I spend one more weekend fretting over the frame. I was convinced the frame that had been supplied with the prefabricated kit was not as strong as I would want it to be.
The system I decided to use to ground and support the building was fairly substantial and I decided the 4 x 1'' frame was not going to make me happy and I made a brand new frame in pressure-treated 4 x 2'' construction grade timber.
The decision was partly because I had decided to elevate the frame to 4'' above the ground. I felt the base frame needed to be stronger because it was going to be supported above ground by 12 heavy-duty stainless steel posts. There was a post attached at each point of the hexagon and one more inbetween, halfway along each side.
This would keep the whole structure well away from the ground and the risk of water damage to the floor. It would also provide a free flow of air from outside. More about that later.
When everything was level, and I was happy with the stability of the frame, I adjusted each of the 'jacks' in situ. It took some time to get it just right and I walked around the frame over and over again, checking that everything was level and ready to accept the metric tonne of timber that this hexagon was going to support.
There was absolutely no movement in the frame once the giant nuts had been turned down, along the length of each pile, to meet the ground.
Getting ready for the following weekend meant assembling some essential kit. One of the most important pieces of kit was protective gloves. With a lot of lifting to do, it was important to protect our hands.
It was now late November and the ground was beginning to get wet and muddy, so we used plastic covers on the ground to protect the timber sections from getting dirty or wet.
No comments:
Post a Comment