Thread: New shed. Now, how to fit it out?

Originally Posted by Ross

Duncang

Make sure they put plastic sheet under the slab. I have seen them skip this.

Ross

Hi Ross,

What is the purpose of the plastic and under what conditions is it needed? My mate (who is also getting the same shed as me from the same company) asked the concretor and he said its not required, but perhaps this was just for his particular site conditions

We've just had tons of rain up here in Bris - hoping its not going to delay things too much but the ground is absolutely soaked.

Thanks,
Duncan

Duncang - I'm pretty sure the plastic is to stop the concrete from drying out too quick? So if your ground is fairly damp or the weather is fairly humid and cool, you won't need plastic. I'm no grano though so that's just my thoughts?

Looking good Beetle Shirt. You won't regret taking the time to seal the floor like I am still regretting doing and will probably never get around to doing. Actually I am having a garage sale this weekend to clear some crap out my shed before I re-design my layout so if I was going to do it, after the sale would be the best time. I might have to bite the bullet!

The plastic under the slab does two things. During the initial cure it prevents the slab from drying out too quickly due to the ground absorbing moisture from the concrete. In use it also reduces the water uptake through the slab, a bit like sealing it from underneath. Definitely worth doing.

Rained last night, now sitting at 16C and 83% humidity. Not ideal weather for painting, and that 2 hour recoat time is looking unlikely.

Thanks Wazzbat, that makes sense to me.

Floor is looking good Beetle - I think that's the product I'm going to go with. I like the idea of being water based. How does it go for slipperiness?

Duncan.

Originally Posted by duncang

Hi Ross,

What is the purpose of the plastic and under what conditions is it needed? My mate (who is also getting the same shed as me from the same company) asked the concretor and he said its not required, but perhaps this was just for his particular site conditions

We've just had tons of rain up here in Bris - hoping its not going to delay things too much but the ground is absolutely soaked.

Thanks,
Duncan

Not enough water and the concrete is too weak and cracks.......too much water and the concrete is weak and cracks. There is a sweet spot of just enough water to complete the chemical reaction of the concrete, that's why the higher strength 27? MPa concrete's only difference to 20MPa is a plasticity additive that allows less water to be used. So for $60 or so you get a roll of visqueen plastic to prevent either to much or too little water from happening.

Duncan

Ask you builder why is it manditory to put plastic underneath the slabs for new houses. Rising damp is not pretty and definately not good for anything housed in your shed.

The company that built my shed puts plastic under all their sheds no matter where they are built.

Ross

It's now a real shed. I don't have pics yet, but spent most of the day with the sparky here fitting 2 circuits, 9 powerpoints, 8 lights and 2 2-way light switches.

The last few days have been pretty busy. On Monday I emptied the shed, did the site prep for the floor sealing and did the prep coat. Yesterday I did two topcoats of the Berger Jet Dry Aquatread and some domestic stuff. Today was the sparky work.

This is the first topcoat. The prep coat was very thin and seemed to 'bring out the grain' of the concrete, highlighting all the flaws. The topcoat went on smoothly and thickly, and covered very well. This is just after finishing the first topcoat.
Attachment 150048

This is just after the second topcoat. The tarp is covering the bandsaw - still in the box - and the bench drill press. Too much of a pain to move any further.
Attachment 150049

This is from this morning after the second coat has dried all night. In the foreground is the reason for the fencing in the previous shots - preventing doggy autographs - and one of the reasons I'm not worried about the bandsaw being in the yard under a tarp. He's also the reason there were dirty pawprints on my nice new paint within seconds of the fence being removed.
Attachment 150050

Lights and power done!

This shows the power points (9 of them) one of the light switches and 6 of the 8 lights. Two of the power points are single outlet 15A switches, the rest are 10A dual plug outlets. The bay on the right of the pic has no power points because it will be a storage rack.

The other light switch is out of shot, just below the submain board in the top left corner. There's another pair of lights closer to the rollerdoor entrance. The light switches are both double two way switches, so the bays of 4 lights at each end of the shed are controlled as a group from either door.

Very happy camper!

Attachment 150248

I did discover that I need to fill the gap at the bottom of the lining sheets though, otherwise I will be forever losing things.

Awesome!! If I knew you personally I would probably hate you for having such a magnificent setup that I am so envious of

Love the lining, but looks like you forgot the outlet for the reverse cycle aircon unit so you can live /play there all year round

Well done!

Question BS. What are the speakers for ??????
Not/never a phone!!!!!!
Seems everyone has a shed dog mine is a cattle dog, she comes complete with a mat under the tool bench, hasn't learn't to make a cuppa jet.

It's too small to be magnificent! I still like it though

The lining covers some pretty decent insulation, so I'm hoping aircon will not be necessary. I'm figuring on one of those 2' shed fans hanging above the door blowing out the rolladoor when it gets hot. Guess I find out soon whether that's enough.

Speakers? You mean the dark conical thing hanging from the middle post on the right side? That would be a light - quite a good portable floodlight from Bunnies that takes a 20W CFL. From the bad old days when I didn't have lights in the shed.

I don't have A shed dog, I have two! The one in the pic is the curious one, so he gets into everything that's remotely new. His brother's also curious, but apparently the world's a scary place for him so it takes a while to satisfy his curiosity. The first one will be in the shed near me, but the other guy won't unless nothing has been added for a while. He stays outside until he gets used to it if there's any change.

Not sure if it's to late to post this piece of advice, but the next time I do a shed fitout , I'm going to get the sparkie to put the circuit board next to the entry/exit door. I don't know how many times if heard the compressor start up late at night after leaving the shed and forgetting to turn it off. Having the circuit board by the door means you can kill all the power when leaving and reduce the risk of leaving lights (or the compressor) running all night .

Originally Posted by Grumpy John

Not sure if it's to late to post this piece of advice, but the next time I do a shed fitout , I'm going to get the sparkie to put the circuit board next to the entry/exit door. I don't know how many times if heard the compressor start up late at night after leaving the shed and forgetting to turn it off. Having the circuit board by the door means you can kill all the power when leaving and reduce the risk of leaving lights (or the compressor) running all night .

Yeah, but it switches the fridge off.

Luckily for me I have 4 power circuits in my fridge, Circuit 1 Beer Fridge, marked, highlighted and difficult to turn off. The other 3 circuits are routinely turned off, with the Lathe and 15 amp circuits locked off unless I am actually using that machinery.

The box is next to the light switch, right next door to the entry, no groping around in the dark for me. My sparky mate allowed my to design were everything went, within reason. All power points at 1400 height. My mates laugh at the 12+ power points around the perimeter . . . until I have toys plugged into every point.