Steel sheds... what's the difference?

[wun4us]

Wise man. Ruminate at leisure and your choice should be well defined and clear in your mind. Time taken is time well spent.

[Beetle Shirt]

Not too late, havent ordered anything just yet. Still trying to decide what size to go for etc!

Well that bit's easy, at least - think of everything you want to put in it, work out where it goes and how much room you'll need around each piece of equipment. Then triple it, because you won't even be close.

[danny.s]

Solid access door on mine. Maybe the changed them recently?

[dakotax3]

Several years ago my investigations led me to realise with Ranbuild you are better off to include erection/construction. They are much better at it than us/we and the savings are not huge if you do decide to do it yourself.

[damian]

Couple of observations:

Build the biggest shed you can fit/afford. This isn't bravado, if you build a smaller shed than you could have you WILL regret it later.

I built an adro 15 years ago. It was at that time the cheapest I could find. I'd just bought the house and had limited budget. The building inspector commented on how good a shed it was. It's stood up to everything since, although the truck that backed into it left a few dents

At that time there were 2 types, portal frame and space frame. Space frame is dearer (or was) and IMO uttlery hopeless. Portal frames are simple (like me), strong and work well.

Putting it up was a nightmare. It looks simple but working out the details on how things should go together is disasterous. Once you've done one it's fine, but one of the people helping me is a builder and he was stumped a few times. I took 4 week leave thinking that would be enough, in the end I hired my mate and laboured for him.

One saturday morning I was minding my own business just pottering around looking at the kit. In the space of an hour I had about 8 "mates" all keen to help. By the end of the day my drill was a smoking ruin and I was further from finishing than I hd been that morning. YMMV, but good intentions are no substitute for a plan and organisation. Don't underestimate the complexity or size of the job.

Shed is good. Building shed not so much.

[Beetle Shirt]

Yeah, what Damian said.
I put up the three arches with some friends, then called in the assemblers to do the rest. Far better idea than doing it yourself, because the quantities supplied are very precise. Screw something up and you may end up with bits you can't use and more expense to replace them. Get the installers to do it and you'll be amazed how quickly it goes up.

Re the personal access door, it's reasonably sturdy, but the skin folds over the frame to give it rigidity, which means the sides where you put the hinges are very thin. I added some extra steel to give the screws something to bite into. Ditto with the hook you mount on the outside to hold it open. All in all though, I would buy another Ranbuild if I moved to a place without a shed. It would be a lot bigger though...

[Onezero]

Thanks very much for all the recent replies. I will be going with Ranbuild and most likely a 5x6mtr shed with on PA door and a 2.7mtr roller door. No window to maximise potential shelf space. Dad is a sparkie so lighting won't be an issue.

This is the biggest I can go with my budget and is going to cost me about $8k inc/ a slab. I appreciate the advice about putting it up but it's something I really want to do and the $1500 it costs will be better spent on my other renovations.

[BobL]

Sounds good. Dad being a sparkie should save you a few bob too.

[Beetle Shirt]

Sounds good. Are you going with the standard 2.4m height? It works well with lining it because sheet materials come in a 2.4m length, but now that I have it and am looking at hanging stuff from the roof to get it out of the way, 2.7m or even 3.0m would be much better. The extra height would also be useful later if you decide to hang an awning off the side of the shed.

My rolladoor is 2.7m too, on one end. My PA door is on a long wall, at the other end of the shed from the rolladoor. The combination works well for cross ventilation.

Oh, one more thing that may be useful. I have 2 skylight panels in my roof, and I highly recommend it - I really don't need the lights on unless it's getting dark. My 3x6m shed runs East-West along the long axis. To prevent too much direct sun in the shed I put a translucent panel in the centre of each bay, with the panels on the South side of the ridgecap. This means I get light coming in, but very little heat.

Ok, 2 things. Make sure you get enough of the aircell insulation to cover at least the roof and north wall. Best if you can insulate all of it, but if not add West, East and South in that order. The aircell goes on as the walls go on, so it's held in place against the horizontal beams by the colourbond walls. When I checked mine after installing it the outside of the North wall was uncomfortably hot to touch, but the inside of the aircell was barely warm. This stuff is worth every cent, and don't skimp on the light stuff - go for the full 13mm. For my 3x6 I used 2 rolls to cover the ceiling and all 4 walls, excluding the PA door, rolladoor, window and the 2 skylight panels. I had a few pieces left over, but not much. For your 5x6m you should be able to do it easily with 3 rolls. If the budget doesn't stretch to the aircell, I would suggest you sacrifice something else instead. This stuff makes a huge difference to the shed, and by its nature you have to have it up front - the most effective and easiest way to fit it is as you assemble the shed.

