Above 1200 Sq/FT Gentlemans Activity Bunker in the UK, Version 2

[roger440]

After the hedge planting exploits, it was back into the barn to continue with lighting installation. I hate doing this, and it all had to be done from a man basket on the forklift. Tedious!

No pics really. Not very exciting.

Once most of that was done, it was time, at last, to close off the gap at the top of the "plywood" wall. This was still a path for cold air and wind. So insulation added, and an access door created.





With this done, time to break out the paint. Whilst ive not really coming up with any kind of theme for inside, i didnt like the plywood, and the new bits didnt match any way. So grey it was.

Also took the oppotunity to hang up some signs from the previous business, and my Vauxhall sign





Next up, getting ready for ramp installation. Hoists to my amercian freinds.

 

[roger440]

Might as well press on with the updates.

Forgot about my ramp lighting. Before putting in the 4 post ramp, and having always struggled with lighting, i decided to improve matters.

After carefully working out the location of it and taking into account the joists in the roof, it was back in the man basket to complete the lighting. As well as another high bay light, i fitted 6 LED battens, 3 each side parrallel with the ramp.







With the lighting out of the way, time to get some ramps fitted.

As can be seen, i was installing the 4 poster, with a 2 poster in front of it. Ive been here before, and said id never do it again, but for various reasons, and ultimately working around the fact theres only one door, there really wasnt much option.

I could have squeezed them side by side at the back, but i hate not having a decent amount of room to work. And all the cupboards and other stuff that will go down the sides, then has to go somewhere else, so you dont really gain.

Getting ready





A mate, John, came up to help fit them, or more accurately, i helped him. As a retired ramp installer, he was the ideal person to do it. Sadly, there are no pics of this. To busy working!

Once complete, it was left to me in install my Hunter wheel aligner. Extravagent? Yes. But i own it, so why not.

Starting to look like a workshop now

 

[VolksWomble]

The alignment system is proper luxury!

I’m also putting both 2 and 4 post lifts in, bur am still playing with layouts. I hadn’t really considered putting the 2 post in front of the 4 post. It sounds like you have learnt lessons from this arrangement but have had to do it anyway?

 

[f121]

You’ve got a hunter!!

 

[johnre]

I really like the T & G / biscuit joinery work on the bench tops, now that I can see the ends - much less flex from the individual planks when you need to do something substantial on them!

 

[roger440]

I really like the T & G / biscuit joinery work on the bench tops, now that I can see the ends - much less flex from the individual planks when you need to do something substantial on them!

The previous owner i think was a carpenter or similar. Certainly nicely put together. Then i arrived to add the extra legs!

 

[roger440]

You’ve got a hunter!!

Doesnt everyone have on in their garage

 

[roger440]

The alignment system is proper luxury!

I’m also putting both 2 and 4 post lifts in, bur am still playing with layouts. I hadn’t really considered putting the 2 post in front of the 4 post. It sounds like you have learnt lessons from this arrangement but have had to do it anyway?

The last time i did it, it was in a functioning business, so maybe not the same. But if you have something in the way on the two poster with bits hanging off, or something propped up with a transmission stand, you then get get anything on or off the 2 poster. Or if you have a higher vehicle you want on the 4 poster. Of course, this is in a private setting, so no "pressures" if you like.

It still isnt great, but having played with plans for 18 months, i kept coming back to this. First world problems mind you!

As well as the single entrance door, to the left of it in front of the clean room is where my mezz and "dirty" room under it will go. I wanted it this side as it will have extraction which i didnt want on the house side, and its the side where the diesel tank is for the oil burner and the tank sits on top of a block shed which is ideal as a compressor house.

If one was starting from scratch, you would have a row of doors down one side.

 

[roger440]

It was well into late spring by now, so outside activities like gardening were, by now consuming some time. But things were looking tidier outside now. Tractor still going well after its extensive repairs







Theres was a small trip over to ireland with friends in triumphs, me taking the stag. Excellent trip, mostly fantastic weather, and as far south west as Balitmore. Yes, the original one, not the one in the USA

Gratuitous shot from the top of the healy pass.



The original Baltimore



And a selection from the trip.





