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Old 2nd November 2015, 04:35 PM
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Default I'm building a shed!....

Hi all,
I know bit of a strange title so hopefully it will all make sense. A few years ago I sectioned off half of my garage as a darkroom. (documented on this site somewhere) I tried to cover everything from number of RCD sockets to break out section in plaster wall. All was good until I was blindsided by the missus. It became the room where everything that doesn't have a place goes. A dumping ground. Everything from old cardboard boxes to bags of clothes waiting for collection. And so over time it ceased to be used. This year I packed up all my darkroom kit completely due to a garage conversion.

My plan now is to custom build a shed half way down the garden ( A quick nod to Dave). My local planning will allow 30sq/m as long as it is 1 metre away from the boundary fence and no taller than 2.5m at the eaves. So a very large, 2 room darkroom/office/mancave it is and I plan to start in the new year.
I have a few engineering problems to get round, I have limited access around the side of my house so a concrete base is a no no. I'm looking at a ring beam of sorts sitting on wood pilings, obviously short as possible.
Mains electric will not be a problem, I will fully plumb the interior with the feed coming from a hose pipe, and the waste going into Plastic Jerry cans.

Anyone any experience of building a ring beam base ? worth a try

Andy
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Old 2nd November 2015, 07:31 PM
cndnlfartist cndnlfartist is offline
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You do realize that once it's built your wife will want you to move all your belongings out of the house into your darkroom after it is built, putting you right back into the same situation.

If I move my darkroom closer to town I think that I'll just rent a commercial studio space so mine has no say in the situation.

Living in a relatively dry climate, where it does get cold from time to time means that I have to do things a little different.

I have used cement Patio slabs like these before.

Another thing is either Railway Ties or Landscape Posts, both of which are a preserved wooden block 6 or 8 feet long.

What I have usually done is the cement slabs spaced out around 2 feet apart. With the landscape posts across the top. Then with a short wood framed wall on top of this, then the floor / building on top of that.

This way I have a little crawl space which also gives me a chance to vent it and dry things out after the winter.

You need air vents, they can usually be open most of the year but closed during the cold months.

If you want plumbing insulate the crawl space and not the floor. If your not plumbing it insulate the floor. The reason being that the pipes will freeze in an insulated crawl space if the floor does not allow some heat to pass.
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Old 2nd November 2015, 08:51 PM
John King John King is offline
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If you Google and search for pre-fabricated sheds, you will find that there are numerous easy to construct sheds of more than adequate size to make a very comfortable darkroom. The only difficult part will be, you will have to have a solid base on which to erect the building.

I had a corrugated aluminium shed 10 x 8 (there are larger) with a secure sliding door where I kept my lathe and other workbench tools. I insulated it with 2" expanded polystyrene sheeting placed between 2"x2" treated wooden battens which in turn were coach bolted to the metal frame. The whole inner, (including the ceiling) was skinned with plywood and the wall also used to mount several double power sockets with the power cables running underneath the skin.

Cutting into the outer skin would be relatively easy to give you a water supply and drainage.

You will need adequated heating for the winter but don't use fan heaters a good convector is much better.

The base was a 6" thick concrete slab to which the shed sides were bolted. The actual floor was raised up on treated wooden joists placed lengthwise and filled with rockwool for insulation. The floor was 18mm tongue and groove chipboard with a bit of luxury - it was carpeted.
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Old 2nd November 2015, 10:34 PM
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I have used the ring-beam method on a few sheds on our plot with my wife's art studio being the largest.

Make sure you use good quality treated timber of adequate size for the piles and bearers - keep the structure straight and level. You can just drive the piles in (we did) or dig a hole and concrete.

The art studio has now been up for just over 10 years with no problems at all.

Also provide a reasonable air space between the floor and ground to provide some air circulation.

If I were to put another wooden building up this is the method I would use.

Neil.
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Old 3rd November 2015, 10:22 AM
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I have seen 5 gallon cooking oil drums with the tops cut off leveled and buried 2/3rds into the ground used as piles. They are filled with concrete with 10mm threaded bar stuck out of them to bolt your floor beams to. The metal containers eventually rust away just leaving the concrete.
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Old 3rd November 2015, 11:53 AM
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what a brilliant idea.....
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Old 3rd November 2015, 06:55 PM
cesare cesare is offline
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Andy,

When you say access is limited, are you worried about barrowing the concrete around, or access for digging the plot for a concrete base? I mention this as pumping isn't lots of money, and you'd get a very good solid and level base very quickly if you went the concrete base route.
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Old 4th November 2015, 03:42 AM
cndnlfartist cndnlfartist is offline
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I do agree that the plumbing isn't much money, and the chances are that you can do most of the work yourself. If it was me I'd also want a washroom in it too, which is probably a little more advanced than the average home owner can do themselves.

However I am guessing that the sewer system goes forward towards the main road, so it would probably cost Andy a bundle to have it all dug and laid out.

Not to mention the limited access he mentions beside his house, which is the reason he stated a concrete base is out.

Without seeing his house, I would almost guess that a whole lot of back breaking work with shovels and wheelbarrows would solve the issues. However I would not want to go through the trouble myself.
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Old 4th November 2015, 05:45 AM
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Hi guys, i have quite a long garden ( for the uk) and the shed will be 90ft away from the house. I will look at the levels and see if a surface waste is possible. I would have to rip up a patio to put a fixed water feed in, hence the hose pipe., but everything is in planning so nothing ruled out yet. The limited access is a narrow gateway that i can't get a barrow down. I will explore the piped concrete idea, but i'd still have trouble getting the hardcore down there...have thought of a foundation wall 2 concrete blocks high then mount the floor on that as another option..btw thanks for your input. Greatly appreciated

Andy
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Old 4th November 2015, 07:47 AM
John King John King is offline
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I know sheds are not normally subject to planning permission but this may sound as if it is something more permanent, before going further it may be in your favour (and pocket) to check first. Even if you go ahead and nothing is said now, should you go to sell the house and there is no record this may throw up problems in the survey. What are your neighbours like, are they ones to complain if they don't like it.
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