Racecar Shack Build, Day One

For a long time now I've wanted to get a shelter built off the back of the barn.  A place for the racecar to live, and somewhere for me to start its rebuild with a roof over my head.

Short of funds for a complete garage to be built I decided a carport would be a suitable solution to the problem.  A recent call to Bill had him booked in to help out with the erection and a phone call to Less2Build had the materials with me by Thursday.

On Saturday morning it was time to clear some space!

And got the woodburner fired up to give us a helping hand.

We spent a while measuring everything out, working our which way the posts were going to line.  With the barn and the adjacent fence not being at right angles we had to work out which way the 'square' of our four posts was going to line.  With everything planned I ran out to grab some postcrete whilst Bill went about digging some holes!

I returned to find all holes dug, and so we set about mocking up the posts and setting them into place.

 

 

With the posts set in place we went about measuring the joist position whilst accommodating a 6 inch slope for the rainwater run off.

It was looking good, and Bill gave it the thumbs up!  Proper job!

It was about this time I learnt a valuable lesson.  When tapping coachbolts into place don't leave a lump hammer on the top of the step ladder ... cos if you lose your bearings and try and step off the wrong side of the step ladder not only will you fall on the floor, but the step ladder will also fall on top of you throwing said lump hammer right between your legs from about 5ft up!

Once I'd finished jumping about and my voice had dropped back down to a normal level we got everything finished off.

All properly finished off with recessed coachbolts and right angle brackets in the corners!

With everything done for the day we made the most of the last half hour of daylight to try and remove some off the abundance of tree and shrubbery near the fig tree.  I'm pleased to say that most of the budlia is now gone!  Its amazing what a few blokes can do with a piece of rope and a bit of heave-ho!

Next up is to move the fig tree, and then the whole carport will be extended to join the barn. In the meantime I'll probably add another joist, brace it with a few noggins, and then lay a nice tin roof over what we've already built.  A perfect shack to build a racecar under!