Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Framed

It was with great excitement that we took delivery of our shed frame the other week.   Manufactured by The Steel Framing Company (TSFC), owned by Will and Sarah.  It is a work of art. 

TSFC had thought of everything; Kevlar gloves, brilliantly labelled plans, drill bits and even the exact number of bolts (100 in case you were wondering) to tie it all to the slab.  On top of that we were invited to call Will on his mobile anytime if we needed a hand. Which we did - in fact the day we didn't call, Will called us to see how things were going.  Will and Sarah even helped us stand some of the frames up when they dropped by a couple of days later to check on progress.  Now that's customer service.

As Will pointed out, it's not really a shed, but a class 1A dwelling (ie a house) with no internal walls. Hence the unshed-like diagonal braces and verandas. 

The completed frame
With all the extra steel the heaviest panel was 88 kilos and 4.5m high - which was a challenge for Nette and I. But we pulled it off by gradually lifting it onto progressively higher rungs of the scaffold.  We met our match though when it came to the trusses.  Spanning over 8m they were too long and the walls too high for us to safely manage. 

It took us over a week to get all the framing done, including a day with a local builder and roof plumber to get the trusses up.  But it looks brilliant.  So much so it will be a shame to hide all that precision steel engineering behind colourbond.

BTW - My comments about TSFC are totally unsolicited, my enthusiasm is simply related to their incredibly great product and brilliant service.

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Stair challenge

stair plan
The stairs have presented a few challenges along the way, the final one being how to make the awkward bit, near "X" on the plan, safe. 
 
The rules are pretty clear; any spot with a drop of 1 metre or more requires a rail.  We didn't have a problem with that - but we wanted the space for displaying space of our junk and a rail like the others wouldn't lend itself to that.
 
Hand rail is 100yr old pine and
balusters are copper plumbing pipe.
 
 
 

Sunday, July 10, 2016

It's like starting over

Shed Slab
While it's been quiet on the blog front things have been happening at the Croft. In particular, work has started on the workshop.  Roy from Any Type excavations dug a wonderful hole in June only to have Dieter from Spaghetti Concreting fill it in a few days later.  The dimensions are about 10m x 10m plus a 1.5m veranda on the front (right side in the photo) a mud room on the eastern side (left side in the photo).   The steel frame is scheduled to arrive in August.
 
But wait there's more....

Stairs completed
Having completed the upstairs cupboards and plastering we decided it was finally time to oil the stairs.  The change is just amazing.  The photo of the half completed Harry Potter door below shows the transformation in progress.  Actually, that door was a great find.  We purchased it for $20 from a second hand dealer in Grenfell.  He had taken it from a building in George Street and dated it circa 1900.  It's cedar and was quite beaten up having been kicked in at some point.  

Harry Potter door
We've also completed the bathroom cupboard (below).  The mirror was a Grenfell recycling centre purchase and the carcass of the cupboard was originally a chest of drawers which we found sans drawers.  It now sports drawers that we made from some old cedar skirting board while the doors are resized cedar window frames.   

Bathroom
So in July we're planning and preparing for the shed build.  The 5,000 gallon tank pad is prepared and I've been reading up on steel frame construction... what could possibly go wrong?









 


Tuesday, January 5, 2016

The glass has been a pain


 
It seemed a harmless idea initially - to leadlight all the windows - but that was because we didn't realise it would require 1,146 pieces of glass and over 400 hours of cutting, grinding, soldering, puttying and polishing.  But, finally job done. We've completed the bathroom, loo, kitchen and lounge windows, the front and back doors, 5 fanlights, 4 internal doors and 5 pairs of French hens doors.  

French doors in progress.


Landing completed.


Front door and windows.
 
Front door and windows from outside.
(mmm - I forgot to include the lights in the count.)
Kitchen window and back door.