The Roof Pt. 2

When we arrived at the block we noticed the normally dry water hole had water in it. The last week must have produce some decent rain on the block, we were to find out later the effects of lots of rain here.

We started of the day with our usual cup of coffee, then we got started on getting the sheets on the roof, the ground at the back of the shed sits higher then at the front and at the front left sits higher then the right.

To get the sheets on the roof Mum would be on the ground lifting and pushing the sheets over me and i would be on the ladder guiding the sheets onto the roof, as the middle of the sheet passes over me the sheet would fall and stay on the purlins allowing me to push it home and screw it into position.

By the time we hit the 5th sheet we started running into some problems, firstly the ladder wasn't high enough for me to comfortably balance while placing the sheets and to put the screws in i was working at head height. This caused by the slope in the land and the rain had soaked the ground so the ladder would sink making it shorter.

We drove to the hardware store and bought a 2.1 meter 'A' ladder that can be made in to a 3.6 straight ladder (not that i ever anticipate to use it at that height!)

Back to work it was, we got the rest of the sheets on the roof, i had to reseat them so they all sit straight, halfway across the roof the drill died, back to the hardware store again, bought a new drill, back to finishing the roof sheeting. Im glad the hardware store is only 15mins from the block!

To complete the roof i still need to put the top and side cappings on and put the final screws in.

The Water Hole.

The New ladder and the 'anti sinking and stabilising' measures.

The second part of the roof done.


While i was putting more screws on the roof, Mum measured and cut the side and top flashings for the rollerdoors. (Hard to tell here, between the front wall and the roller door was exposed wall edges, they now have the colour of the wall.)

The roller doors

Today would have been the least productive of days, the weather forecast was more showers then sun. I'm not real keen getting on the roof as it is, with rain around its just not an option. My plan now was to get the roller doors up and make the shed lockable.

When you get a kit for a shed it pays to look in every bag of miscellaneous bits to see what you actually get.

I spent half an hour a couple of days ago trying to work out how to mount the roller door brackets, for some reason it was in my mind to use 8 screws per bracket, this is after reading the manual several times, i didn't like this for two reasons, 8 screws aren't going to hold the door and there wasn't enough 'meat' to screw into.

Mum and i decided to go for a drive to one of the shed companies display areas and have a look at how they mounted the brackets (a mere 60km round trip). Upon arrival i see a shed the same layout as mine, looked inside and found 3 bolts per bracket, much better idea.

Driving back to the block puzzled at why i didn't get any bolts in the kit we passed a hardware store, i bought the necessary bits and off we went. Back at the block i go about marking and drilling holes, go to mount the brackets and find the bolts i bought were not threaded far enough towards the head to tighten the assembly (back to the hardware store swap bolts).

Finally i have the right bits to continue and i mount all the brackets.



When lacking brawn, brains come in handy, we couldn't lift the doors high enough to get them on the brackets, so we used ratchet tie down straps and the ladder to 'see-saw' the door high enough to lift it into position on the brackets.

Once we had one end of the roller door on the bracket i put a U-bolt in to stabilise the door and stop it from rolling of the bracket, Opening the bag that had the U-bolts and roller door handles we also found the nuts and bolts we needed for the door brackets!

The Door is up U-bolts tightened, measured, centralised and tensioned, now we get to fit the side tracks. For something i figured to be a difficult process the door seated nicely and runs smoothly!

By now it was getting late so we raised the other door onto the brackets and temporarily bolted it down.

With still only half the roof done and now only half the doors done we end another day.

Walls up roof to go

The last wall up and onto the roof. I thought the wall sheeting wasn't all that easy, well the roof isn't much better either, it took the best part of today to sheet half the roof and get it straight.

Lining up the sheets



Starting to look like a shed.

Up goes the wall sheeting

I thought putting up the sheeting would have been easy, i thought wrong, it doesn't take much for one sheet to be slightly skewed for the rest to follow with almost disastrous results, needless to say this only happened on the first wall i did, and i quickly learned and got the remaining walls up almost perfect.

The first wall done.



Cutting the sheets freehand with an angle grinder.



Just under 3 walls done, i ran out of angle grinder blades.

Putting the roof frames up

Today just seemed as though very little was accomplished compared to Sunday.

Putting the middle trusses up didn't quite go as planned, unlike the outer trusses the middle ones need to be bolted down rather then screwed, in its self not difficult unless of course you find that the only socket set and spanner set you brought are 2mm to too small. so they will get done tomorrow.

Up went the purlins and finally the strapping to give the roof some tension. If anything the most time consuming was going up and down the ladder all day screwing the purlins to the trusses.

Four of the eight purlins up and it was almost lunchtime.

Placing the purlins in position ready for fastening.

Trying to work out were best to screw the strapping.

Another days work done.

Yesterday...

Day 2, a helper and a game plan.

