To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

Another BIG Aussie shed build

ScottsRX

Well-known member
Joined
May 2, 2009
Messages
119
Location
Nangkita, South Australia
Hi All. I thought it was time to start sharing my shed build that's currently in progress.

A quick history then straight to the pics. I've never had my own shed and I'm now 33 years old. Slightly embarrasing however my parents own 40 acres in the Mclaren Vale Wine region and my dad has more than 800m2 of fully enclosed shed space so I've never really needed it.

My wife and I have a 25 acre property on the Fleurieu Peninsula, south of Adelaide, and I'm building a 12m x 18m x 4.5m (roughly 40' x 60' x 15') shed.

Obviously being on a property we need shed space for tractors and machinery but I also have two Mazda rotaries as my play things. I also really enjoy getting out in the shed to build projects for around the place.

Anyway, thats enough boredom, to the Shed-mobile... I mean Shed. As mentioned in my intro post I'm building it from scratch, using the plans my dad had drawn up by an engineer. We built the same shed at his place about 10 years ago, so lucky for me I have all the engineering plans as well as a working structure to base my design on.

As I said it's 18m x 12m and I also plan on putting a 50m2 mezzanine for more storage. We are currently in limbo between houses so we have a lot of gear stored at my parents which will all be moved to the shed.

Sorry, I'm rambling again. Some pics of the construction process. Enjoy.

The feet that I made up to be concreted into the piers. Sorry about the blur. There are three 'double' feet for the three main front posts. These are larger to take most of the weight of the shed as the front will have two main door sections that are both 6m wide when the doors are fully open
CUWdC3.jpg


Next up are a couple of the uprights that I mentioned. these are two sections of 250mm x 75mm x 2.5mm C section welded together with some 75mm x 20mm flat on the base. Should be strong enough?
aKy6Wc.jpg


Here we have the remaining uprights for the back of the shed. Nothing fancy here.

ZADvb1.jpg


Thats most of the construction photos I took that are interesting.

Next up...Site pics.

So this is probably the best picture I have of the site where the shed will be erected. All pegged out and Bobcat onsite. Thankfully we've moved into an area with the best neighbours you could find. Our neighbour across the road does earthmoving so he's got a bobcat, tipper and excavator and our neighbour behind is a contractor of all sorts including fencing, vineyard etc etc. Note that we did all of our own fencing though. the site is fenced off as we have a couple of heifers in the main area to keep the grass down.

DVtxw1.jpg

RNpLMm.jpg


String lines so we know where the holes need to go

ax4pc4.jpg


With the string lines down we also checked that my measurements were spot on with the front section as this is very important. I don't have any drawn up plans or anything to go by, it's all in my head.

hktyi7.jpg


So of course we then drilled some holes.18 of them to be exact.

A4qI5V.jpg


Which we quickly filled with concrete. Note feet in place.

l1CNmF.jpg

0cMmTP.jpg


And thats about it for this first post. I'll follow up in a week or two with an update on where we're at.

Thanks,
Scott.
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

1/2 Cup

Member Emeritus
Joined
Apr 28, 2012
Messages
19,283
Location
Shepparton. Victoria. Australia
I am looking forward to following your build.

Your views are spectacular, great location.

I don't think you are going to have any problem with the structural integrity of the frame judging by the size of the base plates and rag bolts, well done.:thumbup:

Thanks for posting.

Regards
 
Last edited:

metalhead140

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 15, 2013
Messages
1,456
Location
NSW, Australia
Looks like a great start! What rotaries do you have? I've had two rotary engined 323's (one of which I still have as a long term stalled project), and I have one mate with a track fc project and another with a 13b in an MG Midget.
 
OP
S

ScottsRX

Well-known member
Joined
May 2, 2009
Messages
119
Location
Nangkita, South Australia
Hey Guys, thanks for the interest. Wasn't sure if anyone was going to be too interested but this is great. Considering some of the amazing garages on here mines going to be nothing in comparison.

metalhead140 - Good to hear there's another Rotary fan on here, I was worried I'd be very alone. Don't worry, I have the obligitory long term stalled project as well.

I've got a genuine RX3 sedan which is the long term project. Hopefully once the sheds up and sorted I'll be able to get back onto restoring that.

I've also got an 808 sedan that I bought as a writeoff and brought it back to life, dropping a pretty stock 12a into it a couple of years ago.

Here it is on my wedding day a couple of yeard ago (I'll start a build thread for it very soon) alongside my uncles 2nd owner Charger with 340 4BBL
aqxp.jpg


Thanks again guys.
 
Last edited:

metalhead140

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 15, 2013
Messages
1,456
Location
NSW, Australia
Very nice, both the charger and the 808. Look forward to seeing your building go up. Do you live on the property too? Just noticed your comment about being between houses.
 
