Thread: Max shed size?

Originally Posted by DaveVman

Labrat made me realize something.
My wife is all in favour of me having a large shed provided it is tidy and close to the house. However she also has this bizarre idea that my workshop is a suitable place to store things. Like suitcases etc. The space loss is one factor but worse is all the effort I have to go to to prevent such things getting covered in dust. A large shed could be disastrous.
So my dream shed also needs a seperate storage room or box that can be shut away from dust.
The scary thing about that is that if I build a space, she'll fill it. Apparently having a minimialist house style doesn't prevent the acummulation of stuff, which then needs to be stored out of sight most of the year.
Buggered if I understand that but I do understand the need for world peace.


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I can relate to that! I built my two story workshop, 9.5 x 7.2 metres each floor (it would have been bigger but the space wasn't available) and then we had to absorb stuff from firstly Mrs P's parents house when it was sold and her father moved back to the old dart and then my parents house when it was sold and we made the fatal error of thinking we needed to keep stuff when in fact it should have all been sold. I built a mezzanine floor and managed to get most of the stuff on that and there it sat for years and did nothing. Eventually we got sick of it all and I backed a trailer into the workshop and filled it several times and filled it with cyclones when I started Clearvue. When that expanded and the whole workshop was filled with just enough room to get about in and that's all. After I was no longer involved with CV the mezzanine floor came down.

Hi there,

After a long time I am now in a position of being able to build my dream workshop. A few years ago we purchased a rural block with the end goal of moving out of Sydney in the future. I currently am going through council for an 14m x 8m shed with a 14m x 6m awning on the front of it. I have to allow space for a compact tractor.

Approximately half the shed will be dedicated to a workshop, which will give me an 8m x 7m space to work with. I also have a 20ft container on site which will be used as extra storage. I am currently looking at layout and lining/insulation ideas.

Originally Posted by Graham99

Hi there,

After a long time I am now in a position of being able to build my dream workshop. A few years ago we purchased a rural block with the end goal of moving out of Sydney in the future. I currently am going through council for an 14m x 8m shed with a 14m x 6m awning on the front of it. I have to allow space for a compact tractor.

Approximately half the shed will be dedicated to a workshop, which will give me an 8m x 7m space to work with. I also have a 20ft container on site which will be used as extra storage. I am currently looking at layout and lining/insulation ideas.

Your situation would suit my dream shed. Lay down a reaaalllly big slab, the shed "walls" would be set back some metres from the edge and the roof would fully cover the slab. The "walls" of the workshop would open like bi fold doors so effectively the whole slab could be used as a workshop but the workshop could have closed walls if the weather was inclement. The arrangement would allow good airflow through to minimise airborne dust, keep the work area cooler in summer etc. The traditional shed is a dust trap, end of story.

Hello Graham99,
I've only about a half of your shed space (3.8 x 7.5meters) and that has forced me to put my old woodfast lathe outside in the rear of the carport. It is one of the best decisions I have ever made. easy to clean up and often with a nice breeze blowing across the lathe. I was originally concerned about security but it is not easily seen from the road as I put up a lattice partition to seperate the car space from the lathe area and myself or my wife are home most of the time. When we are not there it is protected by my dogs a cane corso/ american bulldog cross and a kelpie/shepard cross, sweet dogs but very protective of the property.
I have also spent time thinking about the inside finish of the shed and how to make it more comfortable and useable. I decided on insulating all walls and ceiling with fibreglass batts and lined the ends/Aframe walls with 19mm flooring ply the blue plastic tongues help keep everything in line should a join not fall on a stud and the side walls with 16mm flooring ply. This also allowed me to remove the short diagonal braces alone the ridge line with no loss of strength or rigidity (confirmed by engineer). The ceiling has a line of fluros down the ridge line on a piece of 17mm ply I had available at the time for the electrician to use. This however locked me into lining the ceiling with 17mm ply so that everything lined up. I had originally intended to use 9mm structural ply. After the job was completed the carpenter who did the work commented that he had thought 17mm was way over the top until he saw the final result which was smooth and even, which it would not have been with thin ply. Also the sheets although heavier were easier to work with as the sheet lifter took the weight and the edges did not flex all over the place. The advantage of using heavy ply everywhere is that I can attach things on the wall any where I want.

The electrical is all run in conduit some inside the lower edge of the ceiling and any on vertical walls is run on the outside of the wall so I can see where the cables are and there is no way I will accidentally put a screw through a live wire. I have also included a number of drop down power outlets from the ceiling and a large number down the walls and lights on chains above specific work areas/benches. The real luxury item was a huge noisy aircon unit that was salvaged from an old energex lunch caravan. It will give a 20 degree temp inside the shed when it is mid 30's outside.

All of this work was not cheap as I had to employ people to do the work as I am no longer up to the task, but I believe it was money well spent as this is my main interest and I spend very little on any thing else. All the best.

I'm also a fan of rolling stuff out to work in the carport. It is far more pleasant and clean up is easy. I have power and light put there. Unfortunately my carport floor is not flat or even. So designing a big shed with an awning/lean to/car port all on the same slab would be a great idea.
I dream of having air con.
This year I have two industrial fans. So far I've only found space to setup one of them. It's already made a huge difference. The problem with fans is that it tends to blow up dust into your eyes and it raises the ambient noise level.

