Building a home gym, advice needed please.

shodan

D
And breathe..
I'd love to do this, but I won't for the same reason I haven't built a dedicated home cinema.
I simply won't use it enough. I'm not disciplined enough to go down the garden in the evenings to watch a movie or TV show on Netflix and I'm certainly not going to do it to train, especially even the weather is cold and wet and it's either early in the morning or late in the evening.

leeince

LOL, there are a few questions there!!!

I think Sniffer has seen them and thought [email protected]# off

I will use mine, I used to go to a local gym and train at 5am in the morning before I changed jobs, if I could do that for 3 years I'm sure I can make it to the end of the garden

When the work starts I will start a thread for those that are interested!

shodan

Please do mate, always interested to hear about other people's training.

sniffer66

Sorry mate. Having one of those weeks, bloody man flu

First off. I didn't go for the Billy-Oh in the end. I went for this company as budget became an issue

Premium Severn W4.0m x D3.0m  | Log Cabins

This is the cabin I ended up with (although they do the same config in different sizes). I went for 45mm walls to try and retain some heat and went for the thickest floor I could get, due to the weights dropping on it.

Luckily I had a hard concrete base to lay on which was dead level. Once you get the frame on the ground then its just like putting Lego together. It all just slots in as the ends are notched/dovetailed and its tongue and groove.
Because of this its absolutely key that you get the base set up dead level. Slightly out and its all off kilter by the time you get to the top. Use a bubble, over and over again until its sorted.
Once you do that then it takes about 2 hours to get the walls up.

One thing I didn't do, which I wish I had, is get some sealant/glue and put a thin bead along each T&G joint. Event though they are deep groves you still get some draughts in. Plus, its a natural product so you do get some warping/knots. Sealant would have helped fill any small gaps.

Using a T&G offcut and a rubber mallet to tamp down each wall plank ensures you get it fitted in place OK without causing any damage.

I did have a few planks/logs that had warped so much they weren't useable but the company provided a few spares of each type. Worth checking to see how many spares they supply before you order.

The roof is the hardest part to get up but still not that difficult. Like you have said, don't go for their roofing felt. Its crap quality and I ended up replacing it with decent stuff from Wickes. Go as heavy duty as possible and use bitumen if you can. I used cold bitumen from a gun to help seal and fix.

A mate and I got the whole thing up and finished in a day, including the supplied felt. I then treated it the next day. Again, don't use their supplied (at cost) treatment/varnish. Get a decent one from a builders merchant. BUT, test the colour on an offcut first to see what you think. I went for a natural but it ended up much darker than I wanted. If I could do it again I would go for a clear to just show off the natural wood.

Hope that's enough to start with. I've probably not answered everything yet so keep firing away if you need any more...  

sniffer66

Oh, and I didn't treat the interior but would definitely consider it as bare wood marks very easily, especially the floor. Floor-wise I would consider some cheap laminate set perpendicular to the floor bearers. It will help spread the weight of all your kit and provide additional insulation and protection. Then put rubber mats where you need to.

You will also find that there will be gaps allowing a draught where the floor meets the walls and where the walls meet the ceiling. At least there was in my cabin. Budget for some beading (again with sealant applied) to fill these.

I had a sparky do my 100 foot cable run from the house and had a light and two sockets installed. Put the sockets on the back wall, and assuming the rear isn't visible he can run shielded cable across the outside wall between the sockets so you don't see unsightly cable internally. Then get him to run the light switch cable externally under the roof eaves to the front of the cabin. Putting it on the rear wall makes it a bugger to find in the dark

Heating wise I just had an oil filled electric radiator in place. But hardly ever used it, even in the winter. Once you get warmed up you will be glad of the chill. I also had an electric free standing fan as it does get very warm in the summer.

One other question, can you do pullups and chins on your power rack ? I had a big squat rack but couldn't do pullups on it. I ended up drilling the roof supports and inserting a standard 5 foot weight bar through the holes so I could do both. If you go that route then its far easier to do that prior to fitting the roof (the slope stops you inserting the bar easily). It also means you can fit extra support to bear the load if needed. The bar was also useful for hanging rings off

leeince

Thanks Sniffer, top man!

