BenG

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Hey.

Im in the process of building a substantial workshop and thought I would post a progress thread on here now I have actually got to a stage where the buildings is nearly ready to be built. I’ll give you all a bit of background as to how it all came about…

Around 15 years ago my parents bought some land as they used to have some horses. They asked for planning permission to put some buildings up to keep the horses in, they were rejected, so my dad went and built them anyways… Shortly after they give up the horses as my sister grew up and stopped riding them.

Over the years the buildings have been used as a bit of a dumping ground, things were put up there out of the way from home and over the years it’s become a complete shanty town (see pic). I always wanted to build a proper building up there so I can work on my car etc and let’s face it every man’s dream is to own a nice workshop. We didn’t dare ask for planning permission as the buildings that were there were not subject to planning permission in the first place.

OLD BUILDINGS

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Last year the council noticed that there was some washing on a line at the field (my mum takes washing up there to dry out as there is not a lot of room at home) They thought that we were living there and asked to come up and view the area the next day, cue my dad rushing up there and removing every object that was ‘borrowed’ from work etc and hiding various things.

The next day some guy came up and had a look around and told us that they want us to knock them down and build something more substantial. Result! I felt the clouds open as sun shone down on me and received blessings from God.
I decided to make the most of this and had some plans drawn up for the biggest building I could fit in there, (thinking that they would be funny and make changes to it, change the size etc..) but no, they went and passed it without any issues what-so-ever. I had a custom building designed.

Here is the final design, it has been custom designed to my own specification.

13M Length.
7M Width.
3.2M to the eaves.
3.7M X 3.1M Manually Operated Roller shutter Door.
2” Thick Steel Personnel Door with Multipoint Locking.
PVC Coated Tin sheets
Fibre Cement Roofing

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The building arrived in kit form weeks ago and is kept in a safe place until I am ready to start putting it together. I have no pics yet but to give you an idea on the amount of parts that came with it; it arrived on 2 20odd meter flatbed Lorries over 2 days. I will get some pics up once the ball starts rolling with the build.

At this beginning of this year (2010) I started work demolishing the buildings and clearing the site. I have worked none stop over the weekends and have filled 6 Skips at £133 each. Most of the buildings were made from wood so I burned these to save space in the skips for rubble and other junk.

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The banking at the back was dug out a few feet to make some more room…

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A temporary building was needed so that we can store some of the things that we need throughout the build; we built it using wood from the old buildings. A base was set and filled with concrete.

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The last building to be knocked down was originally a housing to transport gear box parts for the submarines so it was well built and a nightmare to demolish.

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I tried setting it on fire but it never worked. Please note I was well annoyed with everything at this point as it had taken ages to clear everything out and it felt like I was getting nowhere, Settings things on fire relieved some of the stress.
I came up one morning and it was in pieces? Turns out my sister’s boyfriend came up in the tractor and ran in to it a few times so that was that, I burned the remains.

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The temporary building.

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It took weeks on end to clear the site to a suitable state so that we can work on the foundations but we finally got there… Now I feel like im getting somewhere. If you look back you will notice a massive difference between what the place was like then and how it is now, it has taken months to clear out.

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Last weekend I rented a 7 tonne digger and pecker for 2 days (£350) and spend all weekend peckering out 13 holes for the foundations. The whole ground is solid limestone so it makes for excellent foundations but a nightmare to get down far enough for the footings (2 ft). I didn’t get any pictures of the digger as I was too busy.

After the holes were dug 13 2ft square boxes were built which are to be placed in the holes and filled around; the insides will be filled with concrete forming the footings. The framework of the building is bolted to the concrete footings using 20mm anchoring bolts (44 of them!)

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So that’s the stage im up to now. Next I need to level out the boxes and fill in the holes around them, and then I can fill them with concrete and start the build. ?

Ben.
 
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Re: Project : Workshop (56K ?!)

Looks like it's going to be awesome Ben. LMAO at the council though and their planning premissions, hot and cold or what.

Look forward to seeing the progress.

:)
 

Renaultsport

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Re: Project : Workshop (56K ?!)

Now thats a project! Keep us updated on how things go with it!
 
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Re: Project : Workshop (56K ?!)

You'll have to have a build Ben's barn bash :) I'm sure ppl would turn up to help for beer and barbie:
 

BenG

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Re: Project : Workshop (56K ?!)

You offering J ? :D . So far I have myself, my dad and my sisters boyfriend, my mum gives out orders.

Looks like it's going to be awesome Ben. LMAO at the council though and their planning premissions, hot and cold or what.

Did I mention I had to have a bat survey before I could knock the old ones down which was £300 ! I couldn't knock them down if bats lived there. I did try to tell them that we had cats living there at the time and if there were any bats they would be lucky to be alive but they did the usual thing and took no notice.

Now thats a project! Keep us updated on how things go with it!

Ye its something different :) , I cant wait to start putting it together. I cant get anything done this weekend as I have a track day on Monday so need to get the car ready tomorrow, it will be next week before anything else gets done.