[BobL]

Ok, 2 things. Make sure you get enough of the aircell insulation to cover at least the roof and north wall. Best if you can insulate all of it, but if not add West, East and South in that order. The aircell goes on as the walls go on, so it's held in place against the horizontal beams by the colourbond walls. When I checked mine after installing it the outside of the North wall was uncomfortably hot to touch, but the inside of the aircell was barely warm. This stuff is worth every cent, and don't skimp on the light stuff - go for the full 13mm. For my 3x6 I used 2 rolls to cover the ceiling and all 4 walls, excluding the PA door, rolladoor, window and the 2 skylight panels..

I agree about the value of insulation, especially the aircell. When I insulated and lined my shed I found the biggest remaining radiator of heat into the shed was the PA door (mine is 1200 mm wide) so I insulated that as well and it made a considerable difference. I don't have a roller do so my new shed is extremely snug and will be even snugger when I insulate and line the old shed attached to the new one. I was pleasantly surprised how much insulation and lining helped reduce noise levels helping me keep sweet with the neighbors.

[Onezero]

Forgot to mention I was going to get the Aircell stuff. I think that was an extra $400 or something. The shed will run east west long ways with the majority of the sun hitting the roof. It's right on the boundary for the north and east side/end.

I will get out there with my iPad and the sun tracker app to see where the sun will sit from the sheds point of view.

Q about the aircell on the walls. I imagine if it get's hit with sparks from a grinder it wouldn't like that too much. I did just buy some R3.5 batts for $10 a bag, thinking I should buy a few more if I could so I can line a wall of the shed instead of the Aircell.

Re: wall height. I got the quote done for 2.7mtr because when I went to have a look at their displays I was so impressed with the 3mtr high one I was tempted the get the 3mtr one so I could put in a mezzanine level to store all the useless (wifes) crap that will find it's way into there.

Oh, the shed will be a true multi purpose structure. I was to train in there (stationary bike, basic gym) fix and make stuff in there, get away from everyone and everything in there.

[BobL]

Q about the aircell on the walls. I imagine if it get's hit with sparks from a grinder it wouldn't like that too much. I did just buy some R3.5 batts for $10 a bag, thinking I should buy a few more if I could so I can line a wall of the shed instead of the Aircell.

The inside of the new part of my shed looks like this.

The far end is rockwool insulated and miniorb lined for exactly the issue you describe above, ie it's the metal work end of the shed.
The white walls are gyprok - its cheap - and this section is aircell lined. The rest of the shed will be aircell lined except for the wall behind which is located the external DC enclosure and for that section I will use some left over rockwool as it should be a (slightly better) better sound insulator than aircell.

[damian]

The extra height will help a lot with heat, and it means a LOT more storage space. It's usually not too much dearer. High walls plus whirlybirds are probably at least as good as insulation plus you can make higher shelves.

I made the mistake of putting a window in mine. A *&^%$ broke in through it about 6 years ago and stole a motorcycle out of my shed.

Also remember: indirect light is nice but any direct sunlight will destroy anything it hits and the glare will be a problem for you. If you must have skylights or anything make sure they are south.

6X5. Mine's 7.5 X 9. I'd filled in in a year.

[Beetle Shirt]

Yours should work well with the indirect lighting then. Looking at mine facing north it is two 3m wide bays, each of which takes 4 roofing sheets. I have a translucent sheet in the middle of each of the bays on the south side, so I have 2 sheets of colourbond, a translucent sheet, 2 sheets of colourbond, a translucent sheet and 2 more sheets of colourbond. On the north side of the roof (peak runs east-west) I have a whirlybird on the west bay. The south side of the west bay has the PA door 600mm from the end, and the rolladoor is in the east end.
The aircell is pretty tough stuff, and it goes with the foil side facing in so I think it would handle grinder sparks pretty well - at least from a reasonable distance. Happily I don't have to test that theory because of the 12mm 5-ply lining. Adding batts between the aircell and lining might help, but I don't think it would make too much difference. The aircell packaging says the optimum results are with about 40mm gap between the aircell and the wall, so in the roof it should sag! With the colourbond wall on one side and the lining on the other I think it would be pretty close to that airgap.

If you have the option, go for 3m over 2.7. You'll never regret having it too high, you can always use a ladder. It would also mean you can swing long items around without hitting your lights. My fluoros have wire mesh over them, and I've tested it a few times. Very handy to have that wire protecting the tubes.

[Shedblog Au]

Aircell is tough, so was my Nissan Patrol, yet it didnt like grinder sparks. I suggest that whilst it wont burst into flames from some sparks, the foil will be marked and it wont look as nice...like my Patrol...LOL