Hi everyone, Was lying in bed last night thinking about my housing situation and came up with an idea! How about buying a BIG shed and putting it on a 1/2 acre of land ive inherited and converting it into a house/log cabin.. Has anyone done anything similar or know of any websites with ideas? Ive thought of some problems already, the shed will have to be well insulated for winter, was thinking turf on the roof. Because it will be quite heavy there will have to be some sort of foundations. Its near mains power and water so could get that to it. Heating could either be electric or a stove. Can anyone think of anything else i should consider? With some time and effort im sure it could be really comfortable. Theres enough land to have a small pollytunnel and grow/ keep my own food, could almost be self sufficient! Thanks for reading R.
It sounds workable to me! For insulation you can buy foil-backed bubble wrap insulation. It's about £2sq/m, and is literally just bubble wrap with foil on either one or both sides - available from most DIY stores. It's main advantage is that it's very thin - equiverlent to about 50mm of polystyrene installation. You could maybe make your own by recylcing bubble wrap and using tin foil yourself, although I don't suppose most people don't have that much lying around. Of course, you would then have a shiny aluminium-lined interior to your dwelling. If you don't like the "space look" you could then restore your "walls" by using hardboard sheet. Indeed, this is a recognised alternative to plasterboard if used correctly. Nail or screw it onto the structural battens of the shed at equal distances. For foundations, you have a choice of either investing in a concrete hard standing (going to cost a few quid, and not that eco-friendly) or raising the whole lot up on those large chunky concrete building blocks. Even if you had a hard standing, most sheds need to ride on blocks anyway. In absence of a hardstanding the blocks themselves will need to sit on a fairly firm base - but depending on the ground you could probably achieve this by clearing part of the top soil and then compressing the ground with a tamper (stick with a big flat weight on the end - available from DIY stores) where the concrete blocks will sit. Use a spirit level to make sure they are all level! It sounds crude but ultimatly even big sheds don't weigh that much - and even if the ground does shift more than a couple of inches you could dismantle it to reset the bases! Depends how much money you want to spend really, that's the "pikeys" choice anyway. Heating - well, electric is pretty expensive. Even if you're generating your electric from eco-means the electrical demand of even a simple 2KW heater is huge. If you can find a good stove that's perhaps a more practical choice and makes things more interesting. Just some general on the fly thoughts really, I may well give different advice to the same question next week so ultimatly I've found lot's of research is your best bet. Anyway - it's sounds pretty exciting - let us know how you get on!
i just got done building a new shed....not much insulation is needed...they stay pretty warm alot of the time....
i lived in a shed last summer.. if you put it on skids, it likely wont need a building permit. i'm pretty effing happy to be out of that shed, tho'.
