Shed build #777

[750hp]

I have been a bit quiet on here lately, but figured now is as good a time as any to start a new shed build thread. I've never done this before, so any tips or recommendations are welcomed.

I have always had a passion for cars but have been so cramped for space for the last 10 years that I'd almost given in and become the "take the car to the mechanic and call me when it's fixed" type of guy.

I've never had a lot of space, nor the equipment (or talent) to actually fabricate anything of substance. This is all going to change with a 4 post hoist, a big capacity 5.5hp 3 phase compressor with an assortment of air tools, a welder, a decent work bench, linisher, vice, drop saw, drill press. You name it, I've never owned it!

The shed will be 16x10m with 5m high walls, and is being built with big 310 UB32 beams so it should still be standing well after I've gone. The steel fabricator was keen to over engineer this shed because he's concerned about the tall gum trees within striking distance of the shed. He has built it so that any tree that (hopefully never) lands on the roof won't makes its way inside the shed and onto cars. I'm tight with my money and never like spending it, but I want to do this shed properly because I can see it being my after-work sanctuary to wind down and play with cars.

The pad was originally cut around 9 years ago so it's definitely had time to settle. Last weekend I had a 3.5T excavator come and cut another 6ft into the bank to give myself room to walk around the shed, plus to have space for the air compressor and water tanks to sit outside and under cover. The additional fill created extra space at the back of the shed, and sits past where the concrete slab will go.

Mum' mighty Kia sitting where the back corner of the shed will be:



Excavator guy earning his money:



Some before and after pictures of the extra earth works:





Two full truckloads of road base ready to get everything level:

[750hp]

The local bobcat guy came around today and turned two truck loads of road base into a wafer thin covering. Where does all the material go? I was on laser-level duties, which is about the heaviest machinery I should be trusted with.



We got the pad levelled really nicely and then I had to make a final decision on where the shed will actually go. Because I've moved the earth bank back a bit, it has given me some options. I decided to do something that doesn't initially seem to make sense, and it might possibly be something I'll regret later, but I have moved the slab location further into the space I created with the recent earth works.

The shed has 4 x 4m bays. Two bays will have doors and the other two bays are facing up to an earth bank. By moving the whole shed "uphill", I will be preventing a straight entrance into the whole of the second garage door (in other words, nearly one metre of the second door will be directly facing the bank. If I can't fit a 1.8m wide car into a 4m wide door on a slight angle, at that point I should hand in my license.

By moving the shed slightly, I will be moving more of the columns into solid rock, with only a couple then having to be dug way down through fill (which has been compacted since being cut nearly a decade ago).

If I hate not having straight entry into the second garage door, I'll get the excavator around again later to move back the rock retaining wall a metre. Not a big deal, but not something I'd really thought about.

What I also hadn't thought about is how long it takes to mark out a slab and where the holes will be dug. I could have spent all day messing around with this. Spend the time to get a perfect angle, then decide I wanted to move the shed a foot to the side. Start again. Get another angle perfect then double check it with a hopelessly inaccurate free compass app on my phone and freak myself out that it is not right. Start again. Measure the parallel lines at various intervals. Measure the diagonal. Change my mind again about the shed location and START AGAIN!!! I can only blame myself.

On this photo you can just see the orange hole marking each 4 metres, with the 8m mark just the other side of the rock wall.



Here are the next two bays for the other 8m length, going back 10m. I'm going to have a mezzanine these exact dimensions, so I have 80 square metres upstairs to store junk and leave downstairs for tinkering.



Now I need to find someone with a 450 auger and the ability to cut through a bit of rock....before Saturday. Any Gold Coast guys with connections to someone with a decent weight bobcat or excavator and a rock auger?

[Millsy]

Awesome, i am in the middle of adding a 2 bay prefab garage and got some of the same pics. Its nothing fancy but now I will have 4 bays and I will be on the hunt for an old school station wagon with the wood grain on the side to fill one of the extra bays. U gotta love garage space. Congrats and good luck on your project!!

[LoBelly]

Great - love seeing the shed builds

LoBelly

[Dimis]

A bit small ain't it?

Glass balastrade on the mezzanine floor and a nice chesterfield arm chair, with suitably size flat screen tv, bar fridge to boot, over looking your toys.
It's probably crossed your mind already, but thought I'd put it out there for you.

Enjoy and congrats!

[Gav]

Looks fantastic thus far.
I love the bush outlook.

[Wazza]

I LOVE the bush !!!
Lol

[Wazza]

Looks great Craig....keep the pics coming.
Cheers,
Warren

[PeterAllen]

Doesn't matter what size they are... NOT BIG ENOUGH... they never are.

[Aussie Mike]

Excellent! Love a shed build thread. Watching with interest.

[07cob]

Craig

This looks fantastic. Cannot wait to see the progress and the end result. Just considering doubling our 12x8m shed so will keep watching for ideas.

Sorry, no help with any earthworks connections.

