Noggings everywhere
July 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment |
Today I did the noggings (a piece of timber that gives strength to timber based constructions) for the roof of the shed. Quite a tedious work as it involves a lot of tight angled nailing. I got three rows sorted now but I need to do another two.
Simon helped out by preparing a template rafter which I can use to cut the other rafters. Tomorrow - weather permitting - will be a day of sawing rafters then. There are 11 joists, so I need to cut 22 rafters…
Besides the noggings I also fixed the two 4”x2”. These will carry the rafters. The roof is beginning to look like a solid structure capable of keeping our stuff dry. I must say I had my doubts when I first nailed down the joists as it was all very wobbly…
As always Jingles was around to help me. For a change he decided not to wonder around with my tools but to focus on a bag with some 300kg of sand in it. First he tried to rip the bag apart, then he tried to move it by pulling it ferociously… 
I updated my How to build a shed item…
Weather: very windy (gusts up to 40mph), a shower every now and then, not cold.
6 inch is not what it seems…
July 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment |
Today - after yesterday’s 4 hours of grass strimming in the garden of our holiday cottage - I didn’t feel like any serious physical labor so I decided to work out a design for the roof rafters for the shed. After some fiddling about with a pencil and a paper I was fed up. What now? I remembered I downloaded Google SketchUp a while ago. I hadn’t given it much attention but maybe it could do the job. And impressed I was!! Within a couple of minutes I cooked up this really professional looking and functional design with all relevant measurements to saw the rafter template.
But then… I found out that a 6”x2” piece of timber is not really 6” by 2”. I thought I’d use a website with an inches to mm converter and just use the converted values. In which 6” is 152mm. Wrong!!!! It appears that a 6” piece of timber is actually 145mm. Where did those 7mm go? Well, a 6”x2” is only 6” by 2” until it gets treated (sawn, planed) and then it gets its actual size of 145mm x 45mm. Confusing!!
Luckily Google’s SketchUp tool is UK measurement quirkiness proof and I had the changes made fairly quickly. The design shows: the roof pitch (38 degrees), the location of the bird’s mouth within the rafter, the location of the 4”x2” on the joist which will slide into the bird’s mouth and all relevant size to precisely layout the rafters.
Building a shed
July 11, 2008 | 3 Comments |
I could not find a really good hands-on How To on building a shed, so I thought it might be good to write down my own experiences. If not for anyone interested out there then at least for my own records as I tend to forget the details…. This is about the build of a stone shed measuring 4 meters wide and 5 meters long with a duo-pitched roof.
Ramp
July 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment |
Today I did the ramp for the shed. It was more work than I initially thought as the ground is sloping considerably (standing in front of the shed, the ground slopes down from right to left). As the ramp needs to be level it was first a matter of making a level base and then constructing a wooden rectangle to hold the concrete.
The level base was done with some left over stone chips and the wooden rectangle was made from sarking boards. At about noon this was done and then the cement mixer was started for an afternoon of mixing and pouring. I’m quite pleased with the end result. Obviously the immediate surroundings of the shed will covered with stone chippings as well but this has to wait until all major work has been done.
Heavy equipment
July 9, 2008 | Leave a Comment |
Today some heavy equipment came by in the form of the forklift operated by Ian - the lorry driver for Caley Timber - to drop off the final load of timber for the roof of the shed. Earlier on Ian had helped me to put up the 3.6 meter lintel for the shed door, however it was on its 4” side while it should have been on its 6” side. Today we corrected that. Precise steering by Ian and the lintel was repositioned within 10 minutes.
See earlier post here…
Weather: lovely, fresh, sunny, nice breeze so midges aren’t around…
Cutting the roof
July 7, 2008 | 1 Comment |
The block laying is done for the time being and we’re now down to cutting roof (this is “builder slang” for setting up a roof without the use of prefabricated trusses).
Today I got as far as fixing all the joist of the roof to the wall plate. Quite difficult as you have to bang in the nails at an angle. I was pleased with the end result. As there was some time left, I also installed the three window frames. After some struggling I managed to remove the panes from the window. This allowed me to fix the windows using screws. When the shed nears completion I will re-fit the windows.
Next step will be calculating the rafters so they can be prepared as they need some sawing.