B


Back inside, in the last post, i forgot to mention the drawer units i picked up. On the left you can see the white and grey/blue drawer units. All steel, 96 drawers total. Each drawer divided in 4. A good price too. He had some more, but they were all sold.

Shame, but that "probably" enough drawers to be getting on with. For now, they need a clean, all the stickers removing etc. I wont fill then until its in its final resting place.

 

[roger440]

As can be seen in the pics, there is **** everywhere. A distinct lack of shelving not helping. Whilst i have plenty, my intention is to put on top of my mezzanine. As thats not built yet, everything just keeps getting moved around when trying to find stuff!

The previous owner had left me some heavy duty cantilever shelving. Some of this was where the wheel aligner now is.
So time to move it and reuse it. This may not be its final resting place, but it will do for now, and allows me to store, and find, my steel stock and wood.

I cut one bay out to clear the front door.

One small step to being organised

 

[VolksWomble]

As can be seen in the pics, there is **** everywhere. A distinct lack of shelving not helping. Whilst i have plenty, my intention is to put on top of my mezzanine. As thats not built yet, everything just keeps getting moved around when trying to find stuff!

I am literally living exactly this…

 

[roger440]

Thought id better do some updates while im recuperating on the sofa from a nasty cold.

With summer upon us, i could no longer put off the polytunnel build for the wife.

So back outside we go.

First job level an area for the tunnel. This created a big pile of soil so this was spead out on the adjacent bank. Having roughly levelled this out, it was an ideal opportunity to try out my New (to me) power harrow.

Its certainly effective, but due to a lack of foresight, with the tractor being quite wide, and the harrow significantly narrower, meant that it was compacting the soil back down on the next pass. Not ideal

Still got it done, and reseeded it.



You will see in the area where the poly tunnel is going (cleared a couple of weeks earlier, there is on old paved base. This was orginally a greenhouse base. The idea was to widen it with matching slabs found stacked up behind the barn, and have them half in, half out of the tunnel, giving good hardstanding around the entrace.

This was a home built affair to save cost, and with a base from road plannings from the handy pile left in the yard by the previous owner.

I think the method of construction is self explanatory.

Handily, the doors were from my extensive stock pile of doors, so probably over kill for a polytunnel, but they were there, so why not.

Heres a few more pics











The eagle eyed amongst you may have spotted we put a drainage loop around the tunnel as the far end in this pic sits slightly below the ground level.

Also needed a potting bench, so once again, more use of exsisting stuff was made. In this case 2 pallets and yet another door. Apprantly i need to build another, longer one the other side.







We put down a temporary footpath until next year, using the ply that come with my second hand mezzanine floor. No good as a floor, but ideal for this, shuttering etc.

With that out of the way, we would soon be back to cars and barns

 

[roger440]

Back in the barn, the ute had been off the road must of the summer with a diff bearing issue. So out with the diff which was duly rebuilt and refitted.

Its been 20 years since i did the underneath of this (when it was new) and the outriggers were showing signs of surface corrosion. So i thought id tackle this as well while it was up in the air.

In addtion i found the prop centre bearing rubber had split so did that too.

It was good to be back in a postion to work on vehicles in releative comfrt, even if finding anything was still a challenge.










Final coat of wax to blend it back in still to go on. Didnt get a picture of that sadly.

 

[Ford52PU]

Great thread thanks for sharing. Former Stag owner myself as I had a 73 from 2000 to 2017, currently bringing a 66 Spifire back from a 35+ nap. Love your place.

Carry on!

 

[y'sguy]

I am just catching on to your thread. Very nice find, and it appears to be developing nicely. Good for you and yours. Here's to much success!

 

[roger440]

Keen observers may have noticed a Standard Atlas van lurking in a couple of the pics. I bought this some considerable time ago, 1 owner 14,000 miles. Still needs work. Just not had time.

However, i have always really wanted a pick up verion with the flying butresses. However, theres almost certainly less the 10 left world wide. Ive known of a collection of Atlasi (is that plural of atlas?) including a pick up.