OP
S

ScottsRX

Well-known member
Joined
May 2, 2009
Messages
119
Location
Nangkita, South Australia
Thanks guys.

metalhead140 Technically we don't live there but we do, if you know what I mean ;)

We've converted an old milking shed to a living room and attached a 30' site caravan for bedroom, kitchen and shower

Some pics of the build (somewhat relevant as it is technically a shed :))

What we started with. Asbestos sheeting but the main structural posts are fantastic. Stringy bark thats harder than concrete. I bent many 4" nails.
mzc1.jpg


External lined, small extension and door and window.
cmow.jpg


Internal progress pic
u7gf.jpg


Finished and furnished. We kept the posts visible as they look great.
wxan.jpg


I don't have any pics of the outside but it's all paved in old red brick with surrounding vegie garden. We also have an outside toilet, flushing, which we dug a massive hole for with the excavator for soakage.
 
OP
S

ScottsRX

Well-known member
Joined
May 2, 2009
Messages
119
Location
Nangkita, South Australia
ZRX61 - I was wondering how long it would take for someone to comment on her.

It's a '41 Ford F60L Cab 12 Blitz 4x4 MPV. It's got a 239 Mercury Flathead in it. We plan for a full resto eventually but that's way down the track.

There's a few videos of it on Youtube if you search for Ford Blitz F60l or click here
and

Anyway, a little update on the shed build. Day one of erection went better than planned although it started off with about an hour of rain. We finished the rear wall and the two front ends.

Tomorrow we plan to get the two main beams and the centre post up.

If06iN.jpg

3RS9dx.jpg

uemS22.jpg

FkxTIM.jpg
 

Plushy

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 2, 2008
Messages
84
Location
Sulky , Victoria
:shocking: Very Nice F60L Monkey Face blitz , I have one myself but alot less complete . I am currently restoring a 42 F15A .

Shed Progress is looking very nice .
 

gazza

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 24, 2009
Messages
364
Location
Melbourne Aust
Great looking shed, there is a lot of satisfaction doing the build yourself when you have the plans and have made it all from scratch. When it all easily bolts together as planned it's like your playing with over sized toys, still hard work to build it but it's a lot of fun.
Do you plan to bolt both of your rafters together and lift them as a unit or prop the centre and fit one side at a time.
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

HOTFR8

Banned
Joined
Mar 2, 2007
Messages
24,498
Location
Castlemaine, Victoria. The Hot Rod Centre of Austr
Did some one say BLITZ ? Where is Plushy when you need him ? I am sure he will show up soon.

Nice progress by the way.

:shocking: Very Nice F60L Monkey Face blitz , I have one myself but alot less complete . I am currently restoring a 42 F15A .

Shed Progress is looking very nice .

Just say BLITZ and Plushy is on the scene. :lol:
 

Plushy

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 2, 2008
Messages
84
Location
Sulky , Victoria
Lucky i got a heads up to make an appearance Simon :lol::thumbup:.

Just watched the Videos of the Blitz running , That is a pretty complete vehicle for its age . i can only see the Windscreen frame missing and the Tow Hitch and brackets and the doors . Doors shouldnt be too hard to find or fabricate but the Windscreen frame and tow hitch will be hard to find . Unless you were lucky enough to find them ??:dunno:

If you Drop over to Maple Leaf Up forum and post up the Id plate details they should be able to tell you which unit the old girl served in and what kind of vehicle she was tipper or GS body /
 
OP
S

ScottsRX

Well-known member
Joined
May 2, 2009
Messages
119
Location
Nangkita, South Australia
Thanks again for your interest guys.

Plushy The old Blitz is very complete. We had a look at quite a few in SA and this was definitely the best we found so snapped it up immediately. My old man remembers his local fire truck being a blitz, and he's a mad War history fan so of course this is the perfect vehicle for him.

I think he's been onto Maple Leafup with the details but I'm not sure if he found out what it was used for. I'll catch him tomorrow night so I'll find out.

Sounds like I'll have to start a build thread for it when we start, there may be a little interest :)

We think the motors been rebuilt without it doing much work since as it seems to run quite ok, albeit the valves were stuck etc. No doors or windscreen trim unfortunately. We do plan to make out own doors etc but still not sure about the trim.

gazza the Plan for trusses is as you say, bolt both sides together and lift as one. We'll either use the neighbours excavator or the other neighbours sissor lift.

You're right about the satisfaction you get. So far it's gone together perfectly except for needing a bit more thread on my diagonal braces and my measurements we're off slightly with the length of my fascia brackets, as you'll see below it's not fitted yet. I modified them last night and will need to paint them before fitment. There'll be a 200 x 75mm C purlin running the full length of the front of the shed, above the doors. This gives the shed A LOT of strength and also provides an easy mount for home made gutter brackets (I've got 150mm D gutter which fielders don't make anymore)

We made more progress on Sunday. It doesn't look like much but as mentioned above I needed to put a bit more thread on my diagonal braces and I pre drilled some purlins and pre drilled the trusses for the roof diagonal braces.

