My little Aussie backyard shed build

freakygeek · Feb 27, 2018

Hi all,

Get lots of inspiration and ideas from this forum so I thought I'd share my project which is now almost built.

I started with the idea that I wanted to have capacity for 4 cars, and a hoist and tools / workbench area. This grew somewhat so my final 'sketchup' plan ended up at 16x10m with 4m wall height, and a mezzanine floor.

More pics to come

1/2 Cup · Feb 27, 2018

freakygeek, firstly hello and welcome to the GJ :thumbup:

I like your sketch up, you have obviously put a lot of thought into your design, well done..

Its always great to see another Aussie on the forum.

What neck of the woods are you from ? Can I recommend you include it in your profile as well being a global forum.

As always enjoy and looking forward to following your progress :thumbup:

Sabbath · Feb 27, 2018

Interested to see this build in real life photos. Will be a nice size and a good use of the space with the mezzanine.

1/2 Cup · Feb 27, 2018

freakygeek, thanks for the update.. :thumbup:

freakygeek · Feb 27, 2018

1/2 Cup said:
What neck of the woods are you from ? Can I recommend you include it in your profile as well being a global forum.

Hi there and thanks! Updated my details - I'm in Tamworth NSW

The Sketchup was very handy for me to get a good idea of the scale, putting real size cars in there and being able to 'walk around' in there in 3D was very helpful.

So after all the usual process of submitting DA's to council, getting approval etc, we had the first dirt turned late last month

1/2 Cup · Feb 27, 2018

freakygeek, great to see you are through the approvals process, well done.. :thumbup:

freakygeek · Feb 28, 2018

Next step was the slab - this was pretty serious! I was impressed with the deep foundations and 'raft' design. The slab will be 120mm thick with the footings around 500mm.

Also got the slab conduited to each of the main columns that I wanted power / ethernet run to. Lily, our Border Collie helped of course

1/2 Cup · Feb 28, 2018

freakygeek, great to see you have run conduits in, it makes for a neat installation.. :thumbup:

kai1980 · Feb 28, 2018

I'll be following this one closely, looks great so far!
good luck with the build.

freakygeek · Feb 28, 2018

Thanks kai1980 and 1/2Cup!

Next up was the pour, 31.6m3 of concrete went in! The boys did a brilliant job and achieved a really nice finish with the helicopters. The door cutouts were rebated nicely so that rainwater wouldn't run down the door and inside the shed.

They cast the main bolts into the concrete for the columns.

hewey · Feb 28, 2018

I like your plans a lot, and a little jealous of your 'little' shed plans.

1/2 Cup · Feb 28, 2018

freakygeek nice, real nice in fact.. :thumbup:

Unruh · Feb 28, 2018

hewey said:
I like your plans a lot, and a little jealous of your 'little' shed plans.

Right!?! That “little” shed is great looking.

freakygeek · Feb 28, 2018

hewey said:
I like your plans a lot, and a little jealous of your 'little' shed plans.

1/2 Cup said:
freakygeek nice, real nice in fact..

Unruh said:
Right!?! That “little” shed is great looking.

Thanks guys

Maybe I was a bit cheeky with the 'little' thread title :lol:

Next step was to dig the 85 metre long trench (600mm deep) for 3phase power and an additional conduit for data. My uncle had the perfect machine for the job which I borrowed and used myself - thought I did alright for a first go!

The 32,000L rain water tank was also delivered to the site.

1/2 Cup · Feb 28, 2018

freakygeek

You scored well with the digger.. :thumbup:

What size sub mains did you run??

It looks like a 10 or 16 mm2

Sabbath · Mar 1, 2018

Nice job on the trench, those machines certainly cut down on time than hand digging. Did you have any issues getting your power/data signed off with the way they've been layed in the trench?

freakygeek · Mar 1, 2018

1/2 Cup said:
freakygeek

You scored well with the digger..

What size sub mains did you run??

It looks like a 10 or 16 mm2

16mm

Sabbath said:
Nice job on the trench, those machines certainly cut down on time than hand digging. Did you have any issues getting your power/data signed off with the way they've been layed in the trench?

Yeah absolutely saved countless hours.

It's done as per my electrican's advice (500mm minimum to top of pipe, with trench tape laid in @ 250mm) and meets the code.

1/2 Cup · Mar 1, 2018

freakygeek said:
16mm

Yeah absolutely saved countless hours.

It's done as per my electrican's advice (500mm minimum to top of pipe, with trench tape laid in @ 250mm) and meets the code.

Your right it does meet the code...

Nice size.. :thumbup:

Sabbath · Mar 1, 2018

freakygeek said:
with trench tape laid in @ 250mm

Hey. you're already doing better than some of the sparkies out there who put the tape at the bottom of the trench.

:lol_hitti

1/2 Cup said:
Your right it does meet the code...

Fair enough, just thought i'd ask the question. Is the below talking about different type of setup as far as Communications go to what freakygeek would have installed?

18.9.2
Shared trench with LV or HV power
No separation is required between an insulating customer cable
conduit and an insulating LV power conduit where the customer
cable conduit is coloured white (or with a white stripe) and is
marked ‘COMMUNICATIONS’ and the power conduit is coloured
orange and is marked ‘ELECTRICAL’.

Mudnut · Mar 1, 2018

Looks fantastic so far. Will follow with interest.

Cheers,

Ken

Terrick down Under · Mar 1, 2018

Looks great, don't forget to put a couple of shovels of clean sand, broomed across the slab that the water tank sits on, so that it has a moveable skin under the tank when it gets full ( they expand a lot).

freakygeek · Mar 2, 2018

Terrick down Under said:
Looks great, don't forget to put a couple of shovels of clean sand, broomed across the slab that the water tank sits on, so that it has a moveable skin under the tank when it gets full ( they expand a lot).

