My First Shed

[Wild Dingo]

Konnichiwa Geebung,
You too, you other lot.


Dingo...Whose whinin? Small shed means not so far to get a beer and relax in that zen like garden.

Rob

And less room for TOOLS eh?! Sorry couldnt resist... bein a mad tool collector Id go nuts in a tiny shed... Hell Im goin insane in the little buggar Ive got!! (only 9mt x 6mt) ooooh for a bigger shed... or less... NO DONT SAY IT SHANE!!!

Its all good mate whatever floats yer boat in my book and Ive seen some bloody bobby dazzler tiny sheds... well great for the fellas that owned them cause they were pretty happy buggars but me it wouldnt take a nano second for me to go absolutely around the twist!! but hey thats me Im not a zen type of guy

[RobTro]

Yeah well, the family had been in the building business, so when I was a kid I had shed to play in that we could park a tip truck and still have heaps of room to play. Feedin planks to the thicknesser monster was a great game. Then my Grandads had great sheds too. But you grow up and travel around and do things and then you end up somewhere but ya still a yearnin for doin things.. Try to do with what ya have and find lots of ways of doing it. I actually made the kitchen cabinets for the old place in the kitchen and out in the outside hall. The LOML wasn't exactly pleased with things while work was in progress but the end results made her happy.

I suppose, I don't have any machinery except for a bench top drill press and a sliding mitre saw (used for the construction). The rest of tools are hand tools.

Geebung, I think you are on the right track. I know exactly what living in smaller places means. But Ya still have that itch to make things and a bit of back yard and place for a nice walk-in toolbox is a great luxury. You could even set up a couple of poles on the frence to clip on a shade cloth for a bit of shade in the summer. Besides, it will also give ya nice place to sit and relax in the summer too.

I would post some more picks of mine but I have to work out how to shrink the file size.

[Cliff Rogers]

...I would post some more picks of mine but I have to work out how to shrink the file size.

Go here, & look down the right colum til you find Image Resizer.
Download it & install it.
It installs to your right click menu.
To use it, point to pic you want to resize & right click & select Resize Picture.

It is from Microsoft & it is part of their Power Toys suite.
I use it all the time.

[rileyp]

direct link for ms image resizer here:
http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...ertoySetup.exe
cheers rileyp

[patty]

Rob Tro that shed of yours looks like it could double as a sauna no offence intended, it is differnet!

[RobTro]

Thanks for the info on resizer. I will hunt it down and give it a go. THen I"ll have to organise a bit of a story about MY walk-in-toolbox.

Patty. If I didn't want a tool shed it would make a nice sized little sauna. A friend of mine in Oz had one about that size (a bit deeper).

It cost a packet to build but it fits in nicely in the garden.

Rob

[munruben]

I think its going to be like the Tardis small on the outside but when you walk through the door...All the room you can imagine.

[Geebung]

Domo arigato to all that have provided advice since I last posted...that was three months ago, yegads! I have finished the giant toolbox...although I don't have pictures at the moment (promise to post on the weekend). Just in the process of finishing the painting.

The T&G doors I must admit have been a little bit of a challenge. Putting them together was quite easy mind. I did not glue the tounges and grooves together and opted to just screw (and glue) the z frame onto the door. Now, I have noticed some incredible movement in the doors. When I put them together the T & G fitted tightly together (i used some heavy duty sash clamps to keep it together)...but I have since noticed some incredible movement between the individual T & G panels - despite gluing and screwing the z frame to the panels.

I have not had any leaks yet, despite having T & G doors...we had an absolute down pour for a couple days a few weeks ago and despite not having completed the doors (ie. there was a 3cm gap between the two doors) the interior remained dry.

I have decked out the interior with as many space saving devices as I could fit in (tool board, shelves, drawers and hangers) - and I am now a happy camper...no more making 6 trips from the spare room to the back deck to set up before even starting! I can now also see the floor of the spare room so a double bonus.

RobTro...that is one beaut looking shed - makes mine look a little, ummm...rustic (better word than crappy).

Thanks also for the table ideas....currently I have a trestle table (you will see it in the picture when I post) which can be neatly stored away when not in use. I am looking to something a little more in keeping with the shed though. I ruled out using the shed door as a table because it would look pretty crappy after a short amount of use (you just have to look at the state of the trestle table I have!...yes, yes, pictures are coming).

[manoftalent]

well at least there is one consolation mate you wont ever need to get airconditioning for it ......

[Geebung]

As promised...here are the pics of the completed product.



