Breaking Ground - Finescale - of a sort

[Peter Insole]

I am so sorry if I have lowered the tone with my last post, but I couldn't help "kicking out" as a reaction to what had just happened.

One of my neighbours commented "After all the effort they've gone to, I can't understand why they don't just do an honest day's graft?"
I rather ruefully felt compelled to reply, "Let's face it, with their skill-sets, or indeed the lack of, they would only get paid tuppence an hour, pay tax and national insurance on it, and have someone breathing down their neck every five minutes reminding them that they are idiots and telling them to work faster!"

We tread a fine line, and I'm afraid that crime does seem to pay in too many people's minds, and that will probably forever be the case?!

Rant over, and on to a hopefully more positive note:

I finally managed to pick myself up enough to tentatively get back to the task in hand...



I used to think I was reasonably good at bricklaying, and gained some satisfaction from doing it, but that was a long time ago! Ha hah! I had not only forgotten that chokingly persistent aroma of fresh "muck", (as opposed to the distinctly different "Postcrete" stuff) but on the art of mixing, let alone applying it!

I draw some comfort from the thought that this work is purely functional, and that any roughness of finish will not really be too obvious once the building is on top of it?!



See what I mean about a fine line?

Any proper brickie might consider what I have done is almost criminal - and it took me all afternoon to get this far as well! Thank goodness I didn't have to suffer the attention of a guvnor.

In all likelihood I would probably have been rapidly escorted off the site?!

Pete.

 

[Eastsidepilot]

I am so sorry if I have lowered the tone with my last post, but I couldn't help "kicking out" as a reaction to what had just happened.

One of my neighbours commented "After all the effort they've gone to, I can't understand why they don't just do an honest day's graft?"
I rather ruefully felt compelled to reply, "Let's face it, with their skill-sets, or indeed the lack of, they would only get paid tuppence an hour, pay tax and national insurance on it, and have someone breathing down their neck every five minutes reminding them that they are idiots and telling them to work faster!"

We tread a fine line, and I'm afraid that crime does seem to pay in too many people's minds, and that will probably forever be the case?!

Rant over, and on to a hopefully more positive note:

I finally managed to pick myself up enough to tentatively get back to the task in hand...

View attachment 172187

I used to think I was reasonably good at bricklaying, and gained some satisfaction from doing it, but that was a long time ago! Ha hah! I had not only forgotten that chokingly persistent aroma of fresh "muck", (as opposed to the distinctly different "Postcrete" stuff) but on the art of mixing, let alone applying it!

I draw some comfort from the thought that this work is purely functional, and that any roughness of finish will not really be too obvious once the building is on top of it?!

View attachment 172188

See what I mean about a fine line?

Any proper brickie might consider what I have done is almost criminal - and it took me all afternoon to get this far as well! Thank goodness I didn't have to suffer the attention of a guvnor.

In all likelihood I would probably have been rapidly escorted off the site?!

Pete.

You can sack the Hod carrier leaving the bricks in a pile like that !

Col.

 

[Peter Insole]

There is a certain law, and I have once again fallen foul of it!




Having modified two of the post brackets for the first of the floor joists, the next task was to drill eight holes in the concrete for the 8mm "Thunderbolts".

Having not required the use of masonry bits for quite a while it took some searching to find an appropriate one! Any feelings of triumph where soon dashed as the located bit was blunt as b, and far too short in the chuck! There was no alternative to dashing out and picking up a brand new one.

Three bolts went in - eventually, but one appeared to strike a rebar - or so it seemed...



I am reasonably happy that having three all the way down should be sufficiently gale-proof at this end, and that later cutting the fourth bolt short would at least be better than nothing?!

The other end might be easier?



Oh no, no, no!

Every single bore struck something hard - and utterly impenetrable - after just a few millimetres! On each in turn, no dust whatsoever came out, only smoke as the bit head started to burn! Surely, I couldn't have managed to catch steel on all four points?

I decided to check by switching off the hammer mode and pop an ordinary HSS in, giving it a few turns and carefully inspecting the tip for any sign of metal shavings.

Nuffink! Not the slightest glint. Just an instantly mangled tip! What in the blue blazes could be so big and hard buried down below...??!

