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Jason Lester
Jason Lester's picture
Own Dojo complete

Hi everyone,

I have recently completed building my own Dojo, a long life dream of mine since i was a child. We are lucky to have a fairly big garden which enabled me to build the structure.

I thought i would share roughly how it was built and hope it is of interest to others.

For the foundations i used about 10 railway sleepers which were already in our garden, these were set on concrete. for the frame i used 8 4x4 posts and 3x216ft lengths of timber. To fill in the walls i used pallet wood which i required from buliders merchants, again this was also used for the roof as well as felt.

For the front and sides etc i used feather edged boards which gives the Dojo that cabin look. Inside i used old wardobe doors and panles etc to panel the inside, then painted white.

For the floor i used 2x2 concrete slabs which i already owned, i have my own mats which are in place. The walls have 3 layers and the size of the Dojo in total is 21x17ft clear training area. fully matted with punch bags, Makiwara, mirrors and of course electric.

It has took about 3 years to build and cost around £480 approx over that time, i have had more injurys building the Dojo than i have all the years of Karate training,lol but its been worth it.  It still has odd jobs that needs doing but ready for some serious training.

I hope this was maybe of some interest and help for those who are considering or currently building their own Dojo.

Kind regards,

Jason

Black Tiger
Black Tiger's picture

Awesome, well done, hope to train there

bowlie
bowlie's picture

Awesome! I would love to see some pictures

RigsVille
RigsVille's picture

Great news Jason, many of us dream to have our own dojo.

Do you have any more pictures to make us even more jealous?

Jason Lester
Jason Lester's picture

Hi guys, thankyou for the kind posts. smiley

I took many photos through the different stages of construction, id love to upload them on here but not sure how to go about uploading pics on the site tho frown i have some on our facebook page, i will send a link through a private message soon if ok smiley

Thanks again.

Kind regards,

Jason

MykeB
MykeB's picture

Awesome man!  Some day I'll lay down the foundations for my own little place as well.  If I had the money we've spent in rents in the last 3+ years, we could have built a nice place.  However, I don't think my wife would think a bunch of random people showing up at the house a couple of nights a week would be that great.

Jason Lester
Jason Lester's picture

Hi Myke, thanks for the post.

My Dojo is basicly a big shed, id say the size of a double garage. It really didnt cost that much, i recycled our own shed in which i used the wood for the walls. I got as much free materials as i could and recycled them for the structure.

I even reused the old nails pulled ot the pallet wood etc, for the windows i used see through plastic which i required for free, so really i didnt spend all that much. It still has a lot of work to be done but its ready for use and the little odd jobs will be done over time.

I simply use it for my own private use and private lessons, at the most i can fit 7 of us there without it being over crowded. The project is on going and been extremly hard work but worth all the smashed fingers with the hammer laugh

It is not perfect but one does not want a Dojo to be to comfy, after all a Dojo is a place of work smiley

Kind regards,

Jason

MykeB
MykeB's picture

I read the material list and it looks like you made great use of what you had on hand.  I could have salvaged enough heavy lumber from an old building that was taken down to build half of a dojo.  And that space you have, the size of our main street location where we had 12 kids and 10 adults in their respective classes.  You can do a lot with a small space when you really want to train.  Still, all in all, very happy for you Jason.