You have given me some bits to consider with the sealant and beading, I will do this!!

Im going with the 19mm floor, im guessing you went with a thicker one?

Did you double glaze??

I like the idea of laying a laminate over the floor running the other way to T&G so I will do that before putting my matts down, good idea!

Im going to get my sparks to run a conduit system in the cabin to hide the cables, I run an electrical wholesalers so this will be pretty inexpensive!

I'm going to wall mount a 2kw convector and run it off a socket, like you said I don't think I will need it much but at least its there.

What are your eaves and ridge heights?

The Power rack I am getting is 2160mm high and does have pull up bars attached, it will be going against the back wall opposite the door but I would like to slide over to the left as far as possible but the roof declines from the centre to the left and right and I was wondering how far Left I can mover it before the 2160mm hits the declining roof, would you have any idea?

Im getting a chippie to build mine with my help, hes built a similar one before but on a larger scale that was used for a pool house, with me now getting him to lay the laminate floor as well I still think two days will be ample!

Im sure I will have more questions mate, thank you for taking the time to assist so far, I will keep you posted!!

sniffer66

Can't comment on the eaves and ridge heights I'm afraid as I've since moved due to divorce so don't have the use of the cabin any more

On the conduit, definitely consider running as much cable on the outside of any non exposed to view cabin wall if you can (usually the one against the fence\wall), then just drill the holes to take the cable into the back of your wall sockets, light switch and consumer unit. Its looks so much tidier than running internal cables. Obviously if all 4 external walls are exposed to view then that's not do-able.

Probably goes without saying as well, but if you are backing on to a wall or fence ensure you have a couple of feet for access and to treat the timber.

I did read a few sites that suggested its much better to treat the timber prior to the build. That way you get every surface covered. However, you need drying and propping space as it dries. An empty garage would be ideal.

My floor may well have been 19mm as well, but it was plenty strong enough, sitting on top of the frame.

I did go for double glazing but to be honest I'm not sure I'd do it again. You only have a single skin wall, with no cavity and no ceiling insulation. Your windows are the least of your worries for retaining heat

leeince

Sorry to hear about the divorce mate, must be tough.

You've raised some more good points, I would like to be able to paint the wood pre build but realistically I don't think it would work with time and space.

I will speak to my sparks and see what he thinks about running the cables on the outside, the back and the left hand side are all out of sight so might be a good idea!

Thanks again mate.

sniffer66

Ha, I miss the cabin more than I miss the ex
I used it all the time for working out and as a home office/den

As long as the cable exposed to the elements is weather proof you will be good. You could always conduit externally to keep it tidy. The sparks will know anyway and he has to sign off on the certificate so will only install something safe and fit for purpose

leeince

Lol, I was going to make a comment along the lines of I bet you miss the gym more than the misses but didn't think it would be appropriate!!

I posted this is another thread in response to another member, what are your thoughts?

"I haven't ordered the cabin yet, I'm having my drive done at the end of May and the builder is doing the concrete base at the end of the Garden at the same time so I still have plenty of time to plan!

My plan with the floor is to lay an 8mm laminate over the 19mm T&G grove but going the other way to the T&G, I will then lay a 18mm stable mat on top of that.

This will give a clearance of approx. 210mm from the top of the rack to the internal ridge in the centre, this will reduce as you go to the left and right due to the slope but should be ok.
Unfortunately 2.5m height and 15 sq meters is the max you can go to without planning permission so I will build it regardless and then fit my equipment in around it, my equipment may have to change but I'm hoping I can go with what I have picked!

I'm now going for the 5m by 3m cabin so do have a little more space!

I think I might knock the dumbells on the head and just get Olympic dumbbell bars and decent collars and a shed load of plates. I can then get a light set of dumbells for the misses.

I have included two new plans, these plans show the internal dimension so represent the floor space I will actually have.

The first shows the bench inside the frame with the treadmill unfolded.

The second shows the bench outside the frame with the treadmill folded up. The treadmill can be folded simply and will kept out the way except when in use, what do you think?"