I found myself in Home depot to see what wood they had to use to make the carcass of a raised floor in the minivan. I brought a crow bar as I dont have one for the future and a hand saw for cutting the wood.
I had been thinking the last few days how to do it and fit the things I have in storage under the floor, and to have one side door shut indefininetly and build storage there.
The solution so far was to make three joist like sections to take a sheet of ply, or maybe in the finish I will use pine planks. because of the wide spaces between I will need atleast 18mm thick floor covering of ply or 22mm thick planks.
I used roofong baton, its normally used for the times on a roof but is also used for hidong pipes in houses. As this is small sections it will work fine for rhis job too. Longer screws means more strength as well.
Its been a while since I touched some timber and did something productive! Time to but the New drill to work
It kept raining on and off
but it was ok because its Mexico! From this post you can see the basic principales of carpentry if your going to make a stud wall or boxing in of pipes at home.
I started with the middle section just because the dogs were chilling and the space was free. It was the only section that needed scribing. Scribing is when you need to fit something tight up against a non straight edge after cutting it.
I used the wood on top to draw a line transfering the shape of the 'wall'
Then cut the line, and was left with this
I had presumed that the car was symetrical and that both the side loading doors were identical, but they are not!
The other end is in the right place but is in a different position, so it didnt need scribing into anywhere. This part, the bit that goes first on the floor is called the sole plate, and once you got this you can make the Head plate.
Now theres two identical pieces for the rop and bottom, it was time to make uprights or 'studs' A Quick cut on the line and it was ready.
Marking out
On the sole plate, I wanted to mark out every 300mm/30cm where each upright would be going. It needed 7 of them, and I saw the perfect workbench to do it on instead of trying to do it in the van or on the floor outside. In houses you can get away with 600mm but if you want maximum strength go for 300mm.
I should mention that a wall, a much bigger to scale versión of this, would need noggins.
The Work Bench
So I got here the 2 plates and have cut enough uprights and in the second photo they have been screwed into position.
Once the uprights are fixed onto the sole plate, then you can mark out the same distances onto the head plate and screw it all together.
Here it is chucked it the van for a moment whilst it pissed it down outside hahahh...
Here it is in its position.
Once the rain had past
I used the spare wood up and cut it all into upright lengths as I had already cut the head and sole plates at the home depot for the other two sections.
I decided to do the front section next - I took out the carpet so i got maximum head height from floor to ceiling, and so that the mice have no luxury in the new cave I'm building them accidently. (There will be a post soon when I manifest the kitten mouse killer, it hasnt happened yet...hahh)
There wasnt much point in showing with photos the other sections being built, its the same principle repeated!
This is how it looked with all three pieces made and in postion. I have not screwed them to the floor because I dont know when I will get to finish it and i need a place to sleep hahahah.
I might even be able to move on soon, imagine that!!
Have a great week