Carves
Well-known member
Thought I better do the polite thing and get some photos in here.
Will start with a little background ....
About 4yr ago a little block in town came up for sale ... 1/2 acre, old house and no yard improvements apart from the cheapy, blowaway, 10x10 garden shed and single carport.
Seemed like the thing to buy coz it was all original ... no bodgy renovations to remove and replace - just fix and enlarge the existing building, build shed and landscape ... The yard was also clear of items that might obstruct any, planned, improvements.
The block is sloped and full of rock ... about 8ft drop from top rear corner to bottom front corner ... so started thinking about excavating a bit - rather than have the shed sit high and proud, dominating the site ....
Good job we waited a coupla years whilst we absorbed all the eco factors like wind directions, sunlight, ground composition, etc., before making real plans.
An excavator to move all the rock, then retainer walls, drainage etc., was going to be a wallet raper ...
.... So ol mate came in - and tidied up the existing drive and prepped a pad area, working to existing ground heights.
........
After taking everything into consideration ... a cost effective, shed build was planned out.
Requirements were vehicle storage, workshop, household overflow storage, shaded entertainment/wet weather clothes drying area, water collection, and solar power and water panels.
Basic floorplan ended up something like this ....
22 x 20 concrete floor lockup area, Roof ridgeline running east/west.
10 x 20 covered, timber deck off the lockup,
32 x 20 Skillion / Leanto off the nth wall.
Then the pricing started ..
... things got a bit smaller and the deck would be a while before finished ... due to outrageous delivery, and concreting prices in this area ..
Then it was time to deal with beaurocracy ..
Without their doing our, requested site evaluation ... their e-mail stipulated this.
Our Idea ... 4ft from the side fence.
Their Idea ..
hmmmm .... check the wallet ... Nup ... cant afford to throw more at fill and retainer walls or mess about screwing up the driveway alignment ... So cancel shed bought at discounted cost.
Settle on another shed design - the complete opposite of what was needed, or suited the yard ... and then tell builder to deal with beaurocracy ... and tell me when its finished ..
Months go by ..
Had to do a test fit ..
Finally ..
.... and then ...
Nope ... you cant have a certificate of occupancy until rain runoff is directed to the street.
... but new locations for the watertanks have to be sorted before overflows happen .... and besides ... you mob direct megagallons of stormwater onto this property and use it as a drain anyway - so theres no need for the shed to be plumbed to the street ..
We do not .
ohhhhhhh .... really ... have a look at these 100 photos.
Yesssss .... I plumbed to the street.
... after much, neglected council/municipal, drainage work was done around the suburb ..
Problem with tin sheds ... No timber framing.
So it got freestanding, lightweight, pallet rack style framing.
The good point is that its adjustable as needs change.
... Used a bunch of stockpiled waste timber for shelving.
Its all still a work in progress ... Cost over runs caused by beaurocracy mean the underground power and water storage has yet to be done ... Storage solutions yet to be finalised and so on ... and money spent - is being split between house, shed and yard .... but all up ...
... Reasonably satisfied with the compromise layout,
... Compared to this anyway ..
Will start with a little background ....
About 4yr ago a little block in town came up for sale ... 1/2 acre, old house and no yard improvements apart from the cheapy, blowaway, 10x10 garden shed and single carport.
Seemed like the thing to buy coz it was all original ... no bodgy renovations to remove and replace - just fix and enlarge the existing building, build shed and landscape ... The yard was also clear of items that might obstruct any, planned, improvements.
The block is sloped and full of rock ... about 8ft drop from top rear corner to bottom front corner ... so started thinking about excavating a bit - rather than have the shed sit high and proud, dominating the site ....
Good job we waited a coupla years whilst we absorbed all the eco factors like wind directions, sunlight, ground composition, etc., before making real plans.
An excavator to move all the rock, then retainer walls, drainage etc., was going to be a wallet raper ...
.... So ol mate came in - and tidied up the existing drive and prepped a pad area, working to existing ground heights.
After taking everything into consideration ... a cost effective, shed build was planned out.
Requirements were vehicle storage, workshop, household overflow storage, shaded entertainment/wet weather clothes drying area, water collection, and solar power and water panels.
Basic floorplan ended up something like this ....
22 x 20 concrete floor lockup area, Roof ridgeline running east/west.
10 x 20 covered, timber deck off the lockup,
32 x 20 Skillion / Leanto off the nth wall.
Then the pricing started ..
... things got a bit smaller and the deck would be a while before finished ... due to outrageous delivery, and concreting prices in this area .. Then it was time to deal with beaurocracy ..
Without their doing our, requested site evaluation ... their e-mail stipulated this.
Our Idea ... 4ft from the side fence.
Their Idea ..
hmmmm .... check the wallet ... Nup ... cant afford to throw more at fill and retainer walls or mess about screwing up the driveway alignment ... So cancel shed bought at discounted cost.
Settle on another shed design - the complete opposite of what was needed, or suited the yard ... and then tell builder to deal with beaurocracy ... and tell me when its finished ..
Months go by ..
Had to do a test fit ..
Finally ..
.... and then ...
Nope ... you cant have a certificate of occupancy until rain runoff is directed to the street.
... but new locations for the watertanks have to be sorted before overflows happen .... and besides ... you mob direct megagallons of stormwater onto this property and use it as a drain anyway - so theres no need for the shed to be plumbed to the street ..
We do not .
ohhhhhhh .... really ... have a look at these 100 photos.
Yesssss .... I plumbed to the street.
... after much, neglected council/municipal, drainage work was done around the suburb ..
Problem with tin sheds ... No timber framing.
So it got freestanding, lightweight, pallet rack style framing.
The good point is that its adjustable as needs change.
... Used a bunch of stockpiled waste timber for shelving.
Its all still a work in progress ... Cost over runs caused by beaurocracy mean the underground power and water storage has yet to be done ... Storage solutions yet to be finalised and so on ... and money spent - is being split between house, shed and yard .... but all up ...
... Reasonably satisfied with the compromise layout,
... Compared to this anyway ..
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.. 
.. 
No more woolen jumpers for you.
... small wonder in this day and age I suppose .. 
