[misc_work] Operation Super Shed

[M@tt 77]

I decided that i needed more space and somewhere to work on my cars indoors so i've hatched a plan to replace my shed and carport with a purpose built garage and to pour a nice smooth concrete base instead of the limestone chipings i currently have.

 

So after many weeks of umming and ahhing i finally bit the bullit and dismantled my shed this weekend. It was a complete mission and has taken all weekend and wouldn't have been possible without Tom & Henry's help. It's amazing the amount of "stock" i've aquired ince i originally built it.

 

Anyway the plan was to move the shed to the bottom of the garden whilst the new garage is being built that way it can hold all my tools and equipment etc I've luckliy been able to store some stuff in my nextdoor neighbours garage and my other neighbour is going to have my CTI on their drive whilst my T16 is off to Chris's garage for a short holiday

 

So everything was decamped into a gazeebo yesterday whilst i started the dismantling process. Because i had insulated and internally clad the shed it made things take 10 times as long.

 

Here's a few pics

 

How the shed was originally (pre carport)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thats about it for now, the next step is to get rid of the cars, Extend the wall that surrounded the shed base previously then start prepping the groundwork for the concrete

 

so stay tuned......

[Alastairh 47]

@ Henry!

[dale205mills 39 7 Cars]

Take a look at mine My workshop, Home from Home

[Henry Yorke 269 3 Cars]

Quite therapeutic doing that actually. It was a laugh (especially when Tom and I locked you in the shed and retreated off up the garden to see how long it took you to notice). Somehow managed to sprain my wrist during the day as it has now swelled up!

 

[Baz 421]

Awesome! More of M@tt's home DIY'ing! I shall be wathcing, i need a new shed, and a new garage at home in fact...

 

Should start calling you Tommy Walsh!!

[M@tt 77]

It was a laugh (especially when Tom and I locked you in the shed and retreated off up the garden to see how long it took you to notice).

 

Oh how i laughed!!! funny bastards!!

[jimistdt 1]

Should be plain sailing hereon in. This will be great, does this mean you've had to put your 19 projects on hold then?

Edited March 7, 2010 by jimistdt

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

"stock"

 

 

Read: s*itE!!!

[M@tt 77]

right bit of advice required

 

i need to break up a bit of path (housebricks in cement) will a SDS drill be upto the job? I tried hitting it with a sledge hammer but really didn't accomplish much except hitting myself in the face repeatedly with small fragments of stone :S

Edited March 8, 2010 by M@tt

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

A sledge should do it depending on how thick it is, I did say yesterday that you were a junior hammerer, more practise required!

[M@tt 77]

i was proper swinging it!! them bricks weren't going anywhere!!!

[Pugnut 9 1 Cars]

lol, its like i've never been away. last i remember you were putting up the garage etc. looks like its seen a fair bit of spannering over last few years!

[Henry Yorke 269 3 Cars]

Can you angle grind a line you want to stop at and crowbar underneath? It can't be that heavily set. Getting something under it may help it break up.

 

I am sure you can get a special path breaking tool on ebay to add to your collection!!

[Peetypug 5]

Bloody hell Matt, I wish I had as much spare time as you

 

Have you tried a pick axe? That's what I'd use anyway

 

Good luck and happy building

[chrisj21 2]

SDS will be fine with a chisel attachment

[M@tt 77]

Well i've ordered a pick axe today as it was a cheaper option than a SDS drill so that should get delivered to work tomorrow so i'll give that a whirl first before stumping up for a SDS drill.

 

So this afternoon/evening i made a start on digging the footing for the wall. I'm not entrely sure how deep i should go but i reckon about 100-150mm of concrete should be enough. The wall on top is really only going to be cladding to match the rest of the wall so the footing isn't supporting a massive weight. Behind that i will pour a concrete retaining wall to hold the crush and run etc in place and the concrete slab will come up to the edge of it and sit ontop of it.

 

any way a few more pics

 

 

 

[M@tt 77]

small not very exciting update

 

after borrowing Tom's SDS drill and my next door neigbours massive F.O. slege hammer i managed to smash my way through the path. It took a fair amount of effort as the bloody thing was over a foot deep! don't you hate it when someone does a half decent job!

 

 

any way once the path was removed i needed to check the lie of the land so i built myself a water level using some plastic tubing off ebay.

 

 

for those not familiar with them it's a real cheap easy method to check ground levels over long distances without any fancy equipment.

 

So thats about it for now, next couple of jobs are to build the concrete retaining wall shuttering and start digging up the exisitng buried power cable

Edited March 14, 2010 by M@tt

[M@tt 77]

right more building advice required

 

is there any need to fit one of these drain channels setups in front of the garage door?

 

 

The drive infront of the garage door will slope away downhill from it, and there is a sewer drain on the main drive at the bottom so in theory all the rain water will run down slope into that. Are they only needed if the garage was at the bottom of the slope?

 

cheers

[Peetypug 5]

only use them if the drive slopes towards the garage (they are acoself drains arent they?)

[M@tt 77]

cheers pete, yeah they're the aco one's i think (just random google pic i found)

[Peetypug 5]

that level is a work of art!

[Pugnut 9 1 Cars]

ideally foundations for anything should be down to subsoil/clay. definately not ontop of topsoil. If this isn't achiveable then you might want to add some re-bar into the foundation to strengthen them a little, or make them a bit wider to spred the load. And in scotland here we has regs that state the top of a foundation should be no less than 300mm (iirc) below the finished ground level to protect from frost. If its just a baby wall then i wouldn't worry too much, but if you want it to last a long time then maybe worth considering?

[M@tt 77]

i thought so too

 

took some remembering back to my GCSE physics lessons though!! they're suprisingly accurate! 1cm height difference is really easy to see in the level

 

Oh i'm also the proud owner of a cement mixer now as well! £77! cheaper than hiring one once i sell it on afterwards!!

[M@tt 77]

Cheers Pugnut!

 

I'll take that onboard and dig them footings a bit deeper

[M@tt 77]

right, a new addition to the shed plans has been decided tonight!! i think i'm going to include an inspection pit!!!

 

my next door neighbour has got one in his garage and we used it tonight to check out his daughters rusty punto and it was really useful!!! (no sniggering at the back!!)

 

His clearly hasn't been lined properly though as it had about half an inch of water in the bottom of it.

 

So my thinking is dig a big FO hole lined it with a large sheet of visqueen to keep it waterproof. I could build the walls using hollow concrete breeze blocks with rebar in the middle and infilled with concrete to make sure its really strong. The only thing i'm not too sure on is the best method of pouring the floor of the pit. can i pour concrete straight onto viqsueen or should it have a compacted base ontop of it first and then the concrete ontop of that and then the wall built on top of that?

 

Anyone have any experience of building one?

 

oh also i don't want to get into the whole planning debate, thats all covered, equally not interested in all the "it will fill with gas and blow you up!!" B.S. either