Roselea

Category: Build Progress

  • Right Side Framework is UP!

    We had a good day today! Started 10am and finished 7pm! The right hand side of our Garage is UP! The framework is erected along with part of the front wall to provide the usual stability.

    Right hand wall framing complete

    It was positively warm today, no snow, no sleet, no hail, no rain (well almost none!) and no wind to speak of too! As I say, positively barmy!

    Tomorrow (weather permitting) we will nail on the boards – 11mm OSB boards to provide the structural racking to stiffen up the whole building!

    And also drill dozens of holes for all the tie down bolts! The self-tapping screws we are using are called Thunderbolts and they go straight into the concrete (a pilot hole of course) without any wall plugs, expanding bits or glues!

  • Finally At Last! Work resumes!

    We have had loads of bad weather for the last week and outside work has been grounded! We had snow, hail, sleet and loads of rain! A very wet November! And for the last week or so very cold too!

    But yesterday and today we have managed to get out there to start erecting the walls with the pieces that were cut and built (the front wall segments) inside the workshop! It is a matter of fitting the jigsaw together!

    This shows the left hand side wall with just a couple of posts in place, and connected to the front wall which was bolted down to provide stability.

    Then the wind got up! Today we have been battling with over 20mph winds and gusts, our ladders keep on being blown over!

    The final finished framework of the left wall, quite dramatically lit up against the night sky!

    I wonder what the weather will bring tomorrow!?

  • Back wall up!

    Yahoo! the first wall of the building project is completed!

    We started the day by using the mini-digger to lift the wall to the just above horizontal, this reduces the friction allowing the wall to be pulled by one person each side. The wall was soon moved next to its sole plate on the mass wall.

    Before we lifted the wall upright we tied the ends to both the mass wall and the front of the garage to reduce the chance of the bottom of the wall sliding to far forwards or backwards. The mini digger the raised the wall with a careful combination of lifting the arm and driving forwards. When the wall was upright we left the arm holding the wall up while we fixed it in place. We then removed the ramps.

    Back wall lifted into place

    The wall was not quite lined up properly in either plane so we had to lever it into alignment with the front of the sole plate, then use a sledge hammer to shift the wall about 10mm to the left. A few concrete bolts were inserted to hold the bottom of the wall. We braced the wall with diagonal struts from the wall to timbers inserted into the earth tubes (our Dad suggested this). Finally all of the concrete bolts were inserted.

    Back wall finished!

  • Started the heave-ho

    With the ramps ready it was time to start moving the wall into position to be lifted upright. We have bought a few sets of double pulley blocks and lots of rope! We fixed one block to the bottom of the wall at each side and the another block to the mass wall to each side. Once the rope was threaded through the pulleys we started to pull… and got nowhere! There was too much friction between the wall and the concrete. So we propped the all up again and slid four lengths of smooth timber under the wall in line with the ramps. Having lowered the wall we tried again … success the wall moves!

    It still was not easy but we continued until the wall was nearly to the top of the ramps. Then we decided to stop for the day as it was now too dark for the web-cam to record time-lapse images.

    BW - Moved halfwayBW - Moved halfway

  • Ramps to lift back wall ready.

    We have made the four ramps needed to lift the back wall over the conduits and pipes and up to the level of the mass wall. We have probably over engineered them as usual but better to be safe than sorry. All the pipes have been bent down out of the line of fire and restrained by straps or a piece of OSB.

    BW - Ramps made

  • Finished back wall

    Spent the last few days finishing off the back wall now the cement boards are here…

    First we fixed a sheet of thick polythene over the OSB as a final waterproofing layer, this took longer than we thought as we had to work hard to get the wrinkles out. Cut the plastic around the window holes. Then placed and aligned the cement boards.

    BW - Cement boards on

    The next job was to cut and install two rows of noggins at the top of the wall. These will keep the end of the roof I-Beams upright.

    Next day we drilled the ventilation holes for the roof  in the wall, 79 of them (each needing to passes with a hole saw). In fact Shaun kept busy removing the cut disks from one hole saw while I used the other on the next hole.

    BW - Vent holes drilled

    In the afternoon we slid strips of  SS mesh between the cement board and the OSB to cover the holes and fixed them down. Then we routed out the window holes. Last thing of the day was to seal in the joints between boards with Polyurethane sealant.

    BW- Windows holes cut

    Trimmed off the bottom of the cement boards to the right height. Fitted the ladder brackets and installed the steel ropes and tensioned them (we then de-tensioned them until the wall is installed in final position). The wall is now ready to be moved into place.

    BW - Ready to raise

  • Ladder brackets ready

    Finished cutting and drilling the pieces for all six ladder brackets. Shaun carefully washed and dried all the parts, then we assembled them. Finished them by Applying three coats of Hammerite silver paint, hopefully this will keep them rust free for a good few years!

    Ladder brackets - painted and hanging in a line

  • Cement Boards are coming!

    We phoned today and were told that our cement boards will be delivered this Friday! Well we will see won’t we!?! Fingers crossed!

  • Preparing the front wall

    We are continuing to build up piles of timber and pieces of jigsaw pieces ready for the day (or days) after the cement boards comes! We have been working on the front wall of the garage, chopping timber for the posts and OSB sheets for the physical structural reinforcements. We will finish these pieces this afternoon.

    So we have now everything ready for all four walls so it should only take a couple of days to construct and join them all together! And chuck the roof on top! Just like that!

  • Cement Boards delays!

    The supplier for the cement boards are being very slow in delivering them. We found out today that they are waiting for other orders to come in, to make it worthwhile for them before delivering all the way from Birmingham!

    It is very frustrating for us and it is very much the case of rare use of these cement panels and our relatively small order thus making the problem worse.

    We tried phoning half a dozen local building suppliers to see if any had these types of cement panels in stock and none had! Oh well! In hindsight we should have ordered these panels a month ago!

    We are not quite losing time just yet, we are preparing all the timber for the other parts of the walls and roof, the wire suspension system on the back wall for hanging our long ladders and other items that are too long for storing inside. We probably have about 2 or 3 days worth of jobs left to complete before we hit the point of twiddling our fingers!!

    Fingers crossed!