zoothorn

JSH I want to buy your old ac30! can you/ anyone suggest what plinth brackets to use for the 'full sleeper' upright columns to fix into? my pro chap said something about 'resin bolts'. Sleepers in Jewsons I looked at today are 8ft x 10"x5", nice square ends. look like creosoted softwood.

I actually don't think I need pininterest's help on this one. I did before (esp my balcony design- it would've been perfect for that no doubt) maybe. I have my design, just orientation of joists opposite to sketch my chap kindly whipped up. My Jewsons: have 6x2 tannalised, & also 6x3.. I'm wondering on 6x3's for the outer 4 beams to form my perimeter square (with two extenting out 1m over stream, usefully they're 3.6m long so little waste).. & then the 6x2's as joists? Is this plan adequate support for a "2.5 x 2.5m log cabin" is the Q. Going 'doubling-up' on 6x2's seems quite a faff you see, & if 4" width possibly a bit overkill.. maybe 6x3's would fit the bill.

christ I'll get nothing done then. Onoff that's very honest!! Now look back on track: I've got my plan & will see what "tannalised" timber Jewsons have/ what lengths. Spoke to my chap & mentioned 6x2 advised (on here) for outer beams: he said 'mmm maybe double them up, gotta account for +snow load etc'. Because I've gone for only 4x support pillars (not 8x as would be if 3x pillars along each wall/ orig idea), I need to make sure the four load-bearing perimeter beams are perhaps OTT engineered a bit, like my plinfs are. So with this in mind is the way to go doubling-up of 6x2's, or am I better going a bigger guage for my four perimeter beams?

PeterW- starting to look at timber (specifically if I can get a beam long enough as per my beam no.1) at my jewson site, but 'tanalised' or '150 x 50mm' [I assume 6x2] = no results. Is 'tanalised' treated timber for use in exterior jobs?

Ah ok.. so is it a library of sorts, with a photo basis to it: is that the sort of site design principle of it?

b b but i dont know what it is. is it a cult?

apps & playstores & instagram/ smartphone stuff.. trouble is I think I have a massive aversion to it. pininterest & made up words like it jarr so much it creats such a huge irritation before I start to understand what the dickens it means/ is!! (I loathe smartphones for many reasons, & most especially the word 'app' even this I've no idea what it is, or want to!!). I must be weird. but I much appreciate the ideas.

That's a useful pic. gives me a rough idea. Pininterest? what on earth does that mean?

I'm buying a used typical log cabin affair Declan.. disassembling it there/ rebuilding it here: so you see I can modify a bit here n there.

@Declan52 ah ok I'm on board.. thanks for that sketch. I guess then I can do a proper ~1m walky bit then (& put up ballastrade whatnots in time) if not constrained by the cantilever'd addition. Ok so how about the joists @ 400mm centres, C'tex in between etc below cabin area.. is this the right idea? I'll get C'tex in the roof probably even if only 25mm, & as the back 's unseen I can maybe go 50mm (on the outside.. if I can think how to attatch, & cover/ clad etc: not on the inside as space is priority). Sides & door/ front.. tricky tho.

But that means the cantilever'd extra area (walky bit RHS), over & onwards past beam no.4, won't happen tho.

Hi PeterW- so you'd go joists from beams no.1 to no.2 instead you mean?

This is the idea my chap sketched. This is the base four beams (my shed perimeter walls ontop of these). No.4 is lying flat: ontop of this he suggested joists running from beam no.3 > across beam no.4...... & onward a bit too (as much as I can, for a walky bit this extra bit). The joists [not yet shown] will go in & attatch most critically via joist hangers @ beam 3 (where my series of 'o' zits & '>' arrows are), & to the flat beam no.4. 2x 85cm H full sleeper thickness, for ontop of lower 2x plinths & up. 85cm is the difference in height between lower two plinfs & upper two. Thing is I can't see what beam I can my that's ~3.4m long. The hardwood ones are 2.4m long.

Ah- didn't know that. Ok so difference is, a hammer will tonk the joist out of place, a drill won't much: so how do i clamp a perpendicular joist B to beam A so hammering nails won't send B off kilter?

Yup- will photo a sketch later one light better/ post it up. All these joisty xyz & hangers is all new to me.. I'm only relying on vague recalling of a labouring site job 30 yrs ago I last saw these hangers: what I do recall is the Ex+ strength of the joint they made.

