Framed

It was with great excitement that we took delivery of our shed frame the other week.   Manufactured by The Steel Framing Company (TSFC), owned by Will and Sarah.  It is a work of art. 

TSFC had thought of everything; Kevlar gloves, brilliantly labelled plans, drill bits and even the exact number of bolts (100 in case you were wondering) to tie it all to the slab.  On top of that we were invited to call Will on his mobile anytime if we needed a hand. Which we did - in fact the day we didn't call, Will called us to see how things were going.  Will and Sarah even helped us stand some of the frames up when they dropped by a couple of days later to check on progress.  Now that's customer service.

As Will pointed out, it's not really a shed, but a class 1A dwelling (ie a house) with no internal walls. Hence the unshed-like diagonal braces and verandas. 

The completed frame

With all the extra steel the heaviest panel was 88 kilos and 4.5m high - which was a challenge for Nette and I. But we pulled it off by gradually lifting it onto progressively higher rungs of the scaffold.  We met our match though when it came to the trusses.  Spanning over 8m they were too long and the walls too high for us to safely manage. 

It took us over a week to get all the framing done, including a day with a local builder and roof plumber to get the trusses up.  But it looks brilliant.  So much so it will be a shame to hide all that precision steel engineering behind colourbond.

BTW - My comments about TSFC are totally unsolicited, my enthusiasm is simply related to their incredibly great product and brilliant service.

A nice distraction

Farm house and 2 storey garage

We got a little distracted recently when the opportunity popped up to remove some bits from my father-in-law’s child hood home.  The building, which is over a hundred years old, has seen several decades pass since it was someone’s home.  The avant-garde lean on the two storey garage provides a visual queue as to what will probably happen next.

Front veranda



One of the treasures we picked up was the original front door, with glass intact.  The plan is to ultimately incorporate it into our home.  But in the meantime it’s safely ensconced in the shed with the other treasures; 30 metres of skirting, 8 metres of pine handrail, 2 mantle pieces, 10 square metres of pressed tin ceiling (didn't I say I'd never do old tin again?) and a couple of light switches.

 

Front door

It was sad to see what had once been a modest but much loved farm house looking so dilapidated. Its broken windows had let in a flock of starlings and an apparently incontinent possum, while cattle had pushed over veranda posts in the quest for the ultimate back scratch. 

 

But despite the obvious neglect there was still a nice ambiance to the place as it almost appeared to recline amongst the old trees, occasional clump of jonquils and remnants of a picketed garden fence.

 

 

 

 

 

A second flash

While winter days in Canberra are often sunny they are usually cold.  In contrast, this weekend on site it was jeans and T-shirt weather.  Installing the flashing on the northern veranda was the ideal job for this time of year and it went perfectly and in half the time it took to do the same job at the back.

So, now the front veranda is officially finished.   It has guttering, lights, flashing, paving and some hoof prints where a cow has walked across it.

Next job on the list is installing the upstairs flooring.  85 square meters of tongue and groove eucalypt floorboards, glued and secret nailed.   The big question now is whether to buy a cheap nailer or hirer a good one - the price is about the same.