Featured
Latest
A brand new worksho...
 
Share:
Notifications
Clear all

Forum 141

A brand new workshop.

41 Posts
8 Users
0 Likes
6,787 Views
PYE625
(@pye625)
Posts: 5121
Famed Member Registered
Topic starter
 

As the garage of my bungalow is overflowing with stuff and I am fighting a loosing battle with a freezer, tumble dryer, washing machine and my rowing machine, I need more space !!

I am seriously considering the building of a new workshop on a dis-used patio area in the garden. The area is such that I can fit a 5 x 2.5 metre detached outbuilding. I had a builder around this morning and we discussed the basic options. I will not require planning permission as it will be under 2.4m high.

Deciding either to go single skinned brick built, or a type of timber framed construction fully insulated with pre-fabricated exterior. The disadvantage with the single brick is that insulation will be required inside and is more expensive too with footings that will be needed. The other would be lighter and only need a concrete base.

Other considerations are that it should be a reasonably attractive addition to the property and could be used for things other than a workshop if required. (eg a summer-house for instance).

To understand the black art of electronics is to understand witchcraft. Andrew.

 
Posted : 02/04/2017 12:56 pm
Marc
 Marc
(@marc)
Posts: 2753
Noble Member Registered
 

Hi Andrew,

I would love to put up a 5 X 4 meter log cabin (similar to the one below) and use 100mm silver back foam as insulation but alas I'm bound by housing rules and can't have any structure bigger that a poultry 8 X 6 foot in the garden.

I wish you well with the project as it will make your hobby so much easier and more fun once it has a home of it's own.

Marc. 

log-cabin-2.jpg

Marc
BVWS member
RSGB call sign 2E0VTN

 
Posted : 02/04/2017 1:19 pm
Cathovisor
(@cathovisor)
Posts: 6391
Famed Member Registered
 

A friend of mine looked at, and then bought, some rather nice 'log cabins' which would fulfil your requirements. It was divided 2/3rds - 1/3rd into set store and valve store.

My only concern is that wooden buildings tend to have condensation problems: I know someone who discovered this the hard way, but a good dehumidifier purchased from a boot fair solved the issue for him.

 
Posted : 02/04/2017 1:26 pm
PYE625
(@pye625)
Posts: 5121
Famed Member Registered
Topic starter
 

marc said
Hi Andrew,

I wish you well with the project as it will make your hobby so much easier and more fun once it has a home of it's own.

Marc. 

  

Thanks Marc, it most certainly would be a great improvement.  thumb_gif

To understand the black art of electronics is to understand witchcraft. Andrew.

 
Posted : 02/04/2017 1:27 pm
Cathovisor
(@cathovisor)
Posts: 6391
Famed Member Registered
 

Here we go: two friends have these, and speak very highly of them.

https://www.johnsonsgardenbuildings.co.uk/
https://dunsterhouse.co.uk/

Hope that gives you something to mull over...

 
Posted : 02/04/2017 6:21 pm
PYE625
(@pye625)
Posts: 5121
Famed Member Registered
Topic starter
 

Cathovisor said

Hope that gives you something to mull over...  

Thanks for that Mike, it certainly will.  thumb_gif

To understand the black art of electronics is to understand witchcraft. Andrew.

 
Posted : 02/04/2017 6:25 pm
PYE625
(@pye625)
Posts: 5121
Famed Member Registered
Topic starter
 

Cathovisor said

My only concern is that wooden buildings tend to have condensation problems: I know someone who discovered this the hard way, but a good dehumidifier purchased from a boot fair solved the issue for him.  

That is something to bare in mind, insulation is important.

To understand the black art of electronics is to understand witchcraft. Andrew.

 
Posted : 02/04/2017 6:29 pm
Cathovisor
(@cathovisor)
Posts: 6391
Famed Member Registered
 

Some of those buildings come with mighty thick timber which will mitigate the insulation problem to some extent. In addition to the potential need for a dehumidifier, a nice Belling 'Champion heater' will keep the occasional cold day at bay.

