Fire up the Fergie, time to build my new studio.

Swiss01, I don’t think anyone but the bloodyminded or insane would have worked outdoors today if they had the choice. Snow is forecast for tomorrow. Are you local?

great project .

do you draw plans or just go along ?

do you draw plans or just go along ?

No plans, just a vague idea of where I want to get to. The recycled glass has dictated the proportions, I always keep my eyes open when I’m out riding for ideas that might work. I saw a few cabins in the States that I liked and I’ve tried to incorporate a little of that influence too.

The irony of building a new studio where it would be lovely, light and warm to work in as the sleet froze my fingers kept me going today but even I have limits.

I managed to get the east side clad in weatherboarding and I fitted the windows properly. That just leaves the long south facing side and the short north covered side to do. I will clad the long side first and use the part lengths remaining for the other.

I’m getting there.

Snow! This could be a challenging day for my fingers.

My birthday is a few days away. I was born in a blizzard, my mother tells me it has snowed almost every March 14th since then or thereabouts.

Looking good!

That was character building working in the snow. It wasn’t too bad whilst it was snowing but it was bitterly cold once it started to thaw. Still, I got the south side clad up to the eaves, there will be some fiddly stuff to seal that area up, I didn’t fancy it without the gutters.

I watched snowy squalls race over the Forth past Inchkeith from inside. It’ll be an inspirational studio space.

looking really nice!

what are you going to do to finish the corners or are you leaving it as is (cut edge)

also what are the vertical windows separations clad with? is it just weatherboard on end?

what are you going to do to finish the corners or are you leaving it as is (cut edge)

also what are the vertical windows separations clad with? is it just weatherboard on end?

I’m going to rip a length of weatherboard to cover the exposed cut edges, the whole thing will then be painted. The window separations? Again I ripped up the weatherboard, it was just wide enough to cover the posts.

I’m trying to recycle as much of the waste as I can.

keep the daily updates going! loving this thread!

have you floored it yet? if not consider going insulated floating floor to cut down on the amount of ground borne moisture entering the building

have you floored it yet? if not consider going insulated floating floor to cut down on the amount of ground borne moisture entering the building

I only have the floor joists in place, I’m using scaffolding boards as a temporary floor. I was just thinking about insulating the floor and wall cavities. A simple drop floor with OSB and loft style insulation. Any ideas what is cheapest? The roof space could only be insulated on one side as it has skylights on the south side.

mcmoonter, can I please propose a trade of skills.

I can offer you a willingness to work outdoors in all weathers, unwavering enthusiasm, very few technical skills and below average strength, in return for the opportunity to help build some stuff at your house and learn some skillz.

“mcmoonter school of wood”

100% serious.

I have an Aeropress if that helps you decide?

Ha, I was considering making the same suggestion

Where do you get all the bus shelter glass from?

Googles ‘bus shelter glass theft epidemic in Scotland’…

Great thread. I started building my shed at roughly the same time as this.
So far I have… floor joists.

I was going to start a thread, but I think everyone would be bored by the lack of updates. Maybe I’ll start it when it’s nearly done and make it appear fast 😉

3 pages in and no one has done the
joke.

Peterfile & Piemonster if you are near you’d be welcome. The next thing once I sort out the eaves is the drop down floor, bench skeleton and floor. They are the sorts of jobs where you see an outcome fairly quickly. Email me.

Today was the coldest yet with a wind that whipped up snow off the fields like the Siberian Gulag.

I finally managed to get the last side clad and glazed. I still need to get the roof ridge on but that can wait until better weather.

I found the glass at my local council yard, it was a chance find. They had some big panes that I used for my pavilion elsewhere.

AlexSimon, post up some pics of your progress, there is a lot of helpful advice on here that I find keeps me motivated and points me in directions I hadn’t anticipated.

I’ve got to go and do some proper work for a few days so there wont be any daily updates for a spell.

This is what the bus stop glass looked like when I picked it up. Pretty grim, but a bucket of water and some elbow grease later it was as good as new.

Beautiful ^^

Looking forward to a finished painted studio, I think eau d nil would look lovely 😉

Eau de Nil it is then. It’s in keeping with a nearby summer house and garden gate.

