Are you shopping around for a shed? does it need to be rated for a Cyclone region?
You will probably have noticed the substantial price difference between the Region A sheds you see in glossy adverts with smiling actors splattered with a little grease and those windswept wheat fields ad’s with photo-shopped structures and the reality of the price you have just been quoted for cyclonic region rated sheds. HUGE!
Why do I need to pay so much more? This is a very common questions and the simple answer is this…
- Properly designed cyclone rated sheds from ShedSafe accredited dealers have a lot more steel in them than region A or even B sheds and so you have a shed that for 360 days a year is way over rated and when you need it to be…rated for very strong winds.
To help illustrate the point I have had our friends at Dinky Di Sheds run two different buildings through their engineering and give us the differences in specifications.
First up we look at a 3 bay shed…
- 6 x 9 x 3 enclosed 3 bay shed with 3 roller doors in Region A ,
- Terrain Category 3, Topography 1, Shielding 1. Importance level 1,
- with a site wind-speed of 34m/s.
- Typical usage, enclosed storage not near the home, well sheltered amongst existing substantial buildings.
and at the other end of the scale with the same shed for
- Region C, Terrain Category 2,
- same topography and shielding,
- Importance level 2,
- with a site wind-speed of 62.22m/s.
- Typical Usage , exposed, domestic car garage near home.
In a nutshell we find that the structural steel weight goes up by about 600 kg and on top of that there are 18kg more fasteners in the kit. That’s an overall increase of structural weight and thicker wall cladding of 50%.
Let’s have a look at what happens when we make the Shed 4 x bigger and pull the front wall off it making it into a Open Front Farm shed 12 x 24 x 4.2 with 6m bays.
First up shed is a 24m x 12m span with 4.2m walls, open front farm shed 4 bays
- Region A, terrain Category 2. (Open exposed farm land)
- Sheilding and Topography :1,
- Importance level 1 (Isolated Farm shed)
- Site wind speed 37.3m/s
Then we place the same shed in Region C, a 24m x 12m x 4.2m open front 4 bay farm shed.
- Region C, terrain Category 2. (Open exposed farm land)
- Sheilding and Topography :1,
- Importance level 1 (Isolated Farm shed)
- Site wind speed 60.16m/s
In a Nutshell we find that there is over 3000kg more steel and an extra 60 kg of fasteners in the Region C. farm shed. That’s over a 50% increase in Structural material and Fasteners when compared to the Region A shed.
What’s this mean in layman terms? If your offered a cheap shed for Region C or D then watch out. It’s likely to be under designed using engineering for the wrong district or old engineering that would’nt pass a decent inspection today using new guidelines produced after Cyclone Larry and proven by Cyclone Yasi. If you want to give your investment the best chance of standing after the next “big one” then expect to make a sound investment decision shed that will cost a bit more but be worth it in the long run.
Would you like a quote for a shed to go into Region C or D?
