Studio shed build - blog

Just thought i would start this off for anyone interested.
It will be updated as it takes shape and the build progresses.

Wish i had started it off a couple of weeks ago as we are already a little into the build.

I am doing this all myself and have had no outside help at all, so its taking a while and is very tiring.

I moved house about 5 weeks ago because i liked the garden. I already knew about the house as it had been in the family for some years, so when it went up for sale i went for it.

It has a fairly large rear garden, but also a large side garden of about 5mtr wide x 10 mtr long.
I thought that this was the ideal place to build my studio.

Planning regulations state that i have to leave a gap of a meter between my shed/studio and the neighbours, i also wanted a gap between it and the house, so decided on a build of 3mtr wide (back ground rolls are 2.7mtr, so should fit) and 7mtr long.

Firstly, it had been used as a vegetable patch for some years so the ground was VERY soft/loose after being turned over and over.

One thing i did notice was that the ground sloped from next doors to my house itself. I thought long and hard about how i could sort this out and level it. I thought about making a frame in which i could pour concrete. But seeing as though the ground was so soft it would require MANY tons to be delivered and would probably blow my budget that i had saved up (£1,800) out of the water.

When i laid my first board (actually garden decking bought cheap from B&Q) to check the level i realised just how sloping the land was. It was ground level at one end and about 18" at the other end 3mtrs away.

I then decided to create pillars for the shed to sit on, rather than concreting the whole area. I bought 3 ton of concrete mix and sourced some plastic tubing in which to 'form' a plinth. These were cut to size and buried about 2 foot into the ground after digging a large hole. The whole lot was filled with concrete and a threaded bar in which to add strength and give somethig to fasten the shed to so it doesnt move. I borrowed a cement mixer off a friend.

I needed to create 32 of these, one every meter (3mtr x 7mtr, so one at zero, one at 1 one at 2 etc). This was back breaking as i had to dig all these holes by hand, but eventually it was done.
As i finished the last row of 4 the cement mixer packed up

Next came the frame. I wanted to make this out of 4x2, which was cut to length by me. I wanted it quite substantail as i was also intending to place boards at the bottom of it and also the top to make it double skinned, in between these boards i want to put loft insulation (as well as the walls).

The frame is taking shape now, but i also need to put quite a few more supports in it to give added strength.

I am now as of today (23rd May 2012) placing the bottom boards into place which is VERY tricky, due to it being so heavy and difficult to work out so i dont get any wastage.

I will update this post as i go on...
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Matt Simpson