Via a friend who is, shall we say, well connected, i was advised it was for sale. I was there like a shot. It was expensive (for an Atlas). But it just had to be bought. A few weeks later, trailer coupled up we went to get it. Again needs a bit of work, but minimal corrosion. But that sign writing and patina

This project will be jumping the queue. Straight to the front.

 

[VolksWomble]

That is cool as the proverbial penguins knackers! Love the sign writing and patina

 

[roger440]

With the car (pick up) buying exploits out of the way, back to the barn.

Next job was a mezzanine. The plan being a decent sized mezz for storage, and creating a "dirty room" underneath thats closed in for welding, grinding, painting etc. By being closed in and insulated means we can keep it reasonably warm over the winter. I hate being cold. Its supposed to be a hobby. Fixing cars when it freezing or below is definitely not fun. Always worth pointing out here that energy in whatever form is WAY more expensive than in the US.

Quotes to do this were coming in at 10k (GBP). Not keen on that idea. As a consequence id been searching facebook marketplace for months. But everything that looked suitable was requiring disassebly by the purchaser. Im not geared up for that kind of heavy work, both manpower and vehicles, so that wasnt really an option.

One day, my neighbour sent me a link to one. 12 meteres x 4. (sorry no feet and inches). 1k. Plywood floor, but all the steel work i needed. Looked to be near where i work. Handy.

Turns out, it was in the next street behind our building at work. Even more handy. So i popped round.

It wasnt palletised so that was an issue. An extra 30 pounds had it delivered to work. We duly palletised it, and had it shipped home.

The floor was, predicatably, useless. But its given me a big pile of (oily) 3/4 inch ply for shuttering etc. It was also significantly bigger than i needed.



Fortunately, they had numbered and marked all the bits before they dismantled it. Result. So on with the assembly.

So, we were only going to use 6 of the 8 verticals, and 4 of the 6 logintudinal joists. Including cutting down 2. Final size being circa 7.5 x 5 meters.

As it was only 4 meters wide, that means i needed to infill a gap between it and the wall. Beggers cant be choosers and it is the size it is. However, the advantage of that, is it gets the bases of the uprights away from the edge of the slab. We know its 6 inches deep, but dont know much more than that, so putting at right at the edge could be a risk.

Laid out ready for assembly.



They were all dirty and rusty, so the bases were were cleaned up and epoxied (no pic of the epoxy)



Let the assembly beging. A oicture paints a thousand words and all that.








Good excuse to buy a mag drill






But where the stairs you say. Easy. Going to knock a door through from the office. Theres stairs already, so no point wasting valuable floor space with more stairs.

More to follow...................

 

[roger440]

That is cool as the proverbial penguins knackers! Love the sign writing and patina

Though that might appeal to you...............

 

[roger440]

While we are on a roll, more mezz for those interested.

A bit of research said that i should have rods between the pressed steel joists to prevent twisting etc. This mezz never had these, so bought some and fitted it. In theory you only need them between pairs. But i just did the whole lot.



With that done, time to install a wall plate and fit my mini joists to span the gap. No pics of the joists themselves



And then i also had to span the gap between the end of the mezz and the wall. Behind the ply is another steel beam, so the ply was trimmed back to allow mini joists to be fitted to span the gap. Rather fortunately, the final floor height difference turned out to be 3/4 inchs



Why didnt you just shuffle the whole thing along and avoid the gap at all? Well, there is some logic. The mezz also has no diagonal bracing to prevent racking. Whilst i can install that on what will be the wall, i cant do that across it as it would impede on the work area. So the intermediate piller is placed directly in front of the building steel upright. You cant see it as its behind the block pier, but the blocks are purely decrative, and serve no function other that to keep the air at bay. So i can fit a brackt from the upright to the builing upright to secure. Well thats the theory anyway.

Time to fit a floor. The supplied plywood was useless for the point loads required. So i bought the proper 38mm chipboard interlocking mezz boards.

In the end, i bought new, as second hand was only 25% less and no control over just what comes. Cost as much as the mezz, but we are still well ahead financially.







Time for a door. This was a fiddly awkward job. No fun at all.








But you have cut the door hole in the wrong place you fool!

