What i did on my holidays - By ian age 41 1/4

[IanMelb]

Apart from the first course of blockwork, I've not done too much more over the last week or so.

Came back from a few days away 'darn sarf' for a wedding to find that what I'd actually built was a paddling pool with water 3" deep ...

Hey-ho, out with the pump...

[IanMelb]

Spent the afternoon dodging hailstorms, setting out the second course, cutting blocks to size and drilling through 8 of them for the 'tie-down' studding to pop through. The gap at the front is for the doorway...

[seanandruby]

why have you drilled the holes before laying blockwork?

[IanMelb]

I've got threading rod/studding embedded into the concrete slab. I'm going to use these to tie the wooden baseplate to the blockwork.

With the first course, the studding sneaks between the blocks, however for the second course I wanted a full bond so drilled through the blocks rather than chopping them and sandwiching them around the rod.

Does that make any type of sense?

[seanandruby]

itll do, it just seems a long way round . you could of just bolted the wallplate down, or used strapping to fix it to the wall.

[IanMelb]

I thought of that but wasn't sure that my brickie skills (i.e. none) would be man enough to build a course or two that would secure the timber walls. At least this way I know that it won't lift away too easily

[seanandruby]

are you doing a double skin wall with cavity? if so dont forget wall ties ???

[IanMelb]

No, only two courses of blockswork out of the ground then a timber frame - will probably end up putting some kind of insulation in the framing, but I can leave that til a lot later

[IanMelb]

The Second Course all done - had to do a guage at a time in between all the downpours ...


Before I started on the 2nd course, I worked out that the first course had a slight 'High' point in the middle of the right hand side (about where the red plasticiser container is), so this was to be my datum point for the 2nd course, i.e. all levels should be taken from this point.

I worked right and left from this point and then 'met' at the entry point at the front. I was quite pleased to see that the level's bubble is quite central


A nice central bubble.


The next stage was to set out the DPC and start building the sole plate. The sole plate is just lengths of 4x2 timber with simple lap joints on all horizontal joins.

It's hidden under the tarp because the rain had just started and I hadn't yet had a chance to treat the timber before fixing it into place.

[seanandruby]

Surely you must be 41 1/2 by now? well done m8.

[DeckmanAdam]

You seem to have taken your time, thought everything through and looked into things and i think you have done a good job so far, looking forward to seeing the finished pics.
Have you planned all the joinery work? any previous experience? Just curious

[IanMelb]

Surely you must be 41 1/2 by now?

Bugger - I'll have to start a new thread!

Have you planned all the joinery work? any previous experience?

I've planned it to the extent that I know roughly how much would I'll need for a shed with no windows and doors. The openings will be added as I get the stuff off ebay or freecycle

I've also got a reasonable idea of the frame size.

I've no professional experience. All my stuff is hobbyist/diy with large amount of help from this site and the people on it plus what I've seen from the TV - mainly Discovery RealTime - Norm (the New Yankee) is a great one for giving me ideas about different ways to put wood together furniture wise, whilst Alan Herd (in conjuction with a certain Mr Walsh) gives some good pointers on constructional timber.

On the other major project front, I've put a new level in the garage (it was built with an apex roof so gave a reasonable amount of room to put a storage floor in it) with joists and flooring; built installed and plumbed in our en suite bathroom (the timber used in it was made from salvaged laboratory bench tops); and a run of sliding door wardrobes, built from scratch.

All the stuff I do tends to be over-engineered, over-specified, over-long and over-budget ??? Mainly because I'm not really sure of the tricks of the trade and also haven't the experience to know when I can 'get away' with shortcuts. Plus the fact that I'm having fun whilst working on this kind of thing. We've discussed before how it can stop being quite so much fun when one has to do it for a living day-in day-out.

Bathroom, from this


To this:

[TarmacLady]

Cor, Ian, if your missus ever gets weary of you, pm me! I've got LOTS of projects in mind!

:p

[IanMelb]

if your missus ever gets weary of you

She's always weary of me - isn't that what the marriage thing is all about?

[lutonlagerlout]

I'm the same ,bit of a pikey really
cant throw owt away
my window boards at home are made from the bar of a 300 yr old north London pub we were working on,you don't get mahogany like that any more
same goes for old bricks flags etc
LLL