We’d like to bring to everyone’s attention that there are some major changes coming to the shed industry that has the potential to impact your sheds design in a form of a revision to the Building Code of Australia and associated standards. If you are in the market for a shed right now, have very recently bought one, or are planning to buy one in the next 3 months then please take note.
This change is to come into effect on the 1st of May 2013.
The main area that affects SHEDS and GARAGES is in relation to ROLLER DOORS in CYCLONIC regions.
Doors that escape their tracks will disintergrate in cyclonic winds
This relates largely to Roller Door Standard AS4505 and the use of roller doors in cyclonic wind regions C & D. The change is due to the fact that during recent cyclonic wind events like Cyclone Larry and Cyclone Yasi, a common point of failure on all buildings types has been the failure of roller doors. The failures were noticed on houses, sheds and factories etc.
As a result of this, Standards Australia has produced a Standard for the manufacture and design of roller doors. The new code requires manufacturers of roller doors to test their roller door designs and provide products to consumers capable of withstanding pressures in a cyclonic wind event. This is effective from 1 May 2013. This DATE IS VERY CLOSE and could affect your shed if you live within 50 KM or so of the coast, North of Bundaberg and within 100km of the coast in some areas of NW Western Australia.
Most roller door manufacturers are yet to release information regarding the exact
changes required for their doors, or the loads that these revised designs will place on the overall structure of a shed, home or other building. A possible resolution to reduce the number of door failures in a wind event may involve the requirement to use of a wind lock system.
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A wind-locked system usually consists of a special assembly of runners on the side curtain of the roller door that fits into special tracks that effectively lock the door curtain into its tracks. Currently these Wind-lock systems add a substantial amount to the cost of a roller door. We hope that this cost will fall with the increased production of wind-lock components in time. (Economy of scale.)
This action will reduce the number of roller door failures, but as a result of the increased locking system strength, higher wind loads may be transferred to the structure – and if so these will need to be taken into account during the design of the structure. This may have an impact on the design of the shed members, specifically the door framing and mullions.
Who are these changes regulated by?
The Australian building Codes Board will be regulating roller doors in Cyclonic Wind Region C and D from 1st May 2013 and all doors supplied in those regions will be required to meet AS 4505. At the moment the code is only applicable for doors up to 3m high. We’d like to point out that it is likely that certifiers after the 1st of May will probably enforce that roller doors being used, comply with this standard and as they already do around Darwin in the NT (remember Cyclone Tracey), they may reference the code, in principle, on ALL roller doors, no matter the height.
At the ShedBlog, we think that all people considering a shed or garage, all suppliers and all resellers need to be prepared for the likely outcome being that all roller doors being supplied into Region C & D areas will require a wind lock system – in order for them to comply with the new standards.
As such we suggest that all quotes that you consider in these regions should now include details as to whether the quotation provided does or does not include a wind lock system for each roller door. If your quote does not include wind locked roller doors we suggest that you ask for them to be at least quoted as an option
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