Picking up where we left off!
I had a few extra bits and pieces to finish sanding and staining, so I filled that time up with making sure everything was matchy-matchy and ready to go. The weather kinda got in the way of our 'tomorrow' so 'tomorrow' came around four days later.
The blank slate we are working with is a colourbond wall. Since I'm planning to put in a bench along the back wall I needed to measure at least 60cm depth for that, and I made sure to add enough room for a cupboard door to be opened before the saddle racks started.
I was initially not keen on the Trimdek profile, I've always preferred the corrugated iron look personally. But it turns out to be a very good thing for us in this case since it gives us a nice flat surface at perfectly spaced intervals along the entire wall. And as a bonus, it makes it super easy to mark out where everything needs to go!
Once we had decided the spacing horizontally - and vertically - we had to figure out how to attach the brackets to the wall. Sounds simple. But it isn't really since the wall is literally just a sheet of colourbond...
When the sheds were built a few weeks ago we had piles and piles of packing that had been holding the kit together, so there are tons of scrap timber pieces looking for a home in the yard. In the spirit of waste not, want not - we decided to repurpose what we can.
We needed to create a support structure for the brackets to be screwed into. There would be little to no stability in trying to fit them into the steel sheeting alone - it would be pretty dumb to try. So we cut the treated pine timber 2x4 pieces and fit them vertically between the horizontal steel bracketing that the Trimdek is fitted to.
This is what the inside of the workshop will look like, Spencer will be able to fit hanging space or shelves to them from this side so it'll be handy for everyone!
Once we had everything cut to size and the pilot holes drilled in the steel, it was time to start screwing in the brackets and saddle racks. We decided to go with four of the longer Trimdek spaces between each rack and ended up perfectly spacing the saddle racks all the way to the internal access door. It was just right, finishing up with four across and three high, the plan being to hang four bridle hooks between each of the saddles.
I had to hold the timber from the inside, but one by one, we got the saddle racks up. We found that they were still quite wobbly even with the timber backing BUT we ended up working out a way to fix that.
We were going to fit in more vertical timbers initially, but we realised that we could further stabilise the saddle racks by putting in horizontal pieces instead for the bridle hooks to be fitted into. It worked brilliantly! But, before we can fit the bridle hooks, we will have to make sure that the timbers stay fixed together which means a trip to Mitre 10 for some flat reinforcement brackets. And since it was already getting later in the day, well, it becomes another 'tomorrow' job...
Before we actually finished up for the day, we decided to put the bridle hooks together. There were some casualties - but thankfully we have prepared spares. Phew!
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