Project Snooker Shed!

[DeanH]

sorry, I mean not the overhead dimensions but the shaping of the curve of the slate into the pocket

[Danger Steve]

Ah, so the ‘start of slate drop’ to the actual ‘fall’, the slight chamfered/rounded edge? I think I read on GL’s website blog the pro tables have an almost square edge, whereas club tables have a larger round to encourage the ball to drop into the pocket.

[Shockerz]

Just caught up with your thread Steve, sorry to see you've had a few issues. I remember having a snooker building construction on the website similar to yours with the vapor barrier on the inside but take a look just in case it helps.

20 years ago I built wooden studwork in side a single brick garage. From outside it went brickwork, air gap, 4x2 with rockwool, plastic solid non breathable membrane, plasterboard.

I barely ever hear it and never had any damp
There us a constant air flow around what is essentially a wooden box.

My Dad always hammered home structures need to breath so I went over the top.

if you look at the blog building on the website he also has plastic on the inside, what looks luke a breathable membrane on rhe outside and a gap on the outside boarding half way up for air flow.

There seems to be many types of timber framed wall construction, some with plastic under the plasterboard and some not but there are many examples on Google images to choose one.

Hopefully this doesn't confuse matters but getting airto the inside for me must help.

[Danger Steve]

Thanks for that! Some hardcore shed building there, it looked VERY cold! Lol

The air gap and air flow is the missing ingredient that I need to fix. How I do this without taking too many backward steps is all I’ve been thinking about over Christmas and new year... But I have a plan now so just need some more funds and some time on my hands so I can get to work!

Hopefully looking to have it all up and running by Easter!!?!? :snooker:

[Danger Steve]

Hi Chaps!! Sorry I haven’t posted in a while but Iv’e been working away for the past couple of months on and off and just haven’t had time to keep the thread updated with all the latest news & photos.

So far the shed walls and ceiling have been stripped, an air gap has been introduced to the roof and it now has rigid insulation to help airflow. The penetrating damp issue has been resolved externally and the shed is now dry! I’ve installed a thermal insulating vapour barrier to the entire inside of the shed and then re-fitted the wall and ceiling boards. The humidity has dropped and I can control the temperature much easier now, in fact over the past few days of the heat wave the shed has remained nice and cold!

Last weekend the slates where finally installed onto the table, I only spent 2 days (on and off) levelling Lol!!.. I’ve temporarily installed the old cloth, firstly to give me some practice and secondly to try a few diagonal shots across the table and some shots down the cushion to test the level.... so far so good!

I’ll be back home this weekend so I’ll get some photos uploaded of the progress!

[Cue crafty]

Thanks for the update Steve, in these times of extended boredom its great to hear some good news and i'm please you're overcoming those issues and cracking on. Look forward to seeing the photos!!

Cheers.

[Danger Steve]

I would have been close to having it completed for Easter but now Thurstons are closed sourcing the final parts needed is virtually impossible...

[Danger Steve]

Regards levelling the table these are the steps I took (right or wrong) as follows... feel free to chip in with any other tips!

I positioned the frame exactly into the space to leave an even gap around the table later, at this stage I did not level the frame at all as the concrete floor was reasonably level, but I did quickly try my 6 foot level across the main supports to check they where flat.

Next the slate was installed and positioned square with the frame beneath. At this point I used the 6’ level to work around the edge of the table levelling on top of the slate with packing, the idea being that I would just transfer the packing to each corresponding leg which should give a good starting point and just leave some fine tuning!

Next using a 2 tonne car jack and some blocks of wood to reach the frame I placed the packing under each leg which gave me a pretty good base level to work from. Then the tricky bit! With a smaller more accurate level I worked my way around the table fine tuning! I quickly realised just how frustrating it is to level a snooker table! As you level one side it can effect the other side and even the surface joints where two slate butt can appear a small step if one end is slightly off level. The other issue that can show itself when the table isn’t perfectly level is that it doesn’t sit fully on the frame, so here I think you need to resist the temptation to pack off the frame and instead continue fine tuning the leg packing! A couple of tips I quickly learnt... each time the table was jacked up and released back down I would sit my body weight on the table edge to help the frame settle quicker, I would also double check the leg bolts for being tight every now and then with all the up and down goings on!. Another tip, check the bottom of the legs by trying to wobble them! They might look like there sat fully on the floor but I noticed occasionally I would adjust one or two legs with packing and then a third leg would actually be floating slightly and not taking its share of the weight! So here I used some very thin card just to take up the very small gap without affecting the overall level!