We squared up the ends on the front wall and lifted the middle post up. This post is STRONG as it takes the weight of three trusses.

Once in and set correctly we lifted up the two beams for above the door openings. These are approx 6m long and 250 x 75 x 2.5mm so there's a lot of weight in them. The excavator did it easily though.

s5PK7t.jpg

v4LHr6.jpg

WjGoib.jpg

tAyYFi.jpg


Next weekend is truss work. I hope to get all the trusses and roof purlins on and bolted up right over the two days which should be doable.

This is how they bolt to the uprights, nothing exciting but reasonably strong. There's a 12mm plate inside the upright and it's been boxed out with the mig. 3 construction grade bolts and a 20mm plate on the end of the truss with gusset for extra strength.

The shed has actually been engineered for my dads area which is known for high speed winds. Over kill for us but I bet noone ever regretted building something too well :)

jLM4j1.jpg

Jgqre0.jpg
 

Playwme

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 13, 2012
Messages
2,032
Location
The Lucky Country Down Under
What a ****** ripper! That's the proper way to build a shed, with a little extra engineering. I did the posts for my inner city backyard 7x9x3 the other day. 100x100 RHS, 5mm thick welded to 10mm plate. The missus took one look at them and made some comment about them being stronger than the house. There's no better feeling than that of a nice solid shed though is there?
 
OP
S

ScottsRX

Well-known member
Joined
May 2, 2009
Messages
119
Location
Nangkita, South Australia
Hey guys, just a quick update from today. Got all the trusses up and a few purlins to steady them.

Got the old man working for me. He's just as excited as me with this new shed as it means all my **** gets moved out of his shed.
zsltNd.jpg


Almost finished
FTfq6e.jpg


A good shot of the beast of a crane we borrowed from the neighbour and the heavy duty scissor lift that he has as well.
nfyVuE.jpg


Jobs for sunday are finish off the purlins on the roof, put up the front beam and put the end posts and purlins up.
 

Ajustable

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 20, 2014
Messages
153
Location
Niagara
Fourty years ago I helped my father-in law build an all steel building. He designed it from scratch using used hydro electric towers. Your build takes me back to those fond memories. Like you, he never drew a plan, it was all in his head. I was so impressed back then. As I am impressed with your build. I' ll keep watching thanks.

Chris
 
OP
S

ScottsRX

Well-known member
Joined
May 2, 2009
Messages
119
Location
Nangkita, South Australia
Thanks again for your posts guys.

Another small update after a very busy weekend. I still feel like I'm swaying side to side from being up in the scissor lift all day in the wind.

Got the main front fascia on which needed a few slight adjustments. This is in three sections butted up. I welded plates inside the end of each channel so they **** up nicely.

KaxYBd.jpg


We got the end posts upright and a purlin running along the bottom. These posts will be concreted in the ground so I'll organise for a truck to come out this Thursday I think. Once thats done I can put the remaining purlins up.

If you look closely you'll notice that the middle upright is slightly off centre. This is because the trusses bolt together and the mounting bracket is welded slightly off so you can get the bolts in.

zd5GNp.jpg


We got a few more purlins on the roof but still a couple left to finish off. My Dad's Falcon ute in there for scale :)

dOUxO0.jpg


I've just organised for a quote for the iron. We've decided to go with Colorbond Basalt. It's right inbetween Woodland Grey and Windspray in terms of Grey's.

9916376_orig.png


Thanks again,
Scott.
 

Carves

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 9, 2013
Messages
459
Location
Central West NSW .. Australia
Thats going to be one heck of a shed .. :thumbup:

Ford looks like a worthwhile resto ... CMPs are soooo common .. :lol:

Any plans for the old stone building ... or is it too far gone ??


Ohhhh .... and if you're looking for your ratchet and breaker bar,

Have a look on the lintle over the doorways .. :lol:
 
OP
S

ScottsRX

Well-known member
Joined
May 2, 2009
Messages
119
Location
Nangkita, South Australia
Hey Carves, good spotting but we found it eventually :)

Yeah the Blitz is going to a be a big project thats for sure. I've already been stirring the old man, telling him I'll be down to pick it up once the sheds up but he doesn't seem to think so.

Unfortunately you're right, the stone building is too far gone. We once had dreams of restoring it but the work involved would be huge. Our plan is to tear it down and rebuild a little to the left. We'll use all the stone for frontage, internal exposed walls, fireplace etc. The aim is to make the front look very similiar to what it looks like now.

We had the building dated and the original section was built mid to late 1800's but thankfully it has no heritage significance so we can do what we want with it.
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!
Top Bottom