No Progress with the Workshop.

Saturday 28th of October 2017

The workshop build is on the back burner for some time now - due to a heavy work load for family.

Barry arrived last Sunday night - stayed in his house - loved it.
We worked together on the front of the house - the weather cooperated - we achieved a lot.

We stripped off the porch roof down to bare rafters - its big - 5 metres x 1 metre.
We repaired and rebuilt it - new under felt, slate lath and fibre cement slates.

All done - new flashings - fascia boards and guttering.

A lot of effort - three days up a ladder !

Barry helped a lot and did loads of painting and cement rendering.

The front of his house is looking much better - still a bit to finish off -

Sills to fit between the windows.
PVC cladding to buy and fit over the fibre cement upper panels.
A bit more rendering and painting.

It is properly water tight now - for the first time in years !
No rush to finish it.

Barry went home on Thursday early - I started at Fiona's !

Two floors of Laminate laid - looking good - Skirting today - two more floors next week.

A really busy week - I'm holding up pretty well - tired but OK.

Mike.

Cladding the Front is Finished.

Sunday 15th of October 2017

A dry and warm weekend - ideal for working on the cladding and painting it - but it didn't work out that way.

I am pushing hard at Barry's to get finished - so I laid the laminate flooring in the last room on Saturday - 14 square metres plus the edge trim.

Today - Sunday - I emptied and cleaned the inside of my poor little car - it was full of power tools from Barry's
I also emptied the trailer of the load of equipment that I brought down from Sheffield last week.!

I also marked out and cut the ash boards into blanks - ready to take them to Sheffield and turn them.
There are 32 and I am making railway jack handles for my one and only remaining customer.

That only left a couple of hours to finish the cladding on the front of the workshop.

I am very pleased with it - the wood rack doors have almost disappeared - which avoids the front looking full of doors.

Before the cladding was finished - I added the hasp and staple to the inside - much better security.

Next job is to paint the cladding with the Cuprinol garden shades - I plan to mask up the central doors and window - then spray it - three coats at least.

A busy week ahead - Barry's then Fiona's straight afterwards.

There will be no posts for a week or so - while I sort out my day jobs.

Mike.

No workshop Progress

Wednesday 11th of October 2017

A very busy weekend for me - fitting 21 sq metres of solid oak flooring for My sister in law.

Very expensive flooring - a lot of pressure on me to get it right - but the boards did not cooperate !!

Being a natural wood product with loads of lovely character / knots / pippy / colours - this can cause the boards to dry at different rates.

These boards varied in width by up to 3 mm !!!!!

I worked out that I had to measure the width of each board - stack them in same width piles and lay rows of same width boards.

My saviour was a Stanley shoulder plane that I used to trim the joints flush to get gap free fitting.

The job turned out really well - Gill and John very pleased.

Now back at Barry's - the last room progressing well - he might be coming over on the 22nd.

I would love to have the inside done for then - might be possible !!

I got word yesterday that I start 3 bedroom floors with laminate at Fiona's on the 23rd of this month.

So - no pressure there then !!!!!

So - no time to work on my beloved workshop at the moment - I will post as soon as there is more to show.

Mike.

No Workshop Progress

Saturday 7th of October 2017

There will be no progress this weekend due to outside contract work.
Jackie's sister - Gill has asked if I can fit 21 sq metres of very nice solid oak flooring.
They have cleared the room - so I better go and fit it.

It is never that simple - radiator pipes in the way - a hearth to modify.
It will all happen.

I did manage to cut the 72 short lengths of cladding that will fit to the left of the main workshop  doors.
I fitted about six rows - just the job - the hinges are working great.

I have decided to fit a hasp and staple for a padlock inside, on the wood rack doors , before I fit the rest of the cladding - no bolts on the face of the cladding.
I have a strong one in stock.

I hope to continue in the evenings next week - still on Barry's job during the days for a while yet - plus I have Jack handles to make next week sometime !!

Mike.

Sheffield Trip

Wednesday 4th of October 2017

A run to Sheffield today with the trailer.

First job - refit the repaired conservatory window at the flat.
The repair went well - £15 - for a new double glazed unit - I straightened the hinges.
Re -fitted good - sorted.
Cleaned up outside - leaves etc.

