Outbuildings or sheds for layouts

[chuck geiger]

Has anyone built a layout in an outbuilding or shed? There have been quite few
in the Model Railroader track plan and layout yearly publications. The Austrailian
modeler who has the cool Santa Fe N Scale, Rod Warren, has built one. I might
have the area for a 6'-12' and will get to build the San Joaquin Valley SP (J.J. is
exicited).

[Mark5]

I'd make sure it is well insulated. Temperature extremes will be well .... more extreme in an unisulated shed.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I just finished reading this:
http://www.amazon.com/Railway-Modelling-Realistic-Iain-Rice/dp/1844253597

(My library had it... kinda odd choice, but it was good)

And he talked a good bit about shed layouts, since English houses really don't tend to have much room. Definitely worth a read.

[Ian MacMillan]

Wendell is.....where is he?

[chuck geiger]

It would be insulated with the pink stuff, drywall hung and air and heat - Power run to it
from a backyard junction. It would go on my patio, which is already poured concrete.

[wm3798]

You can get a pre-fab that they bring on a roll-off truck, or if you have an 84 Lumber, they offer a build it yourself kit, complete with roof trusses!  The 12x16 kit is pretty cool, because the gambrel room forms a wide overhang, which forms a neat shelf on the interior.



I even built a model of it for my 84!  I always thought that overhang area would be a great, if difficult to access, place for staging yards!

Lee

[C855B]

Similar, but not - how 'bout a 30'x30' loft in a barn? Fortunately in my case it was semi-finished to start with and was at one time somebody's living space.  

Climate control issues are the same, however. My biggest concern is wide swings in humidity, so am accordingly designing the layout to minimize use of wood.

[wendell camp]

Wendell is.....where is he?

My building is a 20x20 garage kit Attached to my house I insulated and sheet rock it. I have a gas heater in it and have a window air conditioner for the summer Wendell

[justTRAINcRaZy]

My building is similar to Wendell's in that I use gas heat and have 2 window units to keep it cool. However, I made a huge mistake this summer. I worked most evenings after dark, and just left the door open with a couple of fans on while I worked, shutting the door as I left. What I didn't realize was I was trapping in the humidity every night.

Just before my ops session a couple of weeks ago, I noticed mold growing on some of the Caspia. I put the dehumidifier from the basement in the layout building and it has run almost non-stop for 3 weeks now. I empty 1 gallon each day, sometime twice a day. There is only 2 doors, no windows and the entire thing is insulated.

I didn't notice problems with benchwork swelling as much as with locos not working well. I had cleaned all the wheels after the last session, but these were even worse.

Looks like I've got to buy an extra dehumidifier for the basement, now.

KB

[AlkemScaleModels]

I just finished reading this:
http://www.amazon.com/Railway-Modelling-Realistic-Iain-Rice/dp/1844253597

(My library had it... kinda odd choice, but it was good)

And he talked a good bit about shed layouts, since English houses really don't tend to have much room. Definitely worth a read.

I borrowed that from the library too. It is a great book. I enjoy Ian's prose. You can see that many of his Kalmbach books are basically the same material slanted to a US market. He is a versatile writer.  The chapter on signaling was enlightening to me as I had no idea about UK signaling practice. It is very different than the US practice.

[RDG_Rich]

Interesting.

I am halfway through a new roof on a dirt floor garage that was built in the 1920s... It is NOT pretty... but it's unusable as a garage because of the alley it sits on. 12'x30' that I have been thinking about dividing in half to make uninsulated storage for the mower etc. and the other half finished off as a workshop or home office...

A match and a gallon of gas probably would have been more economical as a renovation. 

[chuck geiger]

In California, we get the same weather all the time, so humidity might not be
an issue. Wendall nice building.