One important aspect for anyone trying to level a table and something that I wasted a good hour or more trying, was hitting a ball very slowly across the diagonal from corner pocket to corner pocket! From yellow pocket diagonally the ball travelled perfectly straight, from green pocket the ball curved to the right and missed the pocket by some 6-8”, I tried this multiple times with and without side on the ball and still I couldn’t get the ball to travel straight... I then spent ages wasting time trying to alter the levels of the table, to the point where it was in actual fact probably off level and the ball still wouldn’t go from green pocket to black pocket without curving off course! Eventually I concluded the fine swirling grinding marks present from when the slate was originally made and polished/ ground flat must be affecting the way the ball was travelling and called it a day! Day 2 I pretty much started again and just levelled the table back to how I had it before, ignoring the diagonal testing and trusting the level!

Next I decided the best way to test the table before filling and sanding the slate joints and calling it done, would be to fit the old cloth back on and once again try the diagonal shots! After probably only 30-40mins of wrestling with the cloth I managed to get that on pretty good considering it’s was my first ever attempt! (Never under estimate the power of You Tube videos!).. Surprise surprise the diagonal shots now ran absolutely perfectly straight from every position! Still not 100% happy I played shots very slowly down my imaginary cushion with the aid of some timber batons to stop the balls dropping off the table! I did notice some slight ‘wobble’ as the balls slowed close to the pocket, which is either the table needs further micro adjustment or this is simply the nap of the cloth tacking affect???? Ideas on a postcard!?!

So there it is... how I levelled my snooker table! Next task is to take the old cloth back off, fill and sand all the joints and give is a good clean up! I think I’ll then probably try fitting the old cloth a few more times until I’m confident with the technique. Hopefully the shops will be back open in a few weeks time and I can place an order for all the out standing parts to complete the refurb!

[Danger Steve]

Here you can make out the mould growth towards the bottom of the wall structure on the back of the exterior PLY sheets, in this photo I have already cut off the old 'none breathable' membrane installed by mistake.

[Danger Steve]

Another photo showing just how badly the damp and mould growth had spread.

[Danger Steve]

The rear gable wall after a couple of days of persistent rain! As you can see, the exterior boards are drawing the rainwater up the back and completely soaking the bottom 2 feet. Fortunately the membrane acted as a dampproof barrier which ment the 4x2" timber framework has been uneffected by the damp.

[Danger Steve]

The Solution!

So to combat the rainwater drawing up the back of the sheets I installed a kind of decorative skirting board to the bottom of the exterior shed walls, the boards are the same gravel boards used for cladding the front of the shed, however I simply cut a 45 degree chamfer to the top and bottom edged of the board to create a drip edge! For added protection I also cut up some strips of the membrane which where fixed to the bottom of the PLY and bridged across to the foundation so no rainwater could bounce back up behind the PLY sheets, the gravel board/skirting board was then fitted over the top and the top joint sealed with silicone.

[Danger Steve]

Once I had dried out the interior or the boards, I removed the mould with a bleach mix and added some timber treatment. After another few days of heavy rain it appeared the new drip boards had worked well and the damp stopped tracking through to the inside.

[Danger Steve]

Next I turned my attention to the roof! The idea here was to remove all the rockwool insulation that was packed into the roof space, cut out the none breathable membrane, remove the mould, add ventilation holes at the eaves and air vents into the apex of the roof at the gables and finally replace the old insulation with new rigid 50mm insulation to create a 40mm air gap!

[Danger Steve]

Once the ceiling and walls had the insulation installed I then opted for a aluminium thermal vapour barrier. This would stop the hot air from inside the shed meeting the cold air and causing condensation or and future mould growth. I also added more vents to the interior of the shed which I can shut on or off should I want to add air con in the summer.