The Great L-Shaped Shed build of 2014!

[TimberNut]

What so close to Christmas and you got a sparkie?

No, I got a sparkie nearly 2 weeks ago. Delays in delivering all the lighting to site has held things up. He told me on Monday "we should be there next monday, just before christmas". When i told him all the large machinery was scheduled for delivery that day, and the shed would be full, and moving the ladder around would be a PITA, somehow he managed to get lights delivered in a hurry, and move start date to tomorrow....funny that!

[Christos]

........ When i told him all the large machinery was scheduled for delivery that day, and the shed would be full, and moving the ladder around would be a PITA, somehow he managed to get lights delivered in a hurry, and move start date to tomorrow....funny that!

[ian]

Lighting - it's hard to know exactly how many I'll need, but we're starting with 21x twin baton 4-foot fluoros, each with 2x 18W LED tubes. They will be set as 10 in the large span, 10 in the smaller span rear section, and 1 in the bathroom. Front and rear sections will have their bank of 10 split across 2 switches each. That means the minimum I can turn on (excluding the bathroom), is 5 in either front or rear section. My thinking there is that if I'm working on the large machines, they'll be in the rear section, and I can leave the front ones off, and vice versa if I'm doing whatever work in the front span - no need to light the rear section. And if I'm just in the rear section and don't need massive amounts of light, I can leave 5 off.

Fingers crossed that'll be enough lights (at the cost - they'd damn well want to be). I know I'll need a few specially targeted lights (ie directly above the lathe, possibly right beside the drill press etc), but I'll deal with those once all machines are in and I know what's going to live where.

You might like to wire the lights on 4 circuits -- splitting each bank of 5 into 2 + 3

that way you can turn on 2 so there's enough light to move around, or 3 to fill the "black hole", then all 5 in the area when you need light to work. Given the small numbers of windows, my guess is that you will have some of the lights on most of the time.
Perhaps make provision to connect the lights to solar panels at some stage in the future.

[wheelinround]

Well I hope this shed has total environmentally sound adornments such as Tanks to catch rain water and service the toilet/bathroom. Solar power to assist with powering this massive bank lights not to mention the growing list of machines.

I can't recall reading such and it would/should have been a requirement by council.

[TimberNut]

Well I hope this shed has total environmentally sound adornments such as Tanks to catch rain water and service the toilet/bathroom. Solar power to assist with powering this massive bank lights not to mention the growing list of machines.

I can't recall reading such and it would/should have been a requirement by council.

Hey Ray, all considered right from the start.
The slab has been engineered to allow for a water tank at a later point should I choose to install one.
re council requirements - If I included solar power and water tank I would have been deemed to be trying to meet Basix requirements, and therefore constructing a dwelling for occupation. During the DA application/approval/construction process it has to be clear to council this wasn't , and isn't , being built with the intention of either me living in it, or putting tennants in it etc.

Hence only 1 window, no solar, and no water tanks (for now ).

Can I cater for them later should I choose to? Absolutely. I've spent 9 months dreaming about where every nut,bolt,screw,pipe,cable etc will go. Just ask SWMBO - she's sick to death of hearing about it. Just last night my 6 year old was stalling, not wanting to go to bed, and I quote- "dad can you take me out and tell me all about your shed and where stuff will go?". As I was about to gladly accommodate her request, despite the late hour, SWMBO realised that common sense wouldn't prevail - and intervened and sent my audience off to bed.
For a brief moment I had a captive audience willing to listen to all the wonderful intricacies of shed construction.... we could have stayed up till the wee small hours talking about it.... Maybe I need to organise a get-together of forumites, just so I have someone willing to listen to talk about shed construction.

So yes, all considered, not in the current implementation, but certainly possible later, should I choose to do so. But until council do the final inspection, issue an Occupation Certificate, and then leave me alone, I have to tread VERY carefully.

[wheelinround]

Legislative stupidity, whats not to say your not going to be made to sleep, wash shower etc etc out there by LOYL anyway and with an impending GtG in a shed that size

Thanks TN for that.