Today my aim is to get all the frames up (ambitious for someone who has never built a shed.)

Me...

Three frames up.

Almost bolted down this frame when i realised i needed to put some cuts in the bottom.

Almost done...

Today's goal met and then some, tools packed and ready to head home

In case you might be wondering my helper did do more then just take pictures of me looking busy, without Mums help i wouldn't have got this far especially with the roller door frames.

2 Days ago...

Now that the shed has arrived its time to start putting it together, I'd read the instructions and watched the DVD and eager to start, now the fun begins.

My first days work consisted of finding all the tools i am going to need and check that the generator i bought will do what I'm going to require of it (It started first go so that's good enough for me).

Everything gathered and strapped in the back of the Ute, and its of to the block.

Once at the block I check that all the parts have been delivered and in the correct quantities, put some screws in the trusses, layout the prefab frames around the slab and mark the holes i need to drill in the slab and cut in the frames.

Tidy up and head home.

3 Days ago..

The time has finally arrived! My week off work approved, my helper (Dad) of doing his much anticipated trip around Australia and my shed has finally arrived ready for assembly.

Like anything i do, it helps not to plan things and just wing it!

As it turns out where there is one helper there is another just as good *Points at Mum*

The delivery truck arrived, everything was systematically unloaded and as quick as the truck came, it was gone.

I stood there looking at all the pieces lying on the ground, me feeling somewhat excited yet somewhat nervous.

Roughly 1 month ago...

After almost 9 months wait, the approval for the shed has come through, the unusual time delay was a result of council amalgamations, of course paperwork gets lost in the system, none the less its been approved and i can move on.

The first thing that needed to be done now was have the slab placed, between the odd bout of rain that finally happened.

The way it was...

The casing for the slab.

The finished slab.

Roughly 7 months ago...

A couple of months ago i have placed an order for a small 6m x 9m shed, in the mean time i have been going out to the block from time to time to see what its like in certain weather conditions.

In November of 2008 we had our biggest rainfall in years in the area where my block is located west of Brisbane, we had rainfall of 170cm in the 1 day, given that we haven't had any decent rain in maybe 5 years the ground was hard and not going to soak up much water in any great hurry, needless to say the water had to go somewhere, so it follows slopes, causeways and rivers.

As I've mentioned my block has a dip in the center of it, this is a natural watercourse that is only really a watercourse when we have torrential rain.

A couple of days had passed since the rain, below are a few pictures of what remained.

Difficult to see in this picture is the lower section of the fence covered in debris, I was lucky as the neighbours fences on the left and their neighbours fences all had to be replaced as a result of the damage.

This is looking straight across the block towards the fence in the top picture, this is where the water pools.

The same pool looking towards the back of the block.

The flood damage at the bottom of my street.

Roughly 12 months ago...

Having sold the house and purchased my block of land i guess I've kind of gone the tree change, this still didn't put a roof over my head, all my stuff moved to storage and i moved in with Mum and Dad, not entirely what i had anticipated but then again not much does so i went along with it.

My next move was to build a shed on the block, convert it to be livable and then build a house in a couple of years time. I spent some time looking at different options.

Living virtually out in the sticks you have to do some things differently, like you don't have town sewage treatment that you can plug into, you have to provide your own septic treatment facility on your block, access to water is whats called 'trickle' meaning there is next to no pressure and little of it, so you need to harvest and store your own water, a big water tank is required.

Looking at what my options are and what they could have been i wouldn't change them for the world.

This is my Mum, Dad and Brother (and me behind the camera) having a picnic on the block. This is kind of a tradition with buying land for us, anytime someone buys land a picnic follows.

Roughly 18 months ago..

Roughly 18 months ago i was looking at selling my house, I didn't have a much choice as the first house i bought was a business deal between a friend and myself, we pooled our resources and bought a house as a start into the real estate market.

It all started when my friend called me one day and said he wanted out as he and his girlfriend wanted to buy their own house. This was fine as we had agreed prior to buying the house if either of us wanted out then we sell the house and split the profit.

The house was up for sale and i had to find a way to stay in the market, renting wasn't an option, that's why i got into the real estate market in the first place. I couldn't afford a house on my own and i wasn't about to buy a tiny block of land in the suburbs for an astronomical price.

At this point my only option was to move away from the city, about an hour and a half drive out of the city to be exact, there i looked around and found a patch of land the suited my needs and my budget, well maybe not my budget but close enough.

The block is located in a residential acreage area and is one and a half acres in size (for the metric minded that's 6000 square meters) measuring 40m wide and 150m long with a gentle dip in the middle.

The photo below is looking towards the road from the back of the block, the big dead gum tree (apparently it was hit by lighting a couple of years ago) is approximately where the center of the block is.



The purchase of the block didn't go through for another 6 months, with all the hassels of selling the house.