Blue Gum Workshop Build

[HOTFR8]

I like the way you have done the cladding closing in the under neath area.

 

[anth]

Brilliant! Sleepover would have been great.

 

[BuickFarmer]

AWESOME, simply awesome. Loving all that old corrugated metal. You may have said, but how long were those sheets. Hopefully it wasn't a windy day when you were putting them up.
So you're a climber. That explains the whole concept of the building and your can do attitude of working at the heights you have been working at. Cool!!!!
Man that head injury could have been far worse, but I'm sure you are aware of that. I had a mishap involving an 18" straight claw framing hammer getting loose from my hand while I was attempting to knock an overhead brace loose and it came flying with the claw end into the top of my head. When I felt the blood flowing by my ear and saw it dripping to the floor I passed out. Can't stand the sight of my own blood. Still have the two distinct claw dents in my head today and that was like 25 years ago.

Really enjoying the play by play of your build. Look forward to seeing how it turns out.

 

[sean Buick 76]

I love this build, never seen another like this and never will!

 

[zcar751]

What a great build! I love the wood decking and bridge. You are a far braver man than I building on such a slope.

 

[IPACA9]

Still have the two distinct claw dents in my head today and that was like 25 years ago

So why do they call you hammerhead? lol Been there. Working on a room upgrade with the family. The hammer didn't stab me but hit me in the forehead with the side of it and took me off the ladder. I was only on about a 8 footer but it happened so quick that I found myself on the ground before I realized what happened. A couple family members come running to my rescue and then started laughing. That story still comes up from time to time when everyone is sharing at get togethers "Hey, remember that time when...." That was 16 yrs ago.

 

[rixtrix1]

Incredibly awesome build. You have the patience of stone to take on a project of this difficulty and the results are fantastic. Can't wait to see the finished project! subscribed

 

[Stoney85]

Amazing feat of engineering, just got shown this thread as I have a similar venture i'm considering to undertake soon.

Definitely following this thread to see how your new house (sorry, shed) turns out.

 

[sideroad]

Sorry everyone, been very distracted with starting back at uni for the new year and finishing the lift of my ute, roo bar and a front tow hitch. Also been a bit preoccupied with updates on the ute conversion thread.

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?p=5348171#post5348171
I made sure I included photo with a preview of what is to come in the workshop build.

I like the way you have done the cladding closing in the under neath area.

Thanks, makes it look huge and industrial.

Brilliant! Sleepover would have been great.

It was tops, though not much sleeping with that many little kids.

AWESOME, simply awesome. Loving all that old corrugated metal. You may have said, but how long were those sheets.
Thanks for the kind words, I think the longest ones were just under 8m which is the max vertical height I can build off the ground ( I do have to add some fill in the corner to ensure it is just under).
Hopefully it wasn't a windy day when you were putting them up.
There were some breezes and they were a bit scary.
So you're a climber. That explains the whole concept of the building and your can do attitude of working at the heights you have been working at. Cool!!!!
Also adds to the lack of concern with heights, though I do think I may be a little too care free some times.
Man that head injury could have been far worse, but I'm sure you are aware of that.
I was very lucky it wasn't worse, but it also has been the only injury. Considering how manual all the work is and the crappy site, there hasn't even been a sprained ankle.
I had a mishap involving an 18" straight claw framing hammer getting loose from my hand while I was attempting to knock an overhead brace loose and it came flying with the claw end into the top of my head. When I felt the blood flowing by my ear and saw it dripping to the floor I passed out. Can't stand the sight of my own blood. Still have the two distinct claw dents in my head today and that was like 25 years ago.
Opps, not only painful, but also embarrassing. My mate was knocking out a stubborn ceiling nogging and I stopped the framing hammer in full force with my elbow when he missed (swung by the same mate as the clamp incident). I woke up on the ground and after the bruise healed, I had a dent for a year or two.

Really enjoying the play by play of your build. Look forward to seeing how it turns out.

I love this build, never seen another like this and never will!

Cheers

What a great build! I love the wood decking and bridge. You are a far braver man than I building on such a slope.

More a mix of low funds and ambitious/stubborn determination.

