A mezzanine for the new shed

[Vander]

Finally getting around to building the new shed, 6m wide x 9m deep Stratco type shed.....wont know myself! I'd like to build a mezzanine across the back of it. The mezzanine will be about 6m wide by 2.5 deep, approx 2.1 clear beneath, using old pallet racking beams as the floor joists and chipboard for the floor. Ideally I'd like to avoid having a post in the middle of the front so I need to size and scrounge a suitable beam to provide a clear span of 6 metres. Does anyone out there have the knowhow or experiance having built something similar to give me some advice please? I'm thinking a timber beam would have to be be fairly tall to span that distance and will reduce the head height under the mezzanine as well as usable space above the mezzanine, so would prefer a steel beam. Thanks!

[Elill]

+1 I am considering something similar (2 car garage with 3300 ceiling) 6m x 6m

[artme]

Probably cheaper and easier to gt a suitable steel beam from Stratco.

I found them very helpful to me when I built my deck.

[Chris Parks]

I have the same type of floor as you are considering, mine is a bit longer, 7.5 metres by 2.5 deep. The beam was assembled from shorter pieces I scrounged and is a C section about 100 x 50 at a guess. I have not found the centre post to be a problem but it has been there for years and I have gotten used to it. The one issue I do have with the idea is that you can only access it from the front and as it is only crawl height trying to move stuff around and get anything that is at the back can be damned difficult. Seeing as I am not going to need so much storage in the future I am going to cut it down by half so I can access it from both the side and front.

[Vander]

Gday Chris, so you have a post midway along your 7.5m span?

While I was trying to avoid this, it wouldn't be the end of the world...I was just trying to get an idea of the height of a steel beam to span the full width, so I could gauge how much height I'd lose in doing this. I've got some 125 PFC that I can use for the beam but feel that it's probably a bit light to span the full 6m. How far does your 100x50 channel span and what sort of weight is it carrying?

When you say youre going to cut your mezzanine down, do you mean to make it 7.25m x 2.5m?

[Scally]

Hi Vander. The mezzanine sounds like a smart idea.

I have several timber beams in my 6m x 6m shed.

The engineer advised 300mm x 63mm LVL for the 6m span.
It cost $250.00 for a 7.2m length.

I hope that helps.

[Chris Parks]

Gday Chris, so you have a post midway along your 7.5m span?

While I was trying to avoid this, it wouldn't be the end of the world...I was just trying to get an idea of the height of a steel beam to span the full width, so I could gauge how much height I'd lose in doing this. I've got some 125 PFC that I can use for the beam but feel that it's probably a bit light to span the full 6m. How far does your 100x50 channel span and what sort of weight is it carrying?

When you say youre going to cut your mezzanine down, do you mean to make it 7.25m x 2.5m?

Sorry I haven't replied to this, I must have missed the email. The channel spans 3.7 metres or thereabouts and I used the same stuff for the joists to lay the floor on. It has had some very serious heavy stuff on it and is still up. My workshop has a timber frame so I coach bolted a 4 x 2 ledger onto the frame and it holds one end of the joists, the other end I welded to the channel that runs across the workshop. I supported it with some two 100mm gal pipes but subsequently removed one and moved the other to the centre, this sits on a foot plate that should be bolted to the floor but isn't. The floor is 3/4 ply of some random grade, nothing special. I am going to cut it down to half its length to where the centre post is because I am sick of storing junk and if the space is not there it can't be used. Also I want the free head height back in that area due to a new saw acquisition and it will have the bonus of being able to access it from two sides. BTW I engineered this but it hasn't fallen down yet. The biggest problem is using a small depth beam so as not to intrude on head height too much. I have ducks disease so head height is not really an issue with me, my son is 6 foot and he has learned to live with it.