Grian

Advice please! It seems tin is pretty hard to handle? I need to cut it, and bend it around corners to clad a shepherd's hut (don't want to use right-angled profile pieces, going for a heritage appearance). We cut some with a grinder at the weekend and the edge was hairy and spiky and hazardous, not encouraging. Then watched some YouTubes and saw someone using a Miquita nibbler, this looked a lot better. Quite an expensive bit of kit for our relatively small job, but if it makes life easier then so be it. I also need a non-standard colour of tin and it seems that painting it myself is the most feasible route as I can't find anywhere to get it powder coated in Scotland, or near where we are buying other hut materials in Yorkshire. Any tips? I think plain galvanised, degrease it, then paint - but someone told me that the shiny grey reverse of a standard colour coated tin sheet works as an undercoat, I have my doubts, can anyone confirm? Alternatively we could use timber, but it seems a lot more costly. I'll ask a separate question on that matter. Hopefully stop going round in circles!!

Thanks @Ferdinand, did you put a loo on your allotment in the end? That is such an inspirational build. They must get so much extra enjoyment having made it themselves.

@PeterW thank you, we have planning for this, I saw that as the major obstacle but now fear I will be thwarted by the toilet!

@Kelvinthanks, that's a good idea. I'll do that.

Sorry, more information - I need a plan B for a toilet in a shepherd's hut in case building control don't approve our connection to the septic tank serving the house. It will be let to guests so needs to be odour free and easy / no unpleasant to operate, and not horrific to manage either. @Kelvinthanks, I'd come across this type, very expensive but seem the most pleasant. Has your friend had experience of them?

Can anyone recommend a toilet that doesn't smell, is foolproof in how it operates, and doesn't need to be connected to a septic tank? Also any advice against particular types. Thank you.

Can anyone recommend a good value retailer in central belt / accessible to argyll please. Looking for Larch or Douglas fir, need a trustworthy source as don't have the experience to know if quality is as it should be. Thank you.

Feeling very encouraged! Thanks for responses, loads of good information. It is absolutely true, this needs to work but it certainly doesn't have to be perfect. @Thedreamerthat is a great looking shed. @andyscotlandI very much appreciate the detail about screws v nails, for this it seems screws have a lot going for them, especially as the bits won't jump around.

I can get my hands on a couple of pallets. I have a little tin left.

It wasn't unsightly on mottled granite. Would have it done again without hesitation.

Thanks. Can't afford too many mistakes / much waste as will have to buy all materials (once I figure out what they are) and probably some tools, there's no stack of bits from other projects, and budget is really tight as there's an expensive project going on. I really have to sort accommodation for the logs that are our primary heating at the moment and currently under an increasingly leaky tarp, but I'd rather pay for it than have it fail mid-winter and need redone due to me going off half cocked. Which is probably the mindset that keeps me needing someone else to make stuff! There must be a publication dealing with the very basics - where to use nails v screws, different dimensions of wood for example...

I have never constructed anything. Assuming zero knowledge and no useful mentoring friends (can get help but will be the blind leading the blind) would it be a foolish notion to try to make my own free-standing wood store to contain approx 2 cube of logs? I'd like it not to blow away in the continual gale-force winds, so needs to be robust, and low so that it is unobtrusive... (I dream of a green / living roof but perhaps that is overcomplicating the already optimistic idea). If this isn't folly as a first timer then I need to find simple instructions (youtube? sources tend to assume some experience) so I have or can adapt a basic plan (what bits do I need) and directions as to how best to join the bits. I'm tired of throwing money at things I could probably manage myself if I had a tiny bit of knowledge. Help - or honest feedback that this is not a sensible first project - welcome.

That is really impressive!

@Iceverge Thanks very much, I really appreciate the detailed spec!

Thank you all for really useful input. I think tin is promoted as providing a stronger structure because it is usually fixed to OSB/ply which is added on the outside of the frame. On the interior it will either be clad with straight edge wood planks (may shift with temp change but it is a rustic thing) or MDF v-groove sheets. The norm for insulation looks like 75mm in floor and ceiling and 50mm in walls, therma... no, fleecetherm? Made from wool.

Thanks. I assume insulation must dampen noise... it is a really common cladding for huts for sleeping in... We have it on our roof and thankfully can't hear a thing! But that is a house with lots of insulation in ceiling and a big attic space above.

Hope questions about small structures are welcome! Potentially using this company's kit for a shepherd's hut for our Scottish coastal windswept high-rainfall location (will be having the chassis galvanised and lugs added to tie it down) and need to organise cladding. Any thoughts welcome, including on the kit and any adaptations that could be needed to ensure it is robust enough. I am hoping it is adequate as is. Builder will be doing the majority of the work and could make the entire frame, but we need some components brought in anyway and a kit will speed things along usefully in a mid-winter build. It has been suggested that tin cladding will help make a stronger structure. I expect this is true, but is it overkill or actually worthwhile? If I use tin I will need to get the new plastisol or polyester coated wall-sheets powder-coated, or paint them myself, in order to correspond with colour specified on planning application. I shouldn't imagine paint will be keen to stick to a new smooth surface and I will be doing it in a dusty agricultural building so not thrilled at the prospect... anyone have experience of this, or know where best to source powder-coated sheets coloured to my specification? If I don't go with tin (planners said they will approve timber also) then I need to find an affordable suitably robust timber alternative... (have siberian larch on our house but won't be using on hut). Grateful for your thoughts. Many thanks indeed.

We do eat a lot of chillies...

Thank you, maybe I should have given it a wee house warming dose when we finished the build but better late than never!

Maybe it just needs to get going then. I did look at a treatment plant but budget was perilously stretched, we've lived with septic tanks all our lives and I didn't know what would happen in a power cut. Clearly a superior option though.

Thank you, very definitely a septic tank, will have a look at that link, appreciate it.

Hi Peter, thanks for your reply. The house was completed and we moved in last November, we haven't had the tank emptied yet, there are only two of us. I don't use bleach, and only mild detergents. Coming from an area where septic tanks are the norm I've noticed others smelling on occasion - is it inevitable if gas is released through a vent? Sometimes there is a mushroom-looking vent on the ground near the tank and I've noticed they occasionally have an odour around them. Ours doesn't have one by the tank, just the one on the roof - does that have a direct uninterrupted connection to the tank? If so, and it releases gas from the tank then it surely must smell, and this is why they are usually high on a roof above any windows? I'd love to understand this better if anyone can explain it in idiot-proof terms. The odour from the vent on the roof is occasional and I think perhaps happens because the house is at the base of a steep bank, the vent is low on the roof at the rear, and in some conditions the airflow doesn't carry the smell away over the rooftop and instead it sinks behind. Aside from this the only smells is very rarely from the tank itself coming from one of the two lids, it has a crack at the side where it screws onto the tank and I suspect if I replace that it would be fine.

Do I need a soil vent pipe on a spur connecting a shepherd's hut to the existing septic tank which serves the house? I hope not as the one on the house roof was set low - single story building - and sometimes absolutely stinks... Thank you. Kirsty

That sounds interesting... will Google, thanks!

Thank you, hoping that is all in order as the off-grid options for a toilet don't look great.