'Shop Flaw...

The big day finally arrived last Friday, and to mark the occasion, SWIMBO snapped this little pic and put it on my Facebook page so now the complete world and his wife knows that I've finally got there. It's a strange and surreal sort of experience as at the moment it feels like I'm on a weeks leave before we go away for a bit of late summer sun in the Red Sea, so it'll probably hit me when we get back...I won't have to get up at 6.30 when it's pitch black (...is there anything worse?) have some breakfast, make my sarnis and walk down the road to meet my mate Kirk for the ride to work.

Nope...it's all very bizarre at the moment, but I dare say I'll get used to it!

The main activity in the 'shop though, has been to strengthen the existing floor. When I built it a few years ago, I had an extreme attack of parsimoniousness (good word that!) and decided that one central sleeper wall would suffice.

Big mistake...huge time!

I made the joists a measly 3"x 2" and as a consequence the floor had a somewhat better bounce than a circus trampoline...as anyone who's been in it will testify! Now that I'm about to install much heavier equipment, I've rued the day that I made that decision.

The third pic shows the first part of one of the new sleeper walls being laid, with cross noggins to additionally support the joists. I used 50mm thick paving slabs to lay the timber on and I swear that they're just about the heaviest and most awkward bloody things that I've ever had the misfortune to manhandle.


















The final pic shows the new floor going down, which I made out of 18mm ply which was then covered with some hardboard.

Finally, I had a fantastic day yesterday at Axminster, courtesy of Ian Styles who gave me a personal guided tour of their facility, including an in depth look at the way the firm operates. I didn't know that if an order is placed on-line (during the day) their system is so good that 13 minutes later, the goods are being loaded onto the back of a lorry...now that's some sort of efficiency!

Needless to say, a very considerable order was placed on the day, which, if you you care to peruse future blogs, will be elaborated on in much greater detail.

But enough of this nonsense...I'm on me hols tomorrow!