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. 

Repairing Rotten Timbers On A Porch

I completed some repair work to a porch for a customer the other day. The porch had gone rotten in the usual places and wood worm on on the fascia board also needed attention.

The corner post had rotted through on the bottom

The gutter had been leaking on the corner and had rotted out the end of the fascia board

Wood worm on this piece was quite bad and needed splicing

I cut the bad wood from the this piece and then sanded back all the fascia so I could treat it all for woodworm before making my reapairs.

The bottom of the door frames also needed splicing

A new piece spliced in 

All treated and primed ready for the next coat of paint

New corner post and cover strips

 Not a glamorous job but I was pleased with the results and so long as the porch has a proper coat of paint it should last for many years to come.

Fitted Oak Cabinets

Last night I completed fitting some oak cabinets. The customers were really pleased with the results and so was I! 

The finished job

The spaces to fill at the start

The left hand-side space, pieps run down the one wall making fixing tricky

They wanted a floating oak mantle piece like the one I fitted for myself last year

the mantle piece with template behind

Fitting the ply template to hold the bolts

Using resin to fix the bolts and make sure they're stuck out the right distance

Template and mantle on the front to make sure the bolts are aligned. 

Mantle piece fixed on

The only fixing holes, to be filled with an oak plug later

Building the cupboards

The top of the left hand cupboard with extra support where the TV is to stand

The pipe work at the back of the right hand cupboard to hide but leave accessible

An oak back fitted in

The cupboard ready for the door, this one is to store their firewood and the little shelf is to hold their stuff for lighting the fire

All ready for the doors

Simple panel doors fitted 

The smaller unit with a pair of doors

All complete ready for some oil

Oiled up

The finished job.

I was really pleased with how this job turned out. 

I've put in some late nights planeing, gluing up boards and making doors.  It can be tricky to fit in work around looking after the children full time but I think I manage to get a good balance and interesting jobs like this maek it really worth while.

The customers told me to put on my website that "It was worth every penny". Made me feel really pleased with the work I'd done.