Timber v Steel Frame

[Rufus®]

Why not go a standard design/layout? Is the extra 9 square meters really worth the extra cost and headache?

It's either utilised in the shed, or it will just become wasted space, I'll end up dumping **** in there, that sort of thing. In the long run I'm hoping it will be worth the pain.

 

[Rufus®]

Um, good to see you are taking the hands on approach. But one thing that concerns me greatly is your apparent lack of knowledge on building. Anything bigger than a dog kennel, especially something that you will be spending time inside of the thing is of concern because obviously if it isn't up to basic safety standards it could one day collapse in on you. What does your local council think of this idea of yours? And would you need final approval after completion of building it?

Not that i'm against home reno and the like, i've done many things around my house. I just would hate for you to go to all that effort and expense only to have it backfire down the track. Maybe you could find a mate or a local builder with knowledge of building that might be able to help out? Also, use timber if you feel like replacing the shed inside of ten to fifteen years.

I'm happy to get someone in to do the work, I'm just trying to work out if its viable to go down this path or just stick with the prefab steel shed at this point.

I thought there may have been someone on here that could give me some indication of viability.

 

[Reaper]

Every structure should be steel...What if you have a severe storm?

You have no ####ing idea what you are talking about. There are Australian Standards to deal with this stuff and when installed in accordance with them timber/steel are both as adequate as one another. Refer to AS1684.3 (Residential timber-framed construction (cyclonic areas)) and AS4055 (Wind loads for housing) amongst others.

it comes down to personal prefernce.....wood..mayb be cheaper but what type f wood? if its hard wood (the good hard wood) then that would be good.... but if its the **** pine then go with steel!

Yet another person who has no idea what they are talking about. I'd be interested to hear why you think hardwood is better.

when me parants built there house (i was 14, me and me dad built it) we had steel frame, at the time the steel frame was cheaper then wood...go figure! and it was twice as thick steel as the **** you get now.

Steel frame/timber frame - each are perfectly adequate alternatives for construction.

also is 13k with the slab? if so thats about average price for that size

Not sure how you could establish that without at the very least engineering and/or soil test data.

No slab, another $7200 for the slab, which i lol'd at ($1100 per cubic meter)!! so far this is the only mob that have even attempted to quote, everyone else has just said no, can't do it, due to the shape.

Might have to keep looking.

Rufus - pm me your plans and engineering and I'd be happy to look at it for you. I do this for a living.

How would the timber go in the wet?



Dont be jelly now...

Unless he is going to build a shed without a roof it will perform fine. Even where there are exposed timbers, choose appropriate species, paint it and maintain it properly and they will last for decades.

To the OP, in general terms, a "off the shelf" designed steel shed will be the cheapest alternative by far. If you want the above shape then probably a timber frame/trussed roof will suddenly become more economical. You will also have the advantage of more cladding options (say to match your house if there is one near by).

 

[Rufus®]

Cheers Reap. No plans yet. Any idea of what a frame / trusses would cost, just a ball park figure. At least then, with a better understanding, I can start talking to builders and draft persons.

 

[the_boozer]

get a price on what it will cost to make the truses out o 80*40*2 box steel 8m lengths think about how you want to make it over engineer. If you want to save money do it yourself. the pictured bit of roof below cost me less than $2k in materials go have a look at what other people have done.

 

[Reaper]

Cheers Reap. No plans yet. Any idea of what a frame / trusses would cost, just a ball park figure. At least then, with a better understanding, I can start talking to builders and draft persons.

Allow yourself about $50 pm for timber wall frames and $3k for the roof (very very rough prices). Then you need to select your roofing and cladding materials on top of that.

get a price on what it will cost to make the truses out o 80*40*2 box steel 8m lengths think about how you want to make it over engineer. If you want to save money do it yourself. the pictured bit of roof below cost me less than $2k in materials go have a look at what other people have done.

I'd strongly recommend he gets the shed designed properly applying the Building Code of Australia and relevant Australian Standards before he started just deciding any particular material was strong enough.

 

[Rufus®]

thanks again reaper, so assuming we are working with sqm, it'll be around the 7k mark for the frame. then roofing, gutters and wall cladding. plus I'd probably have to redo footings to suit frame rather than posts (already have 6x9 slab). might be better to go with steel. just need to convince wife...

 

[Reaper]

thanks again reaper, so assuming we are working with sqm, it'll be around the 7k mark for the frame. then roofing, gutters and wall cladding. plus I'd probably have to redo footings to suit frame rather than posts (already have 6x9 slab). might be better to go with steel. just need to convince wife...

Steel/timber makes no difference to the slab. If you go for a masonry (brick) cladding or conc tile roof (over steel) it may make a difference. Would need to see the engineering/slab design and I could tell you

 

[Rufus®]

ahh ok. to be honest, there was no engineering done on the slab. pretty much scraped the ground, pegged out the slab, dug 400x400x 500 deep footings every 3m as per specifications from the shed place I was going to go with at the time.

 

[Big-Al]

Wood is fine but think about termite protection. metal could work out cheaper in the long term.