It turns out it was indeed blue:

I had completely forgotten that when I (with the help of a friend) was laying that pad (over thirty years ago now) that I was making the concrete in a borrowed, ordinary little electrically driven mixer, and pouring from the "western" end. The whole thing had to be done in one go, and during the process we noted with some concern that we were going to run out of muck before reaching the far end! Making sure that enough depth was still available at the load bearing edges meant chucking some more bulky rubbish over the hardcore towards the centre! In amongst that lot were some broken "Staffie" path bricks, and one of them just happens to be exactly where I need it not to be!

I really don't want to shift the support bracket too far in from the corner, but I seem to have precious little choice in the matter now!

Pete.

 

[Focalplane]

When we lived in a converted old barn in deepest Somerset a few years ago, we decided to install a top of the line LPG gas hob in the kitchen. When it arrived, the gas fitter read the instriuctions and noted that a wider bore gas line would be needed. This could not use the existing path so a hole had to be drilled through the ouside wall. We measured it and it came to well over a foot and was made of the local stone, a particularly nasty Pemian conglomerate with round pebbles of pure quartz up to at least one inch in diameter. A drill was rented with appropriate bit. For an inch or so everything went well, then the bit hit a pebble (a.k.a. your Staffie). It loosened the pebble which then simply rotated and did not allow any further penetration. Ir was obvious this would not be the only pebble (it wasn't) so I got to thinking of how holes were drilled in the old days. Hammer drills have largely replaced the old Rawlplug system using a hard "chisel" and mallet. I say chisel because I don't know what else it was called. But what you did was slowly chip away and blow out the bits. We managed to rent the appropriate tools and made better progress, finally completing the hole wide enough for the pipe and its sleeve (the existing small tube had been installed without a sleeve).

I think this technique might just work on your Staffordshire Blue, certainly worth a try and you won't need such a big and long hole. Even if you can only get an inch or so, four short bolts in lead plugs should be enough as long as the fit is reasonably tight in each one.

I only just read of your nasty incident. Full empathy from my wife and I.

Paul

 

[Osgood]

Agree with Paul.

Whenever I've had trouble (and it can be something a simple as a hard flint pebble in concrete presenting flat against the tip instead of at an angle) I've resorted to a good quality steel punch (preferably with a chisel type end, but will work albeit less efficiently without) and hammer - keep partly rotating the punch 10 degrees or so before each blow.
For small dia. holes an old masonry drill bit is ok but the usual warning re. hammering the end of something hard like that (scheme a soft steel adaptor).
Same applies to large holes into say filled ground - e.g. a piece of 4" dia. heavy steel tube cut serrated teeth into one end, 1/2" hole across upper end for bar to rotate, and a welded heavy cap sitting inside and across the top to absorb hammer blows (even so the tube eventually bells out and may need cutting back).

Whatever it is will eventually break up - hopefully before the operator!

 

[Ressaldar]

Hi Pete,

A suggestion for you to ponder - why not get some 75x75x6 ali angle 100 long, bolt that to the brick course and screw into the end of the timber joist, then use your adapted post brackets set say 450 inboard of where you have them and then you should be clear of your Staffs Blues, screw the timber joists in and you then have central support for the joist as a bonus - and you have made use of the adapted post brackets. The timber joist will have four solid fixings to hold it in place and you can build on from there.

kind regards

Mike

 

[Peter Insole]

Thank you so much Paul, Tony and Mike, you have given me some hope at a point where I was about to give up!

I did wonder if one of those old Rawl tools was my only hope - and had a jolly good root around for my own, but without success! I haven't seen it for years!

I had another go this afternoon using water to cool the bit, and it did seem to get a little bit further before the new bit failed! I refuse to buy another one, so decided to try cutting the bolts short, thinking that four like that might still spread the loads. There were just not enough threads left to lock without breaking the concrete away - and I discovered that the hard way, so now I have four holes too large for the bolts!!

"Lead?"... Ah hah, of course Paul! Thats the way they always did it!!

I can afford to use a chisel to smash my way in with all the force necessary to break the obstruction, ditch the modern fancy bolts and pour molten lead around some studs! I have kept a small pile of old lead pipe removed from our house under the workbench, thinking that it might come in handy one day!

Mind you, I won't be using any asbestos guttering and a paraffin blowlamp to melt and play with it like I did when I was a naughty ten-year-old!

Pete.