Incredibly awesome build. You have the patience of stone to take on a project of this difficulty and the results are fantastic. Can't wait to see the finished project! subscribed

Thanks, I can't wait to have it finished as well, just need more hours in the week (or sleep less).

Amazing feat of engineering, just got shown this thread as I have a similar venture i'm considering to undertake soon.
Definitely following this thread to see how your new house (sorry, shed) turns out.

Hope your design works out well. Careful the council doesn't think yours is a house as well.

After the walls the next weekend was time for the roof.

I made sure to sheet the apex of the end truss before doing the roof, as I would never get at it later, this took a whole day cutting and fixing; and required me to hang upside down with my legs hooked around the battens to screw it off. ( roof is done in pic)

Due to the dreadful weather, we had no time to take progress pics.
We got the 1/3 down before this happened for about an hour (long smoko time).
When doing the walls we found every sheet was out of parallel due to it's previous installation. On the roof we also lost a lot of time ensuring the roof sheets went down parallel, with crazy amounts of measuring, streaching and creeping.

You can just see the front part we have done.
The reason we did both sides and worked from the front to back was due to the insulation. I went with a foil bubble cell insulation and went full length from one side over the ridge and down to the other. Super easy to use and lay, and great for extra water proofing. I had enough to do a double layer, which turned out to be great in the following summers.
You may notice that there is no edge/fall protection, cost is all I can say, but I made sure I was the one screwing off the ends. I have to say, you work much more carefully when on a downward slope to an 8m drop onto rocks and logs.

Rain held off and sun came out, making for a stinking hot and muggy day.

Tired, hot and sweaty, but very happy.
A big thanks my former neighbour Garry, he 'popped' over for the day and passed the sheets up. Saved us hundreds of ladder trips and made it a one day rather than two day job.
Another big thanks to Matt, couldn't have done it without his help (and the borrowed impact screw guns ).

Now its looking like a house, opps, i mean workshop.

The ends of the sheets will all be cut off later.

Insulation. Because I over lapped the joins and went double layer, I didn't need to tape the joins.
The same afternoon we finished laying the roof, we could feel the difference inside as opposed to under the varandah roof. I climbed the ladder and put my hands on the bare underside of the tin and on the insulation. (I think it was low to mid 30deg that day.) The insulation was cool to touch and the tin was painfully hot.

 

[sideroad]

I just found the original sketch for the workshop. Was going to get a prefab and pop it on top of a platform. I think it may evolved a bit from this.

 

[vexvader]

These are INGENIOUS !

Perfect for a site like yours.

I totally agree. What a cool idea. Once again... Why didn't I think of that?

VV

 

[vexvader]

The underneath part will be perfect for storage!

VV

 

[Scav]

Any updates?

 

[Postsedan]

Now its looking like a house, opps, i mean workshop.
___________________________________________

That ain`t a Knife.....this is a Knife

Dan

 

[THEIKM]

For some reason this build reminds me of Ferris Bullers Day Off - Cameron's Dads house where the Ferrari went out the windows....


buller?...........buller?...........buller?..........

 

[Mudnut]

Hi Sideroad,

Great build, and great space. When I first saw the posts going in, I had trouble understanding why they were so high. Your later reveil of the rooms below cleared that up.
I would like to pick your brain on some of the details, as I have some plans being drawn up for council for my shed. This will be down on the flat part of my block, but I am planning on more parking up at the house, (elevated platform) which is on as steep a slope as yours. This would entail a platform that can be backed into to turn around, with barrier around for height safety. Were the footings cost effective compared to concrete?? Concrete in Cairns is pushing $400 a metre plus all the rest (pump hire, footings, labour).
I am also planning on not plastering the ceiling of my workshop, and like your idea of doubling up the insulation. Is it sagging at all?, because I was planning on putting mesh netting down first to hold it in place.
No issues with the 19mm flooring? Would you in the future use only that, or put yellow tonngue chipboard down and the blue gum over the top, and not need as many floor joices?

Again great build. I am jealous!!

Cheers,
Ken

 

[Playwme]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, You Queenslanders are crazy!

Such a freaking awesome project though. You must have the patience of a saint. How many hours of time do you think you have in it so far?

