plate options for frame on shed slab

[woodhunt]

Greetings everyone, I've got my slab poured for my 10m² shed (don't laugh- it's what I can get away with in the inner city on top of waterboard pipes without an additional $5000 worth of pipe encasing plus engineering reports).

The slab is 10cm thick with 15cm outer troughs and R62 reo mesh. I am about to frame the shed with reclaimed hardwood (140 year old house up the road gutted to put in modern fitout- bloody sacrilegious!).

The slab fits the shed dimensions exactly and I intend to have some form of flashing at the base.

My questions are:

• If I just bolt the frame plates to the concrete, would a coat of creosote and a termite/damproof strip be good enough?
• If it is built entirely of hardwood, will the outer trenches be enough to hold the frame weight, or would it be more prudent to have joists? I am not sure if this small expanse warrants any kind of load distribution and I would strongly prefer to have concrete...

Cheers,
Garth

[wdyte_dan]

Flashing under the frame plates should be fine, just make sure the cladding sits down over the outside of the plate and even a little down over the slab, this should keep the moisture out. Pin the damp proof course upwards at least 150mm on the wet side and 50mm on the inside of the plate, and lay it on sealant to so water doesn't get between the slab and the damp proof.

I'd say that what I presume will be a 3x3-ish shed shouldn't pose to much a problem with the vertical frame load given it would be evenly distributed across the bottom plates. 20mpa concrete over a 150mm strip should handle the weight no probs. I don't think you'd need to do joists unless you wanted timber on the floor.

Given you've asked the question a month ago you've probably already got the thing up tho

[woodhunt]

erm, no

My wife has just given birth a week ago, which also included 3 weeks of hunting/foraging for baby related items (most notably an $800 cot when I already had an antique blackwood arts & crafts one!).

I'll start the shed tomorrow now they are back from hospital...

Cheers,
Garth