Give Shed

We'll be settling on our new block in Lancefield in September.

I have my priorities right and I'm building the shed first. Well actually, were building that so we can live in it while we build the house.

My plan so is to buld a shed with internal dimensions of 12m x 6m.
We'll put the slab down and the structure and roof and then I'll in-fill with straw bales and then render outside and then in. I'm doing the strawbale as practice for when we build the house.

At one end I'll have 2 rooms of about 3 x 3 metres each. One willl be my office and the other will be a finishing room. I'll just do a stud wall to separate the rooms and the shed. I'm going to fit a toilet and shower in there somewhere.

The south wall will have small double glazed windows and the north will have a series of narrow floor to ceiling windows to allow for solar passive heating.

The roof will be colourbond. I haven't decided what kind of insulation to use. When we build the house I'll be using Rytek roofing which is two colourbond sandwiching a 10cm thick piece of polystyrene. It cost somewhere between $120 and $150 per square metre installed. It sounds exe but you don't have to pay for a ceiling, insulation or roof trusses.

I don't think I can afford to do this for the shed though.

What insulation have other people used for their sheds?

Also, I haven't decided on what do do for the floor. I'm not all that fond of standing for hours on concrete but it is very effective as a thermal mass for passive solar heating.

If I put a wood floor over the top then I'll lose the thermal mass benefit. If I stay with concrete then my poor little footsies will get sore.

What is a man to do?

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Originally Posted by Grunt

What insulation have other people used for their sheds?

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none in my shed. ya soft mexican:eek: (hccct ptooewy!)

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Originally Posted by Grunt

What is a man to do?

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if you leave it concrete your claws will not need clipping as often.

Get a pair of thick socks

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Originally Posted by Grunt

What insulation have other people used for their sheds?

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I've insulated my workshop with fiberglass insulating bats and the finishing shed with those silver insulation sheets and insulating ceiling tiles ( freebie from a renovation ).

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Originally Posted by Grunt

Also, I haven't decided on what do do for the floor. I'm not all that fond of standing for hours on concrete but it is very effective as a thermal mass for passive solar heating.

If I put a wood floor over the top then I'll lose the thermal mass benefit. If I stay with concrete then my poor little footsies will get sore.

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I would prefer a timber floor above the concrete floor (room to place D/C ducting and power cables to fixed machinery so no extension cords) but haven't the head height, so I have put foam rubber interlocking tiles in the workshop area and foam backed carpet in the finishing shed.


The money spent on insulation and flooring will repay you for many years in extra comfort and IMO worth more to me than some tools I've bought.


Peter.

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Originally Posted by Grunt

I'll be using Rytek roofing which is two colourbond sandwiching a 10cm thick piece of polystyrene. It cost somewhere between $120 and $150 per square metre installed. It sounds exe but you don't have to pay for a ceiling, insulation or roof trusses.

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Do you have a link for the roofing?

I would do the concrete floor and use the rubber tiles that Sturdee suggested.

Al :)

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Originally Posted by Grunt

Also, I haven't decided on what do do for the floor. I'm not all that fond of standing for hours on concrete

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G'day Mate,

Good news on the new home and shed!

Re the concrete floor, I've put down some rubber ribbing in the key areas where I work for any lenghth of time - eg in front of the benches, ditto Router table, jointer, etc.

I can't recall the $/m at Bunnings, but I found the same stuff in 1 ~ 2m lenghths in their off-cut bin for about 20% of the price :)

I just lift the pieces out of the way when I get around to sweeping/vacuuming the shed floor...

Love to see some WiP pics and notes both on the shed and the house.

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Originally Posted by Grunt

The roof will be colourbond. I haven't decided what kind of insulation to use. When we build the house I'll be using Rytek roofing which is two colourbond sandwiching a 10cm thick piece of polystyrene. It cost somewhere between $120 and $150 per square metre installed. It sounds exe but you don't have to pay for a ceiling, insulation or roof trusses.

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Grunt

Because I am involved with Spanline we have the option to use the sandwich panel but the franchise owner has opted to not use it because of delaminating problems from the movements from contraction and expansion from the heat and the cold.