Ben.
 

pol

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Re: Project : Workshop (56K ?!)

i am jealous as hell! looks like it will be a great workshop.
 

BenG

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Re: Project : Workshop (56K ?!)

Update.

Busy day today. In the morning I had to check over the car as I have a track day tomorrow and wanted to make sure I was set. I got a phone call after dinner from Dave, my sisters boyfriend who offered to come up in his tele-handler and fill in around the holes. What would have taken days took hours thanks to this machine so I couldnt let the offer pass.

All the earth that was dug out from the holes was piled up and the place looked a mess, most of it went back in the holes and the remains was used to level out what will be the base of the building.

Pics were taken on phone, I forgot my camera.

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The boxes just need a bit of tweeking now to make sure the tops are all level and the concrete will be filled to the top, it looks a bit cowboy ish I know but its near enough for what I want.

The next job now is to fill the boxes with concrete and cover the whole area with hardcore to level the place out a bit before I assemble the framework. Things are progressing now :D :D

Ben
 
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Re: Project : Workshop (56K ?!)

Can we expect to see Kevin McLoud in future updates?
 

BenG

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Re: Project : Workshop (56K ?!)

When can I book my car in for its winter rebuild ?

You can book it in when its winter :)

Can we expect to see Kevin McLoud in future updates?

:lol: , this aint no grand design. I could do with ground force coming in though, its a mess at the min.
 
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Re: Project : Workshop (56K ?!)

BenG said:
Did I mention I had to have a bat survey before I could knock the old ones down which was £300 ! I couldn't knock them down if bats lived there. I did try to tell them that we had cats living there at the time and if there were any bats they would be lucky to be alive but they did the usual thing and took no notice.

£300 to look if there were bats there! :shock: Atleast there weren't any, thanks to your cats maybe? :lol:
 

BenG

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Re: Project : Workshop (56K ?!)

Another busy weekend…

I ordered some concrete to fill in the boxes, £290 in total and was delivered in 2 loads, the mixer doesn’t hold much but it is of perfect size for getting in and out of the ‘building site’.

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We soon noticed that some boxes seemed to have moved slightly, or was it that they were not fixed right by someone in the first place, I can’t remember now. 2 boxed had to be raised 70mm and 2 had to have 70mm taken out of them, that’s a 140mm mistake! I don’t know how we never noticed it but never mind. After a bit of tweaking everything is level(ish).
We are doing everything by spirit level and eye so it is never going to be perfect as long as the footings are in the right place the building can be levelled out using spacers as long as it’s somewhere near.

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The next day the concrete looks to be set but we are leaving it until next weekend at least before the building is going to be assembled on them. It will take 3 days before it’s suitable to work with.

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Dave agreed to fetch my framework through, we spent about 3 / 4 hours shifting the framework and wood to the field. Having a farmer as a brother in law comes in very handy.

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I have instructions somewhere ??

Ben.
 

BenG

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Re: Project : Workshop (56K ?!)

:D

Sorry I moved it for the time being, the thread needed tidying up, too many pics made it take ages to load up, all better now?

I post some updates on soon, the framework will be fully built this weekend :D, some big changes since last update!

Sneak peek.... 2/3 of the framework built.

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You can do a 3 point turn in it !

Ben.
 

Renaultsport

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Re: Project : Workshop (56K ?!)

Looks good! I want one! :D

Can you even do a 3 point turn in the T? After all it has the turning circle of a bus :lol:
 

BenG

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Re: Project : Workshop (56K ?!)

Hmm, doubt it. My dad did it in the 1.2 with plenty of room left, it will be close in the T, still, can't complain eh :D .

Ben
 

Renaultsport

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Re: Project : Workshop (56K ?!)

Looks good! I would love that sort of space. Just havent got the room :(

GF loves the lakes so hopefully one day we could move up there! So you never know! I could dream anyway! :)
 
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Re: Project : Workshop (56K ?!)

Ben that's humongous :shock: I've very jealous, neither of my "garages" is actually big enough to work in which is a real disincentive to actually getting anything done.
 

BenG

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Re: Project : Workshop (56K ?!)

A lot has changed since I last updated this, the framework is 90% complete, I just need to fit 2 more stanchions at the front where the roller shutter door will go and I need to fit 2 small stanchions for the personnel door. I have left out the stanchions for the roller shutter door for now so that the cement mixer can get in.

Carrying on from last update; I ordered 16 tonne of crushed slate from Burlington Slate to level out the floor of the building, it came to about £300 including delivery, there was just enough to level the area, looks a hell of a lot tidier now.

The last few weeks have been spent building the framework. The columns were assembled on the floor and were hoisted up with the big fork lift thing, and then the beams of wood were cut to length and bolted to the stanchions.

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The regulation that replaced common sense was not used, I think they call It Health and Safety.

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Next job is to fix the framework to the footings, I’ve ordered 48 Anchoring Bolts so they will be here next week some time.

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More stuff was delivered: Personnel Door, Roller Shutter Door, Roofing, Side sheets, Guttering.

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That’s all folks
 
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