Office: TuffShed in the backyard

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randyc

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Joined
Jun 17, 2003
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Project Details: Using a Tuffshed, I will be creating an office shed similiar to www.aboutdean.com 's office shed.
It will be split down the middle and then I get half, while my brother gets the others.
Estimated Cost: $4000USD max.
People involved: Myself, my mom and her boyfriend Ken, Andrew Frank (Neighbor/good friend), and my younger brother Jeff.
Companies used:
TuffShed - Structure
Chino Rentals - Chain Saw rental, to cut bushes, Trench digger.
Lowes/Home Depot - Paints
Electrical - Neighbor (Rob Catone)

I'll keep this thread updated.

May 29th, 2005 - I have finally moved everything into the shed and situated it all to how I plan on keeping it. The project was a success, with a minor mistake in airconditioning, but its liveable.
I promise pictures soon.

June 11th, 2005 - We are now working on electrical today. I'll post pictures if its completed before evening.

Febuary 20th, 2005 - Pictures updated. The TuffShed is built, and the raining here has stopped for abit so I checked it out, and it turns to be water proof.
http://www.lolomgwtf.com/office/StageI - Shed Built/
Main Picture: http://www.lolomgwtf.com/office/StageI - Shed Built/P2130047.JPG

January 29th, 2005 - So far we've already got a quote for the TuffShed, more details on size later. Today was all cleaning out the backyard. We will be soon leveling the ground.
I will post pictures to keep you updated.


-randyc
 
Man, this is awesome :D
Make sure its heated and has a fridge for beverages ;)
 
neat idea. I have a rather large backyard i coudl try it but i don't think my parents would like a shed in the yard .

you should heat the thing with computers.
 
Muttsta said:
Man, this is awesome :D
Make sure its heated and has a fridge for beverages ;)
Click to expand...
Fridge = farther down the line
Are Ebay fridges fine?
and heating, will not be an issue. I'm in SoCal and will need to look into a Air conditioner.
We are going to purchase a window airconditioner, and use that.
KoZLop said:
Don't forget the fart fan!! :D
Click to expand...
will be putting a vent up im hoping!
DryFire said:
neat idea. I have a rather large backyard i coudl try it but i don't think my parents would like a shed in the yard .

you should heat the thing with computers.
Click to expand...
The heating will definitly be coming from computers.

It will be a not so large room, a little smaller than my bedroom, which is already heated by one computer.

Now imagine three Old Smart-UPS 1400's, a new smaller UPS, two towers, my CRT and LCD screens plus some lighting

it's going to wonderful
 
randyc said:
Now imagine three Old Smart-UPS 1400's, a new smaller UPS, two towers, my CRT and LCD screens plus some lighting

it's going to wonderful
Click to expand...
Mmm... toasty. Reminds me of a building that a friend worked at. The entire building was heated by the heat output of the servers and desktop computers. They just had AC units for summer, and kept the air circulated in the winter. Also keep in mind that this building is in St. Louis, Missouri, not exactly the warmest place in the winter. Just goes to show the heat output of all of the computers.
 
can't wait until i get that lot of old comp stuff from Jacksn... i'm gonna build me a farm :D

now THAT'S electric heating.
 
The Shed's being constructed by the TuffShed folks right now :)

-RandyC
 
i say you put in:
a intercom with your house
a vacume tube transport system (maybe home made)
a modding center (ie drill press and work bench that you can cut and metal work on)
a toilet/port-o-potty
fume hood (for chemical fumes, goes withwork bench)
compresed air fittings ( put a $150 small compressor in your garage and run a line to the hut)
running water( garden hose)
and an escape hatch
 
bigboy101011 said:
i say you put in:
a intercom with your house
a vacume tube transport system (maybe home made)
a modding center (ie drill press and work bench that you can cut and metal work on)
a toilet/port-o-potty
fume hood (for chemical fumes, goes withwork bench)
compresed air fittings ( put a $150 small compressor in your garage and run a line to the hut)
running water( garden hose)
and an escape hatch
Click to expand...
Forgot the undeground bunker!




sounds interesting, needs a tunnel between your house and the shed though. (Incase socal gets 2 feet of snow ;) )
 
Man, it would be nice if you could integrate touch panels and motorized sliding doors like in startrek. Maybe dig out a huge hole under the shed and make a bomb shelter there. Have the shed as the enclosure for an elevator :D
 
what are you doing for power?

I looked into doing this, but it was illegal to do without the power company coming out and doing random things, but that might just be my area.


Also, I just picked up a large minifridge from a pawn shop for $27, you might try looking at some pawn shops. :)
 
An extension cord would probably be overloaded with a few computers/monitors on it. Dig a small trench and run some wire out there. (Or a Perpetual Motion Generator)
 
ttoad4000t said:
what are you doing for power?

I looked into doing this, but it was illegal to do without the power company coming out and doing random things, but that might just be my area.


Also, I just picked up a large minifridge from a pawn shop for $27, you might try looking at some pawn shops. :)
Click to expand...
We never signed any contracts with Edison...
and as for legalities, they aren't going to tell us how to use our power :p

Power, phone, and ethernet: We're digging two trenches, one leading off to the phone box which is by the power too, for the power and phone. The other trench will be leading towards the office (back of house) and we'll just run some PVC through the wall in a fashion most ghetto, and put an ethernet cord through that.

-randyc

post script: pictures are coming, I've been busy. Sorry :-/

edit: I should include that were setting a dedicated circuit for this building, and that our neighbor is an electrician. I'll be doing the LVW though, the phone and ethernet.
 