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Originally Posted by DaveVman

....My wife is all in favour of me having a large shed provided it is tidy and close to the house. However she also has this bizarre idea that my workshop is a suitable place to store things.......

This is not really a problem having some space to store things that are not being used. One thing that you might consider is the height of the shed. If your future shed is going to store items then you might be able have them placed high out of the way. It takes a lot of time to sort through things and make a decision on what to do with it but once it is done and labelled it is so much easier to get it if you will ever need it.

AND yes it is a suitable place to store things you just have to ensure it is almost dust free.

Originally Posted by Graham99

Hi there,

After a long time I am now in a position of being able to build my dream workshop. A few years ago we purchased a rural block with the end goal of moving out of Sydney in the future. I currently am going through council for an 14m x 8m shed with a 14m x 6m awning on the front of it. I have to allow space for a compact tractor.

Approximately half the shed will be dedicated to a workshop, which will give me an 8m x 7m space to work with. I also have a 20ft container on site which will be used as extra storage. I am currently looking at layout and lining/insulation ideas.

Wack an awning out each side of the container. Bring the three C purlins on each side to an apex above the centre of the container roof, a few top hats for roof battens and roof the lot. Stops condensation and allows for a less than perfect container. Simples.

Graham, 14M X 6M is only just adequate for a compact tractor and all the implements that you will accumulate over time if you don't work out how to make the implements both compact and accessible. I would suggest that each implement have it's own wheeled trolley so that it can be stored neatly with other gear and, when needed, be moved so that it can be fitted to the tractor. Otherwise you end up with a long line of implements that cannot have anything in front of them for easy tractor access but they block access to the area behind them. Farm implements get heavier as we get older so be warned!

Hi everyone.

I have a pallet fork attachment for the tractor and was able to get some old pallet racking from work so am going to use pallets and put away the lighter implements on pallets and put them into the racking. That will enable me to start using vertical space.

The container is going to be put next to the shed. There is a slight downslope on the site, the container will be at the bottom of the downslope. Then I am going to build an extension awning out from the side of the shed to cover the container, which will protect the roof and give me another water collection point.

In the apex I am planning to put in an I beam so I can lift stuff and move it into the workshop. Lighting will be LED fluorescent light fittings. Initially the whole shed will run off generator power until we finish the house, but I will be wiring it to suit the end game.

I will I'll be lining the walls as I want to reduce the amount of heat that will build up in the shed. There will be 3 whirlybirds on the shed to help remove some of the heat.

This is the last workshop I will build and I like things to be just right.

Regards
Graham

Originally Posted by Old Hilly

Graham, 14M X 6M is only just adequate for a compact tractor and all the implements that you will accumulate over time if you don't work out how to make the implements both compact and accessible. I would suggest that each implement have it's own wheeled trolley so that it can be stored neatly with other gear and, when needed, be moved so that it can be fitted to the tractor. Otherwise you end up with a long line of implements that cannot have anything in front of them for easy tractor access but they block access to the area behind them. Farm implements get heavier as we get older so be warned!

FYI the tractor is a Kubota BX25 TLB. I am only planning to get two implements, a box scraper and a post hole digger. There will be a 4 in 1 bucket and pallet forks to deal with as well, however one will always be attached to the tractor.

Graham

I couldn't see a mention of the size of your property, if it's several acres, there could be a slasher/mower involved too.
Kryn

We are on 2.5 acres. There is a ride on mower which is currently stored in the container. It will probably end up sitting just in front or just behind the tractor.

Another area I am looking at is putting some solar onto the shed. I will use this as a battery tender for the tractor, and for some lighting in the shed and container.

Regards
Graham

Build the biggest shed you can, simple as that.

Mine is 50% bigger than my house. It's packed.

A friend with a 6x12 build a 10x20. Both are packed.

My ex's father has a 36x18 (meters not feet). It's full.

Bloke I went to school with has 4000sqm. It's full.

You can have a big shed with a small workshop in one corner. That isn't a problem. When your shed is too small and you spend the first and last 1/2 hour each day moving stuff so you can get working that is a problem.

Build the biggest shed you can.

And probably the most pertinent advice, don't build 8' walls. 9', 10' or more aren't that much dearer but they dramatically improve the useability. You can store stuff in the air space, it will be cooler in summer. I built the biggest shed I could on my sloping block but I could have gone higher for not much $$ and I really regret not doing that.

The cost of tin sheds is basically proportional to the surface area. The cost of the frame is small compared to the cost of the sheeting. Also I'd always go portal frame not space frame. Space frames are or used to be dearer. Portal frames are easy to put up and work really well. They do intrude on the space a bit but make excellent starting points for shelves and other fitout. Also consider a pitch above the minimum. Especially if you might fit solar to the shed roof later.

2c

Hi everyone,

Similar to what has been posted above, I have set my wall height over 3m high as I wanted to allow for my lifted landcruiser with a roof rack to fit inside the shed. The tractor with pallet forks is also going to greatly assist in utilising the third dimension.

Building the power panel at the moment. Allowing for 63A with generator input as I have a 6.5kva generator on site which will be my primary source of power until we are connected to mains power.

Graham