You may be wondering (or might not) how I moved the shed from the middle of the courtyard to the corner? I used a couple of broom stick handles and moved it like the Egyptians moved the blocks to build the pyramids.

The interior is pretty much packed already (as you can see)...I used up the remainder of the yellow toungue chipboard to create the small table...the drawers were left over from a wardrobe descontruction (and then reconstruction - but the drawers were not needed). I had some other timber left over which has been converted to shelves...and some old mdf formed the backing for the tool board (although it is surprising just how few tools I can fit on it).

The great thing about the shed location (and I know that I am really making more of this than I should) is that it sits directly under an apple tree...I get shade for the best part of the day.

Anyway...that it is it...I am not a woodworker or a novice carpenter by any stretch of the imagination and this is my first big project (started mostly because of the extravagant cost of kit sheds that looked ordinary) but it was fun to do, from the design, to buying the timber, to building and finally painting. It was also a good outlet to de-stress.

It took me a long time (3.5 months in all) due to work commitments and several rainy weekends, but it was worth the wait to get something that...
(1) fits in with the style of the house,
(2) is the size I want,
(3) cheaper than getting it custom built,
(4) increased my skill level (although you probably wouldn't think so from the look of the shed ); and
(5) has given me much more confidence to be able to tackle other projects.

Thanks for the advice from everyone and the ribbing about the size of my shed (you know who you are Mr Dingo). Once I get around to building a better workbench I will post an update on MY FIRST SHED.

[Nachoman]

Looks so neat at the moment, lets see it in a month or twos time.

[Ivan in Oz]

Looks so neat at the moment, lets see it in a month or twos time.

That'll show that GeBung has been working

Mind you it looks like it is a DayTime ONLY
AND
That it is not Raining
and also the Morning Dew has stopped dripping down the back of his neck

[RobTro]

Hi Geebung,
Nice work. And you did it all yourself. Feels good don't it.

I'm sure the layout inside will be different this time next year. Once you start making other stuff and see how you are working with things you will be able to (want to) rearrange stuff and add little cubby holes in between studs etc. to store other things.

The doors-are the gaps between the board opening up and the top and bottom of the doors still in line or are the doors racking?

If just opeing up let them settle in a bit and then just caulk inbetween. (maybe???)

If they are racking then you could try packing them up or what ever to get them back in line and then put a sheet of ply over the interior side of the door. I wouldn't htink the sheet would have to be very thick but depending on what you used it may be advisable to add a third hinge in the middle of the door to take the extra weight. Not sure of the wieght limit of your hinges.

Did you mortice and tennon the joints for the z-braces? If not, then that might be why they are racking (if that is the problem).

Rob

[Geebung]

The doors-are the gaps between the board opening up and the top and bottom of the doors still in line or are the doors racking?

If you mean they are moving longitudinally then yes...when I made the doors I squared them up pretty nicely. As soon as I put them up the door on the left moved dramatically. I was a little perplexed at this as I thought the z frame would make it almost immovable! The right door has not moved, except between the toungue and groove.

If just opeing up let them settle in a bit and then just caulk inbetween. (maybe???)

I have thought about doing this...will wait a while and then reconsider.

If they are racking then you could try packing them up or what ever to get them back in line and then put a sheet of ply over the interior side of the door. I wouldn't htink the sheet would have to be very thick but depending on what you used it may be advisable to add a third hinge in the middle of the door to take the extra weight. Not sure of the wieght limit of your hinges.

The doors are in fact quite light, so the hinges should be able to take substantially more (if not I can always add another one halfway between). I built the doors before I read the advice on the ply sheeting...if I had to do it again I would definitely use the sheeting.

Did you mortice and tennon the joints for the z-braces? If not, then that might be why they are racking (if that is the problem).

No I did not mortice and tenon - the z frame is the same timber as the door and is way too thin for me to attempt such a joint. I did follow the advice of a DIY book I have about cutting into the cross frames so the diagonals sat in cross beams for added strength.

[Geebung]

That'll show that GeBung has been working

Mind you it looks like it is a DayTime ONLY
AND
That it is not Raining
and also the Morning Dew has stopped dripping down the back of his neck

Wrong on one point...I can work at night time - I have a spot light aimed right at the work area (you just can't see it).

Right on all the other points...I will be unhappy during winter months (and in Melbourne that can be for the best part of the year...although lately it has been reversed) and will have to pursue other interests (which means more time to play guitar - which ain't so bad).