[OldGrain]

Gday TimberNut. Sounds to me theres a an option for a new kiddies bedtime book for you to publish. Even a construction video for movie nights about your big shed.In the meantime the hard yards are done its time for you to have a little liquid amber break.The coldies type that is.

[Christos]

.............Just last night my 6 year old was stalling, not wanting to go to bed, and I quote- "dad can you take me out and tell me all about your shed and where stuff will go?". As I was about to gladly accommodate her request, despite the late hour, SWMBO realised that common sense wouldn't prevail - and intervened and sent my audience off to bed.
For a brief moment I had a captive audience willing to listen to all the wonderful intricacies of shed construction.... we could have stayed up till the wee small hours talking about it..........

Some of us may be a tad older then 6 so the limitations of time do not apply. I would not be able to speak for everyone so in general those reading this thread would be captivated by the process and progress.

............. Maybe I need to organise a get-together of forumites, just so I have someone willing to listen to talk about shed construction.......

You have had over 9000 views so far, we are listening.

[TimberNut]

The last couple of weeks have been all about getting my Felder gear back, and then running power to them all. I had a rough idea of where to locate the machines before they arrived, and then spent an hour or so with the Felder tech moving them around on his pallet jack till we were happy with all the infeed/outfeed measurements etc. We couldn't power them on at that time as I hadn't had any 3-phase circuits run yet.
When he left, SWMBO asked me how long it would be before I could turn them on and make sure they were all ok - I predicted 5 days. Wrong!!! It ended up being 2 weeks.


I was never really happy with the internal wall containing the doorway into the bathroom. When the builder fitted it, I questioned the positioning of the z-purlins and he explained why he'd done it the way he did. Considering I was paying for his expertise I didn't argue, but ever since, it has bugged me. Seeing as the power cables would be attached over the top of this wall, I decided to bite the bullet and rebuild the wall before any wiring was done.


Aside from rebuilding that wall, the main reason for the delay was that in building the shed, I promised myself there would be no half-measures. Over the last year, every time I'm in a commercial premises I've been mentally noting how cable trays are run, and intended to investigate the cost of acquiring some to suspend in my shed. It turned out to be far more cost effective than I thought, as long as I did all the work acquiring/adjusting/attaching them myself. The materials cost wasn't that high (relatively) but the labour cost would have been huge. So my xmas break was spent 9AM-10PM every day fixing the cable trays around the walls and readying all the cables for the sparky to attach. I gave myself xmas day off.


The pictures don't really do it justice. Like any job where countless hours are invested, the better the job, the less there is to see.


The subboard is a 48-DIN commercial board with 160A main breaker. For now I have 4x 3-phase circuits, 2x lighting, and 4x single-phase power circuits running a total of 27 powerpoints. There are still 3 weatherproof ones to be fitted on the outside, and all the bathroom wiring to do after I've had a chance to make some internal walls.


The weather for the last week has been terrible. Pretty hot, no wind to cool you down, and high humidity. Not that I ever really doubted it'd be required, but working out there has reaffirmed the need for a BIG fan, and some powered whirly birds. The recent weather may raise them up to the top of the shopping list.

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[Christos]

That is a really neat job on the trays. It makes things so much quicker to install power.

[groeneaj]

Hey mate,

I'd love to see some pics of the workshop now if you have any?

[TimberNut]

Hi Andy,

I don't have any updated pics handy, but you're always welcome to come by and inspect it in person
I think SWMBO has recovered from endless discussions of the shed construction, but I still reckon she'd rather me bend your ear about it, than hers.

[ajw]

Good to meet you today at the GTG. Your shed looks amazing. So much space. Shed envy. Are you going to the Show next weekend?

cheers,

ajw

[TimberNut]

yep - great day. It's nice meeting people sharing a passion for timber. Glad you like the shed. You're more than welcome to come and inspect it in person, any time. Just PM me if you're going to be in the area (South western suburbs of Sydney).
Yes, I'll be going to the working with wood show next weekend - most likely Saturday. I'd rather Friday but have to be at work that day (