Starting over again ...

Making room for a layout, where and how?
Terry Bendall
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Re: Starting over again ...

Postby Terry Bendall » Sun Jul 26, 2015 7:04 am

Paul Townsend wrote:The enquiry was triggered by the thought of paying to have the layout crated professionally for local storage.


If you make packing boxes for the layout, they can be used when (if) it is to go to exhibitions. This was shown in my series on baseboard construction and can be found on pages 21 -23 of Scalefour News 177.

Having crates made professionally is likely to be expensive and whilst no one would want to have their pride and joy damaged in a house move, the cost may be a consideration. Alternatively find some friends with the necessary woodworking skills - it is not that difficult. :)

Terry Bendall

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Richard S
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Re: Starting over again ...

Postby Richard S » Fri Aug 28, 2015 10:18 am

I have followed this thread with interest. So much so, that I have just ordered a log cabin from a company near me who previously supplied us with a bike store and a dog kennel. They have branched out in log cabins and the showroom has a few examples to study.

No more cold garage modelling for me.

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Paul Townsend
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Re: Starting over again ...

Postby Paul Townsend » Sun Dec 13, 2015 5:44 pm

Its a few months since I posted here so time for an update.
We are in the new smaller home and I am paying a fortune to store the Highbridge layout and loads of other stuff that can't move to the house until the planned expansion happens, which will incorporate space for the embryo Dartmouth model. This is many months in the future with architect, Planning etc. underway. The storage is being paid for with some of the monopoly money that arises from drastic down-sizing!

The new garden is big and lovely with a site earmarked for the Highbridge shed and approved by Sylvia. Sadly The Dunster House range is no good for Highbridge as it has internal piers with insufficient width between. I have spent ages working up a plan for a German made log cabin that was to be custom designed at 7 x 6.3M external and supplied via a Wiltshire agent. This cabin required a concrete raft foundation but I have realised I cant do this at the size wanted due to proximity of tree roots. Trees and concrete tend to argue and the tree wins unless the concrete is very thick and expensive. Also the concrete slab would cut down rain and oxygen reaching the tree roots. I have considered a DiY version but discarded it as I am too ancient for such a big building project.

Current intention is an entirely different style of shed which is 10% dearer than I had hoped for. Still, the price includes foundation, erection and internal wiring with a 10 year warranty and no maintenance for 5 years. It is sold as a Garden Office so is well insulated. It is smaller at 6.2 x 5.1 ext. with no internal obstructing piers but still bigger than Highbridge's original basement room which will allow access around three and a half outside edges of the baseboards...an improvement on the one only before. The shed will sit on a galvanised steel frame on concrete piles so off the ground which is intended to be compatible with the tree. I have a site survey on Wednesday next by the supplier so we can fix some details and erection is scheduled for end of February. Asap after that I will recruit my army of chums again to move the baseboards from store to the new shed; a long carry but no steps and gently downhill! Re-erection of the layout requires new trestles as half was hung off stone walls before. I can't do much about that until the shed is up and baseboards to hand.

Meanwhile I will get the near 40M trench for armoured cable dug, cable laid in and back-filled in January. Connection and tests by a " Part P regs electrician" will happen as soon as shed is up.

I will photo progress and let you know how it all goes in the Spring.

Philip Hall
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Re: Starting over again ...

Postby Philip Hall » Sun Dec 13, 2015 6:12 pm

Paul, good luck with the works. My new building has been slightly delayed but we are hopefully going to be back on track in the New Year.

Interesting about Dunster House, and the constraints their designs make. I chose a 'Garden Studio' from a local supplier well known to The Boss through her other hobby, rollercoasters. I have no plans for steep gradients/lift hills etc.! Mine is to be 6.7m x 6.2m but we are going to have a vertical post in the middle to provide additional support for the roof trusses, also for somewhere for the power supply to come down to a central workbench. Since we intend to have a workbench in the middle there seemed no reason to have an unobstructed ballroom inside the building!

Do keep us posted.

Philip

mickeym
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Re: Starting over again ...

Postby mickeym » Mon Dec 14, 2015 12:55 am

Depending on where it runs SWA cable doesn't need to be buried - Digging a 40 M trench half a metre deep is a fair old task; one that I have heard of people paying the electrician to do :shock:
Im not advocating just running it along the bottom of the hedge etc, but out of the way of traffic on 6 inch posts with a kickboard is perfectly acceptable; not to mention easier and cheaper.

DougN
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Re: Starting over again ...

Postby DougN » Mon Dec 14, 2015 5:45 am

Micky... As I have found it is easier to pay for a excavator to come in and dig said trench and do gardening (the joke about where I work is I am known as the brazilian gardene :D r as I rip everything out.... preferably with a 5tonne or bigger excavator! :o ) A man with a machine will be a lot less than a electrician to dig holes! Also personally I would go deeper than the minimum so now one ever complains.

Now if you are going to do that it may be worth thinking about what gardening in the future you want to do as it will re profile the yard faster and with less effort!
Doug
Still not doing enough modelling

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Paul Townsend
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Re: Starting over again ...

Postby Paul Townsend » Mon Dec 14, 2015 7:25 am

mickeym wrote:Depending on where it runs SWA cable doesn't need to be buried - Digging a 40 M trench half a metre deep is a fair old task; one that I have heard of people paying the electrician to do :shock:
Im not advocating just running it along the bottom of the hedge etc, but out of the way of traffic on 6 inch posts with a kickboard is perfectly acceptable; not to mention easier and cheaper.

I had an electrician here to advise and he insisted on the 0.5M trench in absence of masonry wall to clip cable to. He said a fence won't do.
I have a chap with micro digger lined up to dig the trench and a bit of shed site levelling and tree stump ripping in a day for £300. I will lay in the cable and backfill by hand.

