Volpone
Zombie Hunter
Holy hell. Work on the TARDIS has been the mandatory next thing on my "when you have time" to do list forever. The last week or two, it's been too hot to work on it. Today was cooler and I had time after the morning dog walk and before lunch so I got my start. First I had to unload all the crap in it so I could see what I was working with. And if I were smart/disciplined, that's about as far as I'd have gone today. But I am neither, so I waded in.
I'll try to be brief but no promises. For reasons I forget, I built her without a rigid base. A tall 4 sided structure isn't inherently strong or rigid--particularly if 1 or both ends are open. It can twist and warp. Moving it a couple times exacerbated this. Being out in the elements over a decade compounded it. My last major repair was to retrofit bracing at the base. The problem is that a lot of the existing wood I was working with was pretty badly rotted. Insects had also infested the structure (I'm pretty sure they're carpenter ants, not termites, but the point is academic, both destroy wood). Finally, the location I ultimately moved it to had fairly soft and unstable soil. So each corner settled at a different rate. Each corner also rotted at a different rate. Insects decimated my base repairs.
The problem with repairing the base of an aging structure is that all the weight is resting on it. I'd formulated a few plans using automobile jacks and timber. But most of my jacks are a pain in the butt to get out and I didn't have as many boards that were the height I needed. Also, the first jack point I selected was stupid. It was convenient but if I'd remembered how I built the thing, I'd have realized gravity and paint were all that was holding the roof to the sides. It still held up admirably, but it separated before I could do any foundation work. Next I moved to my original plan, jacking off the POLICE BOX signage around the top. The way I'd built it, this was fairly robust structural material. But then again, a dozen years ago, so was the base. The plan worked about half the time. The rest of the time it just further tore the top from the sides but with much time, sweating, and cursing, I eventually got everything jacked up and adjusted. This completely and utterly failed and I wound up with worse warping than before I'd started. As I was wrapping up for the evening, I resorted to just pushing on each side to try to square everything up. This worked better than I'd like to admit but in the end I expended a day, exhausted myself, created a big mess, and damaged the roof to fail to significantly improve the base situation. I've still got to go in and rebuild the base framing that was a big part of why I started this project, but that will have to wait until I have time, money, and good weather.
Oh, the other reason I went down this rabbit hole is that it was too wet to cut grass.
I'll try to be brief but no promises. For reasons I forget, I built her without a rigid base. A tall 4 sided structure isn't inherently strong or rigid--particularly if 1 or both ends are open. It can twist and warp. Moving it a couple times exacerbated this. Being out in the elements over a decade compounded it. My last major repair was to retrofit bracing at the base. The problem is that a lot of the existing wood I was working with was pretty badly rotted. Insects had also infested the structure (I'm pretty sure they're carpenter ants, not termites, but the point is academic, both destroy wood). Finally, the location I ultimately moved it to had fairly soft and unstable soil. So each corner settled at a different rate. Each corner also rotted at a different rate. Insects decimated my base repairs.
The problem with repairing the base of an aging structure is that all the weight is resting on it. I'd formulated a few plans using automobile jacks and timber. But most of my jacks are a pain in the butt to get out and I didn't have as many boards that were the height I needed. Also, the first jack point I selected was stupid. It was convenient but if I'd remembered how I built the thing, I'd have realized gravity and paint were all that was holding the roof to the sides. It still held up admirably, but it separated before I could do any foundation work. Next I moved to my original plan, jacking off the POLICE BOX signage around the top. The way I'd built it, this was fairly robust structural material. But then again, a dozen years ago, so was the base. The plan worked about half the time. The rest of the time it just further tore the top from the sides but with much time, sweating, and cursing, I eventually got everything jacked up and adjusted. This completely and utterly failed and I wound up with worse warping than before I'd started. As I was wrapping up for the evening, I resorted to just pushing on each side to try to square everything up. This worked better than I'd like to admit but in the end I expended a day, exhausted myself, created a big mess, and damaged the roof to fail to significantly improve the base situation. I've still got to go in and rebuild the base framing that was a big part of why I started this project, but that will have to wait until I have time, money, and good weather.
Oh, the other reason I went down this rabbit hole is that it was too wet to cut grass.