Making a shed into a room

[kathycam]

When we bought the new house we were lucky enough to inherit several sheds. One being a chicken shed, one being a cat shed, one being a wendy house, one a "shed" shed, one a falling down shed for storing straw and also one that is more of a cabin that has been insulated but then used as a dump.

The cabin shed also has had rats at some point. It has this horrible pink fabric on the walls and behind that is some sort of insulation. At some points the insulation shows as the rats have nibbled the pink fabric. Sorry for the rough pic, its just one I had already.



So we would like to make it into some sort of occasional room. Possibly so if we have guests they can sleep there, or use it as an office or practice space for my boyfriend. (does qi gung)

We'd possibly need to insulate it more, and we'd also like to make the walls look nicer. We don't want to spend heaps. Any ideas on what might work? We could staple fabric to the walls, but we did this in another shed and it made a damp problem.

Cheers

Kathy

[AllInContainers]

The damp problem is cured by ventilation, specifically a mix of high and low. Fit a 6" x 3" vent fairly low down in one corner, and another high up in another corner. You can always put a bit of mesh on the inside to stop critters coming in. Is you are using any form of camping stove or portable gas fire (or even a wood burning stove) in there, you need to at least double that amount of ventilation for safety from CO. If you are tempted to use polystyrene sheeting as insulation DO NOT have any electrical cables touching it - they react badly together and cause nasty fires that cost lives (the polystyrene breaks down and degrades the insulation on the cables and causes shorts to occur). Ensure all cables are in conduit.

So with all that boring safety garbage out of the way, you can decorate it how you like

[kathycam]

Oh I never knew about the polystyrene and cables, I'll have to check the "cat" shed, as I think that has polystyrene in there and does have power. I think they are separate, but I will check.

There is also a hole in the floor, I think from the rats, we'll have to fix that up. It's next to the door, which may make it harder, I guess we could put a grille on it and call it ventilation?

[AllInContainers]

The polystyrene was a very popular technique when fitting out narrowboats, but is now prohibited for that reason. You can keep the polystyrene insulation in place if you wish, just re-run the existing cabling through some conduit so it doesn't/can't come into contact anywhere

[green thing]

Wouldn't use rockwool (fluffy type) of insulation
Makes an ideal habitat for mice in your walls
Local fishing club did this the hut became infested
With them
Would use foam type with foil backing(celotex kingspan)
Between timbers then foil tape joints (must be air tight no gaps)
Then 19mm tile battens screwed on top to make a gap
Then vapour shield (duplex) plaster board screwed onto the battens
This will stop the condensation .


Get alot on Ebay also try wanted ad on freecycle

[kathycam]

I'll check the cabling Allincontainers and see if its's safe. Not planning on doing that shed yet, but if its a fire risk, we will have to do ASAP.

I think that's possibly why the rats were in Green Thing, I think it is rockwool already there. The vapor shield plaster board, sounds a good option. Hopefully we can put over whats already there. (its the other shed that has the condensation. There was some dampness in this one, but coming through the floor, so we (my dad actually) managed to raise it.

[bretty666]

Hi..i would consider a roll of multi layered insulation stapled to the existing wall (its like a roll of .....many layers or plastic and bubble wrap and foil..i think they have something like 17 layers and it is only 1cm thick? ) then baton onto the wall as previously mentioned ..but if you are going to baton on to the existing board either start with half a board so your edges will fall on the previous 60centres and not the previous edges so that you ate not popping one directly ontop of the old joints which would weaken it...or lay it american style and lay it like brick work..horizontally and staggered??. Does need a ven.in there azwell..put a dehumidifier in there for now

[Jardiniere]

TwoSheds watch out!!! Here's KathySixSheds!!

[kathycam]

I've got more sheds than I know what to do with. Multi layered insulation sounds interesting. We may have to think about taking out the original insulation as the rats have been out it!

[kathycam]

Managed to do the walls, my Dad will help me change the lights and then I can do the ceiling. Looking loads better!

It's had another coat of paint since the picture.