Thread: Dave's Large Shed

Originally Posted by DaveVman

9. Is it realistic to air con part of the woodworking area? Maybe I could wall in a quarter of it and have that part air conditioned. That would still be up to 5m x 7m. Use that for hand tools, assembly and glue up tasks. Keep the power tools and finishing out of it. What do you think?

Dave, I have part of my shed air conditioned. It works ok for me.

Background for my setup is that the shed was there when I moved in so it is how it is. Looking at the shed on Google Earth you can "go back in time" and see how it evolved. It started out as a 6 x 6 metre shed towards the rear of the property - fully stand-alone and 3 metre wide rolladoors front and back and a walk-in door on the front too. Later, a 6 x 6 metre carport was built 3 metres in front of the shed, open on three sides and a five metre rolladoor along the front wall. (this effectively stopped access from the street to the carport and back yard). Next step they put a roof over the three metre gap between the shed and carport and built in the sides of the carport and one side of the gap between the shed and carport , leaving a 3 metre opening on the side facing the house.

That effectively gave me a 15 x 6 metre shed divided into a 6 x 6 metre fully enclosed area and a 9 x 6 metre area with a 3 metre opening along one wall. I put an air conditioner/heater in the 6 x 6 area where I keep my workbench and all my handtools. I also have my milling machine and metalwork lathe in that area as well as some timber storage and the desk where I do all the planning and . The 9 x 6 area is the main timber storage and where I keep all the big machines - tablesaws, bandsaws jointer, thicknesser, lathe, sanders etc.

I do most of the work in the heated/air conditioned space and go out into the larger area to use the machines then go back into the comfortable end to use the prepared pieces. If I have a lot of stock preparation to do I try to find a day where the weather is neither too hot or too cold. In reality I probably would not need the air conditioned end to be that big but the available space does come in handy at times.

Short answer: I works for me. The heating aircon area allows me to go out and do stuff on days that would otherwise be too hot or cold to be comfortable. If you plan ahead to minimise the outings to the end with the prevailing outside temperature on the uncomfortable days it is well worht it and obviously much cheaper than aircon to the whole area.

About 35 years ago I built a double garage 5.6mtr x 7mtr, timber framed, fibro sheeted (non asbestos), corrugated iron roof and steel troweled smooth concrete floor. Cars didn't live in there for very long, something to do with wanting a hobby area I suppose. Best thing I did after the concrete had cured was to put a coat of Bondcrete on the whole area before anything was moved into the new shed. Bondall 4L BondCrete Cement Additive | Bunnings Warehouse

Bondcrete seals the surface so that there is no dusting and oil spills just wipe up with a rag or paper towel. The dried surface looks like it has a coat of clear lacquer. It is pretty cheap, easily applied with a paint roller and is very durable. Mine looks as good as the day it was applied.

I would certainly insulate the ceiling and walls with Rockwool / pink bats etc. plus some sort of foil sheeting and maybe 18mm plywood probably painted white. Keep an eye out for packs of plywood at auction places or Facebook marketplace etc, bargains pop up from time to time if you are patient.

Solar panels can be added at a later date. Contact a solar company to find out if there is anything you need to do at the building stage.

An outside tap & sink is a useful addition, as is wiring for an alarm / security camera system and a connection to the house doorbell has proven to be very worthwhile.
Building a new shed is an exciting project, I hope it all goes well for you.

Alan...

We build sheds that are dust and heat traps and then spend a whole lot more money trying to remove the dust which seems slightly silly when thought about for more than five seconds. My ideal shed would have the roof as big as the slab or a bit bigger. All the walls would be set back to give shading on the slab and the two longest walls would have opening doors down the length of them and the area under the eaves would simply become an extension of the work area and doors open on both walls when working if needed to allow good cross ventilation. This would be a very unconventional build but it would not be a dust trap like sheds are now.

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

.... My ideal shed would have the roof as big as the slab or a bit bigger. All the walls would be set back to give shading on the slab and the two longest walls would have opening doors down the length of them and the area under the eaves would simply become an extension of the work area and doors open on both walls when working if needed to allow good cross ventilation....

You are dead right about the dust and heat trap, etc.. I've only just come to realise this when I've started this thread. Putting everything into words has helped my thinking not to mention all the excellent advise I am getting here. What we usually do is open up one wall with roller doors. What we need is two sides open. This is one reason I end up working in my carport currently.

We have this huge, not steep, area for once in my life. BUT I can't build a shed on it because it would block the view. I still have a big area but I can't have open access all down the long sides because space is limited between the house and the boundary. I can have roller doors on the boundary side. The main access will be from the front gable end (short side). I am trying to position the shed so that I can have one roller door on each of the long sides, so that these two doors are opposite each other for cross flow and in a pinch even drive through.

In discussing this, on this thread I have come to realise what would really make a huge difference is to have one roller door on the rear gable end also. That way the breeze would naturally tunnel through the whole shed. The reason this is a problem is that rear gable end has a great view - hence this was where I was going to put the office. As you have implied, I need to be a bit more creative with the design.

I really wanted to have eaves, but I don't know what steel shed company will do this on my budget. Perhaps down the road, I could make some timber framed awnings over the windows.

We’ve had heaps of sheds, big garages, and massive full blown workshops. By far the best way to get air moving is opening metal louvre vents mounted high up, in the gable ends, they can be opened and closed by a sliding bar, or a simple rod with a hook. Second to this are roof whirlybird vents, but they look bloody awful. In one place we had we found if the gable vents were open, we could open the roller doors only about a foot, and the air was drawn in and through, but we didn’t open the doors which had a concrete apron in front of them as it just radiated too much heat in, open the ones which had grass out front and put a small sprinkler on the grass, and it worked like an airconditioner inside the shed.

Originally Posted by riverbuilder

... In one place we had we found if the gable vents were open, we could open the roller doors only about a foot, and the air was drawn in and through, but we didn’t open the doors which had a concrete apron in front of them as it just radiated too much heat in, open the ones which had grass out front and put a small sprinkler on the grass, and it worked like an airconditioner inside the shed.

You have got me thinking. I was thinking I need to have a large slab infront of the shed gable end of the shed. To park cars etc. But you make an excellent point that this might act as a heater. I think I need to look into those lattice concrete grass pavers. (Not sure that they are called).

Originally Posted by Uncle Al

. Best thing I did after the concrete had cured was to put a coat of Bondcrete on the whole area before anything was moved into the new shed. Bondall 4L BondCrete Cement Additive | Bunnings Warehouse

Bondcrete seals the surface so that there is no dusting and oil spills just wipe up with a rag or paper towel. The dried surface looks like it has a coat of clear lacquer. It is pretty cheap, easily applied with a paint roller and is very durable. Mine looks as good as the day it was applied.

Alan...

Alan, did you thin it down to paint it on or just use it straight out of the bucket?
Thanks