The structural OSB Boards are up! The left hand side of the garage was covered in seven and a half boards in just a couple of hours! It was much easier as we predicted, as we had gallons of room!
We also trimmed off the sticking out parts of the front wall’s OSB boards!
So we have 3 and a bit walls completed, just the final fixing down using the Thunderbolts after we have lined up both the right and left walls, absolutely, perfectly, dead straight!!
Today was the day for mounting the OSB 11mm boards onto the framework! We started with the right hand side of the garage and we soon discovered that none of our stepladders was small enough to fit in the gap between the garage and the temporary living quarters and store room so we had to build a slim platform out of 2 by 6 (inches) planks we had lying around! It is 8feet long and 6feet high with the platform set to 5 feet at the moment.
It was a tight squeeze down the gap but after juggling with the platform, nail gun, glue and the boards, we managed to finish the whole right hand side! In the dark again at around 6pm!
Tomorrow it should be easier on the left hand side as it is open and we can get our stepladders in! Famous Last Words!
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.
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!
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!?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
The Firestone EPDM Rubber Roof has arrived! The membrane measures 9m by 9.5m or at least that is what is written on the label! It is all folded up and weighs tons! We haven’t unfolded it to find out if it is correct!
The other items delivered were two drums of rubber solution to stick the membrane down onto the roof boards. Each drum is labelled 5 gallons but it is also labelled 18.9 litres, which is strange until you realise that it is American Gallons and not English! So our two drums only adds up to 37.8litres and we had “ordered” 40 litres as the result of our calculations of the glue coverage rate! The web site stated that you can buy 2.5, 5 or 10litres containers of this glue so we ordered four 10litres containers. But we got two drums! Very odd and a little bit naughty by the retailer not to explain that the drums are American sizes.
Even more strange that the labels also states the coverage of 100 square feet per gallon so one drum would cover 500 square feet which is 46.5 square metres so the two drums adds to 93 square metres. Our roof area is 85.5 square metres (9m by 9.5m). The web site stated a coverage of 2square metres per litre so the 85.5 square metres would mean 42.75 litres hence why we ordered 40litres! Most Confusing and I think it is time for the Americans to go metric! Smile!
We got an adapter to allow us to make a hole in the corner of the roof to let the rain water through and down into our rain water collection and filtration system. It is a small piece of 110mm plastic pipe with a square piece of the rubber membrane stretched and glued on to the top and inside the pipe. It has a layer of very sticky substance with a peel off paper protection.
The next item is a set of aluminium bars for fixing the edges of the rubber membrane down. The bars are 2.5mm thick with a screw hole every 100mm. we decided to rely on these for holding down the rubber for long term peace of mind instead of wooden battens.
Finally we got contact adhesive for the edges of the roof to allow an instant stick (so the wind wont lift it off before we can fix with the strips), two pieces of flashing (for
sealing pipes through the roof) and the primer to allow these and the rain water adapter to stick permanently.