Today I ordered our supply of firewood: 15 tonnes of it. It comes from the Glenbrittle forest here on Skye. I have no idea how big 15 tonnes is, but I expect an impressive pile of wood!
The Skye Boat Song
July 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment |
Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing,
Onward! the sailors cry;
Carry the bairn that’s born to be King
Over the sea to Skye.
We did not actually sing it but we could have when we joined Donald - skipper of the Lady B, and a true Skye man - yesterday for a sea cruise from Portree harbor to see the sea eagles. Unfortunately the eagles were lazy that day and not the least bit interested in Donald’s mackerel but we did see a family of three porpoises gently swimming next to the boat. Quite amazing and very elegant creatures.
The blog has been a bit quiet as of late. That has to do with the building of the shed, which takes the better part of each day. Next step in the project is doing the roof. Yesterday I managed to get the wall plates done (pieces of timber bolted on top of the top row of blocks) together with the joists (6” x 4” and 4.80 meters long, if you’re interested). Now the joists are in place, I need to saw all the rafters. Unfortunately, they’ve not been delivered yet so in the mean time I will install the window frames. Cutting the rafters is a precise job. For this I decided to buy a new piece of equipment: an electric mitre saw. An amazing device capable of cutting along different axes with high precision. It projects a laser beam over its cut which makes it a nice gadget as well I should have had that when I did the rabbit hutch last year…
Also, we had another amazing sunset, last Thursday. Check out the picture…
Weather: not too bad, warm yesterday with lots of sunshine, colder today with winds from the North, mostly dry with overcast
It’s up, but wrong…
June 24, 2008 | 2 Comments |
Today I got the delivery from Caley for the roof of the shed. A massive pile of timber and a 3.60 meter lintel to cross the door opening of the front wall. Ian, who drives the Caley truck, has this handy fork lift attached to his truck which he uses to off load materials. Ian was so good to lift that lintel up the wall. That was great and really much appreciated. Shame that it’s positioned the wrong way (it’s a 6”x4” lintel which should be on its 6” side and now is on its 4”)… I noticed this when Ian was long gone but luckily he’s back this week with some more stuff, so I’ll ask him to help me out a second time.
Final blocks
June 20, 2008 | 2 Comments |
Today I laid what is hopefully the final row of blocks, at least for now as the gables will need to be laid as well. But that will be done after the roof has gone up.
All timber for the roof has been ordered: 6”x4”, 4”x2” etc. in various lengths, nails, screws, sheets of plywood, sarking boards and an additional power tool. A mitre saw to cut the rafters and the joists.
It’s a good thing that the block laying is done for now as the height of the walls was making it a back breaking effort to put the blocks up there without a scaffold. The remaining challenge for now will be the big 3 meter lintel which has to cross the door opening of the front wall. The bloody thing weights a tonne and I have no idea yet how to get it up there. Will have to put my thinking cap up for that one….
Weather: on and off, mostly off with some strong winds, sunny spring is gone and summer hasn’t quite arrived!
Slab is in
May 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment |
Like a Bedouin I went out to take some pictures of the progress of the shed for the blog. Why a Bedouin you might wonder? Well, the midges have found their way to Skye again. It’s truly awful!! Massive clouds of the little buggers around…
The shed has its slab. We completed that yesterday. It was hard work. We had to do the slab in two stages as I had not ordered enough sand to mix all the concrete (stupid). So the first layer was put in a week ago and now the second was poured. Well, poured was not the right word. The first layer sucked all the water out of the concrete we poured over it, making it very difficult to work with. As it was a warm day, water evaporated from the newly poured mix as well…
We solved this by hosing the first layer vigorously with water, which helped a lot. Also, towards the end when we had to even out the second pour, there was a midge attack which made work difficult, to say the least. Anyway, it’s done now and we’re pretty pleased with the result. The blue stuff you see is the damp proof membrane which sits under the slab to prevent damp rising.
Today I did some corner block work which I will continue tomorrow. Weather is still very good so I take every opportunity to have a go.
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Latest music...
Hair (1968, Original Broadway recording). Some naughty lyrics for that time!!
An Rathad a Bhatarsaigh, by the Vatersay Boys