Not quite as the last pic gives a clue as to what comes next. Once again my stash of doors comes in handy. Zero money spent.

Yes, you probably think its hng the wrong side too. Whilst not idel, thats because theres a wall stud there. The other side i had to put one in mid way between the two existing, the central one of which is now gone. Given its a fire door and weighs a ton, and the original stud is bolted to welded flanges top and bottom, thats where it needs to go. I couldnt move it along the wall as im going to create a small lobby to seperate this from the office in future, so needed to be here. Complicated, but necessary.

More updates coming soon, which, hopefully, will have this thread upto date in real time

 

[roger440]

Im making a mess of these pics

Dont know why?

 

[VolksWomble]

Great pics, and some proper progress. I like the fact you haven’t got to put stairs in - I am rather struggling with where to put mine. Interested in the rod you have put in between the metal joists too - I didn’t pick up on that at all when doing mine.

 

[Geoff289]

Very nice work on the mezzanine, and that van is really cool. Apparently the plural of atlas is just atlases.

41 degrees C here in Melbourne tomorrow, may be a slight contrast with your part of the world.

 

[thammel]

Fellow triumph guy here. Working on a '63 TR4. Have owned TR250s and a TR6/

 

[roger440]

Great pics, and some proper progress. I like the fact you haven’t got to put stairs in - I am rather struggling with where to put mine. Interested in the rod you have put in between the metal joists too - I didn’t pick up on that at all when doing mine.

The pressed steel joists should already have the holes in them. Mine did, one at bottom, one at the top. Top one will be used for the lighting cables.

 

[roger440]

Very nice work on the mezzanine, and that van is really cool. Apparently the plural of atlas is just atlases.

41 degrees C here in Melbourne tomorrow, may be a slight contrast with your part of the world.

Nice. Though maybe a bit to warm for a brit. Much more than 30 and i cease all activity. Going to be 7 here today. Heating in the barn is a longer term goal, but one i must achieve. Somehow. Id like to sit it at 12c all winter. The roof is the big issue. And as its a big roof, doing anything is big cost. In an ideal world, i would have done this, whatever "this" is, on day one. Just wasnt to be.

 

[roger440]

Fellow triumph guy here. Working on a '63 TR4. Have owned TR250s and a TR6/

Good work. Is there a thread with it in?

 

[garfieldzzz]

Nice work and space.
I have no clue about that Atlas but it looks like something to have.

Keep it up.

 

[thammel]

Good work. Is there a thread with it in?

Not yet....gotta get the body work done; at a shop now,

 

[VolksWomble]

The pressed steel joists should already have the holes in them. Mine did, one at bottom, one at the top. Top one will be used for the lighting cables.

oh yes… ’oles



I’ll have to investigate whether these need something to link them. There was nothing supplied with the floor…

 

[roger440]

oh yes… ’oles



I’ll have to investigate whether these need something to link them. There was nothing supplied with the floor…

If you read the manufactuer blurb it says should be tied, in pairs. 16mm threaded rod, or the specific spacers, but they have to be put in during assembly.

That looks quite a span there, id definitely be fitting it.

 

[roger440]

Still plodding away with the mezz. It needs doing, but i cant say i really enjoy it. But its a means to an end, so press on we must.

To produce the overhang, i wanted to avoid having anything bespoke made. Extensive scratching around on the internet came up with these crash barrier supports. So i ordered one and broke out the mag drill and got it bolted on. Some fairly unscientific testing confiremed its abilty to hold plenty of weight. This section will only be an access walkway, nothing will be stored on this bit.



Seemed like a plan, so bought some more.

To carry the floor, i broke out my free stash of unistrut to create the longitudinals. With that all bolted up, we could then lay the floor.





Then i fitted some edging, and trimmed back the excess flooring to neaten it all up.





As i mentioned before ( i think) the mezz had no cross bracing. So i improvised with some 4x2 box weled in. Pretty sure this is overkill!!



The intention is the area underneath will be my "dirty room" for welding, grinding, spaying etc. However, the reality is, i dont have time for this aspect right now, so its just going to be used for storage in the meantime.

