Volunteer's blog
I was a volunteer with building the pod. I have to say beforehand it was a great experience building the pod, I learnt how to use a wide range of power tools with confidence and I was part of a great team who knew how to work hard. Before the blog starts I feel I should mention that we had health and safety training for this project which included a risk assesment and the correct way to deal with things if anything were to occur. Thankfully nothing went wrong.
Monday
It started on the Monday for me although some of the team were already involved before hand with the designing and the sorting of materials. This basically let me come in and work as part of the team with the building of the pod. We got started by putting up the site boundary fencing which gave us a safe working environment and prevented people from coming on the site. After we got an area to work we got started creating the frame of the floor, there were quite a few components to the floor all of which are made from sheet metal which has been folded to increase their strength.
Tuesday
Tuesday was a day where we but the 11mm OSB board on the bottom of it to encapsulate the bottom of the pod and the insulation from any external elements. Along with that we lowered it onto the screw jacks which we used for the foundations as it allowed us to level it on any surface and there is a wide range of adjustment on it from my recollection I think it was something along the lines of 450mm which is almost half a metre. This is when I realised that the pod was going to be quite versatile in its deployment because if moved it could be placed anywhere and levelled with relative ease.
Wednesday
Wednesday was the day that we started to put the structure for the walls and roof up, this started with the tall posts what was responsible for the pitch of the roof these were attached with round top bolts to give a friendly yet industrial design to the stainless steel finish. The shorter posts and the panels for in-between went in as well. Then the gable ends went in (these are the tallest parts where the ridge of the roof rests) 4 components per end which were 3 shaped panels and a fourth beam type panel which would take the weight from the three panels. This was repeated twice.
Thursday
Thursday the window fitters came to install the windows and doors; I personally am impressed by the windows because they have blinds built into them. While they done that the rest of the team including myself caught up with anything that wasn’t urgent but needed doing before the floor went in.
Friday
Friday was the day when the electrical contractor installed most of the electrical works which was first fix; wires, back boxes etc. While this was happening I was assisting in the collection of the insulated wall and roof panels. By the time that these were dropped off the first one was installed and then it was the end of the working day.
Saturday
Saturday was mainly first fix carpentry which included putting noggins in the floor for the OSB floor boards, so the boards wouldn’t deflect on any joins. Another wall section was installed and that was the end of the day.
Sunday
Sunday, I wasn’t present on Sunday but when I came back on the Monday I noticed that the wall panels were installed, cement boards placed on them for the tiles and stud work for the slat wall was installed as well.
Monday
Monday was when the roof was installed with some extra help so that meant that I was mainly just assisting when and where I could to make sure it went as smoothly as possible (getting batteries etc.)
Tuesday
Tuesday was the OSB flooring and the shop fitting, the tiling subcontractor came in and put tiles on the sides. Along with that the electrician came in and done the second fix and hooking it up to the mains which meant we had light!
Wednesday
Wednesday, Finishing touches to the shop fitting etc. The floor boards were finished and we started to discuss more finishing touches. Laminate floor was also collected this day but it was decided not to install it the same day as it would mean rushing it and that wouldn’t have gave the desired finish.
Thursday
Thursday was a slow day a few of the volunteers went on previously arranged holidays which left a team of three people just doing the finishing touches which was putting silicone in-between the tiles. This was done instead of grout so we could move it and not have any cracking. This was a slow job but once we got a hang of it we managed to do half a side in half an hour then run out of silicone. This meant a trip to the shops for it.
Before the end of the day I was told to make a step for the front to make entry to the pod easier. I was quite worried about this because I didn't have much confidence for finished carpentry, Although by the end of it I feel quite confident in my carpentry skills although not upto professional level I believe they're not too bad.
Friday
Friday was the day of the tall ships so the pod was available for public viewing both internally and externally. I was putting the window seals and answering any questions I was asked, It turns out I managed to learn a lot about the theory behind the pod as well because I managed to answer all of them with relative ease.