Sunday, November 02, 2014

Shed O'Fun

Not many people get excited about sheds. The name alone denotes a garden outbuilding that is functional and rarely a thing of beauty and a space to spend time in, apart from when you store and retrieve ones garden implements. There are loads of exceptions out there of course but for a majority the aforementioned descriptions holds true.



But I'm glad to say that the shed we have been actively building since mid August is one we're both very excited with. The structure will still be and look functional, tucked away within the working area so will not be very visible (you'll get a glimpse of it as you walk past the koi pond towards the koi filter house) but the bit we're both most excited with is that it is potentially a space we'll spend lots of time in especially during the winter months.


The jungle veranda - nice during the warmer months but too exposed during the winter plus it is used for plant storage. Same with space beyond the patio doors (curtains are removed in the winter to let as much light in)
A sort of a 'man cave', that's what it will be.

Man cave? Don't we have one already? Funny enough no despite all the existing garden structures we have. Sure we can spend some time in them during the warmer months (like the jungle veranda) but rarely during the colder months. Those spaces are usually utilised for plant storage during the winter and are usually both too crowded and uncomfortable to hang out in at that period.


I found that the larger of our two greenhouses is actually a nice place to sit in and hang out during the summer when it had more free space as most if its winter residents were outside
I suppose our home really is a very comfy man cave already so there was no need to have one to start with. But a space to hang out in, separate from the house still isn't such a bad idea to have and sounds fun. We had been looking at ready made sheds such as these at Shedstore but with the pond partly built and wanting to build to the maximum the space would allow we opted to make our own.

It started out first as an allocated space for a quarantine pond which we started to build early last year but stalled as we prioritised our house renovation and sorting out the garden after the fire. When we finally resumed the work last August it quickly dawned on us that this quarantine pond will be much more than just that. That the shed we'll build over it is a potential space to spend time in during the colder months.

Thinking about it, this enclosed space:

Will have a mini koi pond.

Will be insulated and gently heated during the winter.

Will have space overwinter some plants.

Should have enough space left for a small table and a couple of folding chairs.

An enclosed space with a koi pond and plants in it, some of our top favourite things! We can both hang out in it and I'm sure the cats can join us too, even better!

A man cave, a shed o'fun!

The pond will hold about 2,800 litres of water, we want to make sure it is very well filtered. As a result we have spent quite a lot of time planning the filtration and choosing between options.

Our current plan - which may still change is to use a combination of a home-made vortex filter with K1 filter media in it - this will provide biological filtration as well as also encouraging solid waste to fall out of suspension to be drained away from the bottom of the vortex. There are lots of ways of making these home made filters, but having seen one at a fellow member of our Koi Club we will use a water butt as the vortex and then house the media within a smaller canister inside.

In addition to the large DIY filter we will use an Oase Filtomatic 6000, this is a new self cleaning filter with built in UVC. The filter itself will be pump fed with a gravity back into the pond. These filters are suggested for ponds larger than this one will be, so with the combination of the vortex and Oase filter we expect to keep the water in pretty good condition. With any luck we will have the pond up and running before too much longer!

But before that, a little refresher on our preparation for the area last year

So here it was first, foundations for the quarantine pond being built in the merry month of May 2013
Ballast and concrete for base poured in
Alas, with space a premium this border had to be sacrificed. Sorry Forest Pansy but the bamboos should be fine

In building the shed over the quarantine pond we have recycled a few items like:


Remember our decked area, adjacent to the house and just outside our back doors?
That area is now the sun room. We saved most of the deck boards and will now be the flooring inside the shed
We also reused most of the clear corrugated plastic roofing that was on the rain shelters. These panels have been stored away for years as we don't use rain shelters anymore.
As the clear roofing above indicates, sections of this shed will be translucent to let in as much natural light as possible. But there will be air gaps which will act as insulation and improve heat retention.

Anyway, rather than make this post too long and photo intensive I'll feature the various stages of this little but fun project of ours in separate installments (perhaps two or three more). Most of the main structure is now done except for the door which will be a day on itself to do.

Oh and our project manager...



Mark :-)

22 comments :

  1. You two don't stop. Winter is a time for hibernation and perusing plant sites and seed catalogues :-) It all looks very planned and efficient and I bet it won't be long before you have ticked off the whole project plan on the spreadsheet.

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    1. That'll be nice Don, looking forward to spending time in there looking at fish and all, and pottering! And once finished we can hibernate for awhile :))

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  2. Your project manager looks series about this job. You had better pay attention! A man-cave shed? That reminds me of the very old storm shelter on our property. I don't know that it has ever been used during a storm, but we found evidence that it had seen its share of fun. Lots of booze bottles turned up as we were poking around. It seems the original owner's wife was a teetotaler who refused to have alcohol in the house. So he had his parties in the storm shelter.

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    1. Knickers is a very serious project manager Debs :) one of the appeals of a man cave is that, an alternative space away from the house. Reminds me of being a kid again somehow, having a den etc.

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  3. With a project manager as smart as the one you have, this, like all of your other projects, will be brilliant! I'm looking forward to seeing your progress!

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    1. Typical project manager though Peter, like to inspect but then walks away :)

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  4. Ah oh, I think the project manager looks confused! As for me, I'm curious to see what you new shed looks like.

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    1. It'll still look pretty typical shed like Kris, with a bit more polycarb perhaps :)

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  5. How fun indeed! You guys make me both feel like a super slacker and wish we had more property on which to build things.

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    1. Gaz like his projects Loree which certainly helps :) and your garden is certainly not a slacker's garden :))

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  6. I love the sound of your man cave, though I imagine it will be stylish rather than filled with scruffy tools and half - finished projects like most exemplars!! Smart to take advantage of the necessary warmth and mini koi pond.

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    1. We'll try to jazz it up a bit Janet but it'll still be more on the functional side :)

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  7. Ack, you stopped too soon! Hope part 2 comes tomorrow...

    (I need an overhead map of your garden -- I can't get my bearings.)

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    1. I'll get Gaz to sketch that map soon Alan :)

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  8. I hope your koi appreciate how lucky they are.

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    1. We do pamper them as much as we could or app for them Ricki :)

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  9. I suppose it's a lot of fun to build so many things in the garden. I can't wait to see the final results! :)

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    1. Gaz especially enjoys building things Lisa :)

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  10. Wow, good work guys! Can't wait to see the end result. Knickers looks as though he's keeping everything moving along at a good pace :)

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    1. He is Amy :) although typical boss, leaves all the work to us

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  11. I'm beginning to wonder just how big your garden is?

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    1. Just good at squeezing in more things Libby :)

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