With the RTV mockup, a set of Territory rims with some chunky tyres would finish that off nicely. Plenty of people put big rims on Territory's so the stock ones are nice and cheap. I got a full set of Ghia 17 inch alloys with good tyres and wheel nuts for a six pack one day.

 

[sideroad]

Sorry for the huge lapse in postings. Uni has gotten to me a bit more then I expected and I have been swamped. I'll try to get some up dates later this week.

The underneath part will be perfect for storage!

VV

That's the plan, one can never have too much storage.

Any updates?

Soon, I hope. Sorry.

Now its looking like a house, opps, i mean workshop.
___________________________________________

That ain`t a Knife.....this is a Knife

Dan

Other than on the plan, Council have't seen it since before the footings went in. I am sure they are going to flip out when they do the final inspection.

Hi Sideroad,

Great build, and great space. When I first saw the posts going in, I had trouble understanding why they were so high. Your later reveil of the rooms below cleared that up.
Hey Mudnut, I also didn't want to have too steep a ramp from the driveway. I figured I could get almost a level entry to the top level and make use of the lower space.

I would like to pick your brain on some of the details, as I have some plans being drawn up for council for my shed. This will be down on the flat part of my block, but I am planning on more parking up at the house, (elevated platform) which is on as steep a slope as yours. This would entail a platform that can be backed into to turn around, with barrier around for height safety. Were the footings cost effective compared to concrete?? Concrete in Cairns is pushing $400 a metre plus all the rest (pump hire, footings, labour). Sounds like an interesting project or two. I'd be keen to see drawings/sketches if you want to share them. Cost was far cheaper than concrete and could be done at my own pace. Rather then the panic rush of having trucks turn up and risking a post being bumped in the pour. Also saved money on the fact I didn't need to pay for machinery to dig any holes. I think the base plates were about $145 each, plus about $50 for the post base and adjustable top and I sourced my own galv pipe. For the ease of use and price I would use the surefoot method on any build now.
I am also planning on not plastering the ceiling of my workshop, and like your idea of doubling up the insulation. Is it sagging at all?, because I was planning on putting mesh netting down first to hold it in place. No sagging and no mesh.
When I laid it I let it sag till it touched the truss between each batten as per the installation recommendations and it hasn't moved form that. The recommended sag is to increase the air pocket between the roof sheet and the insulation to improve its efficiency. There are two options for installation, one have the edges butted together and taped and the other has a 100mm overlap. I went with the over lap as I pictured the tape letting go at some time and leaving gaps. So far the aircell insulation has been a fantastic move and the workshop is always more comfortable than the house.
No issues with the 19mm flooring? Would you in the future use only that, or put yellow tonngue chipboard down and the blue gum over the top, and not need as many floor joices? I was and am working to a very tight budget. I would love the extra firmness of a yellow tongue combined with the blue gum, but had to pick just one. As I think I mentioned earlier, I was able to get a deal on the bluegum which worked out only a tad more than yellow tongue. I was going to go yellow tongue and wasn't happy about it, but it was the only thing I could afford and knew it wouldn't last long as a workshop floor. Being a carpenter I have used it a bit and seen how limited it is. As for joists, I will be having a small metal lathe and a mill drill on the top level and wanted to reduce vibration and manage the high dead loads of the machines, storage and vehicles. the spacing may not be obvious in the previous photos, but I think I had 250 spacing for the first 5m and 400mm spacing for the rest. This was based on vehicles, intended storage and machine locations.

Again great build. I am jealous!!
Thanks for the kind words Ken, feel free to PM me if you want any extra info.
Cheers,
Ken

I've said it before and I'll say it again, You Queenslanders are crazy!
Must be the humidity and the heat.

Such a freaking awesome project though. You must have the patience of a saint. How many hours of time do you think you have in it so far?
Thanks Playwme, I am not the most patient person, but am willing to keep at it even if I majorly underestimate the amount of work involved. For the first 3 years I was on it every sat and sun of every weekend and all my holidays. I think I may have had total of about 7 days of over that time. I spent every waking moment planing, problem solving and sourcing materials. All I ever talked about was the build. I was a tad OCD, (CDO for those of us that can be a bit OCD, they could have put the letters in alphabetical order at least)
I don't think I will ever add up the hours, but I would be shocking if I did.

