Closing in the Mezzanine

Took a small window of opportunity to progress the work on the mezzanine, adding an edge so it is better isolated from the main workshop.  This has a number of benefits – controlling heat movement, controlling dust (and keeping the mezzanine better isolated), and generally improve the overall finish.

Using some of the leftover offcuts of redtongue to create the ‘walls’, the floor of the mezzanine was deliberately extended to allow enough area on the outside to incorporate the wall, and a length of 2×4 to fully support it.

There is, as you will notice, a fair degree of overhang of the silver sheet, which will then be used to wrap up the outside, completing the finish.

Temperature regulation in the shed will always prove to be a challenge, so any opportunity to control it should be exploited.  By having the upper and lower areas isolated from one another allows an opportunity to do this (and by having a cover over the crane area).  Having a reversible fan would allow air to be moved between the floors (hot air down when the lower area is cooler, and vise versa).  Roof vents could either eject heat, or be covered over to trap it.

And trapping heat in the lower area when it is cold, generated by burning offcuts in a potbelly which I am seriously considering installing.  I have both a potbelly and a reburner (Coonara-like) so will be choosing between them.  I’m tending towards the potbelly – more shed-like.  Also happens to be a smaller footprint which is a bonus.  As the temperature starts to drop towards a Melbourne winter, it becomes increasingly tempting.