On to the unit - loaded the trailer with  a small / strong work bench - a twin motor dust extractor and loads of plastic bins with tools and accessories in the car.
Started to dismantle the big cross cut saw  - getting ready to move it to Derby soon.
Car full / trailer full.

On to Arnold Laver - to collect an order of 2 1/2 American ash - 6 cubic feet.
Enough to make about 30 railway Jack Handles for an order !!

I have never liked buying from Lavers - they always mess up orders.
Guess what ?
They messed this one up as well !!!
I went mad !!

The only reason that I bought from them was that no other local supplier had eight foot lengths of the ash.

Two sales people checked their stock and assured me that they did have eight footers.

I ordered 5 boards - paid a very high price for it - started to load it onto my roof rack - I noticed that there were two eight foots and three nine footers !!!

It took an hour to get them to refund the cost of three feet and get it back on my card.

My fault - I new that they would mess it up somehow.

So - my poor little car - full to the brim - trailer full - roof rack over loaded - headed for Home.

19.30 - all unloaded ( not the trailer ) - a heavy duty day.

Back at Barry's job Thursday / Friday - then fitting a hardwood floor for two/ three days for Jackies sister Gill.

Mike.

Fascia board fitted.

Monday 2nd of October 2017

After a day at Barry's I managed to fit the facia board and prime it.

I am very pleased with it - fits well - it leans slightly forwards but it will be fine.

8 - four inch screws holding it on.

The oak strip holding down the edge of the felt - great.

I will add a bead of mastic to the oak / felt joint to stop water getting in.

The grooves for the side fascia boards line up nicely - should work well.

Sand up - undercoat and gloss - dark green next.

Mike.

Fascia Board

Monday 2nd of October 2017

After a day working at Barry's house - I managed to belt sand the fascia board -( the joints nice and flush now) - 80 then 120 grit belts.

I Routed the front edges with a 6 mm radius cutter - looks great.

I marked out and routed an 8 mm groove at each end for the PVC fascia boards for the sides to slot into.

I glued and pinned the oak strip to the top edge - to pull down the edge of the roofing felt.

I also emailed Cuprinol at the weekend - asking if it is better to prime the bare cladding before painting with garden shades - NO - two coats straight onto bare wood within 8 hours of each coat .

Sounds too easy ??

A very productive evening.

Amazing - working on a 15 foot job, inside - with 9 foot more spare room - wow.

I can hang it tomorrow if it's fine weather.

Mike.

Fascia Board and More Cladding.

Sunday 1st of October 2017

A good day today - very busy mainly preparing the big fascia board - but with John's help, I managed to cut and fit the cladding to the right of the door.

This ship lap is a dream to fit - no forcing the joints together - a well engineered product.
Checked regularly with the spirit level - spot on.

We assembled the fascia board from three pieces of  6 x 1.5 PSE pine timber - biscuit jointed and polyurethane glue - sash clamped.

We cut oak packing's for the area where the fascia is mounted - now all ready.

I plan to belt sand up the fascia board - rout a radius to the front edges and rout a groove at each end for the side fascia boards to slot into.

I also plan to prime and undercoat the mounting timber and all surfaces of the fascia before it goes up.

We cut oak strips to be glued and pinned to the inner top edge to compress the reluctant roofing felt at the edge of the roof.

I have emailed Cuprinol - to ask if it is better to prime and undercoat the bare wood before top coating with the Garden Shades paint that I bought for the front and sides.
I am keen to get some paint on the bare wood before it soaks up moisture !!

Very pleased with the result for the day - I didn't expect to do any cladding.

Mike.

Started Cladding the Front

Week ending - Saturday 30th of September 2017

Quite a productive week in the evenings after working at Barry's.

I managed to frame out the four recesses behind where the fascia board will be.

I insulated them with two inch polystyrene.

I sheathed the frames with 11mm OSB board.

Covered them with Tyvek paper.

Cut and fitted shiplap cladding from the top of the doors - at full workshop width - to the underside of the roof.
This involved cutting boards to fit tight around the cantilevered fascia board supports - not too bad!

A rainy day on Saturday - so a rest day of sorts.

Today - Sunday - John is coming to help be assemble and fit the big fascia board - 15 feet by 11 inches by one and a half.

Photos to follow - ( still raining until 10 am )

Mike.