Aww thanks Mcmoonter, you know those flowers make me smile.

cheapest insulated floor way would be thinnest OSB you can buy on the underside of joists, then fill with rockwool, then plastic vapour membrane, then flooring on top as normal, nice cheap upgrade from normal

osb forms a crude vapour membrane itself

alternatively if you have money to burn the thickest kingspan you can buy!!!

I went to the merchants this morning for a quote on OSB and rock wool. 8×4 sheets were about £8, 13m2 of 100mm rock wool was around £20. Is that about the going rate? I didn’t know about PVM.

alternatively if you have money to burn the thickest kingspan you can buy!!!

I’ve got logs to burn not money 😀

McM – I always understood artists preferred northern facing light in their studios – is this wrong or does is just not work for your plot

Northern light is more consistent, but I prefer the spontaneous changeable southern light. I work quickly in it, I think it helps infuse my paintings with life.

The site also had a surprisingly good view over the Forth to the south which is a bonus.

£8 for osb is not bad, you can also use expanded polystyrene as an insulating layer – rockwool slabs will always be cheapest though

don’t skimp on the dpm or plastic membrane – put it on the warm side of the insulation (i.e on the interior side of the floor joists

When I put the insulation between the joists on the drop down floor, do I leave an air gap between the top of the insulation and the floor boards of have it tight against them.

I have a big roll of blue heavy duty polythene that I had left over after laying a concrete floor, would it work as a damp proof membrane or does it have to be something fancier?

When I put the insulation between the joists on the drop down floor, do I leave an air gap between the top of the insulation and the floor boards of have it tight against them.

With Celotex etc, it’s normally tight against them.

Any views on polythene as an underfloor dpm?

If you were using Celotex style stuff you’d just pack it against the floor then tape over the joints with foil tape so the foil outer and tape would be the DPM. So I guess Ploythene would be ok if there wasn’t much of a gap for condensation to get trapped in.

[/url]
Untitled[/url] by brf[/url], on Flickr

the blue polythene should be fine – just make sure it goes on top of the polystyrene

as for the bottom of it – osb is best as it is virtually vapour proof, failing that some light battens would hold the insulation up in place

McM, nice thread… thought about any decking on the side with falls away from the studio or even a clever deck build around the tree thats close to the side of the building.. ?

Make a great G&t or Pimms podium…

Oh, and about that tree house and swing… there is an amazing treehouse in a property near Dunoon… remember it on a bike ride round there. Proper house really in a big old tree by the sea.

I laid about 3/4 of the OSB today and nailed the bench legs in place. The timber merchants had run out of the 9mm OSB so gave me 12mm stuff with a bit of discount. The gap is really well sealed, I have rock wool insulation (100mm) and 19mm flooring. Would the polythene really make that much of a difference? My fear is it would promote condensation.

I will lay the insulation and some floorboards tomorrow.

I did think about an outside deck, but to project the roof to cover it would rob the interior of light. I also fear that for the handful of days that wind doesn’t blow up there it wouldn’t be worth the effort.

I put the insulation in place and floored half the floor this afternoon. It’s a bit of a faff fitting the boards around the bench legs, but once done it looks pretty neat.

the reason for the polythene is to prevent water vapour rising up into the shed – if you have osb that will help prevent it too.
the other reason is to prevent the humid interior of the shed getting past the insulation and condensing on the cold side of the insulation

to be honest you will probably get away with not using it, especially if shed interior is unheated and reasonably well ventilated

Room for this fire?

I decided against the polythene. I felt that the thicker OSB and the insulation would be enough. Air will be free flowing under the building, my fear was that with the stove indoors condensation may form between the floor and the polythene. As I can’t insulate the roof it’s academic really. I will insulate the cavities in the wall space, it may help a little too. I ordered the stove, it should be here at the end of the week, so I will bash on with the other half of the floor and sort out the eaves as quickly as I can before it arrives.

you can insulate the roof, but it’d have to be with kingspan and more osb!!

Also think about how you can introduce and control some natural ventilation, maybe a hit and miss vent at a suitable place

keep the pictures coming – loving this buld thread!

Also think about how you can introduce and control some natural ventilation, maybe a hit and miss vent at a suitable place

I’m thinking along the lines of a gap at the bottom of the door and a draft excluder sausage.