Samtheeagle's Nest

[Tinker1947]

Not the end of the world then, my 9 tonnes cost around £250 in summer 2000, I collected it, dread to think what the price would be now, a box of 100, 8X3" screws just cost £6, the world's gone mad....

[samtheeagle]

Yeah, money doesn't seem to go very far these days I'm worried that I'm not going to have enough saved up to get the obsy complete atm... I thought that buying the shed would be the biggest cost, but that's minor next to all the other parts that stack up and up and up!

[Gina]

My obsy build was delayed waiting for the funds to come in to buy the timber - I had to order it in two batches and other bits had to wait as well. Got there in the end though after many months of hard work But it's well worth it

[samtheeagle]

Hard work is right! I've been out all afternoon digging the footings, I'm sweating buckets! Coming along though, I've got the outer set of shutters in place and as square as I'm going to get them. I've got 3 threnches dug out, and now it's time for a break! When I've cooled down a bit I'll get the 4th trench dug and see about putting in some hardcore into the bottom of the trenches.

One quick question actually. Bizibilder (and others I'm sure) mentioned putting a moisture barrier under the concrete, which I intend to do, but should that go above or below the layer of hardcore? I'm thinking below, but I'm concerned that the hardcore when packed down will puncture the barrier. And should the barrier be kind of a "U" shape to cover the bottom and the sides of the trenches?

[Islander]

Between the compacted hardcore and the concrete. If you're worried about the hardcore puncturing the membrane then you can blind the surface with some sharp sand. Bringing the membrane up around the sides of the pour isn't a bad thing to do either. Visqueen is the stuff you want.

[Bizibilder]

As above from Islander.

[samtheeagle]

Cheers both

So here's the progress made today... I am now officially cream crackered!

One slight fail on my part I had intended to place some plastic waste pipe to go from inside the footings to outside, ready for the mains feed to come in. But I forgot. DOH! >< I'll be trying to retro fit that once the concrete has gone off I guess.

[Chris]

Looks good so far Sam, fingers crossed for the weather:)

[samtheeagle]

Yeah, the forecast for tomorrow looks ok up until the evening... 50/50 I guess as to whether the concrete get laid or not. My understanding is that it's ok for concrete to get rained on once it's poured, is that correct? Or should I hold off as the next few days ( or week ) look pretty bad weather wise.

[Tinker1947]

The weather is supposed to be tipping it down Saturday afternoon till Sunday, you could get a plastic dust sheet just in case....there nice and cheap...

[Chris]

I think the rain would just run off poured concrete but it wouldn't hurt to cover it like Tinker suggests:)

[MattB]

Looking great, you have been busy!

[Bizibilder]

If you buy a DIY store tarpaulin you can use it to cover the concrete and then reuse it as a temporary roof while you are building the rest of the Obsy.

[samtheeagle]

Ok, so another fun few hours spent this afternoon But the concrete is in place! It's been down for a couple of hours now, but the rain is due soon so I might have to think about covering. The surface is starting to go off a bit already, a benefit of it being a small footing I suppose. We did make another wee boo boo... We'd filled one of the trenches before I realised it was lacking the moisture barrier! DOH! It was all packed in place by then, so not a lot I could do about it... 3 out of 4 aint bad right?

[Bizibilder]

No good at all - pull it up and start again !!

[samtheeagle]

:icon_eek::)

Right now I'm taking a load off. I might have an ache or two going on... I am also VERY glad to have gone for the smaller shed! I might not be saying that when it's finished and I'm all cramped inside it, but from the building side of things smaller is most certainly better!

[samtheeagle]

Bizibilder, I've been meaning to ask you about the sealant you used around the metal base. You mentioned in your blog that the first one you used didn't stick to concrete, and that you were trying another. Did that work ok? And if so can you drop a name in here please?

Actually I have a couple of questions Another being about the long rails that the roof rolls along. Are they single lengths? I'm going to need something over 4 meters, which could be tricky to transport. I'm hoping that it can be 2 parts, with perhaps a small seam for the wheels to bump over, but in reality it should be negligible I would think.

And of course if you now look back at what you did and think "I wish I'd done that differently" I'd love to hear about it from you

Cheers.

[Bizibilder]

I can't help with the name of the sealant as I've thrown away the "empties"! However if you go to a decent builders merchant (not a DIY store) they should be able to advise you. The stuff I used certainly did work - as I remember it was quite different to use than "silicone sealant" - far less viscous but not runny in any way. It was and still is grey in colour. (It specifically said that it was for use on concrete on the label).

My roof rails are a single length but I'm sure they could be made from two pieces - if you put an additional piece below the rail to hold them in place the "join" will be quite smooth.

There is not much I would have done differently! The only "modifications" I have made were to remove the turnbuckle roof clamps and replace them with my "bolt" system - the turnbuckles were noisy at night! I must admit I had intended to do this anyway, it was just that I knew the parts needed would take a while to make so I installed the turnbuckles first. I could still remount them if very strong winds are forecast but I have never done so and the roof has survived a few gales. I also replaced the metal doors with a home made wooden one - the metal doors were useless! (even with bracing etc). The wooden door is exellent!

I did have a problem a few weeks ago with a leak through the roof - it was due to the method of overlapping the steel roof sheets that allowed water through by capilliary action through a "perfect" joint (ie both metal parts of the joint had managed to get into very close alignment) ! The solution was a large dollop of silicone sealant all along both sides of the join!!

Tip: If you want to "shim" anything (eg roof rails to get them perfectly horizontal) use some damp proof roll from a builders - its about 1mm thick and can be used in stacks to make thing just "right", it is also easy to drill and doesn't ruin screws etc. I use some to get my corner posts perfect as, even with careful cutting, they varied in length my a mm or two.

[samtheeagle]

Okey dokey, no probs I'll get myself down to buildbase to see what wares they have.

If I do end up having the roof rails as several pieces I'll make sure that the join is within the main frame of the structure. The longest shed base rail is 2035mm, so maybe 1935mm of roof rail to start with inside, and a second piece with a 100mm overlap, with the corner post underit for full support. That'll give me ~2.3m of rail externally. I'm quite keen to try and roll the roof away a bit extra so that it doesn't foul any of my view to the east. I might have another go at convincing the wife that rolling the roof to the west is a much better idea, as that view is already ruined for me by a line of tall trees...

[Bizibilder]

I think that you will find that, in use, you will seldom roll the roof right off! I seldom do as "half open" or less (mine opens to the North) is more than adequate for 90% of the time, day or night. Having half the roof closed makes for a sort of "comfy" area for me to sit in (no warm room on mine). It is also useful in protecting the scope at times when there is a bit of a breeze blowing.

[Tinker1947]

If your going to join 2 pieces of timber to make a longer length, cut the 2 ends to be joined at around 60 degrees, use a waterproof PVA, and when there clamped together don't over tighten the clamps and squash all the PVA out, leave it for a day to dry then sand all 4 sides and your will be good to go, the joint will be stronger than the wood...

That 60 Degree's is the long way. more gluing area....

[Gina]

I got 4m lengths of timber from our local timber merchant - I used 75x47mm for the rails. The bulk I required meant free delivery (2 lots of just over £300 each).

[Chris]

Thats a great tip Tinker, I'll take that one:)

[samtheeagle]

Awesome, thanks for the pro tip

[Naemeth]

Been following this rather closely, have you managed any progress since last time?