Thread: American barn style?

Originally Posted by DaveVman

For the front with the 3 rollers doors - if I go American Barn - this is a big problem. I can have a carport, but it would be 3.5m spacing in the car port. That would be more annoying than in the shed.
The other issue I have with a front apron is that it would be a slab of concrete soaking up the afternoon sun and creating a steady flow of super heated air to drift into the sauna we call a shed. My worst nightmare. So I was thinking I would make a front apron of those grass block pavers. The one with concrete blocks you can park on that have grass grow through them. Fine for parking. Not much good for dollies. But much less thermal mass.

Build your shed with a large concrete apron, and a grated drain between the shed doors and the apron. The drain acts as a thermal break against conduction of heat, but allows dollies to traverse with no problems. When the shed is complete, build a full width carport/verandah/shade structure over the apron. The heat issues go away and you have a large covered space.........

You will almost certainly find that the coolest (?!) approach is to insulate the garage doors and then keep them shut, unless they are facing south. That will also help to mitigate the "heated apron" issue. Thermal mass is not really relevant, other than it releasing heat overnight, your issue will more likely be the apron reflecting heat on to the shed doors. Grass or shade are your only options to minimise that (gravel doesn't help, from experience), but I'll cover that in a minute! You could, of course, put pipes through the apron and cool it with pumped water, which would also give you a supply of warm water, but that doesn't help the reflection issue all that much...... And remember that unless you have a hot-all-year climate, you might need heating in the winter which is why thermal mass with removable shade is a good solution. However, once you get in to real eco stuff you will discover (if you ignore the hype and concentrate on facts) that all those eco solutions have pros and cons, and the best option is micro-climate specific! Except black (or any other dark coloured) roofing, which is always a disaster.

Those "grass filled block" things are awful (IMO). No small wheel will go over them, and you end up with a graduation from the ones nearest the shed which are filled with dirt, sawdust, metal shavings and old engine oil, to the ones furthest away that are filled with weeds and puddles of mosquito larvae. Oh, and ants. And the oil that drips from your old car kills the grass and poisons the soil.....

Serious comment; if you get involved with old cars you will, at some stage, want to pressure wash an engine/chassis/entire_car. A concrete apron with a perimeter drain (either a drain to a sacrificial area or a drain to a sump, depending on your eco-friendliness) is useful. An apron full of grass filled holes, probably not so much. Also note that you can pressure wash to ground level on concrete easily, but on loose surfaces (like those grass filled holes) the pressure washer digs holes and sprays the dirt/soil over everything you've just cleaned.....

I'm not sure where you are, or what the rules might be, but in rural zones in my area of NSW you do not need a DA, or any other "official" approval or council involvement, to build a "rural shed" up to 100sqm. A "rural shed" is one that is typically recognisable as a shed, and not designed to provide accommodation. In reality this means that anything 100sqm or less that has "shed" style doors and no bedroom (toilets and basic "tea room" kitchen are OK) can be installed whenever and wherever you like, and as far as I know there is no limit on how many you can build. I mention this because whilst I realise you are trying to get all the big expenses done in one hit, if your costs go down by avoiding council involvement and you can separate the functions to different sheds, that might be a better option!!