 
Posted : 02/04/2017 7:57 pm
Lloyd
(@lloyd)
Posts: 1897
Prominent Member Registered
 

I've just recently built my new workshop, it's a timber framed thing 16ftx8ft, or there abouts, just under 2.4M height (sorry about the use of both metric and imperial measurements!). I built the frame using 38mm X 89mm CLS timber (they called it 2" X 4", but it's planed and therefore nowhere near 2X4!), wrapped it in a breathable moisture barrier membrane, then clad the outside in 18mm thick T&G board. Inside between the studs I put 50mm foil backed foam insulation (Recticel from Jewsons, other brands are available) then clad the inside walls with 18mm thick Sterling OSB, I used this as it's good and strong for screwing shelving to, if I wasn't doing that I could have used plaster board, I did use 12mm plasterboard for the ceiling. The floor was a bit of a cock-up! Originally we used 12mm plywood, but the floor was springy in places as we didn't put enough supports in between the joists, it also didn't help that the plywood quality was utterly dire, and had splits and gaps inside it. We put some of the Sterling board over the top of the plywood, which sorted the problem completely. The whole thing is stood on dense concrete blocks, which so far haven't sunk! I would have preferred a solid concrete base, but it was too expensive. The whole lot has come in around £2K, which isn't bad for it's size. My uncle is a qualified builder, and he came to have a look at it, and said it looked pretty impressive! He's normally hard to please, and picks fault with everything, but he didn't pick any faults with this.

I did shop around a bit for pre-built garden buildings, but most I looked at were priced at over £4K, and that was without insulation or electrics, and only single glazed wooden frame windows, and quite thin timber for the structure. They did look impressive from outside though. I did manage to get a bargain on a window and door, I went to a local double glazing company, and asked if they had anything in their skip that they would let go, instead of that they offered us some returns, a window that was too big for someone, and a door that hinged on the wrong side, I got the pair for £150! The door still had the protective plastic film on it! They even cut me 2 new sills for them both.

As for damp or condensation, I've had neither so far. I have an old 800W greenhouse heater on a wireless thermostat which gives out enough to heat it to 22°C no problem, and the insulation helps keep the heat in for a long time after the heater has shut off. I did bring a dehumidifier in, and when it first came in it said it was about 75% RH, but I ran it for a week and it went down to 35%. It's staying around 40-50% in there now.

If you go for a brick built shack, you could insulate it on the outside, like they have been doing to all the old council houses! They put some sort of insulation on then render over the top of it.

Oh, and if you use Sterling board for internal walls, I can tell you, it's an absolute sod to paint it!!

Regards,

Lloyd.

 
Posted : 02/04/2017 11:48 pm
PYE625
(@pye625)
Posts: 5121
Famed Member Registered
Topic starter
 

Lloyd..... you are a jack-of-all-trades and master of ALL.  welld_gif

PS, You are welcome to build me one too !! grin_gif

To understand the black art of electronics is to understand witchcraft. Andrew.

 
Posted : 04/04/2017 9:41 pm
Lloyd
(@lloyd)
Posts: 1897
Prominent Member Registered
 

I wouldn't say master just yet! There are a good few improvements that I could have made, the main one being the external cladding, I used screws to fix it, but they were either wrong for the job, or just really poor quality, a lot of them have sheared off after the damp weather caused all the boards to expand over winter, so I've been having to drill them out and I'm replacing them with 6mm coach screws and washers (which actually look quite good!). I also should have put something on the corners to butt the boards up-to, rather than sticking a piece of UPVC 'L' section over the corner, which subsequently fell off when the boards expanded! It's surprising just how much wood moves about depending on the weather!

Another thought, you could always purchase an old static caravan and bung that in the garden!

Regards,

Lloyd.

 
Posted : 05/04/2017 12:48 am
PYE625
(@pye625)
Posts: 5121
Famed Member Registered
Topic starter
 

I hope it will look nice, and it will give me a chance to start from scratch with a workshop. I plan to use my garage- workshop mainly for storage. At the moment though, I need to do a lot of sorting out and getting components organised for one thing.

To understand the black art of electronics is to understand witchcraft. Andrew.

 
Posted : 11/05/2017 8:16 pm
Marc
 Marc
(@marc)
Posts: 2753
Noble Member Registered
 

You have my deepest sympathy re sorting out your stuff.....cue suitable music !

