Hello to all you shed heads, and thanks for looking in again at my progress on this project. This will be a short post as there is not a great deal of interesting or overly complicated things to see at this stage. I fitted the floor using 24mm tongue and groove treated floorboards. I recommend using a treated board as it is an outside building and may be subjected to cold, damp conditions on occassion and you do need try and protect the floor as best as possible. You can see the edge of my floor labours (as well as the dogs tail) in the bottom right of this not so great pic... a floor is not the most interesting thing to look at so didn't think to take a photo at the time and it was very late when I finished.

To ensure that the shed was well insulated I used 50x50mm timbers for the walls to create a cavity for the 50mm thick insulation panels (squares of insulation rather than on a roll) I prefer working with panels, especially as I have made the spaces between uprights to just smaller than the width of the insulation panels which makes apply the panels in between the timbers far quicker by reducing the need to cut loads of panels to size and by making the spaces a little smaller they hold themselves in which makes things loads easier.
Please remember to use goggles and a face mask when working with insulation as well as long sleeves. The fibres and the contents of the insulation can cause real irritation to skin and eyes. For this project I wanted to be sure that the shed was able to sustain the right temprature as it is a storage for electrical equipment and come winter I need to be sure it does not get too freezing in there... condensation is a killer for a mobile jock and his equipment! hehe ;0)

Thanks again for looking in and please come back and check out the next stage; wall covering, final fix of small fiddely bits, fitting of the main door and preparation of the back wall which will also be insulated.

Keeping the the batteries charged and the hammer handy, DJ Fab*

It has been a while since any posts as I have been working hard on promoting and building the mobile DJ business and trying to get my head around a couple of tricky areas on the funkshed build. From the image you can see that I have eventually moved on and managed to get the poly roof on. This required some jiggery-pokery with the roof beams as I found that buying poly roofing cut and finished to measure is not always the best plan if you have not built something like this before. The problem was that my building skills were not as accurate as the guys cutting the poly sheets so I had to move the beams around a bit. The suppliers of the sheets were brilliant and they delivered everything I needed to do the job, please check them out if you need anything polycarbonate roofing wise; http://www.livsupplies.co.uk/index.htm

The installation is pretty straightforward as long as the bars that join the sheet together are fixed straight, square and there is no bend along its length. Apologies for the pics, not that great as the sun was streaming in through the roof... which is better than the pouring rain I have to admit.

As per all jobs like this there has to be a nemesis and mine was waiting just around the corner. I knew it was coming, I just didn't realize how much effort and thought it would take up. The nemesis was the gas flue which you can see in the picture below. This landed right in the middle of the shed and I thought it would be pretty straightforward to simple buy an extension to the flue and run it across the roof beam and allow it to poke through the wall... but oh no... nothing is that simple in the UK.


Apparently the boiler I have cannot have the flue extended from the outside... apparently I have to remove the existing flue and replace it with a 2 meter one which has to be fitted to the actual boiler (can you hear the sarcastic tone?). This is unlike any of the other boilers I have enquired about so lucky me! Anyhow I managed to get a very helpful boiler engineer to advise on the amount of space I needed to create an opening and subsequently a bulkhead for the flue to have enough airspace to do it's thing properly. The result is a monster of a box that is in the first-third of the shed and is uuuuuuuggglllyyy!!! but necessary as a work around to a big and frustrating problem.
Here is the result.

So the roof is done, the flue is sorted and the shed is made water tight; and just in time as it poured with rain a few days later and it was a good test to see if all was leak proof before putting the floor down - and it was, PHEW!

Next is the flooring and the insulation. Stay posted as I think the next few steps will come quickly.


If you have any questions or would like to know more about what I have built and why please drop me a line at party@funktiondjs.com

OK here I am with stage 2 of what has become affectionately known as the funkshed. After battling the high winds and lashing rain and desperately trying to keep the tarpaulin tied down so that the floor joists had at least some chance to dry out I eventually got to complete this stage.

I have now finished the wall frames and strengthened these laterally with noggins ( a building term used for the lengths of wood that fit horizontally between uprights). At one end I left an opening of 760mm which is a standard door width and at the other end (near the back gate) a 900mm opening for double doors which will make loading and unloading equipment much easier.