With the RTV mockup, a set of Territory rims with some chunky tyres would finish that off nicely. Plenty of people put big rims on Territory's so the stock ones are nice and cheap. I got a full set of Ghia 17 inch alloys with good tyres and wheel nuts for a six pack one day.
Good score on the wheels. Problem with the terri rims is they can't be altered for offset and the +36 offset is the same as I already have and need +6 to +10 offset to fit the tyres I have planned. I like the look of them, but can't make them work. I'll have to get custom offsets to suit. I have plans for partial mud rears and A/T fronts.

Thanks to all for all the comments and I promise updates are on the way.

 

[Grizz1963]

What an amazing build you have done here.

Props to your wife. We would be so screwed without them, and you have the bonus of family and friends.

You have really built an amazing space there.

My first house I built was against a nature reserve, and had sea and valley views..... But it was on a serious slope.

When I rode motorbike trials the insane angles were often not in perspective on camera.

Your hill is a mountain and you have conquered.

On my house build, despite what it looks like, the front left pillar of the house was 2.4 meter high up to ground floor level.
I used to help the builder and it was hard work.

This was my first place...... Every pound of sugar, every litre of milk got carried uphill. Never again.

 

[Cris B]

Your elevated build made me think about Staddle Stones (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staddle_stones) which are very common in my experience in old Swiss farm buildings.

Given the local termite activity, is this a concern for you? If I remember rightly I read once that there is something in the Australian building code about standards to prevent termite and other insect activity.

 

[Mudnut]

Thanks for taking time to reply,

It has been over 20 years since uni, but I still remember the long hours, so good luck.

I will post the plans for the shed, once they are finalised, and ready to go to council. Don't have any plans for the elevated pad up at the house yet, but will certainly look into the footings you used.

Enjoy your new space.

Ken

 

[polexican23]

you are nucking futs. and so is this "shed"

 

[panthersteve]

I have just found this thread and what a find it is

I grew up in Bellbird Park so am even more interested in this as it is basically my old backyard

I am still close by so will have to stop by some time to get a real feel for it all.

Cheers
Steve

 

[ScottsRX]

What an awesome build, thanks for sharing.

 

[sideroad]

What an amazing build you have done here.

Props to your wife. We would be so screwed without them, and you have the bonus of family and friends.

You have really built an amazing space there.

My first house I built was against a nature reserve, and had sea and valley views..... But it was on a serious slope.

When I rode motorbike trials the insane angles were often not in perspective on camera.

Your hill is a mountain and you have conquered.

On my house build, despite what it looks like, the front left pillar of the house was 2.4 meter high up to ground floor level.
I used to help the builder and it was hard work.

This was my first place...... Every pound of sugar, every litre of milk got carried uphill. Never again.

Hey Grizz1963, That is a very nice looking place. I can only imagine how good the view would have been. I understand your pain of living and building on a slope. You hear advice all the time warning not to buy on a hill and then ignore it thinking 'how bad could it really be?'. Turns out it isn't bad just an endless pain in the bum. Every thing is more difficult, takes longer and costs more. Wife likes the fact I can't collect much **** and we have no room for dead cars. Not sure I would buy on a hill again, unless it had magical views.

Your elevated build made me think about Staddle Stones (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staddle_stones) which are very common in my experience in old Swiss farm buildings.

Given the local termite activity, is this a concern for you? If I remember rightly I read once that there is something in the Australian building code about standards to prevent termite and other insect activity.

Hey Chris B, I love those stones! They look awesome and kind of odd at the same time. Makes the building look like it has pulled up its footings and is moving to greener pastures. Makes sense to get it up off the ground for pests and vermin.
As for the termites, I have built with treated timber and have visual clearance around every post. All our houses used to have ant cappings on the top of every post. That was mostly due to the fact the posts were timber and the termites could eat up the post and enter the house unseen. The ant capping forced them to make mud tracks out and around the capping which was visible to the home owner. I will be relying on the fact that any termite entry will have to be via tracks up the steel and will be obvious in my semi regular checks.

