My man cave build - UK edition

[Sooner or later]

And it has only taken nearly 3 years!

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by Sooner or later

And it has only taken nearly 3 years!

Job well done, I enjoyed following your progress.

[flatbutt]

That's a beautiful job! I'm sure your neighbors appreciate the great effort you made to keep it all looking so natural and native.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Originally Posted by Sooner or later

I am sad. This thread is heading to a quick close.

Posted on the 10 June 2019, I've slowed progress just for you

Decided before we started I wanted to do the majority of the work myself. Not the quickest or cheapest option by a large margin but definitely the most enjoyable and satisfying option

Many, many posts from now I'll reveal my man cave centre piece to be built into one of the garage walls which will in many small ways explain why my own projects always take so long to do

[Sooner or later]

Lol

[astrochex]

The reworked windows do look much better.

I’m guessing it was a wtf moment when you noticed the incongruities.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Originally Posted by astrochex

The reworked windows do look much better.

I’m guessing it was a wtf moment when you noticed the incongruities.

Not really in the grand scheme of things...

Could have easily left the top of the windows where they were and no one would noticed other than me but I couldn't just leave it

Was more a 'dang, that's not good enough, just gave myself another job!' moment

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Think I mentioned in a previous post years back that one unique feature of this build is the upstairs walls are twice as thick as the ground floor wall

Sounds strange but I went for the extra work and cost for a couple of reasons. My man cave gained an extra 2ft in both width and depth, maximizing the limited build space. More importantly the extra thick walls upstairs match the original house walls thickness so I'm hoping it will be impossible to tell half of the upstairs is not 250 years old like the original part of the house.

Garage window cill with 1ft thick wall



Upstairs window cill with 2ft thick wall



Part of the aspect of this build I really enjoy doing is making the new look old, or adding a bit of old character with some tasteful fakery, devil is in the detail!

Off the shelf concrete lintel and steel beams are cheap and do the job perfectly but do nothing for adding character so a little extra work is needed

I try to use 4" thick reclaimed oak when I can find it for a reasonable price, just can't beat a few centuries of age for creating that old look. Reclaimed oak is very expensive and getting hard to find so occasionally I cheat.

The middle section of this rear window lintel is only 1.5" thick but had some great splits as it was sawn off cut from a larger beam, This is the top unseen side



This is the lower seen side and when fitted on one will know





Before



After and starting to look a quarter of a century older



To finish it off I will use either a 4" thick oak slab or 3" thick flag stones for the internal window cills

Still working on the front windows and the way I do the internal lintels will differ slightly

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Another week and a bit more progress

Was a good week as our structural engineer came out to check all 18 steel beams, 2 steel columns and the steel truss. She seemed impressed which was great as without her help we couldn't have built what we have.

Built my 1st stud wall, used a 9" x 2" horizontal timber to add a bit of side stiffness to the 8ft tall 3" x 2" vertical timbers as this wall will go to the full roof height.



Started insulating the roof with what I believe to be the best stuff out there a horrible job chopping up 3" thick PIR (polyisocyanurate) insulation panels to snugly fit between the joists, 11 sheets down, 40 something to go Roof insulation is 6" thick, should do the job.

Out of interest what are the roof insulation requirements for the colder parts of the USA or Canada?



Also some keyhole surgery through the 2ft thick house stone gable end wall so I could measure where the old inner wall is relative to the new inner wall to work out the right width for the upstairs hallway



With Mrs Ahab's words of 'Don't destroy our only bathroom' ringing in my ears a gentle approach was required to only remove one 2" square tile



This week it's more insulation work

[rfuerst911sc]

Some great work you are doing , enjoy watching the progress .

[oldE]

I think current requirement in Nova Scotia is R60 in ceiling/roof spaces,
R30 in walls.
We live within a few miles of the ocean, so that is a bit more than our house, which we built 40 years ago(at the time, R40 and R20 respectively). But go a few miles inland and it is not unusual to see -35 C in late January/early February.
You won't see any outside bathroom drain pipes around here!

