Phase 4 - Fitting out

Having got something that looks like a building, gives a great sense of achievement. However it is now that you realise that there is lots more to do that sounded so simple at the planning stage!

We have some nice looking inside walls, but they are not going to do much good as a workshop in this state. So first job is to give the lot a coat of Curpinol to keep rot at bay for as long as possible!

Next we move onto insulation. Starting with the roof panels. Now we get to work out how much fun it is working overhead for hours on end. The insulation is expanded polystyrene sheets which are 2" thick. Having exhausted every cutting implement known to man it is decided that a plain knife is actually the quickest way to cut this stuff to size.

This leads onto what I term the workshops "Tudor" period:

In some ways it looks quite nice like this, it seems a shame that other than this little island in the rough waters of the Internet, this is a view that is soon to disappear from sight forever!

Now as you may have noticed, toward the end of the year it starts getting dark rather soon each evening. So light is becoming a priority. For this we need power!

Fortunately we had the foresight while hacking the garden to bits with the mini digger, to bury a nice Steel Wire Armoured cable through the garden.

Now all we need to do is hook it up!

Anyway much fighting with heavy cables later we manage to get power from the adjacent exiting building into the workshop. Slap in a nice consumer unit and we now get to play with the internal wiring.

Now let there be light! (and a bit of internal cladding on the ceiling while we are at it):

This is the first of four!

Notice the added bit of forced air ventilation. This might help to keep the airborne sawdust level down. I am also reliably informed that it does make working in a confined space with the output from my gut somewhat more tolerable! Not for me to comment really!

Fourteen sheets of ply later and we have internal walls!

A Quick interlude

Its about now that we need to take a quick break from proceedings to address another problem:

Cast you mind back to this picture for a moment:

Have a look at the bit in the middle, see any grass? Nope not allot. However what we do have is a mixture of large weeds (interspersed with, how shall we put this, errrrr.... "dog output" is perhaps the best phrase), highly compacted clay soil, with copious amounts of sawdust, screws, nails, stones, brick & paving stone dust, a few assorted pallets, and wood offcuts!

So first stage is to clear this area. Now get our chief poo handling operative on the case (thank you Janey!), and finally attack the weeds with various garden hoe type thingies.

Next bit sounds simple enough - give it a quick dig over to break up the surface ready for seeding.....

Easier said than done. Even with my (considerable) bulk bouncing up and down on a garden fork we are not making much impression!

Time to call for reinforcements:

Let me introduce you to "A Tiller the Hen":

With a bit of judicious scrounging, we were able to borrow this little beastie (thanks Jim!). She may not be the quietest old dear (or the quickest to start!) but eventually between her, and the pointy end of my fork, we got enough fine soil chomped up to be able to rake it about a bit!

So many hours spent digging, raking, levelling, more raking, more levelling, more "does that look right yet Janey", more raking, more it still looks a bit high over there, more raking, more can`t you get rid of that "step" in the edge (cue pained look on Johnny and Martins faces!), more raking, more levelling

Well you get the idea!

We get this:

Just like a real one!

And for the observant, the lights in the workshop are not in fact on. What you can see it the light from Martins halo! The reason he is leaning against a wall, is that without it, he would probably fall down (as I did after taking this photo - the effort of pressing the shutter release was too much after all that raking)! Again we must question his sanity - for the price of a few cups of tea, he raked like a man possessed and helped get us from mess to lawn in the space of a day! If it had been left to me I am sure I could have found a way to incorporate pallets into a lawn as a feature! (and probably got a job working for "Home Front in the Garden" into the bargain!)

Anyway get Janey on the case with seven packs of grass seed, slap a load of polythene over it and lo and behold: A potential lawn:

Anyway - back to the main story

Lets get the painting started. The interior ply has a habit of shulrping the moisture out of anything that gets close to it - so it is going to need a good priming before we paint it:

Oh almost forgot to mention, we got some power sockets all wired before that:-

We have a dozen of these on their own circuit, protected by a 20A MCB. There are also a couple of fused connection points for the extractor fan and the heating.....

Oh yes heating! Just in case it gets a bit nippy in the winter (a run of 3&E was added later to connect up a mechanical thermostat):

Now what does a good workshop need? Answer: a Vice!

(must have a good vice or its not a proper workshop!)

What do vices sit on? A workbench (cue sound of some forehead slapping) I suppose we had better make on of those as well!

Quick bit of design: First the requirements: Must support the weight of a small battleship. Next it don't want to be one of the diddy short things that most people of diminished stature would call a workbench, No, this is going to be a big mans workbench! (ideal for building big men presumably)

Back to the builders merchant for some (getting to the bottom of their 2x3 pile so it is slightly wonky!) timber....

Saw, drill, screw, and cover in gloop, and Tada:

OK, OK, I know things will fall through that! I just thought you might want to see the lovingly crafted studwork (i.e. thrown together) that makes it....

No - oh well please yourself. Here it is with a lid on it, for the more traditional workbench anoraks.

So there you have it. I am sure that there will be more construction, painting, and other small improvements (like some storage space for one thing!) - but I am sure it will get way beyond your boredom threshold (like it wasn't already!)

Still if you ask nicely I might put a photo here of when it is all painted and looking pretty (before I mess it up again).

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