OMG, what a day. And I mean that with all sincerity – it has been such a rollercoaster ride getting to this point. I am exhausted by the first day, and I wasn’t doing any of the actual work at all, only filming and photographing the progress through the day.
I had the GoPro doing the timelapse through the day, mostly fixed in position, but a couple of times on the rolling, motorised rig I designed. It worked really well, running so slowly that I checked it more than once just to see if the wheels of the rig were actually turning.
The guys arrived at 8:30 as they had said, and it wasn’t long at all before they were in full swing. There is a LOT to be said for using them to do the build, despite the cost. I would have had to stuff around for ages trying to work out what is what, and how it went together, where they were able to get straight into it.
Trestles were set up and the main beams laid on top for the first couple of walls, topped with the brackets for the roof and tailed with the brackets that will dynabolt to the slab.
The first wall was not too big, so that got the full treatment – including insulation, cladding and even the gutters added before the wall was raised into position. The next wall was the main one to the right, and that would have been too heavy if completed. But back to the first wall for a sec, and I was surprised how big it is – I am so used to sheds with a wall height finishing just above the head (if I am lucky), so having one with 2400 high walls at the lowest point is a real shock to the system.
The beams are heavy – no question about it. This is what a fully engineered shed is like, heavy and strong. Other sheds I have had (and have) that come in kits from hardware warehouses (the green and blue ones) are shockingly flimsy compared to this structure.
The structure is not going together with rivets or Tek screws. The main beams are all bolted together. The high caps (think I have the term correct) are then screwed on, but even these are not a light screw. They are still self-tapping (and self-drilling), but rather than just being long enough to get through two sheets of very thin steel, these get through the heavy sheet (and the much heavier beam), then protrude significantly beyond.
When the main section went up, I got to see the real height of the shed (rather than just holding a tapemeasure up in the air!), and the pre-drilled holes for the mezzanine floor.
In one of the photos, you also get to see a concept that Adrian (from All Space Sheds) came up with – a separate upright for the mezzanine at the front, so there isn’t a clash between the mezzanine and the roller door, and that was well-received by the guys doing the build. Apparently there is otherwise a lot of work trying to get it together otherwise, and the small additional cost is well-offset by the better design.
The height of the mezzanine is good – plenty of height underneath (no point having a very high shed, and still have limited ceiling height), and yet a good amount of height above as well, so the mezzanine has a working ceiling height. We had increased the overall shed height at the design stage to provide better headroom, and it has worked – both from a functional point of view, as well as the aesthetics of the shed’s exterior (specifically the difference in height between the wings and the main section). I have seen some American Barn designs where this is so accentuated that it looks ridiculous. The height was chosen so a full sheet (1200×2400) could be flipped over around the short edge. In practice a. you wouldn’t do this and b. it would still hit the lights when they are installed. But that is ok, because the ceiling height is still much higher than I have ever had before!
Pleased to see the guys regularly (and repeatedly) measuring diagonals, and the spirit level.
They are back again Monday, but after that, the shed will remain in whatever state that ends up being until around Jan 6. Given they are still estimating it to be a 6 day build (minimum), I am not sure how finished it may look by the Xmas break. Even so, it looks pretty good even now!
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Filed under: Shed, Shed Build | Tagged: Fair Dinkum Sheds, Mezzanine | 3 Comments »
I did know people (other than me) were interested in the shed build, but I had no idea how that would reflect on site traffic. About a month ago, the website set a new record of 2003 views at the time the slab was being poured (which was impressive seeing as the previous record day was set in 2009 and since then the rise and rise of social media meant more people were viewing the site through other means (Facebook, Twitter, direct email etc)).
Stu's Shed 