However, the intention was to wall it in, and then my cupboards and storage drawers would then go in front of it. Whilst it was tempting to just stick the cupboard in front, in the end, i decided to just get the wall built. Only the outerskin for now. I can insulate from the other side in due course.

As always when covering large areas, its a dilema to choose a suitable material. Decided just to go with 1/2 inch ply on this occasion.





And then. time to paint it.

 

[roger440]

The edge of the mezz will have 2x2 galvinised angle along it, but just now, everyone is out of stock!!!!!

Or they use a certain shipping company who NEVER deliver to us as its too far, so they just tip it somewhere and sign it off themselves. An ongoing battle.

So will be coming back to that. Also have a handrail system, but cant install that until the edging strip is on.

So time to install cupboards and drawers.

The more observant of you may have noticed on of these cupboards has a dent on the top after the wife lowered the forklift onto it. Because its a tambour roll up door, the door would no longer roll up all the way. Nightmare.

4 hours later, its fixed, but to this day, i simply dont know how they actually assemble them at the factory. I had to leave out the two bolts that secure the "lid" to the sides just above the opening.

Anyway, it was time to stand back and admire my handiwork. Starting to look how i envisaged it.





What this means is that i can now start tidying up some of my ****. And better still, be able access the stuff when i need it.



More stuff to go, but some of its still palletised.

Even better still, clearing the **** off the bench means i can finally "install" some of my equipment.





And after it living in a box for 3 years, i finally got to get my mini english wheel out. I thing of beauty. Just need to remember how to use it.



This post pretty much brings things up to date with reality. There a lot more stuff to put away, especially the storage drawers for all the nuts, bolts, hardware etc. Thats going to take a big effort. But we are very close to having a workshop i can actually use, even if there is still a lot to do.

A great start to the new year.

 

[Geoff289]

Looking really nice.

 

[kitdoctor]

We have something similar but I have no drawbridge and island!

 

[roger440]

We have something similar but I have no drawbridge and island!

With all that rain you are having, you could have a pond that doubles as a balancing lake.

 

[kitdoctor]

With all that rain you are having, you could have a pond that doubles as a balancing lake.

Don't mention rain! A pond we do have.

 

[VolksWomble]

Roger, we are living parallel lives again… this week I have been mostly sorting boxes of fasteners into the drawers they came out of… I haven’t got the walls up under the mezz tho, as I’m still sorting electrics and lift positioning.

I like the Armco brackets tho. I might steal that.

 

[roger440]

A final bit of organisation before i call time on it, and turn to some restoration work.

Utilising, once again, some more cantilever shelving left by the previous owner. It was up agaisnt the end wall next to the roller door, but need this space for the parts washer and aquablaster.

So i moved it, cleaned it and modified it to carry mostly cleaning sttuff, screenwash etc. Plus the forklift battery charger



With the shelving moved, the parts washer and aqua blaster were moved into position. longer term, ill put a drain and water pipe on the wall (theres water outside here) to ease cleaning and refilling. In the meantime i can just run the hosepipe in.

My original plan to have these in my dirty room didnt really work as there no water there, and no practical means of putting in a drain. It also moves it as far as possible from where engineering activities take place. Glass bead needs to be kept well away!

The parts washer is power hungry on a 32 amp socket. And there just happens to be one on the wall here. Another small win.

A pic of them in place and ready for action.



Whilst theres still much to do, the Atlas project is calling. Theres a deadline, september, and thats not far away, so time to divert to actual work and get cracking.

 

[roger440]

Roger, we are living parallel lives again… this week I have been mostly sorting boxes of fasteners into the drawers they came out of… I haven’t got the walls up under the mezz tho, as I’m still sorting electrics and lift positioning.

I like the Armco brackets tho. I might steal that.

Im planning on doing drawer organisation on a piecemeal basis, so that i stay sane! Theres a pallet of stuff in front of the drawers now, so i can start. Theres also a pallet on the mezz f pipes, hoses, heatshrink, cable and other stuff that can go on reels to sort out. This is a touch more difficult.

However i have a loose plan, which i hope to start on soon. Mainly because i need to pout a bodyshell on the mezz, and cant until this stuff is sorted.

Sorting stuff out never ends does it?