The workshop
The new Workshop will replace the garage, which looks original, and is showing its age. It was not very solid, comprising 9" brick piers and 2" 'klinker' blockwork and pebbledash infills. None of the openings had lintels and cracks were appearing everywhere. The option to replace the corrugated asbestos-cement roof and line the interior just wasn't viable. It had to go.
The new workshop is an upgraded version of the shed, with heavier frame, cladding, roof timbers and a plywood floor. The manufacturer will erect the workshop shell and we will insulate and line walls ourselves. As it's a bespoke service (as the shed), a few drawings were prepared to investigate the possibilities and requirements.
It was intended to keep the roof and guttering much as it was now, as the drawings show, but it soon became apparent that maintaining a standard height door along the front would raise the roof at the back higher than existing. We opted for an asymmetrical roof, with a small roof without a gutter along the pond side and a larger roof at the rear, with a gutter. Instead of discharging into the existing gutter position, the rainwater off the patio roof would have to be taken across to the new gutter position. Revised drawings were prepared and sent to the manufacturer.
The delivery date of 30th September was agreed at an early point in the negotiations, which gave us several weeks to remove the garage and prepare the space. With the shed now available, the garage could be emptied, with the larger/heavier items going to the patio storage area. Oh, and the beer & wine! Maybe it was just the arrival of September that triggered it, but after a slow start, demolition in earnest started on 1st September. All of the electrics were stripped out and the benching removed.
The goalpost - two 9" brick piers with a reinforced, insitu cast concrete beam - posed a serious problem. It was heavy and well built, so the issue was how should it be taken down to minimise the risk of damaging the fences, the pond, the main slab or anyone involved in the demolition. In the end, rubble was piled up at the point of impact to cushion the fall. A large lump of brick pier was placed on top, in the middle, to try and break the beam using its weight and momentum. Slots were cut in the piers at the level of the DPM (3 courses high). When gently pushed, the frame rocked nicely at the proposed joint and settled solidly upright. The frame was then rocked again and gently eased beyond the stable point and crashed onto the rubble pile. The piers rolled sideways slightly, and the beam cracked and rolled forward, down the back of the pile. It could probably have been better managed, but it was down and without any damage to the surroundings - a result.
Wednesday 30th September
3 months after the installation of the shed, the new workshop arrived.
3 months after the installation of the shed, the new workshop arrived.
The fitting-out stared straight away, but you'll have to look here for more information:-