Having finished putting the roofing felt on the new shed, but not quite finished battoning it down as it was getting dark I made the fatal mistake of thinking the job was done for now. But no. The english weather has conspired against me, and tore off some of the brand new felt. So I was fixing that back on, and doubling the number of nails I've used. Unfortunately it's meant I've had to over lap where the tear was. Which means the felt might not reach as far as the battoning will allow. Time will tell.
On the plus side, I have found some time to start outfitting the workshop. We managed to keep the old kitchen worktop intact and relatively unaffected by the weather etc. I've put to beams along the wall just under the window, with the worktop on top of that. I've only put a couple of legs in. The worktop is in two parts, originally to go round the corner of the kitchen. I'm going to straighten that out, but it does mean an extension to the horizontal beams I've put in as they aren't quite long enough. Not a major problem really - just another trip to B&Q. The worktop will extend most of the way to the back of the shed, so I'm going to put some shelving in so it extends all the way down. I've also got some of the carcuses from the old wall cupboards, which I'm going to hang, probably on the back wall of the shed.
Next stop the power systems. To permenantly run a power cable out to the shed is going to be expensive. I'd need to change the consumer unit in the house, and add a fuse - then run the cable down. At some point we're going to have to change the consumer unit anyway, but not just yet. So I'm going to get a 12 volt leisure battery - like you get on boats - some solar panels to recharge it, some 12 volt florescent bulbs, perhaps even a motion sensor and a light detector so it will switch itself on and off appropriately. That will provide lighting.
I'm also considering getting an 2kw inverter so I can run my tools off the 12v battery. A couple are rated above 1kw, so I'm going to go for a 2kw inverter - should be more than enough and allow for more powerful tools later on. I'm going to set it up so when the battery goes flat and can't power the inverter anymore, I can just unplug the shed from the battery and plug it into an extension cord coming from the house.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
More on Chimneys and sheds
We had a fire lit for the third time on Monday. We'd been advised to get a CO monitor for the bedroom. It's right above the living room and used to have a fireplace in it, but there's no guarentee that when they bricked it up, they did the job sufficiently to prevent CO from coming back down the chimney and poisoning us. As they are £5 for two in B&Q at the moment, I figured that wasn't an issue as I wanted one for the kitchen anyway. The fire took a couple of hours to get going, but when it did it was so hot I was down to my t-shirt for the first time!
The roof is now on the shed - with a bit of a patchwork of roofing felt on it. The felt that came with it was so brittle it was damaged in transit. Unfortunately several of the planks which made up the roof were rotten, as were the battons which supported them. This is not entirely unsurprising give the age of the shed! So a quick trip to B&Q, and I've bought some new sheet material. I've also taken the slightly brave step of modifying the shed a little. Being 6ft 1, I would have cracked my head on the horizontal support beam. So I've put some more leaning supports in, with some horizontal beams higher up. The only problem with this approach is that the original horizontal beam was preventing the walls from bowing outwards under the weight of the roof. Time will tell if my approach is too detrimental. It certainly will be less detrimental to my head!
The roof is now on the shed - with a bit of a patchwork of roofing felt on it. The felt that came with it was so brittle it was damaged in transit. Unfortunately several of the planks which made up the roof were rotten, as were the battons which supported them. This is not entirely unsurprising give the age of the shed! So a quick trip to B&Q, and I've bought some new sheet material. I've also taken the slightly brave step of modifying the shed a little. Being 6ft 1, I would have cracked my head on the horizontal support beam. So I've put some more leaning supports in, with some horizontal beams higher up. The only problem with this approach is that the original horizontal beam was preventing the walls from bowing outwards under the weight of the roof. Time will tell if my approach is too detrimental. It certainly will be less detrimental to my head!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Sheds and Chimneys
Had some friends over yesterday to try again to put up the shed. We've got the sides on which is a feat in of itself - especially the side with the glass windows which was incredibly heavy. And all this with the wind starting to pick up! Now all I've got to do is put the roof on which is going to be problematic. It's incredibly heavy as each part of the pitched roof is ship lapped planking screwed to the support beams. Some of the planks need replacing because they are rotten - though fortunately they are the end planks so shouldn't be too difficult. I am however, contemplating replacing the roof with some kind of fibre boards, sealed then with roofing felt.
We've also had a bit of a blow with the chimney. We had the sweep round to look at the chimney to try and workout why the smoke is back flowing. Oh dear. To start with there was a huge birds nest in the chimney. Melody had a bin bag full of twigs come down as soon as they started. Apparently the company have been out to the house a number of times in the past, and even recall putting a bird cage on the chimney before! Then as he was sweeping, a brick fell down the chimney which gave them both more than a bit of a fright. This might turn out to be a more serious issue, and we've been advised not to light a fire in the grate. Lucky we've got the central heating working. Unfortunately when the sweep checked the chimney with a smoke flare, we were still getting back flush, which implies a more serious problem. So they are going to come back and have a look down the chimney from the top, and perhaps at the same time fit a bird cage to stop more nests being built.
And finally, apparently we will need to line the chimney before we can use the woodburning stove. Although it's apparently a relatively quick procedure but will cost over £1000, and then we'll need to adapt the stove to suit the chimney. So I guess we won't be getting the wood burning stove up and running any time soon!
