Sheds

[Bung]

I'm curious to know what people have in the way of sheds in Thailand. They were always a haven to get away from screaming kids / wives and somewhere to hang out with your mates, drink and destroy things.

Where do you work on your pride and joy's? Out in the driveway? Under a mangoe tree? Or do you just drive / ride it to the nearest dealer / bush mechanic?

I built a dedicated workshop under my house. In fact I said I didn't really care what the house turned out like I just needed a shed. So after too many years I finally sorted it out, built the work bench, some bar stools (I held off on a fridge or the mrs would never see me inside the house) and have all the crap in order and my tools at hand.

[Rigger]

I have a just a make shift shed at the moment but it is brick with concrete floor but I can hardly move in there at the moment with 5 bikes in there and shit stacked every wear but planning to build a store room and a bike work shop in the next few months have big plains for the work shop with a bar area and coming off the work shop. I did build a bar and pool room on to the house but some how it turned into a kid’s nursery

But the shed will be built to the same standard as the house with a car port coming off it and going half way down the house you can never have to much shade or rain free area. Have been building for two years hope to finish the house block this year

[penzman]

This is the expertise area for our friend Udon!

Until we move to a bigger house and have more land, I'm stuck working under the car park or at the back of the house where I built 2 long tables that fold down. Our small storage room is overloaded, I m actually thinking of using our attic for storing yet more cr@p but I 'll have to build a quick fix floor over the suspended ceiling.

That all reminds me of an old Joe Walsh song

" Tomorrow, got a list of things to do-o

But when I wake up, uh uh oh oh

Gonna cross out a few"

[Gary A]

I like to think of my "shed" as more than a shed. It is eight by eight meters with 3 meters of head space. It is built of concrete block, steel rafters and a fiber roof. I have all the tools I want and spend a lot of time tinkering. The bad thing is that my wife has moved her sewing machines out there as well as her ironing board.

I forgot to add that it also has a farang toilet.

Edited January 20, 2006 by Gary A

[chuchok]

I like to think of my "shed" as more than a shed. It is eight by eight meters with 3 meters of head space. It is built of concrete block, steel rafters and a fiber roof. I have all the tools I want and spend a lot of time tinkering. The bad thing is that my wife has moved her sewing machines out there as well as her ironing board.

grounds for divorce

A bloke in NZ made a picture book of "Sheds of New Zealand" ...it was best seller.

[Uma~~]

My dad would like this topic, dad's like sheds.

[Gazza]

I really miss my little tool shed that I had back in England that at one time was used for storing coal (remember that black stuff pre-gas and electric fire days?)

I used to sit in it many-a-time freezing my <deleted> off during the bad winters reading m/c mags that didn't have much or any m/c's in them whatsoever, just mostly naked ladies.

But also in my little haven, I had tools that I'd foraged and bought over the years as well as my Uncle Joe's tools that he gave me from when he was an apprentice engineer. His tools weren't the nicely chrome molybdenum(?) things that you get nowadays. No, his weighed a ton and left powdered rust on your hands when you handled them, nor did they have the size moulded into them for quick selection. You had to guess or try and remember which spanner was for which nut or bolt. When he gave me the tools they were in what looked like a big heavy wooden pirate's chest not like the vinyl pouchs or moulded plastic boxes that they come in these days. Aye, it must've tough back in the old days for engineers and mechanics carting their stuff around. He even gave me some carpenter's tools which were, funnily enough, almost entirely made of wood. The only metal part was the blade.

I remember getting a strobe light and a clear plastic plug for the inspection hole to do the timing on my Harley and having my Uncle Joe telling me not to be a 'daft bugger' spending money on useless what-cher-ma-call-its. His instructions for sticking a welding rod in the spark plug hole and kicking the engine over slowly to find TDC was the way to do it. Although he neglected to mention the time when my elder brother helped him to do the timing on his BSA by kicking the starter too quickly, only to have the welding rod shoot up Uncle Joe's left nostril. Luckily for our kid, he was wearing a full-face helmet and not a pudding basin like what Joe wore. Otherwise my brother would've lost a few teeth for sure.

I had 'god knows' how many screw drivers. Maybe around 50. Some were the same size though, especially about 20 of them that had come with DIY furniture. But I always kept them regardless, just in case a major job broke out that required the use of 20 identical screw drivers.

Some screwies were s-shaped, off-set, flexible, a foot long, a stubby few inches, or had a flat section on the shaft to enable to get a spanner or wrench on it for an awkwardly stubborn screw.

One or two of them probably would've had the handles light up if I were to have stuck them in a plug socket, but I hated anything to do with electrickery so never got to find out.

I won't mention the impact screwdriver that I had that you had to hit with a hammer, just in case Uncle Joe turns over in his grave muttering 'you daft bugger Gaz'. I'm sure he would've used a Manchester Screwdriver which was compiled of a cold chisel and a hammer for any 'bastid of a screw' or 'bugger of a bolt' that seemed to be welded on.

Other things that I used to forage and go treasure-hunting for were nuts, bolts and washers. All my washers were in a big jar that was like a piggy-bank to me. If I found a washer out walking somewhere or while at work, I'd pick it up and put it in my pocket. Same with nuts and bolts, I'd keep them to put them with all the others that I'd collected in a 3' x 2' plastic tray that allowed for a quick and easy selection.

Some people saved money, I saved washers, nuts and bolts.

Apart from my (ahem) m/c reference books in my shed, I had my little radiator heater that weighed a ton coz' of all the heat bricks inside of it. A dancette record player that required utmost dexterity when changing LP's with oily or greasy hands. But most of all, I had peace and quiet when I wanted it. Except for my mum or dad bringing me out a cup of tea every 40 minutes or so.