Great help here Declan.. I like those clamps/ good for general woodwork after too, & those twist nails are interesting: guess would save alot of use of a drill driver plus screws too. One thing I do need to get, & carefully choose, if the right hammer. I need one for these twistys then & use for 4" steel nails I'll use tons of for small walkway projects, plus two later stairs projects too. Ive seen the US carpenters' YTclips with theirs which seem so integral to them/ pg1 important, I think its important to get a quality multi-use one for life. thanks-zoot

My pro chap outlined a basic plan for the base- wonder what you think: 2x full sleeper uprights for lower plinths H ~85cm. A beam(A) to lie flat on the upper 2x plinths (parallel to stream) joining these two. Obvuiously resin-bolted steel bracketed to my plinfs. Then a series of joists across (perpendicular & fixed by alu metal hangers to beam(A), @ 400mm centres (IE celotex between).. to rest upon/ fix to another beam(B) joining the sleeper uprights, & joists continue on over twds the stream by 20% (a common figure in his work for cantilevered overhang/ anyway whatever's max I can go for an added side walky bit). Noggins too? Lastly: 2x added 45* inside brace timbers @ the sleeper pillars > beam above, for added rigidity/ to help prevent racking. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's his basic suggested plan, kindly & quickly sketched in 5mins after our hard work. Thinking on whatever base I go with, the main thing of concern to me is the wind channels down the gdn & hits my 'shed' front on, hard: like my extention it'll whack the end of, often at 90*. So alot of pressure will be put on my 'lower side', my 2 sleeper uprights will want to domino one another -backwards- I assume.. if say a storm puts wind at max.

Ok great chaps- I'll be leaving anyway for a week min/ no rush.. its wales after all. Then onto the beam plan. Cheers zoot

Actually its a log cabin actually.. shed pfft! A week? ah ok- thought it was 24hrs.. just had a peep & looking good! its defo set & no slump down at all on the back one. I sort of assumed the tops would just settle alone level (rebar protrudes proventing a level-tamp across).. is that the idea? can I smooth down any unevenness prior to attatching my plate xyz things with something, or is that too late now too?

I know I know.. but its a shed on a 45* slope, & its my 1st build effort using concrete which I don't know the way it behaves. How long until set btw? I need to angle-grind off these rebar ends before I impale myself. cheers- zoot.

@andyscotland hi, if I can just pick up on this (still waiting on balcony decision y/n, affecting overall build extent by a bit.. so yet to do my plan). You seem to be referring in your info/ post above (all appreciated btw & read 2x) to my doing "Full Plans" from which a builder directly builds from, like an architect usually provides. But I am not doing this/ I do not need to do this. I am going the 'Build Notice' route (more costly, more BCO checks, but £saving on the cost of 'Full Plans' route: bc build is so simple/ small/ builder capable/ BCO & builder know each other/ BCO happy my going this route). And in order to do this, my builder has asked me simply for 'critical dims', on a very basic plan, to scale. So the precise 'u-value' info, etc etc etc is not needed for this plan. I just need to get the wall thickness right, triple-check my door placements, windows, ceiling H.. & I can crack on. I was just wondering if there's some way to do this plan, other than to hand-draw it. Thanks, zoot.

Pretty nifty for £20.. wow I bet these cost £120 a decade ago. I'll consider, but when you say "put a tape measure on each plinth" what do you mean? Tell me about the water rising thing tho- surely the deeper down the more ballast/ stone will settle, so therefore the higher up the more watery it gets: certainly the top layer seems liquid water maybe only 1/2" or so.. but as this is where I'm attatching xyz to.. won't it be the weakest bit this top 1/2"? pro chap gouged a wee channel for this top water to drain off on lower fwd plinf.. I tried to on back top but got in a pickle cutting a 1" notch to drain off top layer, & heard air wheezing out/ seems I punctured the rib section.. like a nana. I hope to heck I don't find the level's dropped by another 1" tmrw in this back one.

@Onoff yes I will trim the rear top plinf once its set. How level.. relative to each other you mean? about 1" out still, even having done back one shy 1". So front top one still 1" below back one. Yes I was thinking nip a bit off the beam @ back rather than packing front up: Im already 1 ft higher than I'd thought/ wanted (85cm H between upper & lower plinfs.. but nervous digging back ole in case cliff became unstable/ I think maybe wise I stopped as is tbh.

Of course use the barrow.. yes ok good plan. Damn pleased that's done tho- prep took 2x time the job did.. most/ hardest was hauling 2/3rd a ton of ballast just down 4m one bucket a time. Very satisfying the mixer'ing tho, & not too hard once ballast next to: I like the tippy out bit best: I had one foot on like a boss.

Ok Yes will note thanks. 30m for an inner.. anyway had to be done/ barrow sorted, & done it. Flippin mess, but no barrows spilt (nearly an OTT full one tho jeepers), some mixes a bit heavy on the ballast, some a bit wet, some a bit ott cement.. but best i could do. What I do have is on my far one (deliberately 1" underfilled to better match level-wise to a full front one) has quite an excess of water on the surface: i can't see anything other than the ballast going to btm & innevitably water 'rises'. Ive mixed pretty well.. but what do I do? front one seems a bit thicker & top level-tapped fairly ok'ish.. but far one I cant cos of the lip. Also what do i do about overnight rain on them? its peeing down right now.