Bolted
January 20th, 2008 - Posted in eco-building - by Brendhan|
We are still plugging away at our workshop here at the croft. We have been able to take advantage of a few sunny days to move onto the next step. As we are not building an areoplane we need to ensure that the garage does not fly away when the wind blows. To achieve this we are drilling holes through the bottom plate every 900mm and at corners, bracing corners and door and window studs. Into these holes we tap in wedge anchor bolts which when tightened wedge into the hole and anchor the wall frame to the concrete floor.
You can see two of the finished bolts in the picture above. The one on the right being within 150mm of the corner stud and 150mm of a bracing strap. The string is set-up so we can ensure the wall is straight before we permanently drill and bolt it!
It’s taking us a long time – drilling each hole takes at least 20 minutes so when you add the time to straighten and check the bottom plate, ensure that the DPM (damp proof membrane) is completely underneath it and then hammer in the bolts and tighten the nuts – we are lucky to complete 2 per hour. We’re getting there though. 19 Bolts in so far – only 15 more to go.