Instead they use the plain roofing and then use a separate ceiling panel that is available which is an aluminium imbossed painted surface on the underside and aluminuim foil adhered to the topside. It will span 4.00 metres unsupported but is available in 6 metre lengths x 1200 wide with an interlocking side join.

There have been several companies gone broke from the claims on the roofs delaminating

I thought it sounded too good to be true, no tusses.

Al :(

Thanks Baz, I'll check that out.

Al, here is the link. http://www.ritek.net.au/
Sorry can't spell. It's Ritek not Rytek.

Chris

There's another similar product here in Victoria called Tridek http://www.infolink.com.au/Showcases...ildings/137574
Can span unsupported up to 8m with an R3.0 rating, seems to be a great concept but just not sure how well it works in the field.

Get the render on the straw bales real quick, rember the neddy. Munch Munch.;)

Have just installed R6.4 rated silver foil batts. Works by blocking radiant heat like space blankets but in box section batts.

Their advertising speil states stops 100% net heat gain during summer and retains 86% net heat loss during winter.

Check out www.silverbatts.com for contact details

Grunt why not go the olde Pomme way, A thatched roof, the trusses don't seem very heavy to me when I've seen rethatching being done.

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Originally Posted by jow104

Grunt why not go the olde Pomme way, A thatched roof, the trusses don't seem very heavy to me when I've seen rethatching being done.

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So you wanna give lessons when you arrive here? :D

Regret to say my 6 month visa says I must not undertake any action that normally attracts renumeration!!!!!!!!!

Canberra are getting very cagey.

That's ok, I won't pay you.

Can you put the thatching up with Velcro?

Covertable shed, maybe flip top?:D

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Originally Posted by Grunt

Can you put the thatching up with Velcro?

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Thatch a good question Grunt :cool:

Another question,

To make the concrete slab a more effective solar mass, it is best to insulate the concrete from the ground. I know that some slabs they use polystyrine. This would work pretty well except not all of the slab is insulated from the ground.

Does anyone know about this?

Chris

Slab insulation is used in cold climates...(oh sorry!)

Check out these two sites for a bit of info:
http://www.energycodes.gov/support/slab_faq.stm
http://www.expol.co.nz/concrete_slab_insulation.htm

There are dozens of others of course, but there's an overview for you.

Are you SURE you don't want to move north?

P
:D

The british BBC did a program on someone who has built a house using straw bales and internal/outside rendering. Perhaps a search through the BBC site?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/

You can search old BBC programs here.

That velcro idea would have made you millions Grunt;)

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Originally Posted by jow104

Regret to say my 6 month visa says I must not undertake any action that normally attracts renumeration...

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John, what about "the worlds oldest profession ? "... ;)

Could be a bit toey after 6 months... :D :D


Cheers..................Sean

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Are you SURE you don't want to move north?

P
:D

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I would but there is a whole lot of Queenslanders up there. Not to mention the Victorians who lack fortitude.

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Originally Posted by jow104

Regret to say my 6 month visa says I must not undertake any action that normally attracts renumeration!!!!!!!!!

Canberra are getting very cagey.

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We can overcome that minor obstacle quite legitamately.
The students pay me and you get free rent. :)

Owner Builder have covered straw bale homes extensively, I know there are a few up Beechworth way but pretty sure they are using rammed earth floors.
It's pretty cold up there, alright, very cold, into the minus' everyday from now on and they seem to be OK.
Don't know if Owner Builder have a website.
Termite, horses with half a brain won't eat straw, only hay:D but I can picture the scenario..........

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Originally Posted by Grunt

I would but there is a whole lot of Queenslanders up there. Not to mention the Victorians who lack fortitude.

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G'day Grunt,

Any Vics that move up north to Qld are the brainy ones, the rest are just dumb. I think that's what they refer to as the brain drain. :D

Don't ask why I'm living down here, I still don't know yet. :confused:

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Originally Posted by Waldo

Any Vics that move up north to Qld are the brainy ones, the rest are just dumb. I think that's what they refer to as the brain drain. :D

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To misquote Piggy Muldoon "Any Victorian moving to Queensland raises the average IQ of both states" :eek:

:cool:

Hi Grunt again.

I expect tobe around Oct/Mar. so if you need encouragement and I am able to come up to Lancefield give me a shout. Think if you had 200 ubeaut forum members with 5 bales each.

