What a waste

[Woodworks]

Been delivery logs to the same customer for some years. They bought this snazzy garage probably around 5 or 6 (might be longer) years ago but it dont look so good now! Dont think the wood has any treatment and there is no gutter for the roof. All the drips run down the sides and rot out the base. Always liked the look of this type of construction but hadn't considered that as it has no uprights when the bottom boards rot the whole building drops. One of the doors now doesn't open as the whole building is now resting on the door. Poor customer has just been taken for 3k for a new roof to add insult to injury.

 

I guess my point for the post is make sure you treat and protect your timber constructions and maybe be cautious about this particular type of construction

Edited April 29, 2022 by Woodworks

[trigger_andy]

Cant they just jack it up and put something like strong boys in place and replace the bottom boards? 

 

Imagine taking them for £3k and not even install gutters? Fools and their money and all that

[Woodworks]

43 minutes ago, trigger_andy said:

Cant they just jack it up and put something like strong boys in place and replace the bottom boards? 

 

Imagine taking them for £3k and not even install gutters? Fools and their money and all that

It's a complicated fix IMO. If you just jack up the roof the sides will just fall apart as I think this system just relies on gravity to hold the T&G sections together. It would need lifting from the lowest solid section and some places that 3 up from the floor. Then add uprights which will need slotted screw fixings to allow for the expansion and shrinkage of the sides. Its doable but I didn't offer as there is plenty to go wrong.

 

As for "Fools and their money and all that" I am inclined to agree but to be honest I know as much about their IT work as they do about timber construction so I am not going to be too harsh. They paid for what they thought was a quality building and an expensive repair. They trusted 'pros' to do a pro job as we all do when out of our depth

[waterbuoy]

We have had the same type of shed for over ten years now - situated about 2metres from the sea.  The manufacturers caution about raising the timbers above ground level so we built it ion a ring-beam of 9x3" treated timbers which were in turn sat on old sleepers.  The edges of the t&g overhand the other timbers by about 25mm so any water can drain off freely.

 

However, like them we are having to replace the roof felt.  I'm using steel sheets (total cost around £300) which I dont think is too bad for a 16' by 10' building

 

Will try and get some photos later

[Macpherson]

2 minutes ago, Woodworks said:

It's a complicated fix IMO. If you just jack up the roof the sides will just fall apart as I think this system just relies on gravity to hold the T&G sections together. It would need lifting from the lowest solid section and some places that 3 up from the floor. Then add uprights which will need slotted screw fixings to allow for the expansion and shrinkage of the sides. Its doable but I didn't offer as there is plenty to go wrong.

 

As for "Fools and their money and all that" I am inclined to agree but to be honest I know as much about their IT work as they do about timber construction so I am not going to be too harsh. They paid for what they thought was a quality building and an expensive repair. They trusted 'pros' to do a pro job as we all do when out of our depth

 

I have a cabin of that type of design made in Finland from very tight grained Spruce, the instructions that it came with had it sitting on 'treated' 2x4"s on top of either a concrete plinth or slabs and the roof was simply 12mm T&G lining boards nailed to the purlins with felt shingles glued on top .. with a good overhang but no gutters, so wholly inadequate.

 

Although what came with the kit was good quality and reasonably priced at the time I realised essentially the bottom and roof needed redesigned and that any wood would need to be off the ground, so to that end I have it on an 18" dwarf wall foundation and on top of the original roof [ which looks good from the inside ] I have 3x2" batons with insulation between, 18mm sterling board covered with torchon felt and then profile roofing sheets with deep flow guttering.

 

Anything less would have been a disaster here in the wet Northwest and I'm constantly looking for any signs of water ingress dampness or rot no matter how slight because as you point out ' how the feck would you fix it ' 

Most of these type of buildings have steel tie rods down through the corners to stop the potential of roof blowing away which would be an added complication in any repair.

 

What you get with these type of kits is in reality just a start to which you have to redesign to cope with our climate.

Would I go for this type of construction again, nope... use Spruce outside ... nope.

 

Cheers.

 

 

 

[monkeybusiness]

I laboured on a ‘log cabin’ house build many years ago and it was essentially a complicated version of one of these. It was very cleverly designed and looked pretty good but was essentially a load of crap, and would have been very very difficult to repair when it started to rot out. It wasn’t even cheap - they could have pretty much built a proper house for the same money!!! 

[Woodworks]

2 hours ago, waterbuoy said:

We have had the same type of shed for over ten years now - situated about 2metres from the sea.  The manufacturers caution about raising the timbers above ground level so we built it ion a ring-beam of 9x3" treated timbers which were in turn sat on old sleepers.  The edges of the t&g overhand the other timbers by about 25mm so any water can drain off freely.

 

However, like them we are having to replace the roof felt.  I'm using steel sheets (total cost around £300) which I dont think is too bad for a 16' by 10' building

 

Will try and get some photos later

Sounds like a much better way to mount it with treated wood at the base and leaving room for water to escape

[Gordon S]

I feel sorry for the customer, it does look like the have been done!

Also the soil level looks high at the sides so even with treatment and adequate guttering the timber was always going to struggle. 

Sorry I've got no suggestions on how to correct it, just a shame it's got this far before someone has noticed.

[muttley9050]

Remove roof. Ratchet strap under last good board and around top board/plate. Prop up strapped wall with 4x2 temporarily. Dig out in sections underneath and build a wall to support it all. Point up areas where straps are after Everything else has gone off.

 

Depending on design this may be very possible without removing roof.

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, muttley9050 said:

Remove roof. Ratchet strap under last good board and around top board/plate. Prop up strapped wall with 4x2 temporarily. Dig out in sections underneath and build a wall to support it all. Point up areas where straps are after Everything else has gone off.

 

Depending on design this may be very possible without removing roof.

I'd love to see what they finally decide to do, and the result if they go for a repair.