner. 👍

[Charter33]

Thanks Canute. The ali sheet has been stored for a few years and needed something to hide all the dings and scratches. I used to use valve grinding paste and a piece of wooden dowel for this, but this time lashed up a tool using a dremel mandril, a 22 mm dia. disc of 4 mm thick softwood with the central hole recessed for the screw head, double sided tape and circles of abrasive Scotch Bright pad. The porthole faces north west and this finish catches the setting sun nicely on a good day.

Cheers,

Graham

[Charter33]

With the worst of the winter weather behind us, and a bit of financial jugging, work on the workshop is underway again. Just taken delivery of the tongue and groove softwood flooring. Six bundles, fortunately well wrapped against damage and the rain, manhandled through the house and into the garden.

The workshop can just be seen through the arch.

This is a slightly clearer view, the best that it can be seen from the house, and benefitting from the jasmine over the wooden arch having had it's annual trim. Another soggy day!

The final addition to the exterior, the white gable end, is just visible.

The boards are now unwrapped and stacked inside to adjust to the humidity etc. for a few days before laying starts.

Another opportunity to add to the nautical aesthetic of the build perhaps.....we'll see! 😄

Cheers,

Graham.

[Javlin]

What's been your thoughts on heat/ac?They are coming out with some nice stand alone units for the for that that evap the moisture when using a/c or is heat your real concern?

[Charter33]

Wow - thanks for all those 'likes', very much appreciated.

To be honest, Javlin, air conditioning hadn't occurred to me. Here in the UK it's not something that's usually found in domestic settings but I'll do a bit of research into it. Thanks for the suggestion. Once the flooring is down and sealed I'll be putting in insulation to help with heat retention and sound issues. At the same time the first fix for the electrics will be done. I was thinking of using an oil filled portable electric radiator that I have currently in storage for residual background heat. A good friend uses one of those diesel oil cab heaters for his workshop, but that's not really what I want. Did consider a small wood burning stove but decided it would be impractical. The building is tucked away and pretty much out of direct sunlight so I think using natural flow ventilation, from the french doors, porthole window and opening roof light will cope on hot sunny days.....🥵😄

[Roger Pellett]

Climate control is not as much for you as it is for your tools and equipment.  High humidity and condensation can rust tools overnight.  It is, therefore, wise to provide some means of controlling humidity even when you are not present in your shop.  It is also a good idea to put down a plastic film vapor barrier on the concrete before laying down the wooden floor.

 

Roger

[Charter33]

Totally agree Rodger, and tool protection is very high on my prority list. I'll be looking to fit a de-humidifier in there, especially after seeing what happened to one of my friends last year when a freak temperature swing of over 12 degrees one night made his pre-fab concrete workshop look like it had rained inside. He was mopping up pools of water and had to spend days dealing with surface rust on tools and equipment.

I started preping the floor area yesterday and this included laying a vapour barrier on top of the OSB sub- floor base. The softwood boards have had nearly a week to acclimatise, so I plan to escape to the bottom of the garden later and begin fitting them......

Cheers,

Graham

[Roger Pellett]

That tongue and groove floor should be really nice!

[Twokidsnosleep]

You know, the ceiling joists kinda make it look like a ships' framing😉

I love the porthole window as well.

Excellent design features, really look forward to seeing it develop and finish off 😎

I did a porthole window in the door of my  house attached workshop...now taken over as the dog's room😒

 

[Charter33]

Installing the floorboards started with a plan, much used throughout the build, and now well worn....

In keeping with the nautical flavour there was only one method guiding the laying, the four step butt planking pattern.

Once a board was cut to an appropriate length fixing holes were pre-drilled with a 12 mm spade bit and each piece secured to the sub-floor. 

A 1/2" plug cutter was used to convert offcuts of boards into covers for the screws.

Mixing metric and imperial tools in this way resulted in a nice tight fit. Once these plugs had been glued in place a sharp chisel made quick work of getting them level and flat.

The floor after sanding -

No, not quite treenails, but visible at this scale?

Oh yes, but nice and subtle.....

The first coat of finish has been applied,

the second and final coat will go on tomorrow evening after a light sanding.

Cheers,

Graham

 

[kiwiron]

Hope there is a cannon sticking out of the wall somewhere. Nice job. 

[Charter33]

There are quite enough gun ports and gun muzzles on a model of Victory to last a lifetime, without adding more to the workshop itself, Ron 🤣

....but the Admiral's input to the build was a request for a weather vane above the door, and you've now planted the seed of an idea..... and I love a challenge!

[JFMJr]

Looks great... May I ask what you are building?

[Gregory]

I think it's a Model making workshop..😁

[Charter33]

That's right - model making area at the far end, wood turning lathe on the right, and woodworking bench to the left at the near end.

[Kauz]

16 hours ago, Charter33 said:

 🤣

....but the Admiral's input to the build was a request for a weather vane above the door, and you've now planted the seed of an idea..... and I love a challenge!

Perhaps a copy of Cutty Sark's weathervane ... 😉

Edited February 19 by Kauz

[Charter33]

Now that was an idea that hadn't occurred to me Kauz! Good call...

 

More progress...

After the promise of foam board insulation sheets at a bargain price evaporated into the ether, I decided to opt for a sheep's wool based product that would more effectively address the issue of both temperature and sound insulation.

I also managed to start sourcing the components for getting power into the workshop. I'm not qualified to do this 

aspect of the build myself, but fortunately my brother-in-law is! After a long career in this profession his knees are suffering even more than mine! As long as I get the donkey work for the first fix done, he'll come over and do the clever stuff. Under his guidance I have run, but not connected, the correct size cable from the fuse board to the back of the house, armored cable from there to the workshop, and all the patrice boxes fitted in place for the sockets and switches. The LED strip lights have also been fitted and await his professional touch.

My original plan was to clad the walls with MDF, with routed grooves to look like T&G boards. Not able to fund this method now but I have a plan....

I have a stock of pine 200 x 100 sleeper off-cuts from a previous garden landscaping build plus the timber shuttering left over from pouring the concrete base. My aim is to convert this into suitable cladding material...

There's a lot of sawing to do so my extraction system was recovered from storage to reduce the dust levels this work will produce

Conversion has begun and I will shortly trial this on the far wall.

I have added some additional framing to the roof beams to provide something to fix the cladding to which proved a bit of a challenge. I want to keep the laminated beams visible and just add cladding between them. The end result will hopefully be sort of modified barrel vaulted ceiling......we'll see 😁...

Cheers,

Graham

 

[Javlin]

Why not sheetrock?I have for my shop 16'X30' yours is 8'X16'(?)and trust me when you start covering every little inch seems like it eats up floor space.A certain type of sheetrock for bathrooms I believed called gypsum(?) holds up to moisture well albeit little more in price could serve your purpose well and reflect light you will need.I took out a door frame from the dining room to the living room in the house and put in an arch to make the curve you apply cuts to the backside break it loose and you have an accordion that should work in the curved part of your ceiling.just throwing out some ideas from my experience it's never big enough. 

[Charter33]

Thanks Javlin, I certainly look into this sheetrock.

Cheers,

Graham

[thibaultron]

In the UK, I think it is called drywall.

[Charter33]

Thanks Ron. We also know it as plasterboard. Joints will need taping, and the walls given a skim coat of plaster. I have used this in the past. Still looking at the finances however......Decisions, decisions....🤔😁

Cheers,

Graham

[thibaultron]

Here in the US, drywall has a paper surface that you can paint on directly. You still need to tape the joints, and screw/nail holes, though.

[kiwiron]

I love the porthole Graham and your shed design. You will have plenty of natural light as well.