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If I stay with concrete then my poor little footsies will get sore.
What is a man to do

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Wear shoes??

Seriously, what thermal mass benefit will the slab give when there isn't enough sun to heat the slab in the first place?
i.e. when you want it to work best it will work at its worst.

Its a serious question, as I'm not sure what the slab will do when it is just a big mass of cold concrete.
I thought that in a cold climate that you had to heat the slab by use of a 'sun room' (greenhouse effect in a room that is partitioned off from the rest of the house), particularly one that has an additional heat source in it.
I'd have thought that the slab will act as a big heat sink, removing any heat in the room or your feet, and serving to be the "ice block" in the esky.

In this case it would be better to have the raised timber floor????

I started thinking about this after coming back to Qld after 9 days in Melb where it didn't get about 13 degrees and was overcast the whole time.
Please edumakate me.

Solar passive works as long as you don't let the summer sun in. You have to the eves right.

http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/yourhom...ustration1.jpg

Still, if you had a day like yesterday where it rained all day, you won't get any solar heating. However, a wood stove will still heat your slab, which will continue to radiate heat. You only need to use the wood heater occasionally rather than all the time.

It is almost manditory to have slab insulation in very cold climates like Northern U.S.A or Canada.

If the slab is insulated from the bottom as well you will not have the heat leach out into the ground below.

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Originally Posted by Sturdee

I would prefer a timber floor above the concrete floor (room to place D/C ducting and power cables to fixed machinery so no extension cords) but haven't the head height, so I have put foam rubber interlocking tiles in the workshop area and foam backed carpet in the finishing shed

Peter.

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Now thats a bottler of an idea!! The timber flooring I meant... hadnt thought of that for the shed :rolleyes: I was trying to think of a way of tunnelling the conduit for the power under the concrete then drilling down and putting a stand next to the machines... bit iffy I thought... but this this be good! this I can do! ;)

I reckon all up Id loose what 2in? (1in for joists and 1in for floor) I can live with that!

I got some lengths of conveyor belting and just cut it (persistance and a sharp standley knife are the key here) to length in front of the benches... but I can now see even that is going to have to disappear as I floor the whole shed!! :cool: oops no I wont cause I put that ruddy loft in didnt I? duhh sorta a bit shy on head room in the bench area if I do that! :eek: But for the tool area bloody ripper idea Peter! Cheers mate!

So thanks Sturdee and thanks for the thread :cool:

why bother with the concrete floor at all?

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Originally Posted by echnidna

why bother with the concrete floor at all?

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Cause the stinkin beaurecrats in the friggin anully retentive shire building section wouldnt pass it without one!... my preference was for rammed earth but they said "ooohh noooo cant have that gotta be concrete" blasted mongrel... sigh

Anyway the next shed will be rammed earth weather they like it or not!!

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Originally Posted by Wild Dingo

Cause the stinkin beaurecrats in the friggin anully retentive shire building section wouldnt pass it without one!... my preference was for rammed earth but they said "ooohh noooo cant have that gotta be concrete" blasted mongrel... sigh

Anyway the next shed will be rammed earth weather they like it or not!!

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Ya have to use Oz blood like they do in native Africa to make it go hard.
Goes hard as a rock apperently..

Al :)

No insulation in my shed, ya big wuss. I do have a big Tassie Barrel though, and if going out there of an evening I whip out the #7 and see to whatever needs planing at the time, while the fire warms the place up. 20 mins of that and you're sweating.;)

I wonder about heat leaching out through the ground - I reckon the temperature gradient in a room would see the lowest 50mm of air pretty cold anyway:confused: Dunno. I too have 1m wide 20mm conveyor belts in front of the work benches. Very comfy, and if you stupidly drop your #20 it won't smash. Chisels bounce too. DAMHIK.

Pity that you don't have a bit more headroom as it would be very useful to have the DC hosing under floor too - but that's 100mm and up

All my ducting is 150mm.

I've thought about using a raised wooden floor but I'm doing this for practice for the real house, so I want as much the same as I can manage.
The house will have hydronic heating. See this


Chris

Hey Grunt!

no boubt you have checked out the Earth Garden Mag mob at Tretham
http://www.earthgarden.com.au/ There big on Straw bale technology.:D