Next I fixed the header rail for the top of the pent roof and cut the roof joists to size and at an angle of 10 degrees (1:12 fall) which I am told is sufficient for this type of roof.

I was then ready to board the outside of the frame using OSB3 board which has good moisture resistance properties. I decided to cut out notches in the top of the boards that had a roof joist going through it. This created an overhang above the wall frames header rail an act as an extension of the wall up to the roof joists to keep the wind out. Handy with Winter just round the corner.

 I am particularly pleased with my rebuilding of the gate end of the space and the recycling of an old gate which I fixed up and rebuilt (you can see it in the background of the pic). I love reusing stuff and giving it a new lease of life.

Now I need to measure the space between the roof joists, just in case anything moved whilst fixing, so I can order the polycarbonate roofing panels and gubbins to hold it all down. I will add another post once I have completed the roofing and fitted the Perspex windows at the garden end of the funkshed so I get some lateral light and can see out onto the garden for those moments when I need to reflect and be inspired – LOL.

If you have any questions or want advice on how to build something similar do contact me via the Funktion website, I’ll be happy to pass on any info I can.

Keep the batteries charged and the tools sharp.
F*

I am really excited and frustrated at the same time over this project. I need a space where I can practice, practice, practice, produce music and review equipment for the YouTube channel. I am building a shed to all intense and purposes from scratch because I could not find one the right shape and size. It is a bit daunting as I have not really built anything like this before, but very excited at having the space to myself and fitting it out just how I need it. Will keep adding posts at key stages and here is a pic of stage 1.

I think it is important for a DJ to have a place where they can spend time working on their skills and craft and to be surrounded by inspirational stuff. I am planning on insulating the walls to keep the winter nights out and it will have a polycarbonate roof which will let in plenty of light.

What a great day! BPM have got it goin' on and this year was no exception, in my opinion the best yet. There was loads going on and everyone I spoke to was helpful, knowlegeable about their product and really friendly.







My first shout out and thank you goes to DJ Steppa, Kitcha and Jordon (DJ Steppa's bro') on the DJ-Tech stand. DJ Steppa showed me around the u2 Station which he and his partner Kitcha use in their sets and gigs. It is built well, feels nice and solid, easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy to connect to any club or mobile system with 2 USB ports supporting MP3 (CBR and VBR) file formats. You can connect via memory stick, external hard drive (upto 250Mb) or MP3 player, and both decks can play tracks from the same USB. Add to this quick folder access with full ID3 info: Title, Artist, Genre, Rate and 3 effects with real time control and there you have it, an awesome bit of kit for beginners and pro's alike. To top it all the RRP for the u2 Station is a very affordable 299GBP/370EUR/499USD.

Left to right: DJ Steppa, Kitcha and Jordon on the DJ-Tech stand.

When I spoke to DJ Steppa about how the u2 Station performed on the road he said, "it is a solid piece of equipment which we now take everywhere with us. Me and Kitcha turn up grab a line from the clubs mixer, power on, turn up the volume, jam in the USB stick and we're away". in fact, he added, "finding the memory stick in the bag sometimes takes longer than setting up!" Steppa and Kitcha use the u2 Station as thier choice of media controller which is praise indeed from two talented and skilled DJ's who no doubt put the u2 Station through it's paces with their hard hitting drum 'n bass sets.

I loved the simplicity of the layout, whilst DJ-Tech kept the functions and build quality totally pro. I would really like to review this lovely piece of gear for one of my YouTube vids; I will see what I can do and let you all know if I can make it happen. Thanks again guys, you were great representatives for DJ-Tech and the u2 Station.

Woo Hoo! it's been months of preparation and waiting and now the time has come... BPM 2009.
For me it is like the beginning of the year because from Monday onwards what happens at BPM determines what I do over the coming year. I will be establishing new contacts and looking up some old ones - if they are still in the game.
I will post news of my visit and some photography as soon as I am back, I am very excited about all the fantastic new sound and light equipment which I will endeavour to get my hands on and review for you.

We also say hello to the new Funktion DJ's YouTube channel found at: http://www.youtube.com/user/FunktionDJs

Please do visit the channel and look out for our reviews, gig logs, demonstrations and tips and advice for DJ's

OK that is it for this quick post and remember to Practice and N Joy. Fabio.