zoothorn

Update: got my Build Notice, done my build plan/ builder happy (no 'u-value' needed). BCO aware & happy with my Build Notice path taken. I'm just waiting on the balcony NMA (yes or no).. but effectively I've got green light to GO! So last step 20 hurdled, & can ask builder re. timeframe. Maybe he even gets the slab down soon. One thing I've yet to consider, electrics. Why so late? bc I'm going for a very simple plan (2 sockets in each room), from consumer unit in adjacent existing main room (handy). So advice if you would. I renovated my bathroom & kitchen including electrics (inc shower) no problem.. a damn sight easier my total rebuilding a '78 Fender Twin Reverb amp I can say!.. I'm capable of installing the sockets, with final checks by a qualified electrician (friend in village). Is this feasable/ allowed? the idea being to save £600 let's call it, by getting my chap to do the lot. Thanks- zoot.

Hi @Onoff thats good of you- I now sort of understand the usefulness of it. But another £30.. & will I ever use again? just wasted £30 on this damn pillar & jeesesH.. totting approx costs up: I had -no- idea (let alone the complexity or work) its gonna be nr 1k. Its snowing me under again. We had a howling squall/ storm last night & I worry how this structure would've coped tbh too. I think I need a back 'brace' beam thing going from BFO tree behind to the back corner stream side, to stop any backwards movement. I guess the cabin secured down will help, rigidity etc, but alot of presssure will bear on the whole of this pillar-side from wind hitting the full front of the cabin, & the front roof overhang design won't help surely forcing it UP (& back RHS.) What form would two 45* brace after-additions take (onto 2x pillars etc)? I mean the way these 3 bits join, is surely integral to how much strength they will add to this 'weak' side.

Ah ok. I thought its design/ function was just a more precise level you see.

@Onoff was the idea of the laser level.. that it shines a full line across, so you can put a tape intersecting it from a distance away & it'll fire a spot on the tape? I'm trying to get why it would be more useful than a level, or why you might have suggested it.

Sorry not understanding. Anyway look I didn't use one, I made a mistake by writing down a wrong figure/ a laser wouldn't have magically altered this, & I don't neccessarily need one if a level will do. It doesn't need to be super-critical level, its a used cabin with one side a tad loppy too, 'level' will do.

Wouldn't have made any difference/ I couldn't have used it with plinths ~1m difference, & wouldn't have used it here anyway as it didn't need to be super-accurate at this early stage.. plus it doesn't make writing down figures magically correct themselves either. A level's perfectly fine for the job, once I get to this levelling stage which I assume is to do with packing/ shimming xyz once the frame is made: I'm a month away from this. I need to think how I can lay the beams directly on the (upper) plinths & protect them as best I can possibly do. My pro chap mentioned dpm-?

I'm getting nowhere fast with this. Bought a 7ft post, spent ages choosing one max 151mm.. cut 'hat/ point off & hand cut carefully into 2 today. I measured 85cm between plinths before.. but offered up & I'm 20cm out. goddamit. So wasted £30 on post/ time/ & both pillars useless. So if I get a 8ft post (n/a longer/ & I couldn't manage alone either) & I get beams attatched to notches cut into them.. best I can do is beams sitting 2cm pround of top of posts: but this is a measurement -without- taking into account raising the beam off the upper plinth at all. So its either buy two more 7ft posts & waste most of each.. or somehow use the 8ft post with some thinking involved: if I could somehow cover the beams, & have them resting on the plinths, I could just about do it. This is what my pro chap originally suggested. Do I need to have the beams flush with the post tops? is 2cm discrepency n/g?

@Declan52 much appreciated. I'll go through your last post tmrw. Looking fwd to this a wee bit now.. before I was dreading it tbh.

Crikey this angle-grinder lark is full on I think Ive got a new tuft of chest hair. I was going at it (cutting 10mm bar up for my shoes > plinfs) all hammer & tongs at one stage I thought Id actually set my own arse on fire. Done for the week. I cut up a rod. I think an end of week zoot music interlude to wind down on/ enjoy.. Many thanks guys.

Thanks Declan- I have screwfix & toolstation in town, lucky, but tend to go with your suggestions rather than shop around (like the irwin clamps- got/ great). @Onoff found the galv spray link [edit]. thx These brackets I'll look at tho as pic is different from 10 pack to 25 pack. But prior to using these, how would I hold a beam to another (in my case back beam to join 90* to side looong beam) how can I clamp these two, being a 90* join? What would you suggest: I have 10mm bar &

@Declan52 cheers for that/ will get these screws. Ok so these will attatch the beams A to the looong beams B. But in order to fix together (@ 90*) I need to clamp A to B.. how? Is there not a 'corner joist hanger' type alu thing I could use (once Ive got some innitial fixings in)? the cabin load will be as much on A as on the looong ones B/ but afaict the weight will push down on the fixings between. I have 2x (stst) metre bars: 8mm & 10mm. I'll use both, for shoe > plinth fixing.. & for beam > notched pillar fixing. Which to use for what? thanks chaps- zoot

Damn.. Mmm.. dammit it'll have to be a crapone. Ok understand the method- will go super slow. As to the post: the only 6x6 I found was a tannalised softwood gatepost, type with a nice gently-pointy top end you put your hand on & go 'nice'. Was this the right idea? And more importantly is cutting this post into two ~ 90 cm or so (yet to establish precise H). Is a chopsaw the right tool for the job? bit worried its a bit too fkoffbig mind..

