It's grand to be back in the shed again

**FenceFurniture** · 19th June 2022, 09:19 PM

A buggered hippie kept me out of the shed for about 2 years, but now I'M BACK!

First thing to do was get rid of the plethora of cobwebs (I know, I know....) and do a massive tidy up. I've just been dumping stuff in there until there was nowhere to walk. Not really a problem because I couldn't walk much anyway!

I'm pretty sure the vac hadn't been heard in captivity for all that time. And no, there are no pics of the cobwebs to be published.

The biggest problem was that the tarp over the deck had billions of holes in it after 5+ years. Much water was getting through, and in the February/March rains it was a problem. Furthermore, when I had my first erection (the tarp) I hadn't considered what would happen when it snowed. It wasn't too long before I found that it sagged like a prolapsed bowel. Fortunately I had always been here when it did snow, so I could go down and use my 2' broom to punch the snow up and off the tarp.

So I decided to make the tarp a bit more respectable, and hopefully able to support a full dump of snow (and I think there might be one coming this year). A framework of Pinus crapiata decking was the cheapest solution available. Merbau decking would have been preferable, and also 65% more cost, but the Pinus really is terrible timber. How people can select it for decking is beyond me – it's supersoft, and full of knots that want to fall out (if they haven't already). Some of the knots are so big and fractious that the boards just fall apart. Anyhoo, careful placement of crossover joints and lots of screws will hopefully prevent any problems.

The final result is no guy-ropes, or poles to go with them, except for a nice big almost corner pole addition so accommodate the 3rd ridge pole, which has always been missing.
IMG_20220619_170057.jpg

The front (right) is 40mm higher than the left so water will drain to that left corner.

The frame underneath:
IMG_20220619_173404.jpg

I was quite surprised at how sturdy the 90x90 pole was with just the three 12 x 180mm bolts holding it near the base. Yes there was some movement, but not much. By the time I put the ridge pole across it, and added the pinus cross-members, there was hardly any movement at all.
IMG_20220615_170230_1.jpg

The tarp is secured to the cross-members by truss-head screws through a mudguard washer to spread the pain. There are no mudguard washers left in either of Katoomba's hardware stores.

A couple of years ago, during the drought and bushfires, we had a big dust storm go through here from the west. The entire house was choked up, but the dumping rains of Feb 2020 cleaned a lot of it up. However, my storage boxes in the formply shelves under the tarp have been filthy to handle ever since. So they had to have all their lids washed, as one does of course, which was a preamble job to replacing the tarp. There's about 80 of them stacked two and three deep, and as many as 5 high...
IMG_20220619_173440.jpg

All up, I'm very satisfied with the result, and ready to crack on!

IMG_20220619_170019.jpg

BTW, those two 1200 x 1200 windows face north, and it has been glorious in the shed over the last two weeks. It may be 7° outside, and windy, but inside has been very cosy indeed. Needs some artificial heating until about 9.30, and then nothing until about 3.30. One of my benches cops that direct sunlight, and it's brilliant (quite literally) to do procedures under. Best light source of all.

Thanks to NCArcher for his very capable assistance in getting tarp up into position ready for the frame to go under it.

**Pat** · 19th June 2022, 11:06 PM

Brett, looks ready for a forum gtg!

Maybe in a few months, I can handle Katoomba winter weather, but there are a few denizens of the lower levels of hell, that are not so cold resistant

**FenceFurniture** · 20th June 2022, 12:05 AM

Quite right Pat! I've been thinking about a GTG – been a while.

**Tonyz** · 20th June 2022, 09:31 AM

re the last photo, retake it in middle of the night with a full moon showing through the trees .... or photoshop it in. Love that pic.

**BobL** · 20th June 2022, 10:16 AM

Good to see/hear you are back in action.

How's teh hip?

**Bushmiller** · 20th June 2022, 11:30 AM

FF

Great that you are up and running again: Well, maybe not running exactly, but active. I hope to see you making up for lost time. Well done.

Regards
Paul

**FenceFurniture** · 20th June 2022, 11:44 AM

Originally Posted by BobL

Good to see/hear you are back in action.

How's teh hip?

Brilliant! The tarp project had me up and a ladder and various steps all day long for 5 days. Only on the last day did I get a slight sign of pain. It was replaced last September and I have doing an hour of pool walking three times a week since October, which includes 35-40 one legged squats for each leg. It's that one that really builds strength, where everything is about movement.

**tonzeyd** · 20th June 2022, 12:51 PM

That shed looks like one could live in it and be very happy! Looks very cosy.

I'm curious why you didn't use something more durable than a tarp?

**FenceFurniture** · 20th June 2022, 01:40 PM

Originally Posted by tonzeyd

That shed looks like one could live in it and be very happy! Looks very cosy.

I'm curious why you didn't use something more durable than a tarp?

Two reasons: It's a rental property, although the owner would be cool with whatever I want to do, and anything more substantial would probably need Council approval, take much longer, and cost quite a bit more (although I have stacks of roofing iron down the back).

I learned from the first tarp experience that a double layer will achieve a number of things:

When the inevitable holes do appear (from UV, possum claws, cat claws) the second layer is likely to be still ok (and shouldn't be UV affected)
There will be some sort of air buffer between the two layers which should keep it a little cooler under there in summer (if hot summers ever become a thing again....)
It allows me to have both black sides facing inwards, meaning a silver side is above the artificial lighting under the ridge pole

The other change is that over the back side the tarp used to stop about a metre above the ground and that meant that rain runoff fell so far as to splash up and create problems. The rain falls onto a long pit of rubble, but it still splashed around far too much. This time I have hung a smaller 3.5x3.5m tarp over the rear ridge pole, and it goes right down to the rubble pit, sloped out. The main pair of tarps now finishes even higher (just past the lower ridge pole) but drains onto the smaller tarp. So where I had only half a layer at the back, I now have 2 full layers, and they are screwed down too. The main tarps finishing higher at the back has allowed me to bring them out about 800mm past the deck edge.

**Simplicity** · 20th June 2022, 02:50 PM

Most excellent too see you back at it Brett,
I will of course expect too see a very filthy work bench an shed, with a hive of activity soon,we will of course demand too see pictures as evidence.[emoji6]

Cheers Matt.

**crowie** · 20th June 2022, 05:22 PM

Looks like a shed from the Snow Mts national park in those photos Brett.
Great to hear you're able to get back out enjoying some shed time..
Cheers Peter

**FenceFurniture** · 24th August 2022, 09:32 AM

Originally Posted by crowie

Looks like a shed from the Snow Mts national park in those photos Brett.

Who said it wasn't Peter?

The moment of truth arrived last night.

IMG_20220824_080306.jpg

As you can see below, there is a bit of sag in the timber, but it should be fine. Snow up here only happens 0-2 times per year and is rarely more than this much (about 50mm), although 3 years ago we got about 120mm. I suspect it will be gone in 2-3 hours without any help from me. I'll take a note of which members sagged the most, and perhaps I'll replace those few with Merbau at some point.

IMG_20220824_080329_1.jpg

**Bushmiller** · 24th August 2022, 11:09 AM

Ooooh. A bit nippy around the gills.

Regards
Paul

**FenceFurniture** · 24th August 2022, 11:19 AM

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

Ooooh. A bit nippy around the gills.

Regards
Paul

Katoombrrr.

**crowie** · 24th August 2022, 07:17 PM

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

Ooooh. A bit nippy around the gills.

Regards
Paul

BIT NIPPY; What an understatement Paul.
That’s freezing white stuff is horribly cold!
Kat Tomb Yea!

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