 

[sideroad]

Thanks for taking time to reply,

It has been over 20 years since uni, but I still remember the long hours, so good luck.

I will post the plans for the shed, once they are finalised, and ready to go to council. Don't have any plans for the elevated pad up at the house yet, but will certainly look into the footings you used.

Enjoy your new space.

Ken

Thanks Ken, let me know when you start your build thread. I'd be keen to see how it goes. Let me know when you are about to use the footings and I'll share some pointers that I learnt that would have made my build a little easier.

you are nucking futs. and so is this "shed"

Thanks polexican23, I am going to take that as a compliment. (I agree in the being nuts part though)

I have just found this thread and what a find it is

I grew up in Bellbird Park so am even more interested in this as it is basically my old backyard

I am still close by so will have to stop by some time to get a real feel for it all.

Cheers
Steve

Hey Steve, I would be keen on having fresh ears to chew off about my build. My wife only wants to hear that it is finished.
Send me a PM and we should work out a time to meet.

What an awesome build, thanks for sharing.

Thanks ScottsRX, and thanks for following the build.

 

[sideroad]

So after getting the roof on we just temp screwed the ridge capping.
I spent a day cutting the capping and sealing it. I made up a template to mark out the cuts, which worked out great. I was pretty lucky with the sheeting I used in that I didn't have to cut the capping to suit a corrugated profile. My profile was still a big job, but was just straight cuts.

Mine was closer to the Industrial 7 profile. Our standard profile on roofs here is close to the Corrugated 10.5.
Having buggered wrists and hands made this job quite painful, but I got it done and it came up looking and sealing great.

I got a touch of heat stroke and decided to fit the Whirly bird roof vent. I should have left it to another day when I was thinking straight. Even though the fitting worked out great, I didn't double check the truss locations.

Opps!

Next was the barge board flashing and trim the ends of the roofing sheets.
Once again, it was was great ot have a metal cutting blade in my 6 1/4" saw. I may have ended up with heaps of metal chip burns, but the cut was neat.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Fantastic job on the capping and flashing sideroad.

Your sheet profile makes a tedious job a little easier.

Regards

 

[sideroad]

Fantastic job on the capping and flashing sideroad.

Your sheet profile makes a tedious job a little easier.

Regards

Thanks.

Next main tasks was windows. Here are a couple of pics before.

And here is after. I still have a couple more to do later, but not bad for a day's work. Fitting windows from the inside is not the best or easiest, but was the only way given the lack of scaffolding and the wall sheets.
I ended up using the angle grinder with a thin blade. the guard was the perfect offset to allow for the frame to protrude past the sheeting. The biggest pain was fitting the flashing over the windows. Because the sheets were already on the flashing had to be cut into two and slipped into the slots and then extended out to the full cut length. Sorry no pics of that step. Too busy doing it.

A job well done and with the help of my brothers and my father. Was great to have the extra hands to lift the big louver window in place. Was also great to work together, pretty rare these days with our own lives and family.

That year we had all the extended family over for the Xmas eve bash. I covered up the big hole in the floor to save the little and old ones, set up tables, chairs and a lounge for my grandmother. I was pretty happy to see the workshop being used. I even set up a kids pool (my wife and I ended up using it to escap the summer heat most afternoons for a week or so after.)

Next update will be the front door build.

 

[Cris B]

This is just amazing. The windows transform it inside and out.

 

[356vintage]

Nice work and beautiful engineering. Blue Gum looks great!

 

[crawler07]

You have done an outstanding job of transforming a piece of land most would think of as useless into an awesome location for a garage. I had a major garage failure when a contractor was building my hillside garage and once the structure fell to the ground he told me that the hill was way too steep to build on (why he didn't mention that before he took the job I will never know?) I would love to show him what you have successfully built in a location with way more hurdles. You did a wonderful job engineering this and you should be proud of what you and your friends and family have created. thanks for sharing!!

 

[Bib Overalls]

Insanely ambitious. I don't think anyone here has put as much pure effort into a shop project if you measure it by the square foot. You Aussies are quite a lot.

 

[anth]

I don't know if I've said this before, but every time I see that driveway/entrance, I just think about how much of an event it would be to drive in and out of that garage.

