Thread: Shed build

I was just wondering that i hadn't seen any updates, then i remembered that the garden striked back, for your lack of mowing during the shed build

Hope the foot is healing up, thats one badass set of spikes...

Thanks old1955 and Bryn23. In addition to the spikes incident, this was immediately followed by a gut issue and hospital stay, and consequences for the last month or so. Vertical and freely mobile again as of this week. Never used to be like this when a bloke was 20!

Some light work painting the second mezzanine undersides and joists, eased me back into things.
Also took the 2 corrugated sheets off of the doorway to trim them to the opening; easier than doing it in situ

I got the Ardex A46 delivered, and have started on sealing the gap between the wall cladding and cement pad. The gap is c. 1-3mm, so some strips of 8mm flat bar used as formwork. The Ardex A46 is a non slumping ramping grout, and can be applied from 2mm thickness. Using steel flat bar as the formwork was an advantage due the weight of steel; it sat in place without displacement when the mortar was being worked in. Ardex A46 Spec sheet claims Made in Germany!

I marked 2 levels on the inside of the cladding sheets, the lower at 8mm as the approximate target level, this will give at least 5mm or so fill above the bottom of any sheet. As the lower marking gets obscured once the grout is in place, the second higher mark gives an unobscured reference.

As it is relatively new concrete ( c. 5 months old), Ardex advice was just wetting down would be enough, no primer required. I took the additional precaution of first abrading with a nylon rotary brush, then also general scuffing with a concrete disc on an angle grinder. Then vacuumed clean; instructions are insistent on no dust on the surface to bond to. This was followed by wetting down with a spray bottle several times before grouting.

Mixing the Ardex A46 is a ratio of 3.5 : 1 (Ardex to water), adding the Ardex to the water progressively, not the reverse. A paddle is usually used on an electric drill, but doing a bay at a time which means a strip c. 2.4m x 40mm x 8mm, equates to c. 2L of Ardex as. a mixing batch, so just a strip of offcut masonite worked to mix it by hand. The working time is 15-20 minutes.

In order not to waste the end of the mixed mortar batch, having 2 bays prepped and ready to fill with formers in place, meant the leftover after mortaring one bay, could be filled into the start of the second bay.

A round nosed trowel proved to be the best implement for the corrugated cladding.
Outside the non slumping Ardex sort of oozed through just a bit, forming a sort of bead a few millimeters diameter. As a bead presents a bit of a top surface, ie water trap, I used a nifty little sealant tool to scallop the outside filled gap - worked a treat, one steady passing wipe. If you don't have one of these little red gizmos, they are a great for general putty/ sealer and gap filling work.

more pics:

More grouting the wall to slab gap

I relied to another thread (Beuller's Shed) about using the microfibre paint roller, and made some observations on using these, and it seems relevant to replicate these in this thread.:

I have done c. 340 linear metres of RHS for my shed build, plus three work tables in the last 5 months using just one microfibre roller, and just 3 L of zinc chromate paint.

The roller is very reusable, get a narrow glass jar and lid, add the relevant solvent (mineral turps in my case), and drop the microfibre roller in it between painting sessions and give a shake; occasionally change the solvent, sometimes use the old roller jar solvent to tip into the paint tin to compensate for evaporation.
On next use fish out the roller, scrape it a bit on the lip of the jar to squeeze out the gross excess solvent. The St. Dalfour jam jars are ideal height and width ( the French made contents are excellent too, mostly fruit, not just sugar)
Once fitted to the roller, either run it up and down the paint tray slope to get out the last solvent, this will give a slight amount to thin the paint batch in then tray, or a few back and forth on a rag or paper towel.

The microfibre is way better than the shaggy towelling varieties.

The microfibre can also give a wet edged line on one side; a bit too much paint in the roller, so just lean a bit more pressure on the offending side of the roller for a few passes on the tray, after having loaded the roller with paint.
The reason for the lines is due the pressure applied when painting is often not perfectly even, as the handle is an open loop, so the spring effect applies more pressure to one end (frame side) than the other (open end).

Apart from the even-ness of coating, the roller and microfibre in particular gives a much thinner coat than possible with a brush. Thinner generally means better chip resistance.

A it more trivia, there is a thumb grip too on the handle, so consistent orientation can contribute to more consistent pressure distribution.
The handles on these are relatively large diameter, and this makes for a more comfortable grip - less fatigue.

Hope all is well, and your up and running again, after all the health issues in the last few months.

Still working on the shed or you just taking a well deserved break and enjoying the cooler weather.