Enjoying the updates.
Best
Les

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Thanks Les,

Been a while since the last update, busy doing lots of small jobs and tidying up the place

Utility room door frame and step done, vertical door jambs are 7" x 4" oak with a 4" thick stone threshold step, built to last



More stud walling and roof insulation, 32 insulation 8ft x 4ft sheets cut up, fitted and done, well over half way now but still have the high scary part of the roof to do



Tidied up the garage, crapola it's long way down and I don't like heights so will go very carefully when doing the ceiling work on this side



Mrs Ahab has been busy lowering the driveway in the under pass entrance area. This part of the driveway needs a gentle approach as there are sewer pipes, waste water pipes, water pipe and electrical cables all waiting to be found. We also spent a very soggy day in the pouring rain hand loading another 5 tons of diggings onto a farm trailer



Well worth the effort as I can't remember the last time I was able to park on the driveway. Perfect timing too as my son was giving it a detailing session in readiness for a Retro Car show next weekend



Most of time has been spent getting the building and myself mentally prepared for a building control inspection 😟

These inspections at key stages are required by local government authority in order for the building to be officially approved as built to the required building regulations

This one is one of the major inspections to sign off all the steel work, floor joists and roof joists ie basically the main structure

My local inspector has been quite pedantic and not very helpful with advice during his previous visits so I was fearing the worse. Maybe he's taken pity on me and my amateur efforts as this time he went away very satisfied and even offered advice on a few areas I wasn't sure of how to go about doing.

Result! Now it's full steam ahead, again!

[s_morrison57]

Originally Posted by Captain Ahab Jr

Not really in the grand scheme of things...

Could have easily left the top of the windows where they were and no one would noticed other than me but I couldn't just leave it

Was more a 'dang, that's not good enough, just gave myself another job!' moment

This is one of my fave threads, just wondering Captain, what's a 2x4x8' worth from your local supplier? Over 10 bucks with taxes here, thats Pine and Hemlock, not Fir.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Originally Posted by s_morrison57

This is one of my fave threads, just wondering Captain, what's a 2x4x8' worth from your local supplier? Over 10 bucks with taxes here, thats Pine and Hemlock, not Fir.

Thanks, glad you're enjoying it

C24 grade which is a high grade timber and treated is $15 US for the same size timber

Building materials have gone up in price and in some cases shortages due to a combination of Brexit and COVID

[daepp]

Def one of my favorite threads - thanks for the update!

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Thanks David,

Tried buying some insulation boards today, got the last 2 in stock and bags of cement are being rationed

Have plenty to do so the material shortages aren't holding me up just yet

[daepp]

We aren't having any concrete shortages at the moment. In fact, our component of homebuilding has had the least amount of increases. But builders are having trouble with every other material in So Cal (and most of the US from what I've heard). And don't get me started on the price increases...
Glad to hear you've got other stuff to keep you busy!

[Captain Ahab Jr]

You know the meth head that loads 50 sheets of plywood from Home Depot on the roof of his sedan until the suspension collapses and those COVID toilet paper hoarders

Well I was a combination of both of those characters yesterday

My local building supplies company had a fresh delivery of timber and insulation boards in so I loaded up my truck with as much as I could carry

Also ordered another 20 insulation boards for delivery next week as my tie down straps weren't long enough

Even managed to get hold of 5 bags of rationed cement as Mrs Ahab needs some for a small side stone pizza oven project she starts this weekend

Total weight was over 525kgs or 1100lbs of building material goodness, uprated rear springs are the best invention after snow tyres as the truck drove well

[Sooner or later]

A million dollar load!

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Originally Posted by Sooner or later

A million dollar load!

The load was worth more than my truck, saying that I'm sure the loose spare change behind the rear seats is worth more