@Onoff fantastic.. huge thanks for that. actually what I had vaguely in my head.. but to get it sketched is fab/ & big relief tbh. I've been mulling over how to cut the 6x3 notches on pillars. Is handsaw my only option? gotta be accurate or will pull the 6x3 out of kilter an annoying bit t'other end I'd have thought. How best to attatch the back beam onto the 2x looong ones too? joist hanger corner thingy, or not the best method (or these n/a even)? very grateful- zoot

No, was thinking 6x3 only for the 4 beams/ ones the walls' weight goes on (cabin Co's say 4 walls are only where the load happens.. IE not floor). Then 6x2's for joists/ noggins. What do you think? its 6x3 asopposed to 6x4 as it were.

@Onoff haha. that looks great- I want one like this instead.

@Onoff Yes, correct drawings there thanks. 10cm excess: cabin corners like a "+" you see (stacked horizontals sections). No it isn't big.. which is why I ask if 6x3's couldn't be used. You see its the only s/h one I find & cheap £550 + £50 deliv. Plus I'm really constrained to small due to steep slope & stream. Alternative was a 3msq cabin: alot more tricky plinths even just 0.25 wider wider (esp upper bank side/ may be bank collapse- & another 0.25m stream side Id be encroaching into stream a tad too much). Its more sensible to go a bit undersize, than to push it for the optimum/ biggest/ best use of every inch = asking for trouble. Plus a new 3msq cabin = £1300 min. Use.. cabinet faff (spring-summer), sitty sunny decky, poss squeeze a temp bed in, twerking practise(sundays 2-4pm).

Yup. 2.3m (its a "2.5m cabin" but 10cm of excess wall each end = 2.3m sq base).

@Onoff I'm still unsure on timber for beams: you see the 6x2 comes in 4.8m lengths. The 6x3 comes in 3.6m. An ideal fig for the long 2x forwards is 3.7m ( 2.3m cabin + 1.4m DECK) IE if I put the two 'end beams' tagged on, I gain 10cm.. so 3.6 + 10 = 3.7m. And 4.8m are impossible for me to manage surely? or are they? If I could get a plan together during this week.. at the mo I'm so stressed thinking how/if I can do this I'm losing sleep tbh.

Hi Onoff (you were at the same Uni??) Yes this is the main thing that worries me.. getting this right like this ^ is nigh on an impossibility for me. I'm worried to get the damn thing actually on the beams let alone as perfect as this. Or even getting the beams square at all. or level. I'm still trying to find something to prop the beams upon topside. Ok to progress I need both a plan of attack, & a plan of how A joins to B. I understand so far only, that the two forward long beams sit on notched pillars & bolts join here. But what side the pillar notch inside or out? how do the 2 forward beams attach to the back beam? As to plan of attack, where to even start? construct frame separately > lift on? (but I dont have help/ I guess rules this out). Start from shoe 'up'? but how could I possibly know where the shoe holes go exactly? Ive missed this weather now.. & next week is a wash-out apparantly, so looks like 10 days before I can start now. Ive got the hurry-on from cabin place too "must take away by xmas/ deposit please" fair enough.

Youd never believe it.. I studied fine art at Uni! no sh*t neither.. I'm crap. Your yobbo graffiti's better. No seriously its there to show my tricky patch.

In my sketch (one before Declan's hooligan graffiti).. can you see my brilliant insert aeriel view of my property, top right? long & thin house top cabin btm.

Yes. That's it. You see how on earth was I going to draw my shed ontop of ABCD.. without me hiding everything & causing a pickle! One shoe is badly made/ top brackets lop-sided so post barely gets in, then gaps around 2 edges/ clamping won't close gaps. Chap's sending another tmrw > here sat. Cheers Declan.

Ok thank goodness. Sorted. Declan to the rescue. I really need a beer. And I haven't even done anything. Thanks chaps.

[Please tell me abouty your last post- I'm tearing my hair out trying to understand how it's not clear/ I just cant do again it takes me so long to do this & photo it]. I did buy shoes 1st... I asked the hole "8mm" he said. So I go buy xyz hardware & costly 10mm bit etc all ready to do today. One shoe is n/g, so I can't proceed until its replaced/ maybe a week with "1st send other one back". FFS man. I have 10

@Onoff is the sketch not clear??