Preparation of Surfaces

In building, the preparation of surfaces covers a large range of activities from the ground up.  

Here I am making bench tops from 6m sheets of laminated finger jointed planks originally intended for solid core doors. 

Firstly the planks had to be cut to size, 600mm wide and a verity of lengths. As the bench was to wrap the room mitres also had to be cut, and biskit jointed. (note correct P.P.E eye & ear protection, hi vis ect) 

Once the planks cut to size and shape I ran the router along the front face edge to give it a rounded edge, and ran an aris of the bottom edge.(note P.P.E)

Next I fitted the new bench tops to the cabinet carcases and then patched any holes or dents with a pine filler.

Once the filler had gone off I began sanding the benches, first with a 120 grade sand paper,then with 180 grade sand paper , and finally buy hand.(note P.P.E ear & Breathing protection) 

The next task was to clean of benches of any dust, I did this by brushing them off then wiping them down with a damp cloth.

Now time for the varnish. On the advice from the local paint shop I used floor varnish as this would give the bench tops a harder surface, before i used the product I studied the MSDS.

I then applied the product using a small roller and paint brush.(note P.P.E breathing protection)

Once the first coat was on and dry, the benches were again sanded back with 180 grade sand paper and coated again, dried and coated for a third time. Finished.

 

External Cladding

There are a variety of different materials used for external cladding, here I have used corrigated colourbond iron sheeting.  

At the framing stage of this build noggins were put in at 300mm, 1200mm, and 2100mm in order to fix the iron sheeting verticaly to. 

The windows , door frames have been fitted and sisalation paper has been fitted. I started the first sheet at the far corner using a 2m spirit level to ensure that the first sheet was plumb making sure to mark the line if noggins on sheet ready for the next.

Using a pair of electric nibblers I cut the sheets around all windows and doors.(only 2 full sheets on this 25m wall) note correct P.P.E ie eye and ear protection, high vis clothing ect.

When cutting around the windows the sheet is cut into two pieces, so to ensure that the "top" and "bottom" sheets would again line up I marked a plumb line on the window.

 

Fixing the sheet to frame work was done with screws on each lap, going back later to screw off using a spirit level to mark a straight line. 

  

Once wall was sheeted corners were capt with a 200mmx200mm colourbond flashing and fixed with pop rivets.

Finished!

Using Boning Rods

Boning rods are the quickest and easiest way to create a fall for pipe work or drainage, here I have used boning rods to create a falling base for an aggi drainage pipe beside a retaining wall.

1. First I made 3 boning rods by making a large "T" shape out of timber,(can pretty much be made out of any scrap timber laying around) ensuring they were all the same length.

2. 1 boning rod is driven into the ground at one end of trench, 1 boning rod held by a "spotter" at the other end of trench, the last boning rod held is moved along trench to find the ever reducing/increasing heights.

3. Making my way along the trench I made a series of height pads which will be used to screed a continuous sloping bed for the aggi pipe to lie on. 

Concreting to simple forms

After I had cleared and excavated the proposed site for concreting, I began boxing for the slab using 90mm x 35mm pine. To find the correct height for the boxing I used a rotating laser level. The height of the boxing was determined by the 

existing concrete.

Once the corners fixed at the correct height, I ran out a string line from on end of boxing to the other in the centre of the timber in order to keep boxing straight. Then using a rule the length off timber was set to the level height.

Now that the boxing is straight and level, I ran a string line across the centre of the boxed area. Then using a length of timber the same size as boxing (90mm x 35mm) I screeded the boxed area adding or removing dirt as needed so that it a the same depth all over. 

Now that the boxed area is screeded to the correct depth (ie 90mm) the reo is added and a height peg is knocked in the centre of boxed area.

Time for the concrete!

The concrete was barrowed and placed in boxed area. I created a "beam" through the centre of the boxed area then screeded the concrete in two sections.

Continued to place concrete into boxed area and screeded.

Once all the concrete had been placed and screeded its time to run the float over the finished surface.

Finished off by doing edges with an edging tool and fixing up any ruff marks with steel float.

Finished!