Hi Bryn, been mostly horizontal - couch pomme de terre for a while. Back vertical finally and muddling around the last week.
Amusing myself with some light work in the 'wood shop', finishing a small cabinet for hanging sundry larger accessories. Had cut and rebated the sides and top last year (time flies). Finally cut and fitted a back board, and pocket hole screwed it together; the back is stepped 20mm off of the wall to allow airflow - the brick wall is an external boundary wall.
Nothing further on the shed at the mo.

Being upright is good. Hope you continue to recover.

Ross

Good to hear you are vertical and up and about after a bit of time out.

its starting to come together, the cabinets look good.

I just saw your Festool Router template and it reminded me that i have to get around to shipping my festool template and the router carriage back from NZ, the movers forgot to box it..

good grief, it's been 5 months. Another obligation demanded all my free time, but been getting my head back in to it the last few weeks.

Did some landscaping on the sloped side, creating a couple of small terraces, and flat top strip. After digging out all the kikuya (?) and buffalo which had got embedded after dispersing the soil dug from the pad a couple of years ago. Note to self, cart it away next time. Laid some sand and bricks and moved a small garden shed to teh new flat strip, created a bit of a path even. Sawdust $1.10 a bag (bring your own anysize) from Otto's timber.

Dug out the lawn to create a pathway to the shed. Noting a prior note to self, barrowed this out front to the ute, and carted it away. 3 ute loads. Clay, I hate it.

Part of the original plan was to fit channel grate on 3 sides. The left gets run off from the slope and ends up a quagmire, the front and right side get most of the weather; it can't hurt. My engineer mate tells me channel all round and no gutters is common in Darwin - but the channels are way bigger.

The pad is 100mm, and their are eight 450x450x600mm footings which project out 60mm or so from the edges of the pad. The channel is 140mm, so have to chisel down the footings 40-60mm or so in order to get the channel to butt up to the pad edge. After a couple of hours with mallet and chisel, I was thinking I should have got the shallower channel. Also by then realising a hammer drill would be much quicker. After checking Kennards and speaking to a mate, he had a small one I could borrow. Ozito of all things, but it is doing the job nicely, waaaaay faster.

Ran a laser around the dug out path and levels are good to go. So either quartz sand or dolomite base next week. I am allowing a compacted 50mm. Dolomite I am told inhibits root growth and that might not be a bad thing. A paver I know suggested either, but prerenced the quartz.

Still considering 2 patterns to lay the bricks, the 3 x3 would be quicker, and turns the corners easily, and (big plus) does not require cutting half bricks like the half overlapped pattern does. Damm shame I like the overlap. I am trying to talk myself out of it. Somehow though it just looks neater.

Originally Posted by node105

Still considering 2 patterns to lay the bricks, the 3 x3 would be quicker, and turns the corners easily, and (big plus) does not require cutting half bricks like the half overlapped pattern does. Damm shame I like the overlap. I am trying to talk myself out of it. Somehow though it just looks neater.

A diamond blade in an angle grinder makes quick work of cutting bricks, and they are really cheap these days. Cut as deep as you can, then break away. Much easier than a bolster!


Russ

Originally Posted by russ57

A diamond blade in an angle grinder makes quick work of cutting bricks, and they are really cheap these days. Cut as deep as you can, then break away. Much easier than a bolster!


Russ

I had tried a masonry blade in a 4", a bit slow, and needed to cut from 4 sides. I'll try a diamond blade.

Hi,

Thanks for the read, loved the pictures. I'm so chafing at the bit to get a start on my shed. I concur with the diamond blade much better. Or as luck would have it I asked on the "Beer Economy" if anyone had a brick saw and I got one for a week and cost me a carton of 3.5. Beer Economy seems to be a Darwin thing .

I noticed you did not sark the roof and can only assume you did this at a later stage, If I left that out here I'd need an umbrella inside with the amount of condensation we get.

Looking forward seeing how you fit out the shed.

Cheers
Brian

Originally Posted by Brian45

Hi,

Thanks for the read, loved the pictures. I'm so chafing at the bit to get a start on my shed. I concur with the diamond blade much better. Or as luck would have it I asked on the "Beer Economy" if anyone had a brick saw and I got one for a week and cost me a carton of 3.5. Beer Economy seems to be a Darwin thing .

I noticed you did not sark the roof and can only assume you did this at a later stage, If I left that out here I'd need an umbrella inside with the amount of condensation we get.

Looking forward seeing how you fit out the shed.

Cheers
Brian

If only I had got to this over the last 6 months; there was a bloke next door doing a bucket load of paving for the neighbour, brick saw...
No sarking a deliberate choice. Plan is to line wall with batts and second layer of Foilboard. Roof will be foilboard, and possibly batts

Thanks for the update on the progress. I also agree that a diamond blade makes short work on the brick work.