 

[87jeepwrangler]

Awesome build. Very impressive.

I have used LSB's in the past(and loved them), but was under the impression they had gone out of business. Are they still available, or were those beams purchased a while back?

Also, I'm surprised the engineer didn't spec. web stiffeners for use inside the webbing of the LSBs where the joists rest on them. Not required in your application?

 

[sideroad]

This is just amazing. The windows transform it inside and out.

Thanks, They sure do. I also have a great view out of them, even better view then the house.

Nice work and beautiful engineering. Blue Gum looks great!

Cheers.

You have done an outstanding job of transforming a piece of land most would think of as useless into an awesome location for a garage. I had a major garage failure when a contractor was building my hillside garage and once the structure fell to the ground he told me that the hill was way too steep to build on (why he didn't mention that before he took the job I will never know?) I would love to show him what you have successfully built in a location with way more hurdles. You did a wonderful job engineering this and you should be proud of what you and your friends and family have created. thanks for sharing!!

Thanks. Did you finish the failed garage?
I would never dream of quoting for a build like mine, the hours and safety concerns would make for a pricey build.

Insanely ambitious. I don't think anyone here has put as much pure effort into a shop project if you measure it by the square foot. You Aussies are quite a lot.

Thanks heaps.
I am not sure on the effort per square foot value or how much others have put into their builds, but I sure have put alot into mine. More than a workshop deserves, but at least I will have one.

Awesome build. Very impressive.

I have used LSB's in the past(and loved them), but was under the impression they had gone out of business. Are they still available, or were those beams purchased a while back?

Also, I'm surprised the engineer didn't spec. web stiffeners for use inside the webbing of the LSBs where the joists rest on them. Not required in your application?

Thanks. I would agree with ambitious, but possibly more a case of 40% ambitious, 50% ignorant and 10% pig headed and stubborn.
I really underestimated how big a job it was going to be. I even planned to have it done in the first year. HAHA
I think I got the LSBs back in 2010. Not sure if they are still available. They were limited supply even back then. Only one manufacture and no distributors. Shame, they are good beams to work with, even if they are pricey.
A quick seach still shows a listing for them, but not sure how available they still are.

http://bluescopedistribution.com.au/lite-steel-beam

I should have thought of web stiffeners, but relied on the engineer as he should have known what he was doing. Based on all his stuff ups I shouldn't have left anything to his expertise. (referring to the first engineer that lost me 7mths or so and had to have most of his work redone by the second engineer)
Not sure if you noticed the angles I welded onto the back of the beams to bolt the joists to. They ran most of the depth of the web and should do a similar job to a web stiffener I guess.
I wonder if some of the floor bounce could be due to not having web stiffeners. Even with the close joist spacings, the whole structure still has some bounce and vibration. Not sure how much it will effect my lathe and mill use, hopefully not much.
Over all I am happy with the LSBs, but it pains me to see how twisted out of plumb they ended up as a result of the stupid first bracing design. I think I mentioned this issue earlier in the build, but I hate how it looks and it has caused some problems down the track. Too late to cry over it and need to just move on.

 

[sideroad]

Originaly I had planed to make a simple 25x25mm rhs steel frame door with zincalume sheet skin that would be replaced down the track with a timber barn style door. After more thought and chats with my mate (Matt) we agreed that if I made a dorr it would end up being the last door I installed on the workshop. So we decided to go straight to the final door.
A year previous I grabbed some big timbers for a carton of Beer. They were used for a huge pallet for shipping a dry cleaning machine. It was all pine about 100x180mm. I left them to season out side for a year or so untill I knew what to do with them.
Given the fact funds have always been limited on theis build I decided to make the frame of the door from dressed down pine pallet and the infill from some of the Bluegum flooring. I would have loved to have used a solid hard wood on the frame, but funds wouldn't allow.
We started by cutting, jointing and power planing the timbers till we had a flat face and then worked on dressing them down to the final framing sizes.

It felt great to be working in the space, even if it wasn't organised and most of my tools were under the house.(heaps of walking back and forth)

I love standing ankle deep in wood shavings.

All dressed down. Took a couple of days though. I don't have all the big machines to do the job, but they will come in time.

