The Craftmans Shop > New from Old

Resurrecting a Portakabin

<< < (3/4) > >>

Will_D:

--- Quote from: awemawson on May 14, 2018, 09:21:44 AM ---Just as well he came early - I wanted to mow the big field today and when on the tractor there is no way I'd hear mobile phones , gate alarms or delivery people yelling !

--- End quote ---
Andrew, when I am mowing the rugby pitches with our Deutz 95 I wear a decent set of headphones plugged into my phone. The cable these days nearly all come with a microphone and switch to answer calls. You can also tell when you get a message as the radio cuts out for a while. I bought a set from SkullCandy!!

Highly recommended.

awemawson:
Now when I was levelling the Portakabin, at one point it slipped off the jack with an impressive crashing noise, and moved about 2 or 3 inches north at the East end  :bugeye:

Not too serious except for two things - there was a big gap at the threshold and as an auxiliary roof spans from this Portakabin to another it's support beam had pulled away.

Been concerned for a while how to shunt it back, but today I rested the JCB Bucket against it and gave a gentle push, and lo and behold it went back where it was supposed to be :ddb:

I quickly drilled holes and put some 12 mm studding between the auxilliary roof beam and the Portakabin, so at least now they are tethered together !

Now that issue was resolved I felt more confident slicing off the Jackleg tops that might have been needed for hoisting it back from whence it slipped - un-sliced they interfere with the curved corrugated galvanised sheeting I'm using. Bally difficult access to slice them, used a 9" mains angle grinder, and I now have 'grinder rash' on my right arm from the sparks  :bang:

After this I fitted the remaining beams along the gutter line that the curved sheets will screw down to.

. . . just need to fit the curved sheeting and screw it down . . . how hard can it be . . . . . . :clap:

awemawson:
At long last I got the curved sheets fixed and the gable ends closed today.

Yesterday MetCheck was saying that today was going to be fine however late last night they changed their mind and forecast drizzle up to 8 am then rain starting about mid-day which gave a window of opportunity.

I started by brushing the standing water off the flat(ish) roof then  lifting the first couple of sheets up, and stitching them together with self drilling screws, then came the fun wiggling them into alignment. It got even more fun as more sheets were added, especially when the heavens opened and I got drenched. This of course formed puddles under the already laid sheets with no possibility of sweeping the water away.

Anyway eventually all were up there and I started screwing them down to the board that I had fitted previously at eaves level. Went fairly well - the boards are not continuous due to the steel work of the jack legs, so there are four places where there are less hold down screws than I'd like.

Then it was a case of cutting the curved gable ends, fixing them up, and replacing the Onduline roofing that had had to be removed for access.

In all not perfect but hopefully dramatically better than before  :thumbup:

hermetic:
Very hard to get perfection on a job like that Andrew, especially in the rain, flat roofs are a nightmare, I put a insulated box profile sheet over the flat roof on my workshop, adding an extra 6" of fall at the same time, and for the first time for about 20 years, I have a totally dry workshop!

awemawson:
So at long last I found a bit of time yesterday to attack the interior.

I started by removing the pair of twin fluorescent light fittings. Pressing the 'test' button on the 30 mA / 63 amp three phase RCD breaker that is integral with the distribution board for this Portakabin I was horrified to find that it didn't trip  :bugeye: Probably the damp has got to it. New one on order. The inside of the light fittings showed obvious signs of water ingress.

Then I pulled out the 13a socket wiring that was original to the building - I've never powered it up as I didn't have confidence in it, and just ran a pair of twin sockets off and in close proximity to the distribution board - these later sockets I've left live to work by.

So today, after we had finished shearing the sheep, first I powered down the compressor and covered it, then I started pulling down the ceiling. Originally (probably) 4mm ply, now badly de-laminated, and insulated by 37 mm expanded polystyrene sheet, fixed to rafters spaced for 4 foot sheets.

The polystyrene I have saved as most of it is in good condition and can go back. Oddly one sheet is obviously saturated with water from it's weight, I thought that this stuff was closed cell  :scratch:

The rafters have a curve on them to give the original steel roof a fall to the eaves, but three are so far gone the curvature is now downwards ! These I will have to re-make to get the new ceiling approximately flat.

A good sweep out and a bonfire and things are looking slightly (but only slightly !) more viable  :ddb:

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page