Geof

[leroy17]

Originally Posted by Dimis

A bit small ain't it?

Glass balastrade on the mezzanine floor and a nice chesterfield arm chair, with suitably size flat screen tv, bar fridge to boot, over looking your toys.
!

Add a brass pole for,you know, entertainment!


Looks awesome, shed space, can't wait to see updates.

[750hp]

Dimis, to take that mezzanine up a notch, my builder mate is telling me how easy it would be to make that level my living area. Wazza and Mario know all about this idea. I could rent out my house and the current 7x9m garage for a nice little income while I live with the cars. The house rent would pay for the unit build cost in a pretty short period of time.

[750hp]

Gav, I'm a fan of the bush as well, even though I have trimmed things fairly neatly leading in to the g spot.

G = garage.

[750hp]

Today was yet another lesson for me about booking machinery that has capacity in excess of what I want to achieve. If someone tells me a 3.5T excavator will do the job, I'm ordering a 5T. If I tell someone I need them to bring a rock auger and they say they know the land around here and can do it with a normal auger, I should insist on the rock auger and pay a bit more the first time.

I had that exact conversation today with a guy who has all sorts of machinery, but who advised me that one of his machines will do the job.

Turns out that it could do the job for drilling eight of the ten holes, but when he hit hard rock, he was done. To his credit, he charged me the cheaper rate for the smaller machine and is sending one of his guys out tomorrow with what I should have insisted on first. The larger machine with the rock auger will finish off the two solid rock holes and I'll just be charged for actual drilling time. He seemed surprised that I'd want to go far into solid rock, but the whole steel frame is already fabricated and is ready to be delivered on the weekend and anyway, I want the foundation to be solid so this thing outlasts civilisation. Who knows how long that will be...

I came home to see holes cut as I'd expected:



...and two holes that weren't really holes. More like a centre punch for the real auger tomorrow:



The overall scene looks like a lunar landing.



The frame is being built with 310 (12") beams. Here are the 5 metre (above ground) vertical columns, cut to suit the 19 degree pitch.



Plates welded in place.



Maybe I should increase my shed expectations to something like this size workshop instead...!



Top hats



Next steps are to get the two rock holes completed tomorrow.
Concrete is to be put into holes to provide a laser levelled platform for the steel to mount to.
Frame delivered on Saturday along with a friend's scissor lift and a hired forklift. The top of the roof will be a bit over 6.5 metres. The forklift goes up to Seventeen. Maybe I should hire it out for everyone to see above the tree tops.
Assembly of the frame is happening on Sunday!

[spookypt]

Craig, nice thread!

Here's my 2 cents worth post shed build 2 1/2 years ago 15 x 12. When I was building it I actually mid way through pad level reduced it in size x 23 sqm as it just looked too big and in essence for its position it was. Built it slightly smaller and all fitted great and everything worked. Then I thought it looked a bit sparse so I bought another car as you do. All good. Then I changed trailer sizes and found the shed depth not enough so had to move my hoist to make it sorta work. Now I find it works ok but not as good as it could have had I designed it for what I "currently have" rather than what I had! Crystal ball!

My post shed build comments are work out the predominant wind direction and make sure the direction that wind enters has a down wind exit as otherwise the non venting of air creates a pillow affect of hot stale air and its too bloody hot to work in. The second is make sure you have a fire system in place for bush fires. Ive just about got mine sorted. You think it wont happen but it does. Of only 3 mandatory house evacuations in QLD in the last 4 years for bush fires, we, Coolum, 5 minutes from the beach was one of them in February. I simply got the wife and squid, passports and her car and drove out. Left it all behind. Had I had 40000ltres of water, ptrol water pump, fire hose and sprinklers going Id have stayed and fought the bastard!

Oh and lastly, if your at the top of a hill fire travels up 3 x faster than down so factor that into your plan.

Keep the pics comin. Oh and what are you putting in a shed that size. Seems large for da cobra and the prius?

[Donunder]

Good thoughts Matt...

I'm a big fan of some means of fire prevention too -- probably not a built-in sprinkler system because of the cost, but a remote pump with plenty of pressure and a nice long fire hose. At least you have a chance of holding things at bay until the pros arrive. Fortunately a gazetted fire trail runs right between the shed and Craig's house.

[boxhead]

I used Mezzanine rated pallet racking.
Great for storage.
I also went 5.2 under the eaves to not bump my head when walking around on the mezzanine.

[spookypt]

Yeah, but as it crests ya neighbours house you realise that

A. Why was I such a tight ass.

B. I'm gonna need a big pharken hose!

[Serpnt]

I went through the same dilemma of extending the garage and adding a hoist but then I thought no, lest do it properly and buy a factory with room to expand.

So in April I took possession of my 230 sq M man cave and have been slowly setting it up. It now has two hoists, holds my 4 sports cars, trailers, all my tools and I still have plenty of room for more cars..........should I ever win tatts as the misses has firmly said, no more cars.

if I have this right ill add some photos