We've also had a bit of a blow with the chimney. We had the sweep round to look at the chimney to try and workout why the smoke is back flowing. Oh dear. To start with there was a huge birds nest in the chimney. Melody had a bin bag full of twigs come down as soon as they started. Apparently the company have been out to the house a number of times in the past, and even recall putting a bird cage on the chimney before! Then as he was sweeping, a brick fell down the chimney which gave them both more than a bit of a fright. This might turn out to be a more serious issue, and we've been advised not to light a fire in the grate. Lucky we've got the central heating working. Unfortunately when the sweep checked the chimney with a smoke flare, we were still getting back flush, which implies a more serious problem. So they are going to come back and have a look down the chimney from the top, and perhaps at the same time fit a bird cage to stop more nests being built.
And finally, apparently we will need to line the chimney before we can use the woodburning stove. Although it's apparently a relatively quick procedure but will cost over £1000, and then we'll need to adapt the stove to suit the chimney. So I guess we won't be getting the wood burning stove up and running any time soon!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
The gas man returneth
We've finally got the gas meter changed over from the pre-paid meter to a proper meter. No more messing around with having to go to the local co-op to get buy more gas.
The plumber also returned last night to fix the boiler. It turns out our cat had better instincts than the plumber. For weeks our cat has been going outside and staring intently at the flue for the gas boiler. One time, we even found her on top of the boiler in the kitchen. We couldn't for the life of us, work out why. There was no obvious sign that there was a nest in there and we'd not seen any birds flying in or out of the flue. Turns out the reason the boiler wasn't working was because at some point a bird had got in and out of the boiler, but had obviously spent some time there as some of the air intake was blocked up with bird poo! So a bit of cleaning later, and we have a fully functional boiler and a warm house at last. Melody is ecstatic.
We've also finish the TV cabinet in the living room - pictures coming soon :)
The plumber also returned last night to fix the boiler. It turns out our cat had better instincts than the plumber. For weeks our cat has been going outside and staring intently at the flue for the gas boiler. One time, we even found her on top of the boiler in the kitchen. We couldn't for the life of us, work out why. There was no obvious sign that there was a nest in there and we'd not seen any birds flying in or out of the flue. Turns out the reason the boiler wasn't working was because at some point a bird had got in and out of the boiler, but had obviously spent some time there as some of the air intake was blocked up with bird poo! So a bit of cleaning later, and we have a fully functional boiler and a warm house at last. Melody is ecstatic.
We've also finish the TV cabinet in the living room - pictures coming soon :)
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Heating
The immersion heater element is installed, and it didn't blow a fuse straight away which is a good thing. Waiting to see now if it actually heats the water!
The gas man arrived, and checked out the boiler. Looks like one of the parts which detects air flow is faulty. The heater works ok which is a relief, and the gas man's coming back to replace the faulty part tomorrow.
The gas man arrived, and checked out the boiler. Looks like one of the parts which detects air flow is faulty. The heater works ok which is a relief, and the gas man's coming back to replace the faulty part tomorrow.
The Gas man cometh
We've got the gas man coming over later on today to see if he can resurrect our boiler. I don't mess around with gas - too easy to blow up your house that way! We'll see how that goes.
Immersion Heaters
So it would seem replacing an immersion heater element is remarkably simple - provided you have the right tools. The Ultimate Handyman website lays it all out for you. I would however strongly suggest paying out the £3 for the immersion heater element spanner (or borrow mine now I've bought it!). My father lent me a chain link spanner, but I couldn't put enough force behind it to get the element undone, and I didn't want to break the spanner by tapping it with a hammer. So £3 in B&Q later (lucky we got LOTS of B&Q vouchers for Christmas this year) and 5 minutes with a hammer later and the element is out. There was a lot of corrosion and limescale on the element, and the electrics at the top were obviously burnt out. Glad it's nothing too serious. I am going to have to buy a new bit of cable for it, as that's burnt out too.
There is some very sound advice on the above website, which I'm glad I took heed of. When you're unscrewing the element take care not to try too hard with the spanner - use a hammer and a bit of WD40 or similar oil. The tank is made of very thin and soft copper, much softer than the element or the fittings around it and it's very easy to sheer the threaded part off your tank. All you can do then is replace the tank. So your task which would cost you £20 could suddenly cost you £200! Not to mention ending up with 120 litres or so of water spilt all over your airing cupboard.
Turns out there are only 2 sizes of elements realistically used in the UK - 11inch and 27 inch. Screwfix sell two of each of the types - one for hard water areas, and one for softer water. I have no idea what the difference is, aside from the cost. One word of warning from the Screwfix website - don't forget to remove the shipping clips from the heating element before you install it.
There is some very sound advice on the above website, which I'm glad I took heed of. When you're unscrewing the element take care not to try too hard with the spanner - use a hammer and a bit of WD40 or similar oil. The tank is made of very thin and soft copper, much softer than the element or the fittings around it and it's very easy to sheer the threaded part off your tank. All you can do then is replace the tank. So your task which would cost you £20 could suddenly cost you £200! Not to mention ending up with 120 litres or so of water spilt all over your airing cupboard.
Turns out there are only 2 sizes of elements realistically used in the UK - 11inch and 27 inch. Screwfix sell two of each of the types - one for hard water areas, and one for softer water. I have no idea what the difference is, aside from the cost. One word of warning from the Screwfix website - don't forget to remove the shipping clips from the heating element before you install it.
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