The finished shed

Two years plus from my last post the shed is now (virtually) finished. Work on the shed was significantly delayed due to working part time (which at times was virtually full time). 

Gutters and down-pipes were fitted and drains completed in March 2014. Some roof water goes to a soak away and some is pumped to a water butt conveniently situated in the garden.

Over the past few months I have at last had time to conclude the work. The garden has been landscaped and a floor (made of reclaimed bricks from Stax Reclamation) laid. The wood burner from Dean Forge is in situ and the chimney fitted. I have temporarily fitted clear glass to the small window. I plan to make a stained glass window to fit into this frame. I have added pictures of the shed below.

Reclaimed brick floor bedded on to the concrete base and brushed over with sand

Reclaimed brick floor

Chimney fitted looking to roof apex. Finished with stainless steel.

The plan is for this window to be made of stained glass.

View of finished shed from the west

View of finished shed (except for stained glass window) from the east

View looking over pond

Guttering and drainage

Not much has happened over the past few weeks but I have now worked out drainage and ordered guttering. Rather than use the typical black plastic I decided to purchase some galvanized steel guttering. I ordered this on Friday from the Green Rain Water store. I should receive the goods just after Christmas. 

In the mean time I have made a temporary door to prevent rain getting into the shed. With strong winds and very heavy rain (and more forecast) it made sense to try to keep the shed dry.

Hopefully work should recommence fairly soon on fitting guttering. Before I can begin to dig the drains I will need to landscape the garden around the shed.

View from lean to end showing the temporary "door".

Fitting the glass

With all the oak feather-edge cladding finished the next task was to fit the glass. This was a task that I was a little anxious about. The planned method of fixing was to have the glass on the surface of the oak frame with softwood spaces (to the thickness of the glass plus seals) to which air dried oak cover frames would be screwed to hold the glass in place.

I purchased four pieces of 6.4 mm thick single laminated glass; two pieces 2095 x 945 mm and two pieces 2025 x 1219 mm. I ordered these from Smokeson Glass - a local supplier; they were delivered in four days. (I soon realised I could manage to lift the smaller sheets on my own but needed help with the 2025 x 1219 sheets)

Detail showing glass in position and bedded on 

to cedar strips and seal. The 20 x 50mm 

softwood packing frame is clearly visible.

The cedar strips can be seen in this image

Although I had used a hand plane to remove any significant bumps I was concerned about the irregularity of the oak wall posts and therefore decided to bed the glass on to a frame of cedar strips (which I planed to 9mm thick x 30mm wide) and lightly fixed with brass pins. I thought this would help to reduce the irregularities in the frame. 
I used EPDM Dry Glazing Tape from Reddiseals to bed the glass on to the cedar strips and also for the seal between the external face of the glass and the oak cover frame. The thickness of the glass and the seal (on both faces of the glass) and the 9mm thick cedar frames meant I could use standard 20 x 50mm planed softwood for the packing. I screwed the softwood to the oak posts with stainless steel 4.5 x 60mm Turbo Ultra wood-screws (from Screwfix) and also used these screws to fix the oak frames to hold the glass in place. I drilled a largish pilot hole to ensure I was able to remove the screws if I need to make any adjustments. As far as I can tell at this stage everything looks OK.

Bottom and side retaining frames in 

position

This detail shows the bottom oak
retaining frame screwed into position.

The glass panels in place

View from east end with gable ends completed

View from west end 

With the glass now in place most of the remaining tasks are finishing off bits and pieces. I also need to make two oak glazed doors and one window (which I hope to make some stained glass for). Following a suggestion from a friend I will probably lay a stone floor. As work progresses I will continue to update this blog.

Cladding the walls

With the tongue and groove timber for the end walls painted it has now been possible to fix the internal wall and finish cladding the external walls with feather edge oak (with the exception of one gable end). The same principle of a tongue and groove internal wall - 50 mm x 50 mm  battens (to fix insulation) fixed within a 50 mm x 75 mm frame (to fix breathable membrane and oak external wall) was used.

Internal wall with 50 mm x 75 mm battens fixed (lean to end)

Insulation fitted and membrane part fitted to opposite end

Internal wall (with lounge and groove fitted to eaves)

Internal wall (with lounge and groove fitted to eaves)

Oak feather edge fitted to rear of shed

Oak feather edge fitted to end wall (eaves to be completed)

The rear wall

The tongue and groove timber for the rear wall was painted over 4 days - and fitting was fairly easy. 75mm x 50mm battens were screwed to the frame with stainless steel screws and 25mm x 25mm battens fixed inside each frame - insulation was stapled to the 25mm square battens and breather membrane secured on to the 75mm x 50mm battens. (See previous post Gable end and extension – 7 July 2013)

Internal rear wall of the shed and extension

It will be necessary to infill between the rafters and ceiling with short lengths of tongue and groove prior to fitting the oak feather edge.

I did not fit an internal wall to the end of the extension only covering the oak frame with breather membrane. I did fit an internal wall to the rear of the extension to maintain a line with the rear of the shed but this was not insulated.

With the membrane over the end of the extension the oak feather edge could be fixed.

Oak feather edge fitted to the end of the extension

Detail of front end 

I have now begun to paint the tongue and groove timber for the end walls and think about ordering the large glass panels for the front and end corners. The glass will be fitted to the face of the frame using softwood packing and air dried oak strips - EDM sealing tape has been ordered from Reddiseals

Finishing the extension roof

The oak fascia was attached in the same was as on the shed. Once this was completed the membrane, Permavent Easytray, battens and the lead flashing could all be fitted. The height of the extension meant that the join of the roof to the shed wall overlapped the gable end. As a result of this there was a "step" in the roof/shed connection that required some cutting and shaping of the lead. The scaffolding was moved to allow access and slates were fitted to the roof.

Fascia, membrane and battens fitted

The extension roof nearly completed

 With the roof completed it was now possible to finish the gable end by fixing the oak feather edge. The boards were quite heavy so it was necessary to temporarily bang a nail in at the correct height one end to support the board whilst the other end was nailed.

The Gable end and extension roof finished

With the boards fitted the slates could be attached to the gable end. The next job is to paint and prepare the boards for the walls.

Gable end and extension

After fitting the 25mm x 25mm battens the insulation could be fixed. This was a straightforward job using offcuts from the roof. This was then covered with breather membrane (as used on the main roof).

25mm x 25mm counter battens for insulation

Insulation fitted to counter battens

I made and fitted a treated softwood frame to fit in the top of the extension - this was a simple way of providing a secure foundation to attach the weatherboarding. The next job is to complete the roof on the extension.

Softwood frame fitted to extension