Ye Olde Forge

[Screwdriver]

Option 2: Assume 25mm ply will give enough strength and recess it as per.

Obviously I have left the ply short to show the bracket. It will be fully sheeted out.

 

[gaz1]

i think its a coffin not a bath

 

[Screwdriver]

i think its a coffin not a bath

That would explain the teeth...

 

[Screwdriver]

I have been chipping away at this for a while and finally decided on a plan. The rear support members have been tweaked so that their surface is 18mm behind the average flat of the wall.

Easiest thing to do was to notch out the crossmembers.

Which meant I could drop in a sheet of 18mm marine ply, flush to the back of the existing brickwork and then screw it to the supports.

Wow. That sounds easy... Manipulating a huge chunk of heavy sheet into a half inch gap over a six foot hole. There was a fencepost in the way so I had to trim the sheet but a full sheet didn't reach all the way anyway. This method means I only need on straight vertical panel to infill to the top. Noggins will go in as required.

All things considered, I am happy with the result. Looks like the right hand post got pushed a bit out of plumb so it's not dead square (with a level top) but it's not too bad. Basically had to hammer it home because it was so tight it wanted to jam.

But now it is in place I can think about bricking up to it to give me a lovely flat wall with some decent support.

The weather should improve over the next couple of days and if it's not freezing, I might even be able to finish it off.

 

[Screwdriver]

Well, the back of the "shed" is boarded out and the rear wall is pretty much up. I might put one or two more courses on there, should be frost free under there and I will cover it up once it has had a few hours to cure.

Just waiting for someone to tell me I really shouldn't have done that...

The two 4x2s at the side are just temporary guides though I might fix them permanently and tie the wall to them. I don't know how strongly the 5:1 mortar mix might grab onto the plywood, if it sticks at all, that wall is firmly bonded to it!

 

[outofthefire]

Cover it up before any frost, covering it up it wont effect the mortar going off, but frost will. I'm pretty sure it won't bond to the plywood. I don't think i'd go much higher if it's unsupported.

 

[Screwdriver]

Cover it up before any frost, covering it up it wont effect the mortar going off, but frost will. I'm pretty sure it won't bond to the plywood. I don't think i'd go much higher if it's unsupported.

Yeah it's covered now with a blanket. Mid London looking at +1 degrees tonight so should be ok. Incredibly, the height now exactly matches the model. It looks about right so I might leave it there for now. At a later dat I can either fix it to the ply with brackets remembering the bottom of the ply is very firmly wedged to the solid base. Another option would be to make up a steel/angle iron bracket around the base which extends up the sides of the wall.

The base will have three heavy paving slabs on top and the idea is to keep full access to the submerged bath, hence the single skin wall. So they need to rest on a crossmember and thinking about it, that could be some rebar and a sort of hinge mechanism (this is probably something in the distant future!). It would be nice to have some steels bonded to the structure because having watched a fair few blacksmithy vids, it would be handy for welding odd jigs and formwork to.

 

[Screwdriver]

Fitted the lid back on today.

Then raided my stock of "reclaimed" insulation panels (this is a tiny fraction!)

And we're up to date.

The panels will get taped (with aluminium foil tape) before I fit a sheet of thin ply to cover it. Even with the open "door" (it will be a sliding door/fence panel) and half the area open to the breeze, the bitumen roof was dripping condensation like it was raining. The tin roof was/is even worse. That will get covered tomorrow weather permitting (I have to fetch a ton of junk out of there first).

 

[gaz1]

if you think its bad now wait till winter snow and ice those drips are so bad its not worth being in there

 

[selectedgrub]

Thoroughbred job that you done there.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Screwdriver]

Thoroughbred job that you done there.
Thanks for sharing.

Here's abetter shot of the almost complete section.

I guess there is a bit of a TARDIS like element, the shed goes back a long way and I need to get rid of those shelves!

So that I can get to the metal roof. We've all heard of condensation and metal roof problems but this is ridiculous. No exaggeration to say there is at least a bucket full of water up there!

And it's really difficult to get it off. Tried rags, a paint roller even a leaf blower but it just seems to stick. Guess I'll just cover it up and hope it goes away...

Once that's done I will panel off the far corner and come up with a sliding door for the openng.

i don't have an actual design at the moment but typically I let the idea background process for a while then, one day just go out there and do it. It usually turns out ok.

 

[Screwdriver]

More recycled goodies rescued from my neighbour...

Insulated last part of the roof.

Then my last sheet of 50mm goes against the fence panel wall.

And gets covered up with the last full sheet of 12mm ply. Bottom half first then full sheet on top (to stagger the join).

The last sheet was the best one too. Shame to cover it up with the shelving but that NEEDS to be there for now. I'll probably replace that later when the MIG goes in there with a steel top welding table.

That's it for now. Really glad to have the shelves back so I can move in there again. One more wall to cover (on the left) and then onto the sliding door.

It is a lot warmer in there despite the missing wall, door and ceiling gap. The structure has become much stiffer too and does not reverberate when I'm hitting the anvil. Time will tell if it will become too hot with a forge going in there but I can always knock out some apertures/windows/chimney.

 

[dobbslc]

Nice job. You'l have dossers in there soon if you're not careful!

 

[Screwdriver]

My supply of ply has dried up for the moment (there's more to come...) so I used up some spare fence panels for the exterior. Framed out with batons.

Clad with featheredge and finished with a little trim.

The rear has been filled with insulation panel, just waiting on some more plywood to finish.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

There's a discernible difference every time you go out there - keep up the good work!!

 

[Screwdriver]

There is actually a whole new door frame in there I forgot to mention. I had to build it out square since neither of the end posts turned out square to the rest of the build. I changed my mind so many times on how to construct it.

I have also changed my mind about the sliding door. Too complicated to build it the way I want (like a van door) so it's going to be a standard double door.

Tempted to try and make it from featheredge and "invisible" by blending it in with the wall. Wish I'd though of that earlier, I could have hidden the roof too....

 

[Screwdriver]

Raided my hoard of hinges (tho I am pretty sure there's another box somewhere)

Forgot I had som many of these extruded solid brass hinges! Like Christmas come early...

But I used these lovely zinc plated jobbies. There's a reason for the additional upright and double hinge...

I'm sure you'e all seen this before but anyhow, here's how I do it:

Made up some door frames out of a pile of 2x1 batons. Annoyingly, I cut down some 3.5m lengths to make up the 2m door edges, then knocked up a load of noggins - OUT OF THE SAME MADE UP PIECES! Dammit, I selected a stack of straight, untwisted, "good ends" pieces from this "pre used ex-fence paneling. Then proptly chopped them into bits.

Then when I made up some more pieces for the other door - I DID IT AGAIN! Dammit, I put them to one side then forget, pick up the nearest handy bit of wood and chop it up...

Anyway, they're done (four times)

more...

 

[Screwdriver]

The right hand door needs to open beyond an odd angled upright and to an obtuse angle, way over 180 degrees so it folds flat against the wall.

It works. The hinged upright folds open and carries the "door" an additional four inches around the post and allows it to fold flush to the wall.

Crudely nailed some spare sheet to the frames to act as a fox/cat barrier until I fit some full skins or maybe even more featheredge. The door is a bit tight to the ground and I had to rip up some broken pavement but they are pretty much done. Just need fettling and some proper stops/locks fitting.

Looking very cosy now.

 

[Ashley Burton]

I like your creativity for the space which you have!

 

[lexi]

Great build and work. The London brick are so earthy!