Hey friends,

Finally, a sunny weekend! I made the most of it and now have a functioning log store and I sorted my roof leak, but first...

☠️ Asbestos

I've got the results of the test back. Before buying the kit I was having a read through the Homebuyer report we had done when purchasing the house. As well as pointing out the shed's potential asbestos roof, it also stated that the garage roof could have asbestos in it as well:

Joe and I had gone to town on it last Autumn without much protection and it's still lying in the garden. I was a bit skeptical but decided to order a 2 sample kit to test both just in case:

And here are the results which were emailed to me the next day:

So good news on the garage roof sheets (NADIS = No Asbestos Detected In Sample) but as expected the shed roof is asbestos. I'm not surprised. In fact, when snapping a piece off I could see all the nasty little fibres:

And this shit is lurking everywhere:

Frankly, if it isn't timber it's not be trusted. Fortunately though if it's not disturbed it's not hazardous. If your house was built after the turn of the century you should be free of it.

As for what to do about mine, I think it is DIY-able. If the roofing nails come up easily then the sheets can be kept whole and if I wear a decent hazmat suit it shouldn't be dangerous. The council will collect for a cost. That's not a recommendation mind, I haven't looked into the options properly yet.

🪵 Log Store Progress

First stop was Wickes to pick up eight 3m x 38 x 63mm CLS timber. The benefit of going to the store over delivery is being able to pick your timbers. I put this one back.

Back at home I opened the double doors of the garage for the first time and cleared out the bit I'd be working on and made a mess everywhere else.

First I attached the bottom plate to the concrete floor using rawl plugs and screws + washers. I decided against masonry bolts as I'd be needing to do the same to the walls and the bolts are bit too chunky for single skin brick.

Under both the bottom plate and studs against the outer walls I laid a continuous piece of DPC to prevent damp from reaching the untreated timber. I then fitted the top plate and filled in the rest of the studs. I was going to go with 600mm on centre but for what I'll be cladding the wall in, it doesn't matter what the spacing is so I made them all equidistant from each other at around 550mm on centre.

Happy with the progress I took a break to have some fun with the fam. Who needs snow!

Back on it, I used some mini joist hangers to create a kind of box. This will block off the top from intruders; give the wall greater strength since it's not attached to the ceiling and also keeps the section above part of the inside of the garage so my long ladder can extend over it when in storage.

Here's where I changed my mind on what to clad with. Instead of metal sheeting I decided to use the boards that made up the roof of the garage before replacing with metal sheeting. I was saving them to cover one wall of the future workshop but they're a bit woodwormy so probably wouldn't suit hanging things from but are good enough for this purpose.

To attach I used my Dewalt first fix nail gun with 50mm nails I had left over from doing the closeboard fence. My hope is the boards won't contract and create gaps because they've been stored in the garage and should have dried out completely by now. I can always put some black membrane on the other side if gaps do start to appear though.

So then I put on my lumberjack shirt and started chopping. The wall is set back 24" as I've read wood burners take up to 12" lengths of wood so this allows me to store wood two rows deep. The space is around 3.3m3 and a quick googling tells me that evening and weekend use of a wood burner throughout winter typically uses around 2m3 of loose logs, so almost two winters' worth!

At the bottom I put in some pallets to keep the wood off the ground and to help with air flow. Then I wrapped some mesh over the front to prevent leaves from blowing under.

There's still a bit left to do: one of the doors is proving difficult to remove and the black-painted timber needs attention but I'm pleased. I decided against creating sections for now but may make a box for the lower right side to store kindling. Total cost was £48 for the timber, joist hangers and a few screws. Everything else I had. That's a lot cheaper than replacing the doors and it's more functional.

Like it?

💧 Roof Leak

My next task was to figure out where the leak I mentioned last week was coming from so I went up onto the flat roof for the first time where I got a good sense of the size of the future side extension:

This will be the view from the master 😁.

Once I'd finished admiring the view I honed in on the skylight which was looking rather tatty...

...and found some holes.

Figuring this was the likely culprit I decided rather than try to pull off what was already there I would simply brush on primer over the whole lot...

...and once dry I applied Bostik flashband (which the primer comes with):

The flashband is fairly flexible and would make a decent and cheaper alternative to the Tyvek FlexWrap I used around the windows and doors in my garden room.

We'll have to see what the next meaningful rain brings but I reckon that's sorted it. As a whole the roof isn't in great shape but we just need it to survive a few more years until we do the side extension 🤞.

While I was up there I did a spot of painting of the pebbledash and re-pointing of the brickwork too. I'm not sure if it was the sunshine or the change in perspective but it's rather a nice thing working on a roof.

So that was my weekend, how was yours?

👋

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