We decided that we should make the door using as many hand tools as we could. When we were on job sites it was all about getting the job done to a timely and quality manner. Here we wanted to enjoy the process of working with wood. I spent hours using the N0.7 hand plane to get perfect faces on the framing and chiseled out all joints. (I had spent a night sharpening all my chisels on Japanese water stones and they just glided through the pine)

We didn't cut the rebates by hand, but did get out the chisels to clean them up from the router.

Sorry for the bad pic. You can see on the floor my sample piece. I did a trial of the joints, infill timber, the framing stain and linseed oil finish.

The joints pulled up a bit tighter than in the pic once glued adn screwed together.
I had trialed using timber pegs to hold the joins together, as I would have loved to only use timber. Issue I found on the trial piece was that the pine wasn't hard enough to get as tight a join as I wanted.

The hinged door frame

Making the infill panels

First door.(hinged) Pretty happy.

Second door. (sliding)

Again pretty happy.

Next was the hardware. We don't have a sliding barn door history here in Aus, so I had to make my own gear. I found beautiful hardware in the US stores online, but shipping was 3 times worse than outright robbery.

Got some nice pulleys on line and machined them out to take bearings.

My little old Hercus lathe.

Bought a bender and fabricated up a solid stand. The rhs is 10mm thick and the base plate is 14mm. Still had to clamp it down to the floor though.

Mounted all the dies to the stand. Works great.

Track brackets. They fit in the valley of the wall sheeting and provide the off set to allow for the hangers and door thickness.

7.5m long. The flat with the holes was scrounged from a skip at work and welded up to make the full length.

The door hanger brackets. The boys at work kindly punched the slots and holes for me. Saved my a heap of effort. We bent them up in my new bender, after a few trial goes we had brackets that matched my drawings.

All the infill panels finished, cut, sanded and finished in linseed oil.

Frame sanded, stained and oiled.

Mock up of roller and bracket.

Working out my spacers and all teh componants to ensure the door is within 5-8mm off the wall sheeting.

 

[sideroad]

Part 2:

Test hang of rollers, brackets and track before I pulled it all down for a paint. Worked great. Just as planed and hoped for. (and beers for a job well done)

From inside.

Opens out all the way.

Had to recess the bolts so they didn't jam on the wall sheeting. Wanted the look and security of the cups on the outside and the nuts inside.

Hinged door fitted. The intent was to have a personal door as a part of the sliding door. I make it wide enough to fit the motor bike through without opening the sliding door as well. (though I always have too much **** in the way and have to open the sliding door anyway)

Spent weeks finding a lock to work with my setup. Found on in england for garden gates.

Nice and simple finished look.

I had to make up a keeper to suit the lock installation. The screws that mount it are covered by the locking bolt when locked.

Sorry for the huge post. Very image heavy.
Update from date of pictures to now (over a year later).
Even though we dressed the timber to perfection it kept moving and twisting. Our joints that were perfect one weekend when cut needed reworking the next weekend.
A year seasoning outside was not enough. I guess the timber was still green when shipped.
The finished door had very tight joins that I was pretty proud of, now they are open by about 1-2.5mm.
Sadly the pine has continued to shrink and move. Due to the weight f the sliding door it has remained straight, but the hinged door has twisted and needs a push to unlock and lock.
I will look into it in a few years once I am sure it will not move any more.
Due to this being my first barn style door I figured on using the pine frame as the strength and bracing and the infill as just infill. Since the pine has shrunk the bracings are loose both ends and not really doing anything.
I would have been better off keeping the infill panels as full 'sheets' and using them as the bracing (they were glued and were better timber then the framing).
I pains me to see how much the door has moved and how all my joints have huge gaps, but I still like the look. If I ever make another door (not for this build, this door will do) it will be much better and I'll learn from this valuable experience.
Over all I loved the build process (though 3mths of weekends was a bit more than planed) and really liked using my carpentry skills at a more traditional pace and for an older style of build.

 

[Grizz1963]

That whole gate process from scavenging the wood to finding the right Yale lock to secure it, is just awesome.

Again, words are not enough, and I can relate to some of what you did, but you are a true Champion.

 

[ajohno]

Fantastic job. Doors look great also.