Vanny
Forum Supporter
- Messages
- 58
After years of silently watching (and learning from) this forum, I think I finally have something worth sharing. Well, you can be the judge of that!
In January 2021, I bought a Citroen BX 16Valve from a mate, which had been off the road since 2008. And it had very little rust. In fact, it only really had/has rust in one area. Unfortunately, that area is the entire A-pillar. I’m not even sure how the driver’s door was attached. That’s a story for another time.
Anyway, to aid the metalwork fabrication, I bought a bench shear and then a hydraulic press. That, coupled with all the other junk in the garage meant I was seriously short on space and sick of falling over stuff. So, taking a leaf from this forum, I figured I’d just build some more space. A shed of epic proportions.
The site offers something of a challenge. It’s behind a standard double garage, but the plot itself is triangular. I went through a few different designs, including a strange L-shaped monster, but I ultimately came up with this. The structure is essentially a timber frame, as that’s what I have access to and have the most experience with. I figure it’s easier to make the shed airtight and warmer.
I’d ummed and ah’d about the design for ages, then Travis Perkins had a sale, and I had a cutting list! The groundworks were fairly simple, concrete piers (some reinforced) with galvanised steel anchors set in. I started the build just before Christmas 2021, so it was pretty cold and often very wet. Fortunately, when I poured the concrete, it then stayed dry and just above 3 degrees for five days!
To get the supporting piers in the right places, I threw together the basic frame so the supports could be bolted to the frame, and propped it up on blocks for a few weeks while the concrete cured off a bit.
Then the rest of the frame was knocked together, and a breathable dampproof membrane was installed on the underside. The original plan was to tip it up on its edge and nail the sheet on, but it was too heavy to lift on my own, so the carjacks came out to raise it. Then the wife volunteered to climb under and staple it in place. Nutter.
Next up, a load of insulation went in. There is 100mm of Recticel in the 6” frame, leaving a void between the insulation and the membrane. Gaps between the frame and insulation were filled with expanding foam, and trimmed flush. Then the edges are taped over with foil. A 10mm ply subfloor went on top so I could walk over the frame more readily. It also gives me a base to build the walls on.
Next up, I constructed the frame for the longest wall of the Mega Shed. This was when I started to get an idea for the scale of the thing. This panel will be 4.8m wide and 3m tall once it’s vertical. For a structure like this, I would really like to raise all the walls, install the roof, and then add the cladding.
So instead, it gets clad before it gets raised, which might have been a less-than-optimal plan. I managed to get it this high with a trolley jack and extra bits of 2x4, but frankly, at this point, I bottled it. I could just about lift the panel, but there wasn’t a chance of getting it vertical. So I had to wait until Christmas and enlist visiting family.
The door end went in next. This is the panel that determines the size of the shed. The doorway is big enough to take a standard UPVC door, approximately 200x90cm. This height makes the end walls 210 cm high, and with a 20-degree roof pitch, the final height of the roof is about 3m tall.
End Pt1
In January 2021, I bought a Citroen BX 16Valve from a mate, which had been off the road since 2008. And it had very little rust. In fact, it only really had/has rust in one area. Unfortunately, that area is the entire A-pillar. I’m not even sure how the driver’s door was attached. That’s a story for another time.
Anyway, to aid the metalwork fabrication, I bought a bench shear and then a hydraulic press. That, coupled with all the other junk in the garage meant I was seriously short on space and sick of falling over stuff. So, taking a leaf from this forum, I figured I’d just build some more space. A shed of epic proportions.
The site offers something of a challenge. It’s behind a standard double garage, but the plot itself is triangular. I went through a few different designs, including a strange L-shaped monster, but I ultimately came up with this. The structure is essentially a timber frame, as that’s what I have access to and have the most experience with. I figure it’s easier to make the shed airtight and warmer.
To get the supporting piers in the right places, I threw together the basic frame so the supports could be bolted to the frame, and propped it up on blocks for a few weeks while the concrete cured off a bit.
Then the rest of the frame was knocked together, and a breathable dampproof membrane was installed on the underside. The original plan was to tip it up on its edge and nail the sheet on, but it was too heavy to lift on my own, so the carjacks came out to raise it. Then the wife volunteered to climb under and staple it in place. Nutter.
Next up, a load of insulation went in. There is 100mm of Recticel in the 6” frame, leaving a void between the insulation and the membrane. Gaps between the frame and insulation were filled with expanding foam, and trimmed flush. Then the edges are taped over with foil. A 10mm ply subfloor went on top so I could walk over the frame more readily. It also gives me a base to build the walls on.
Next up, I constructed the frame for the longest wall of the Mega Shed. This was when I started to get an idea for the scale of the thing. This panel will be 4.8m wide and 3m tall once it’s vertical. For a structure like this, I would really like to raise all the walls, install the roof, and then add the cladding.
So instead, it gets clad before it gets raised, which might have been a less-than-optimal plan. I managed to get it this high with a trolley jack and extra bits of 2x4, but frankly, at this point, I bottled it. I could just about lift the panel, but there wasn’t a chance of getting it vertical. So I had to wait until Christmas and enlist visiting family.
The door end went in next. This is the panel that determines the size of the shed. The doorway is big enough to take a standard UPVC door, approximately 200x90cm. This height makes the end walls 210 cm high, and with a 20-degree roof pitch, the final height of the roof is about 3m tall.
End Pt1