This blog documents my studio build started back in 2009. I'm keeping this live for reference as it may help others who are thinking of taking on such a project.
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OK after last weekends setback I made some good progress this weekend. I completed the right hand wall stud-work and a good part of the back wall stud-work. I wasn't looking forward to drilling the holes in the concrete for the thru anchors after my first sole plate drilling. But this proved to be pretty straightforward with only a couple of difficulties. One stubborn hole which took a little longer than the others to drill and one which went slightly off line when I drilled the pilot hole through the timber. But with a few bashes with the hammer the anchor found its way through into the hole somehow, if a little angled!! But all tightened up very nicely with most of the sole plates now well anchored to the floor. I had a slightly better method of constructing the right and wall which resulted in a slightly neater looking job though with no material advantage. As always, you and up really perfecting a technique just about when you've finished!! Once finished the right side wall I started to construct the back wall, or front wall depending on how you look at it (the one you look at as you go through the door), on Sunday evening and managed to get a fair bit done (you'll see from the photos) before it was getting a little late to be making noise - oh well bring on next weekend.
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Studio building took something of a setback this weekend. I managed to pick up a bug that my daughter had earlier in the week which rendered me out of action for the whole weekend. I was pretty well set to crack on and get most of the timber construction done as I had Friday afternoon off of work as well!
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Now time to attach the noggings, two rows at approximately 800mm centres. I attached these with screws angled into the uprights, two per end. Once secured the stud wall was starting to stiffen well. All that I needed to do then was to attach the two top plates, two 4x2" lengths stacked for the joists to sit onto. I needed to use my quick clamps at various stages here and they proved very useful for this job. >>photos<<
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OK I've finally started work on the internal room... Fortunately this is a bank holiday weekend so I'm able to spend a few hours constructing. The first task I set myself was to construct the left hand wall stud work and the aim is complete it this weekend. Having cut and marked out the soleplate for the wall I drilled five 10mm holes for the through anchor bolts to secure the wall to the concrete floor. I then positioned the plate in situ and marked through the holes into the concrete with the masonry drill. I then removed the plate to complete the drilling, I needed to drill holes 2" (about 50mm) deep into the concrete for the anchors. This actually started off pretty well but at about hole number four proved to be impossible to drill. There turned out to be a hard stone (part of the aggregate in the concrete mix near the top) exactly where I wanted to drill. I completed all of the others and decided to drill a new hole in the plate and hope this was in a better location! Fortunately this was successful and was able to drill the 2" pretty easily.
Once this was done I positioned the plate with vinyl between the plate and the concrete floor. I drove the anchors through the wood into the holes in the concrete with a bash from the hammer until they bottomed out. I then tightened the nuts and the plate was well and truly anchored to the floor. I then cut the upright studs for the wall as per my design drawings with the 7 degree angle at the top. These were then screwed into position on the soleplate.
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I didn't do a huge amount on the build this weekend, yesterday (Saturday) I cleaned up a slightly raised area of the concrete floor in one corner where one of the bottom plates of my timber frame will sit. I used the angle grinder with a concrete cup tool attached to remove the bump. This removed the area pretty easy but created a massive amount of dust which filled the room in seconds and I had to do this in short bursts to allow the dust to settle or disperse.
After doing this I cut and attached some timber to fill a gap between the roof and the top of the left hand wall of the adjoining outbuilding. There are still a few small gaps that I'll need to fill later.
I didn't do any actual work today (Sunday) except to spend a bit of time checking the dimensioning of my timber frame drawings before commencing the construction stage. I spent the morning and early afternoon with the family and went Go-Karting in the evening, I'm no Jenson Button but I held my own! Great fun by the way if haven't already done this - I went here: http://www.angliakarting.com for their monthly open GP race.