Are you a shed man?

[Peppermint]

It strikes me that men are split into to distinct camps. Them that understand the value of a good garden shed as workshop, refuge, storehouse, bunker and or scent marked territory and those who don't.

Right I'm off down the shed now.

 

[PaulJ]

DEFINITELY! I built a double garage with an integral shed/workshop on the end of it many years ago. Since starting the Boatbuilding project it has become "Big Shed" and "Little Shed"..... 'haven't been able to get a car in there for years! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[30boat]

Oh yes.
I have mig and tig welding,a 300kg milling machine and God knows how many woodworking tools.Its all a bit insane I must admit...

 

[FullCircle]

Dutton in the garage, car spares, powerwash etc, and 'her' wallpapering/decorating stuff.
2 bikes and all the boaty bits in the shed with workbench, compressor, drill/mill, grind/polish, hydraulic bike bench, and all the 'projects' I have laying around with admittedly no time/intention of completing. Still, I did get rid of 7 bikes, so there is a bit more room now. Also very well lit, with Zone 1 lighting and industrial strength metal conduit and its own mains supply including warm air and infra red heating.

Also managing to slowly decrease the loft inventory, like getting rid of the SPARE Christmas tree!!!

No one voluntarily goes into those places because you need advanced mountain climbing techniques to reach the end of the garage or the shed. Good. I usually hold one open day per year when I get round to emptying 1% of the dross.
Dross is then either:-
a) photographed, described and assessed and put on E-*ay.
b) tossed in the back of the car and removed to the tip.
c) we tried boot sales, but in Essex you are approached by all manner of the socially less fortunate wanting to wrest ownership of the ex-prized possessions for nothing.

You may think this organised, but the inbound dross perpetually exceeds the outbound. Every 5 or 6 years I have a Leap Dross Year and go for it big time, when I get rid of as much as 5% in one go, which has a deflationary effect on the E-*ay prices fetched.
I also have a bottle of Malt tucked away by the bench for cold evenings. I put a window in the shed that can be seen from the kitchen, so Lynn can assess when to bring the black whisky supplementary (coffee).

Bliss.


Jim

 

[aitchw]

How I envy space like this. After 30 odd years of home ownership I still have never had a garage or shed and the house is in a shambolic state with all my stuff, the wife's interest stuff and the teenage son's possessions are far outstripped by ours.

I have, at last, planning permission for an extension which includes a large, but not quite double garage, new bedrooms above and I have nearly finished an outside store/workshop. I confidently predict that when built we will not see any apparent difference in available space, but we may be able to get at and and use what we have. I will even be able to do the annual work on my dinghies under cover.

Bliss.

 

[duncan]

yes

but No1 son has moved into my 'workshop' and is happily living there at the bottom of the garden so, as No 2 son is a plasterer I am lookin gto get planning permission for a non wooden (and therefore temporary) workshop to replace it! There are others (4) but they are full (3) or past thier sell by date!
Having screeded the greenhouse last year that is now fullfilling someof the key functions highlighted in the initial post but, big but, thet boat fulfills them even better at weekends!

 

[Spuddy]

Variation of Parkinson's law is that wife and sons' possessions expand to fill the volume available.
I can dimly understand petrol heads putting vehicles in garages - after all if you do have a Vincent or a Jowett javelin then you might not want it on the street. I did have plans to do astonishingly creative things in the g'rige when we moved in 10 years ago but the time has been spent on waste management- someone throws cardbord boxes in so I throw them back out to make room for my collection ofbits of wood suitable for guitar bodies, useful aluminium extrusion and now.... boat bits.
Houses are so wasteful.. imagine anything more absurd than a dining room!
regards...spuddy

 

[BrickSailor]

My missus reckons that the boat is a floating shed.....

 

[Appleyard]

Big 2 storey shed., i bitza car,1 sailing dinghy,Lathe,drill ,welder ,bench saw,mountains of useful stuff ,1 MGB GT ,1 MG TD (Both for sale) 1 van 1 estate car,ladders,more mountains of useful stuff,etc. When I pop my clogs,someone is going to have their work cut out.

 

[wishbone]

A BIG YEP!!!!!
when we sold our house just before Christmas my triple two storey garage/shed took some mooving 5 merc van loads 1 7.5 ton hiab for me woodworking / welding / perspex bending cutting polishing kit, edgbanding kit, and 3 skip loads........core I luve's me shed. bought a 6 x 8 one for me block paviing kit, now renting a house till I get's me boat, If I go off into the wide blue yonder il'e miss me shed......hey but who cares I could be sunning myself somewhere nice and helping someone in their shed!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[peterb]

Jowetts

[ QUOTE ]
after all if you do have a Vincent or a Jowett javelin then you might not want it on the street.

[/ QUOTE ]

Jowetts; lovely cars. Long ago I used to rally in one. No, not a Javelin, a 1934 7HP with twin horizontally opposed cylinders. We turned it over once on an ungritted road, by sliding up the side of the grit pile that should have been spread but wasn't. Waited for the next car, turned it back, and went on to get second place. I learnt to drive on that car, which was made before the present standardisation of pedals; right to left, the pedals went clutch, accelerator brake. No problem at all, until I switched to driving a 1936 Vauxhall 12, with the now conventional CBA arrangement. Now <u>that</u> gave problems!

I can't help wondering how much those two cars would be worth today?

 

[sailorman]

My Door OPENS OUTWARDS ( luckily) /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[BarryH]

Even put a phone extension in mine so I can order Pizza's etc. Strictly a male only enviroment. Bliss as I'm the only male residing in the house! All things male. The more cylinders the better, currently 3 engines in various states of build/repair/overhaul. I'd be quite happy to move my bed in there if I was allowed!

 

[Peppermint]

Re: Ah! Men after my own heart.

Mine was insitu on a bit of land I bought for a garden extention. It's like a scout hut and is the cause of much envy among the mates. I've got it done in departments so there's kind of useless storage, useful storage, garden tools & furniture, work area, chillout area with radio, tv and beer fridge. My next job is to install the flue for the wood burning stove. Bliss.

If I may recommend a book called "Men and their Sheds". I was given a copy at christmas. If you thought you were a shed nut, when you've read it you'll see you could do so much more.

 

[Becky]

Re: Ah! Men after my own heart.

I have a town house (three stories) with a very smallgarden. When HWMBO first came, he stated that the obvious omission on an un-liveable basis was the missing garden shed. Despite the fact that there was no room, unless I removed my washing line. Then he started on my hardly-used spare bedroom, suggesting that it would make a good workshop. So far I have managed to limit the ever-increasing amount of boat essentials to my very crowded study. Men just don't have any understanding of how to look after a home. It is still the biggest investment.

 

[aitchw]

Re: Ah! Men after my own heart.

Part of the difficulty is men want somewhere to 'live' in not somewhere to look at.

Anyway, the problem is with architects and builders. Despite the fact they supposedly live on the same planet don't ever take account of what folk want to do in their homes so you end up with tacky little boxes with not enough space to swing a cat.

 

[snowleopard]

took ages to find my ideal house but got there in the end. it has 6 outbuildings varying from 15 ft square up to 30 ft+. stuff expands to fill the space available and i now have a full woodworking shop, a triple garage for boat gear and kit car but the regular cars and the dinghies still have to stay outside!

 

[aitchw]

It's a universal condition. How many people with garages actually put their car in them?

 

[TheBoatman]

The spray dodger on our boat is called the shed and is treated the same as a land based version i.e everything gets thrown in it?