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John Bateson
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Re: Starting over again ...

Postby John Bateson » Mon Dec 14, 2015 8:44 am

Paul,
You will need a Part P certification from your electrician and he will need to verify the contents of the trench, including the warning tape and sand layer etc before you fill in the topsoil and turf. Should you ever need to sell the house the absence of the Part P will cause major problems. Additionally absence of a Part P may well invalidate house insurance, especially with some of the more pernicketty insurers.
Such work is of course notifiable to the local council - your electrician in giving the Part P should do this.
John
Slaving away still on GCR stuff ...

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Paul Townsend
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Re: Starting over again ...

Postby Paul Townsend » Mon Jan 25, 2016 6:13 pm

Progress report on Highbridge's new home....

We moved in late October and I followed up on "luxury shed" options of which a huge range exists. A whole new industry has sprung up from the "permitted development" planning rules.
I wanted full insulation and good quality dg windows etc
The popular Dunster House range were knocked out by the internal buttresses making the room too narrow for Highbridge.
I found a Trowbridge supplier of a German log cabin that would meet my size ideal but abandoned that and others that require a concrete raft as there would be too much competition with tree roots.

I settled on a building by Green Retreats. I first visited them in September en route to Scaleforum as they are between Aylesbury and Bicester. They offer many desirable features but I backed of as they won't go over 5 x 6M which is the size above which Building Regs approval is required. In the end I settled for 5 x 6M as I should just squeeze round outside 3 sides of Highbridge baseboards....a good incentive to control my girth! This is improved access over the Victorian basement home of 35 years where only one of 4 sides had access outside. All 4 would have been nice but is not practicable.

Foundations were laid last Monday, comprising a steel frame sitting on concrete piles. The structure has been built today by a very impressive team of 3 bods who left their base near Aylesbury at 05:00 and were here by 07:30 and are just finishing off the weatherproofing in near darkness at 17:25!! Internal cables all in place in the wall cavity ready for their electrician in a day or two.
A couple of days of fiddly bits to do in the heavy showers expected then wiring up.

As planned I had a trench of 40M dug to 450mm depth by bod with microdigger who also levelled the site and ripped out 3 small and unproductive fruit trees. 6mm SWA cable was laid by me in a sand bed then a layer of clay then a conduit full of telecoms cables These will provide remote control of outside lighting, heating, security, Internet, phone and front door bell etc

The trench is now 2/3 back filled with our very stodgy clay.....pretty good whole body exercise for ancient me! Last layer of clay will go in after rains which should help it settle. I must consult the boss over location of a rockery to absorb excess clay.

I have left a short section exposed for my electrician to observe and approve as agreed. He will be here next week to connect up and test and certify ( the electrics not me ) . As John Bateson pointed out the certificate improves house saleability.

The plan is now to gather friends to help move all 27 or so baseboards from the storage unit to the new shed aka Garden Office next week.
They will be placed on racks (as they were in the store) for a while so I can re-erect the underpinnings. The scenic boards should get reinstated fairly soon but the fiddle yards need new legs and framing as were previously suspended from a wall.

I will post a piccy soon when shed is finished.

It is more expensive than originally hoped but paid for by the magic of equity release from downsizing. It feels like Monopoly money because the entire cost was covered by the value of our old house increase in June 2015 alone. As the Estate Agent said " we get more bricks per pound in this area then the highly sought after Redland where we were"

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Paul Townsend
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Re: Starting over again ...

Postby Paul Townsend » Thu Feb 11, 2016 8:20 am

So all went well with the electrician, so Highbridge new room is now powered and certified, I just need to backfill the rest of the trench and connect up my telecomms system.
My heroic army of pals helped as requested to hump 27 baseboards into the room and stack them on the IKEA shelves liberated from the Store.
Sharp frost last night at 1degreeC so I left a heater on lowest thermostat all night and saw 9degrees at 07:30 inside the room so the layout is well protected against excessive low temperature swing. The long term plan is to have low thermostat setting at around that level and another heater remotely switched from the house which will warm it up half an hour before I enter.
Top temp. is a concern but not for a few months!

Highbridge room.jpg


Some of the old underpinnings have slight woodworm so treatment is required before allowed in the new room. However they may be abandoned as I have decided to raise the layout several inches, it was already higher than usual and may go to 48" to track...trialling now on temporary trestles. This also allows me to set the exact position of boards in relation to the walls as this is quite critical to optimise space outside the roundy roundy.

HB Jury rig.jpg


In a few weeks I should have the scenic boards permanently rigged but the Fiddle Yard will take a bit longer.
James Moorhouse, editor of Snooze has an invitation to visit in the Spring and cut the red ribbon.
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John Bateson
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Re: Starting over again ...

Postby John Bateson » Tue Jun 21, 2016 7:36 am

Still catching up on jobs after the hiatus of the past few years. Finally got around to replacing the Dunster House cover plates for the windows adjustment mechanisms with my own version.
As far as I have been able, this is GCR style script as on my designs of GC engines.
I have paint, a spray gun and an extractor, need a new mask though - job for the week!
Shed Plates.jpg
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Slaving away still on GCR stuff ...

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John Bateson
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Re: Starting over again ...

Postby John Bateson » Sat Jul 16, 2016 11:09 am

and here is the final result, polished and varnished
IMG_0128.JPG
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Slaving away still on GCR stuff ...

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Mike Garwood
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Re: Starting over again ...

Postby Mike Garwood » Sat Jul 16, 2016 5:58 pm

Welcome home John, I hope you'll be happy in your new digs :D

Mike


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