Insulating and modifing a garden shed?

[Hoppkins]

Ok i have a small garden shed made of wood which i have recently emptied and painted all nice



My question is there any way to sufficently insulate and make it suitable for brewing in? Would sealing between the planks or insulating it help?

I'm no handyman, i'm a computer geek. I don't know how it works. My dads an electrician so getting a mains socket up there (assuming it can be made safe) wouldn't be a problem.

Thanks

[steve_flack]

If your dad can sign off for Part P of the building regs then getting a socket out there should be OK (all outside electrics require Part P).

My experience of sheds is that they get very hot in the sun so even with insulation you may need some cooling out there. Many people do brew in sheds but I think your shed is a bit smaller than most.

[Hoppkins]

It's about 6-7 feet by 4 feet i guess.

I doubt my dad could do that on reflection. He is a sharp engineer now so won't be upto date on the regs part.

If the roof of the shed were coated in something white or reflective would that help the cooling part?

[Hoppkins]

Yeah sounds a pain. I might just build a wooden cupboard/trunk thing and use it for storing beer which is maturing in. I'm starting to have a space crisis inside and am just looking for alternatives

[sparky Paul]

Anyone can do the electrical work, but you must obtain Building Regulation approval. You must inform Building Controls dept. of your local Council prior to commencing the work, and arrange for them to do the inspection and testing - the cost for this is between £100 and £250 (+VAT) depending upon the scope of the work. Note that all the work must be carried out to the standards required by current regs.

Under the new regulations, it is no longer possible for any electrician, registered or not, to certify work done by someone else - only your local Building Controls dept. can do this. There are only two more alternatives...

1. Use a "registered installer" who is/are a member of an approved scheme to do the work, and do the subsequent testing and certification.

2. Use a competent electrician who is not a “registered installerâ€

[Hoppkins]

How do you guys brew in summer if it's far too hot? :/ I know the house will get pretty toasty and the shed as you say will be magma time..

[Andy]

Some stop brewing in the summer others use converted fridges or homebuilt fermentation coolers....

[mysterio]

Either in a spare fridge (these are alarmingly easy to get free or very cheap second hand), a bucket of water with some ice addition, wet t-shirt and fan or a fermentation chiller (try a search).

[steve_flack]

[
Realistically, the best options are DIY and pay the fees to Building Control, or employ a "registered installer" to do the whole job.

The building control fees seem to be priced high enough to suggest that the councils can't be actually arsed to actually come round to check and basically it's often cheaper to get a registered installer to do it....and less agro.

Or you could do it yourself and pretend you've never heard of part P - just like the majority of people in the UK who aren't in the trade. It's funny, the people that do know their arse from their elbow will know about Part P. The one's that don't are the ones that are still going to be burning their houses down.

[sparky Paul]

The building control fees seem to be priced high enough to suggest that the councils can't be actually arsed to actually come round to check and basically it's often cheaper to get a registered installer to do it....and less agro.

There is some truth in that. Councils often subcontract the testing, and some Councils have been trying to pass this cost on to the applicant - this is wrong, all the necessary work is included in the fee. Having said that, the "registered installers" know you will have this to pay if you DIY, and it is expensive for them to be members of the approved schemes...

Many of the smaller electrical installers and one man bands now do no self certification - they just get BC to do it and pass the cost onto the customer. The cost of membership of these registered schemes and the hoops they have to jump through mean that BC certification is actually cheaper...

Whichever way you go, the expense to the end customer is increased.

[BlightyBrewer]

Under the new regulations, it is no longer possible for any electrician, registered or not, to certify work done by someone else - only your local Building Controls dept. can do this. There are only two more alternatives...

I presume this only applies to work carried out after 2005? I just had a safety test carried out by a Part P sparky on the spurs I put in the kitchen in the summer of 2004 - just because I am selling and wanted to make sure there was sufficient paperwork to demonstrate the safety of the work I had done before Part P (I'm a very conciensus guy )

[sparky Paul]

I presume this only applies to work carried out after 2005?

Indeed. This new system only applies to work carried out after 1st January 2005.

[SteveD]

Sh1t! I knew I should have run power to the sheds when we did the extension in 2003.

...mind you the armoured cable I aquired years ago is already in place undeground, and I have a reel each of 2.5mm and 1.5mm old red/black T&E left over from then... I could cheat. The only problem perhaps will be upgrading the consumer unit. That's definitely one for the pro's. It needs doing because even under the old regs, external power had to come direct from the consumer unit, and my old one won't do it.