Great advice! Something a lot of people wouldn't consider

Construction began this week! Monday was raining but it didn't stop the guys from Ranbuild getting stuck into it.

The big crane they got in to lift on the roof trusses was pretty cool to watch!

Getting exciting

freakygeek · Mar 2, 2018

Tada, we have wall sheets, followed by gutters and doors. There was a slight mixup with the order and the end wall sheets were sent incorrectly (early in the order I changed the shed from 10deg to 20deg roof pitch, and the end wall sheets weren't updated in the spec). The longer sheets are on the way and will arrive early next week

The colours I went with are Shale Grey (Roof, Walls) and Basalt (doors, gutters, barges).

Sabbath · Mar 2, 2018

Nice progress. It's amazing just how quickly they can get these things built. You go through months of planning and dealing with drawn out council processes and then within a day of work you have something that resembles the finished product. It's all very exciting.

1/2 Cup · Mar 2, 2018

freakygeek far out that has gone up quick. :thumbup:

Looking fantastic.. :thumbup:

andsonsvd · Mar 2, 2018

Looking great mate! good to see another aussie "Garage" being built! looks like you planned it out well.

Shane

kai1980 · Mar 2, 2018

wow, starting to get some real perspective of the scale!
that mezzanine is huge!!!
what will be residing in this shed when it's done?

freakygeek · Mar 3, 2018

Sabbath said:
Nice progress. It's amazing just how quickly they can get these things built. You go through months of planning and dealing with drawn out council processes and then within a day of work you have something that resembles the finished product. It's all very exciting.

It sure does go up quick. Caught up with the pics now so it will be Wednesday before any more progress!

1/2 Cup said:
freakygeek far out that has gone up quick.[emoji106]

Looking fantastic..[emoji106]

Cheers mate!

andsonsvd said:
Looking great mate! good to see another aussie "Garage" being built! looks like you planned it out well.

Shane

It was a bit of planning to try and figure out how to fit what I needed and not limit myself later on!

kai1980 said:
wow, starting to get some real perspective of the scale!
that mezzanine is huge!!!
what will be residing in this shed when it's done?

The scale feels massive, pictures don't really convey the space that is available in there! [emoji16]

The Mezzanine will be a great space, there's 40m2 up there so I might turn half into a cool hangout zone!

Here's the existing 7x7.5m shed which is kind of chockas with tools and toys, so these will end up in the new shed with maybe a couple of additional projects also [emoji4]

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

hewey · Mar 3, 2018

Man that's come together really nice real quick.

kyle@hcb · Mar 3, 2018

Great start! Nice cars as well

60beetle60 · Mar 3, 2018

That's nice, very nice. I like that you've gone all out with running good size cable in and haven't spared any expense on the slab!

kai1980 · Mar 3, 2018

is that an nsx lurking in the back of the pic?

freakygeek · Mar 3, 2018

hewey said:
Man that's come together really nice real quick.

It has been an accelerated timeline to catch up the forum [emoji4] The slab was poured in the 1st week of Feb and the build began on Monday just gone, so still fairly quick!

kyle@hcb said:
Great start! Nice cars as well

Thank you Kyle!

60beetle60 said:
That's nice, very nice. I like that you've gone all out with running good size cable in and haven't spared any expense on the slab!

I'm keen to add PV Solar to the shed later on so I told my sparky friend that I wanted enough capacity for a ~10kW system, so that dictated the 16mm 3ph cable. But I'm glad I did it properly straight up!

kai1980 said:
is that an nsx lurking in the back of the pic?

Yes [emoji6]

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

kai1980 · Mar 3, 2018

what a car! i don't get too excited by hondas (other than appreciating their phenomenal reliability), but there are one or three i'd love to own..
is it aussie delivered or imported?

freakygeek · Mar 4, 2018

kai1980 said:
what a car! i don't get too excited by hondas (other than appreciating their phenomenal reliability), but there are one or three i'd love to own..
is it aussie delivered or imported?

Thanks kai! I'm a bit of a Honda fan, started with my Civic which was the first car I bought, soon followed by an Integra Type R. I still own an Integra Type R 16 years after buying the first one in 2002!

It's an Australian delivered 5 speed manual car - here's my 'build' thread for it if you would like to see an NSX pulled to bits!

http://forum.jdmstyletuning.com/showthread.php?59830-Cambo-s-91-Honda-NSX-project

1/2 Cup · Mar 4, 2018

freakygeek I just had a quick look at you build thread - great work on the NSX. :thumbup:

We have had quite a number of Hondas over the years and they have been great cars. From a Civic, Jazz, CRV to our current City grocery getter. :thumbup:

kai1980 · Mar 4, 2018

always loved a good build thread, hence my membership of this and many other forums.
your attention to detail is right up there! well done.
really enjoyed the in car footage at the track too.

freakygeek · Mar 4, 2018

kai1980 said:
always loved a good build thread, hence my membership of this and many other forums.
your attention to detail is right up there! well done.
really enjoyed the in car footage at the track too.

Thanks Kai! It's a fantastic car to drive, well ahead of its time for sure.

I still have a lot of things I want to do to the car, and having a hoist in my own shed will make these things possible

freakygeek · Mar 4, 2018

1/2 Cup said:
freakygeek I just had a quick look at you build thread - great work on the NSX.

We have had quite a number of Hondas over the years and they have been great cars. From a Civic, Jazz, CRV to our current City grocery getter.

Thanks mate!

All the Honda's I have owned have been extremely reliable and enjoyable to own and drive. I will have another one to add to the collection soon

It will probably be the first major project for the new shed!

HOTFR8 · Mar 4, 2018

Impressive build. You have to love how they go up so fast.

My little Aussie backyard shed build

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