Our work with Kevin McCloud
A drop down veranda is a schizophrenic wall needing to be a floor. Each carries different structural loads and serves different purposes. Thus a drop down veranda is over spec for both jobs. Ours was built primarily as a floor to take the weight of many people at a party. As such it was built … More Kevin McCloud’s Man Made Home, Kevin McCloud’s Shed. DDV notes for the self-builder
The south and east walls were weather-boarded. This is cheaper and quicker to fit as a wall covering than shingles. Sawn boarding works well as a vertical wall with eves but is not a durable option for roofing. However a case could be argued for it as being at least as good as sawn cedar … More Kevin McCloud’s Man Made Home, Kevin McCloud’s Shed. Weatherboarding notes for the self-builder
Building on wheels is one way to show the temporary/mobile nature of a building in planning terms. Kevin’s chassis has been extended and beefed up with welded angle iron courtesy of Will. It sits on four legs like mini acro props, which we used to get the building level. These legs rest on a pad … More Kevin McCloud’s Man Made Home, Kevin McCloud’s Shed. Planning notes for the self-builder
An earthen floor is not the obvious choice for a building on wheels. Heavy building materials need proper foundations. This being a fun experimental project for TV is an exception. The weight of clay was kept to a minimum as its only 75mm thick. It sits on battened plywood between the floor joists. The main … More Kevin McCloud’s Man Made Home, Kevin McCloud’s Shed. Cheese floor notes for the self-builder
The first picture here shows shingle battens screwed to 18mm ply covered with Tyvek breathable membrane. The second picture is us shingling the roof. You can see the patterning of shingle laying which is stepped in from the corners at an angle. This roof is laid at 25°, which is very shallow for a shingle … More Kevin McCloud’s Shed, Kevin McCloud’s Man Made Home, Shingle notes for the self builder
There are two wonderful dovetail joints on tie beams between the back wall and the swept beams. Along with two other horizontal ties they hold the back wall against the spreading/downward load of the roof. These joints will be self-locking on a green oak frame if the tie beam itself is cut from seasoned oak. … More Kevin McCloud’s Shed, Kevin McCloud’s Man Made Home, Dovetail joint notes for the self builders
This type of build is what I call a ‘guided’ or ‘assisted’ building project. Commonly the owner will have a passion for building or design but not the time or experience to actually do it all. Kevin probably does have the skills to build something on this scale but also juggles many other projects, so … More Kevin McCloud’s Shed, Kevin McCloud’s Man Made Home, Building process notes for self builders