 

[Osgood]

My go-to when the fixings won't fix or just blow away the brickwork (common with old soft reds when you expand the fixing e.g. rawl plug too much) - resin anchor grout being simply a modern (and more expensive than?) version of molten lead:

Rawlplug R-KEM II Styrene-Free Polyester Resin 300ml - Screwfix

Order online at Screwfix.com. Low odour bonded anchor suitable for solid and hollow substrates. Suitable for repetitive use in confined spaces and can be used in water-filled holes (except sea water). For use with standard silicone gun. Supplied with 2 x nozzles. FREE next day delivery...

www.screwfix.com

Never bothered with the anchor sleeves.

 

[Peter Insole]

Sorry folks, there are no photos of today's shenanigans as it started tiddling all down at the station, and play came to an abrupt end. Shame really as I had at last broken through on two of the four holes required and was beginning to feel a little chirpier - despite the exhaustion!

I had a go with a brand new, long pointed cold chisel this morning, but the only thing I managed to do was to generate a lot of noise and pretty sparks before bending it, so in desperation it was back to jarring my joints to bits with the chattering hammer drill.

This time I tried a narrower masonry bit, and again kept it cool by filling the hole with water. Imagine my sheer delight when after what seemed an eternity with little apparent progress, the muddy water in the first one suddenly disappeared! When I pulled the bit out, the colour of the sludge at the tip had changed from a pinkish grey to a distinctly cream shade! The latter was almost certainly remnants of old lime mortar that the original blue bricks had been set in, so that - and the depth of mud showing on the bit was a positive indicator that I was indeed all the way!

Just a bit of "ordinary" concrete below to whizz through before reaching the bottom on those two now - and a load more fun with the hard stuff for tomorrow?!

Whew, what a marathon putting up this simple building is turning out to be?!

Pete.

 

[Simon]

Well it won’t be blowing away once you have finished!!

 

[Peter Insole]

It might look as if I am over egging the job Simon, but it is more a result of past experience. We happen to live in a "windy corner", and that is purely a consequence of the local topography. While East Anglia is generally vulnerable anyway, even relatively slight "blows" in the district tend to get funnelled turbulently into the valley and strike our terrace and gardens with some force. In the thirty-odd years we have lived here we have had five notable incidents that have involved structural damage, and that's without counting the number of times we have lost aerials, slates, greenhouse glazing, shed roofs, shrubbery, and in the old days had to go in search of widely scattered dustbin lids!

I just want to give our lightweight little station at least half a chance of surviving the next one!

Pete.

 

[Osgood]

I can see where this is leading - the next project, just for those windy days:

 

[Dog Star]

Spurn Head?

 

[Focalplane]

Our second home in France was a second floor apartment which faced Le Tramontane, a wind which blows through the Carcassonne Gap down to the Mediterranean. A new build, our first night saw all the guttering blow away, rapidly replaced the next day as the builders were still on site. The old style shutters on the windows were mandated by the Mairie to be in keeping and as the local cash machine was below I did wonder what might happen one day. It is said that magistrates take into account the noise of the “Tram” when sentencing miscreants, reducing sentences accordingly.

The experience pointed to a less windy location and even more so for the precious railway room. This has no windows and feels like a bunker against WW3, being part of an old warehouse.

How we learn from experience!

 

[Osgood]

Peter @Peter Insole , have you given any thought to how you are going to issue tickets from the station building once opened?
Might you be requiring one of these?

I have an idea......

 

[Dog Star]

Oh lovely, do show how the date stamp is changed.

 

[Osgood]

Oh lovely, do show how the date stamp is changed.

Well......as it is not another recipe request, ok then.

As the ticket is shoved into the slot the hinged front plate moves in, squeezing the ticket between date stamp blocks.
At the same time the pawl indexes round on the ribbon winding mechanism.

 

[Tom Insole]

Correct me if I'm wrong @Peter Insole but don't you already have a silver one of these ticket stamps?
I know for a fact we're already sorted if there's a rail replacement bus as Dad's definitely got the ticket dispencer for a london bus conductor!

Tom.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Correct me if I'm wrong @Peter Insole but don't you already have a silver one of these ticket stamps?
I know for a fact we're already sorted if there's a rail replacement bus as Dad's definitely got the ticket dispencer for a london bus conductor!

You might want to 'borrow' a few items from Acton for the line..... (all my photos)

 

[michael mott]

whenever anyone mentions Acton it give me a warm feeling because that is where I grew up walked to Gunnersbury Park many a day in the summers with by sister and brothers. this was before the LT museum was established at Acton Depot and used to walk to Acton Station to go to the Science Museum on Saturdays.

Michael