Sounds great, I put up one of those in a friends backyard but it wasn't meant to bea computer room, just a workbench and som epower tools so we could work on teh car in the winter
 
randyc said:
We never signed any contracts with Edison...
and as for legalities, they aren't going to tell us how to use our power :p

Power, phone, and ethernet: We're digging two trenches, one leading off to the phone box which is by the power too, for the power and phone. The other trench will be leading towards the office (back of house) and we'll just run some PVC through the wall in a fashion most ghetto, and put an ethernet cord through that.

-randyc

post script: pictures are coming, I've been busy. Sorry :-/

edit: I should include that were setting a dedicated circuit for this building, and that our neighbor is an electrician. I'll be doing the LVW though, the phone and ethernet.
Click to expand...

Don't run your ethernet side-by-side with romex (power). It is disruptive to ethernet and will reduce your speeds. Trust me, I learned the hard way.

The Office Shed Guy!
 
DVHost said:
Don't run your ethernet side-by-side with romex (power). It is disruptive to ethernet and will reduce your speeds. Trust me, I learned the hard way.

The Office Shed Guy!
Click to expand...

you did notice that he said he's running power and phone in one trench and ethernet in the other, right?
 
DVHost said:
Don't run your ethernet side-by-side with romex (power). It is disruptive to ethernet and will reduce your speeds. Trust me, I learned the hard way.

The Office Shed Guy!
Click to expand...
I do know that :)

Though its a good thing you brought that up, I'm hoping some other poeple will read it.

Often times, doing tech suppoirt I see people that are running ethernet cables wrapped around the power cables when they do a long run.
o_0
Pics coming soon.
 
Zero_Distortion said:
does that effect long runs more than short ones? IE would a 6ft run cause problems?
Click to expand...

Absolutely! Long or short, you want to keep those lines separate from each other.
 
I hope the building inspectors and other gov people dont catch wind of your little office. That is occupied living space and does not meet code in most places. Also I hope you have a building permit. Again, most places will require one, even for a storage shed. You may end up having to tear it all down.
Good Luck.
 
Hofy said:
I hope the building inspectors and other gov people dont catch wind of your little office. That is occupied living space and does not meet code in most places. Also I hope you have a building permit. Again, most places will require one, even for a storage shed. You may end up having to tear it all down.
Good Luck.
Click to expand...
No worries, you can't rain on my parade.

You think I'd spend $3,000 and not check that stuff out?

And what are you saying, meet code? I could build a shed in my backyard, and no one can tell me I can't live in there. Most cities require a building permit, and thats a process of submitting your plans, waiting 3 months, getting the plans approved, and then building it.
Now what codes are there to meet?
 
randy, i commend you for doing this. as an hvac guy, i should however... say this,


as you will be spending the majority of your life in this "shed", perhaps you should get a dedicated heatpump to the shed, maybe a 1 1/2 ton or so, and two supplys, one return...

heat and cool your "sheffice" all year round. :cool:
 
randyc said:
No worries, you can't rain on my parade.

You think I'd spend $3,000 and not check that stuff out?

And what are you saying, meet code? I could build a shed in my backyard, and no one can tell me I can't live in there. Most cities require a building permit, and thats a process of submitting your plans, waiting 3 months, getting the plans approved, and then building it.
Now what codes are there to meet?
Click to expand...

Sorry, I am not trying to piss on your parade. Just offering a heads up incase you hadnt checked into it. I think what you are building is really cool, I just dont want to see it come to a sudden end.

I worked in construction for several years and you would not believe some of the crap that municipalities can come up with.

Keep up the good work and we cant wait to see the finished TuffShed.
 
Bump.

We are doing electrical today...
finally.
Things have been a little slwo with everyones school/work schedules.
Today we are running the electrical from the houses breaker to the offices breaker.
Then we will be wiring the CAT6 up to the house and the phone system and get it all going goood.

-randyc
 
Well, now its been almost a year, and I'm doing the bump-a-lump.

I completely forgot to update this thread, and I promise to bring you guys pictures soon.
I need to dig through my computer and find them, or just take new ones.

The shed office is going pretty well. I've got all the computer stuff out here, and then the corner of it has my brothers stuff stored.

The airconditioning, I'm not sure how many tons the unit out here is rated for, but its a smaller Haier, built into the middle o the wall. Like the HVAC guy said, make sure you get a AC big enough. My mum refused one from my aunt that was bigger than the one we put in, and the one put in has to be constantly running to be effective.

Electrical seems to have been enough, I haven't overloaded it yet, with 2 UPS and some other equipment plugged into it. Spacious enough for my needs.

Needs blinds, I can say that. I live in SoCal in the IE. It gets very hot out here, nice consistent 80F+, and without insulated windows, you need blinds badly.
 
Keep up the good work Randy. I am curious to see the pictures of your shed. I've recently updated my photos to reflect interior changes:

The Office Shed - Updated Interior Pics

Hopefully your A/C will do the job. Today we hit 99 degrees outside and it was sweltering and humid. But here in The Office Shed it was a very pleasant and cool 72 degrees. Pretty crisp, actually it felt like walking into a new commercial office building where they have the A/C all cranked up.

I'm using a Maytag 5,200 BTU window A/C unit designed for 150sq. ft. My office is 120sq. ft so it does a great job at keeping it very cool in here. I got it at Home Depot for $130 new. Check them out if you ever need one.

Don't forget to post those pics Randy! Lookin forward to it.
 
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