My shed was conveniently situated right next to the outdoor bog which, when your hands were black with used oil and you wanted a pi55, you found out who your true friends were (or what they were).

Over the years I'm sure the inside of the shed got smaller and smaller. Any rusted tins of paint would see the contents splashed over the brick walls. Didn't matter if it was white Dulux gloss paint for wood or some auto touch-up spray with exotic colour names like; El Paso Beige, Bordeaux Burgundy Red, Arctic Ground Squirrel White, Autumnal Dingleberry Blue or whatever, it was all put to good use rather than throw it out.

Nor too, would I throw out any cheap sockets that I'd bought from the market that had split open on first usage. Old throttle, clutch, speedo cables were hung up instead binned. Custom parts or workshop manuals bought on a spur of the moment were in my shed's cupboard even though I didn't have that particular bike for the actual part or manual. Nothing, absolutely nothing....was deemed worthless to me. Ok, maybe used oil would be thrown out but I'd make sure I put some on the squeeky shed door hinges first.

Here in Thailand? I've built up a tool kit that initially consisted of an oily rag and a paint brush, to something that COULD possibly allow me to do a simple task on a bike, but I'm always fearful of coming across a hard to reach 'bugger of a bolt' or dropping and losing one of those 25-satang-sized washers.

Sadly, my 'tool shed' is nothing more than a ten foot long shelf in the front of the house which is stacked with empty or partly full oil bottles, numerous broken electrical extention cables (wiring may be of some use in the future), Big 'C' special offer leaflets(good for catching drops of oil when changing), a little pencil case containing a few nuts, bolts and washers that I've come across(as well as 6 little yellow plastic cell tops from a battery that I had to throw out at one time) and a few other little things that may come in handy sometime for something or other.

Wasn't sure whether to put this in the 'Tool' or 'Shed' thread so decided just to stick it here.

Edited January 20, 2006 by Gazza

[Nignoy]

Once I,m sorted goin to ship a flatpack shed to los, aussie sheds are the dogs whatsits got a 7 by 4 metre , nice bench with my 2 stills , barfridge, racks for my fishing rods and tackle, smoker and swagman barbie in case it rains :: lots of seating nearly forgot nice hammock and in the corner out of the way, lawnmower and fings and power tools of course, dont like to venture into that corner too much ,looks to much like work long live my Shed!!! Nignoy

[Bung]

.......Stills?........

Please explain.

[suegha]

Wow! A thread about sheds...

Surreal! But very enjoyable.

[Nignoy]

.......Stills?........

Please explain.

Why explain nignoy

[udon]

Here's mine! Broadband cable, TV and an Esky.

As I look up and to my left, I can see my grandfather's saw that he nicked from the Sydney Tramway Company just after the Boer War...

[Bung]

Udon

Are you sure that your grandfather didn't use that whole shed in the boar war?

Looks like something off the set of "Breaker Morant"

If there was a prize for the most decrepid shed that is right up there.....

Can anyone top it?

[udon]

Udon

Are you sure that your grandfather didn't use that whole shed in the boar war?

Looks like something off the set of "Breaker Morant"

If there was a prize for the most decrepid shed that is right up there.....

Can anyone top it?

What do you mean? I'll have you know that that roof is by Colorbond.....

[rcalsop]

Udon

Are you sure that your grandfather didn't use that whole shed in the boar war?

Looks like something off the set of "Breaker Morant"

If there was a prize for the most decrepid shed that is right up there.....

Can anyone top it?

What do you mean? I'll have you know that that roof is by Colorbond.....

I am jealous I have no room for a shed so as I created my cyber shed (see posting on favourite tools) and then realised with the traffic jams I had developed the mobile shed/ postings on this forum ref traffic jams . But I still want a basement work shop or a bottom of the garden shed ...a dream to be full filled .

Do you think a Theme Bar /men only THE SHED would work ? Men only !!!,No it wont work , allow women in ..then it is not THE SHED .... Forget it ...but come to think about it Nana Plaza is a bit like a Shed ...

Plenty of Vices

Every one looking for a screw ,

Loads of nuts

Plenty of people hammered

Taxi drivers must be screw drivers

Hundreds on punters being nailed

Saw heads later

Some guys into angle grinding

Chat up merchants looking for the Right Angle

Old fat guys boring the others

Nipples to be greased and teased

The possibilities are endless

[samran]

There is always an alternative for a shed, and that is a toilet. I'll leave you with a monlogue by the character of 'Steve' from that British comedy 'Coupling':

We are men. Throughout history we have always needed, in times of difficulty, to retreat to our caves. It so happens in this modern age that our caves are fully plumbed. The toilet for us is the last bastian, the final refuge, the last few sqaure feet of man space left to us.

Somewhere to sit, something to read, something to do, and who gives a ###### about the smell. But that for us is happiness because we are men. We are different. We have only one word for soap. We don't own candles. We have never seen anything of any value in a craft shop. We do not own magazines for the photographs of celebrities with all their clothes on.

When we have conversations we actually take it in turns to talk. We have not yet reached that level of earth shattering boredom and inhuman despair that we would have a haircut recreationally. We don't know how to get excited about really, really boring things like ornaments, bath oil, the countryside, vases, small churches. We do not even know what, what in the name of God's ass, is the purpose of potpouri. Looks like breakfast, smells like your auntie. Why do you need that?

So please, in this strange and frightening world, allow us one last place to call our own. This toilet, this blessed pot, this fortress of solitude. You girls, you may go to the bathroom in groups of two or more. We do not pass comment. We do not make judgement. That is your choice. But we men will always walk the toilet mile alone.