Thread: Wood storage shed

I don't have a laser level.

String lines give the irits (but used sometimes).

So to get a right-angle off the first row of posts it was Pythagoras to the rescue. Measure the first row, plot an arbitrary point on the approximately placed perpendicular size. This was supported by a roller stand and adjusted until level, supported by some blocks to take out the dip under its own weight. Square both of those dimensions, add together, take the square root of that total and that gives me the hypotenuse length (a little more on that later).



Seems the curse of the un-rotated pics has hit me as well.

Good thing packers were invented. The middle post was a little out of alignment.



This came about from the slightly curved (8mm as it turns out) rafter at the top that I used for guidance off the vege garden post, and I ah, forgot about the curve. No matter, it won't particularly affect anything (I'll pack out the battens for attaching the steel sheet walls).

I know that using a string line would have helped to prevent this from happening, so a lesson taken on board. OTOH I've been screwed up by strings getting fouled and not noticed.

Looks great so far Brett.
But we must teach you the water bucket and hose trick(clear see through hose)
If no one jumps in and helps me out I find some information on it for you.

Cheers Matt

How big is this shed??

Brett
I think this is pretty self explanatory hope it helps.



Beats those silly little string levels

Originally Posted by crowie

How big is this shed??

2.91 x 5.1 plus iron roof overhang and wall cladding. Will post some plans.

Originally Posted by Simplicity

Looks great so far Brett.
But we must teach you the water bucket and hose trick(clear see through hose)
If no one jumps in and helps me out I find some information on it for you.

Cheers Matt. Actually I'm using a water level - I really like them (you can see it on the table in first pic post #2 with the hose running off it full of blue dye). But it wouldn't have prevented the spacing error that I have to correct. I guess you're referring to "I don't have a laser level", but I should have been more specific to say that I don't have one that could give me three lines for getting right angles and co-planer posts happening.

The other thing that has shifted the posts slightly from the original settings is that I was dumping a little too much concrete off the shovel when I started filling the holes. I could see the posts shifting a bit. I learnt from that, and today when I did it I used much smaller amounts off the shovel for the early stages. The holes are up to 900mm deep so a fair whack of momentum builds up. Small and gently does it for the first (say) 200mm deep of concrete.

Posts seem a bit light on?

The posts are H3 LSOP pine (90x45) and I would have preferred CCA treated H4 or even H5. As such I thought it a good idea to give them some extra water protection with bitumen paint. I was going to take a pic of these caps on the bottoms of the posts, but........anyway, I cut some galvanised steel (roofing) to slightly less than 90x45 and clamped them on the ends of the posts with Sikaflex and a 3-way clamp.

This is for temporary protection of the bitumen that I have painted the in-concrete+200mm bottoms of the posts with. The posts go in and out of the holes a few times for fitting etc and the bitumen on the bottom end of the post could get punctured by either rocks/stones in the hole or the 100mm of blue metal that I put at the bottom for draining away water., rendering it a waste of time for keeping out water.

Originally Posted by Pac man

Posts seem a bit light on?

I can see why you'd think that Paul, but there will be a heap of them (another 13 will be standing on concrete discs - so about 25 posts all up), and they will all be trussed together like a strung up turkey. The plans will show you what I mean.

The plan:



Gotta eat now, so info later.

The outer blue line is the extent of the metal roof. Inside that there is another blue line which shows metal wall cladding. The entry is open (need to be able to access the lowest portion of the yard).

So there are three sections - left, middle, right. On the left there are three bays 1800x910, and there are two of these on the right. The middle section is open, but at the back will be shelving. Each of the bays has two (brown) supports running back. These will be 4x2" hardwood which will support either a sheet of yellowtongue flooring or 4 pine battens so I can stack timber (primarily) on them. Each of these bays will have four or five levels of pairs of these hardwood supports (call them bearers if you like) so that's potentially 40 sticks of 4x2, each 1800 long, plus either yellowtongue or battens trussing the whole structure together. Five roof purlins across the rafters and several battens around the walls should be enough to make it very sound. The metal cladding will add substantial bracing too.

If not, well I'll just have to blow it up and start again .

The floor will be earthen. Skillion roof at around 5° running down the hill (no guttering). I'm not attempting to make it utterly weather-tight as you would a normal building - just keeping the weather directly off the contents, and mostly off the floor.

I'll have a couple of clear polycarb sheets for the middle third of the northern wall which will allow plenty of natural light in (although I may add a power point, and potentially a light or two). This area is sunny in winter but very shaded in summer due to the deciduous trees around it.

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

The plan:

well, plans drawn in Excel.

me thinks it's time you got a drawing program of some sort -- or learnt to use Sketchup

Try draftsight. It's free and very similar to AutoCAD. You can download border sheets, templates etc very easily.

Much more flexible than sketch up, paint etc etc

At the end of Wednesday I had 10/12 posts in the concrete holes.










The digging isn't as bad as it could be but the first 500mm is nice black topsoil filled with an array of bottles, engine parts, stove doors etc etc etc as well as a plethora of roots. Apparently it was the done thing back in the day to use the yard as a rubbish dump. This whole back yard (and it's a big one at 50x9m) is full of rubbish. The worst thing about the bottles is that they get broken and become a nightmare. There are glass chips everywhere, and it concerns me with 3 cats running around barefoot, so I have to be vigilant.

I'm back onto the vege garden construction today (bitumen on the inside of the retaining wall), and hope to get the last two posts in the ground tomorrow.