Laying A Pre Finished Oak Floor

I've been laying a pre finished oak floor this week and I think it's up there with the biggeest single room I've done so far.

Each run of boards was 10 meters long so getting the first row straight was essential. 

The boards were engineered with a 6mm layer of oak on the top. They were pre finished with oil and have a really good feel to them. All boards were secret nailed down and the tongue and groove were glued to prevent squeaking. 

I've still got lots of floors to lay in this office yet, another 5 offices and all the corridors so plenty more before Christmas! 

Solid Oak Floor

Another solid Oak floor last week. Glued down to concrete, but this time using a Gekko gun and a lot less messy than with a trowel. 

Ready to go down

Cutting station set up with dust extractor

Alex with the oversized gun, my partner in crime on this floor! 

Midway clamp up, always tricky to keep it tight when gluing a floor to concrete

Wedging up the end at the end of the first day, still another room to go

First floor looking good.

Last board to clamp up. with my patented bent bit of metal and clamps set as spreaders

Track saw making ripping easy

cutting under frames so no expansion gaps can be seen in doorways

Between rooms

Second floor nearing the finish

Sanding up, orbital after the big floor sander has finished just to take off the marks left by the drum

More pictures to follow. Managed to do the last bit of sanding today so now it's ready for oiling then I can drop back and do the doors, architraves and skirtings.

Oak Fireplace

A commission from a customer to make a chunky, clean lined fireplace was a nice interesting project that I've been tackling in the workshop in the evenings. 

Planing the timber up to size

Housing joints to hide any shrinkage, loose tenons to hold it all together

All parts ready to assembly

Setting out

Fitted and a happy carpenter! 

I was really pleased with how this came out. I fitted it on interlocking brackets and then glued it to the wall for extra security. The customers were pleased as well and were sending pictures to their friends before I'd even left! 

New Bottom Tread

I had to add a new bottom tread to an old flight of stairs the other day. 

Quite a bit of work but it will look good when it's carpeted. 

Planing Larch

Monday night I planed up some larch for a customer.  It was as big as either my machine or I could manage as it was still quite green and heavy. Not really a job for ten at night but the only time I could fit it in!

Good to get the job done and the workshop clear of the timber. It looked nice planed up as well. 

Fitting Door Linings

At the last of the first fix stage of the office I've been doing in Malvern. That means getting the linings for the doors in, some normal and some grooved for fire doors.

I enjoy fitting these and it's good to know that by fitting them myself the doors will be much easier to fit!

PPE On small Jobs

Health and safety is something that many people roll their eyes at. I've worked on many large jobs where it's rammed down your throat to the point your sick of hearing about it, I remember once that we got marked down on a site because a roofer, who was on a roof, wasn't wearing his hard hat! 

But on small private jobs, my bread and butter now, there is no one there to remind you what to do and it can be easy to be a little complaisant about it all. 

I know a few builders who frequently say they're deaf anyway so why does it matter, one man I know is only a year older than me and he now wears a hearing aid full time. I'm sure that had he been a little more proactive about his hearing protection he could have saved his ears instead of having to wear a hearing aid for the rest of his life.

I'm determined to be better about it and use ear plugs, goggle and dust protection more and be better organised about it. 

Anyone else trying to be better in their use of PPE?

Battening Out

Worked at my brothers on Friday. We battened out his two external walls so they could be insulated and then plaster boarded. 

 Rather than just fixing them to the wall we levelled them up as well to make a much better job of it. although this takes a lot longer it's worth it in the long run. All the battens have plastic behind them to prevent any damp tracking through the wall. 

My brother now needs to run the pipes to the right places and new wiring run for the sockets before insulating it with 1 inch Kingspan. I'll then come back and give him a hand plaster boarding it ready for the plasterer next month.

Oak Sleeper Steps

Last week I installed the steps on some landscaping that a customer was doing in his garden. They'd already started the walls and the sides but were struggling to work out the treads and how to put them in. 

 I had to alter the sides a little bit on the first day, then I stated cutting the green oak sleepers to size to make the steps. Each sat in a 4x2 bracket I screwed to the sides. The idea being that that is just temporary until they get some hardcore packed under each step and then slabs to make the treads on top. I've never built steps like this before but it was what the customer wanted. 

Heavy work, at the bottom of a steep garden but still quite enjoyable in between the rain showers. 

Stud Work At An Office Refit

I've been doing lot's of stud work at a office conversion I've been working on during the weekends. I've put some big walls up, around 12m long and 3m high. 

I do love doing a job like this, a nice big area to work in, plenty of timber and lots to get my teeth into. Lots more work from this job to come! 

Boarding Up Stairways

I've taken on an office refurb in Malvern that involves lots of stud walls and timber work. My first job was to board up a few stair wells that were no longer needed. 

A fairly straight forward job but one that needed to be done first to make the area safe to work in. 

Joist added

Way in to the cellar to be boarded up

New beam and joists added

finished boarded 

Lots more pictures from this job to come - I've got plenty to do there, sorry these aren't that interesting!

MDF Discs

Had one of my more unusual jobs to do this weekend. Someone had ordered eight 45cm diameter discs out of MDF for a project they were doing.

45cm disc of MDF

 To make them all the same size I made a jig and cut them with the router.

Jig made for the router to cut circles the same size

Completed stack of discs.

 Each one was then chamfered to remove the sharp edge before being delivered.

An unusal job but as you can see I'll do any that come my way!

Oak Headboard

Finished an oak headboard for a customer this week. It was a joint project with the customer working with me - not something I normally do but it worked well. 

 We machined the wood from some oak (which we originally thought was pear before we started planing it) that was cut on his land about 15 years ago then stored under cover all that time. 

 It was some knotty stuff but with some lovely figure in some of the wood. When coming up with ideas on what would make an interesting headboard he suggested angled boards laid horizontally and it was a short step to decide to do them vertically with varying angles. 

 The construction was fairly simple as we mounted it all on a sheet of MDF, this gave us a great expanse of surface area.

 Once it was all glued it was trimmed for lengh and a frame added. I don't think I'd attempt this type of construction if I wasn't 100% sure about the moisure of the wood. hopefully there should be no movement from it. 

The head board is tilted back at about 17 degrees

I need to take some better pictures but I'm really pleased with how this one turned out in the end. Something a little bit different but still looks great.