Wednesday, 25 May 2011
Week 2 of build: 3
week 2 of build: 2
week 2 of build: 1
Week one of build: Other Jobs
week 1 of build: walls
Once we were back from the Easter break we were able to start putting the rooms together. We worked out to fit the set in the room we had we needed to clear all the tables and chairs out that had been stacked at the side of the room, So most of the group set about taking the tables apart and moving everything into another room. I went off to help clear space in the room we would be using as storage. When I came back a few people and Henry had started putting the walls up, I hadn't realised that they had started putting the fireplace together and found that they had attached the wrong walls together, One of the slanted walls had been put right next to the fire place on the wrong side. After noticing the mistake we were able to take it apart and put it right again.
To attach the walls together the two pieces are placed side by side and made sure that from the front they are flush then round the back you screw the side sections together just above the cross bars and at the top and bottom, at corners you need to make the decision which wall will be in front and which to the side and this is based on where you feel the join will be less noticeable. This is the same when making the door ways and the windows; you need to hold everything in position until the second wall has gone on so you don’t put too much strain on any floating pieces. Once all the walls are put in place you need to put a brace round the outside to hold it all together. When we put the central walls up we had the problem of the two walls having to go against each other but you can’t get behind it to screw the header over the door in place, so the first wall we built as we had done the others then we built the second one on the floor and slid it into place checking that the two were flush, it took us five attempts to get the door way perfect but it all fitted together.
It took us a few days to get all the walls up, again we had less people then we were hopping to have in. we built the two rooms as one area and then placed the dividing walls in the middle of this. The only thing that really slowed us down was that we had leant some one a wall and it had not been returned to us when we had expected so we had to wait for it to be delivered. We also miss placed a footer so a new one had to be built.
In the left hand side of Gregors room we have the window where the chair is rested against and at first we weren’t happy with the footer that was in place we felt that it needed a slant but when we put it in again not every one was happy with this so it was taken out and readjusted to a straight edge.
We also had a few issues with headers not quite fitting or being the wrong angle so it took us a few attempts but we got it all up.
Props
- Coat Hooks
- Fire place set
- Cutlery
- Plates
- Old books
- Newspaper
- Photos and Frames
- Doilees
- Fruite Bowl
- Red apples
- Candles
- Fire Guard
- Umbrella Stand
- Jug
- Logs
- Coal
- Bed Sheets
- Dust balls
- papers
- Pillows
- Tools
- Pens
- Train time tables
- Alarm Clock
- Picture of the lady
- Torn Newspapers
- Tray of pristine food
- Tray
- Moth eaten suit
- Old broken watch
Once we had gone through how to build the flats we needed to work out how many and what size flats we needed, we had a few issues with where exactly doors were sitting and I had not realised the middle wall would need to be doubled up, But I noted down all the flats we would need and where exactly they would be going then tallied up how many of each size would be needed so I could just get people to do one size or we could do cutting in batches. The living room wasn't to difficult to work out because the walls are all 8' high so it was simply dividing the width up appropriately but the bedroom was more difficult because of the slanting roof so after we had divided up the walls like we had in the living room, we measured out on the tables the size of the walls and and the hight at the ends from this we were able to work out for the two side walls what size each flat needed to be to make the slopped effect. Once we had the sizes of each wall and I had worked out how many we needed of each size we could start building them.
These are the measurements for the flats for each wall, Also a small diagram to show which letter goes with which wall, just a diagram not measured or anything.
A = 2@4'
B = 1'6" , 2'6"(H), 2@4
F = 2' (H), 2'(F), 2@4', 2'
C = 2', 2'6"(H), 2@4', 3'6"
D = 2@3' , 2', 2@2' (H) ,2@2' (F)
E = 2@2' , 2@4' , 2@1' , Fireplace wall
G = 4@3'6", 2@5'(H)
H= header, F= footer
amount of each
4' = 10
3'6" = 5
3' = 2
2'= 5
1'6" = 1
1 = 2
H
5' = 2
2'6 = 1
2' = 3
F
2' = 3
We spent two weeks building all the flats, we were using new machinery like the air nail gun. The first flat that we built ourselves was the front to the fire place which was done slightly differently because you have to build around the hole for the fire place, so instead of putting on the bottom cross section you mark out where the top of the hole needs to be then put the bar across that, you attach to this strips of the timber for the internal sides and each of these will need a few cross bars to strengthen them, then a skin can be applied. When we did this we forgot about taking the width off and ended up making the hole to small, it was easily fixed and it just reminded us that taking of the width of the side pieces is always very important.
Over the two weeks we worked in teams of whoever came in so some days we were really productive with almost everyone in so we were able to get lots done and we had a few days when we only had a few people in to work on the flats, but who ever was in worked well together. From the list I had already made I would give people sets of walls to make and in the end we ended up with one flat to many which must have been a miss calculation but this was taken apart and used for something else. Everyone had a chance to build and to use all the tools.
we had a few issues with headers and footers, in the last week we didn't know how they were built, if there was anything different and only one person had been shown, it would be unfair to make them build them all so others made some, when they were remeasured a few needed re building, but I think this is because it was the first time we had ever tried anything like this and we had made mistakes on the larger flats as well. but we managed to get them all made before we had to go away for Easter holidays.
I feel that as a group we worked well together on the making of the flats, I tried my best to help anyone who needed my help, as well as making sure that everyone had something to do and that all the flats were made, I was not very good at putting the frames together unless it was holding the timber but I improved my abilities to use a hammer and nails which was something I had not done before.