I hate sorting and clearing with avengence and that's what I'm currently right in the middle of now nuts_gif But hopefully it will be worth it in the end.....photographic evidence to follow embarassed

Marc
BVWS member
RSGB call sign 2E0VTN

 
Posted : 11/05/2017 10:03 pm
PYE625
(@pye625)
Posts: 5121
Famed Member Registered
Topic starter
 

The trouble is, over several years I have been lazy and components are all over the place and not organised. Just piled in random boxes. Boxes full of valves and things I can't even get to. It is crazy. The whole place needs gutting and starting again with some thought and organisation.

So many times I just close the door and say "another time"   doh_gif

To understand the black art of electronics is to understand witchcraft. Andrew.

 
Posted : 11/05/2017 10:14 pm
PYE625
(@pye625)
Posts: 5121
Famed Member Registered
Topic starter
 

Just look at it....

rsz_img_2463.jpg

How can anyone be expected to work in this? 

To understand the black art of electronics is to understand witchcraft. Andrew.

 
Posted : 11/05/2017 10:25 pm
Katie Bush
(@katie-bush)
Posts: 4884
Famed Member Registered
 

PYE625 said
Just look at it....

rsz_img_2463.jpg

How can anyone be expected to work in this?   

That's what you call 'lived in' - but hey, if it works for the mice?

 
Posted : 11/05/2017 10:29 pm
PYE625
(@pye625)
Posts: 5121
Famed Member Registered
Topic starter
 

Katie_Bush said

That's what you call 'lived in' - but hey, if it works for the mice?  

I think a trained ferret would struggle  grin_gif
 

To understand the black art of electronics is to understand witchcraft. Andrew.

 
Posted : 11/05/2017 10:32 pm
Katie Bush
(@katie-bush)
Posts: 4884
Famed Member Registered
 

PYE625 said

I think a trained ferret would struggle  grin_gif
   

Actually, ferrets have an excellent turning circle, and are the only animal I know that can jack-knife on itself, tie a knot in its own back and the pull out into a straight line - very handy for getting into those awkward corners and inaccessible recesses, hence the term 'ferreting about' I guess.

Now, if you had read "Titch The Walrus" (a book I never got round to publishing) you could have read all about Colin, the sideways ferret smuggler who somehow always managed to smuggle these sideways ferrets into the country - otherwise you were limited to a maximum of 2.4 ferrets (duty free) per trip! The ferrets themselves were extremely useful!

 
Posted : 11/05/2017 10:54 pm
Lloyd
(@lloyd)
Posts: 1897
Prominent Member Registered
 

PYE625 said
Just look at it....

rsz_img_2463.jpg

How can anyone be expected to work in this?   

I've worked in worse! In fact, my old workplace (yes, paid employment that should know better!!) was a right tip! We had a pile of old pallets blocking a fire exit, cardboard boxes full of stuff piled 8ft high around the door to get in, piles of flight cases, cables dangling here there and everywhere... There were shelves full of incomplete products, mixed with completed and tested ready to ship products. It was a mess... But we managed to churn out enough products to keep everyone happy! And some of them even worked.... For a while at least!

Anyway, I've had a dig through my old photo's and found some of my 'workshop' that'll hopefully make you think that your workshop isn't that bad...

IMG_0594.jpg

My bench was there somewhere...

IMG_0595.jpg

piles of stuff!

IMG_1410.jpg

Not much floor visible

messy.jpg

Where you see the blue boxes next to the silver widescreen telly, there was actually a door behind there! It did used to take many hours searching for things, normally because the thing I wanted was right at the back of 5 layers of stuff. I always got there in the end though! I am now sorting through stuff, putting it into decent storage boxes, instead of odd sized flimsy cardboard boxes. I've got a load of valves I need to sort out too, some I'll never use, so might as well list them on eBay or something. For my stash of resistors and capacitors, I use a portable box with dividers in it, made by Stanley, I got 2 of them for nowt when an old workplace was closing down, seems far more useful than component drawers stuck to a wall, and they slot neatly into the shelving when I don't need them.

And, you know it's really getting bad when it looks like this:

grandads-shed.jpg

This was my Grandad's workshop, which used to house a lovely Myford Super 7 lathe cry

Regards,

Lloyd

 
Posted : 11/05/2017 11:49 pm
PYE625
(@pye625)
Posts: 5121
Famed Member Registered
Topic starter
 

Thanks Lloyd,

It doesn't seem so bad now   grin_gif 

To understand the black art of electronics is to understand witchcraft. Andrew.

 
Posted : 12/05/2017 7:31 am
Page 1 / 3
Share: