More shelving...
The 'loft area' was something I fitted back in the 90s, when the Shed was first built, as that was 'dead space' otherwise. I tested it by lying up there and it all seemed solid enough, it's generally not used for heavy items anyway, as that would mean lifting them up and back down.
I decided to fit a narrow shelf below it, as that could still allow space to walk comfortably below it.
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The wall edge of the shelf is supported by a batten and the front is held by hanging struts, from the beams of the 'loft' floor. There will be one more hanger at the 'bend' in the corner.
The shelf is held to the hangers by IKEA-style "cross dowel bolts", so there is almost no protrusion underneath.
There's about twelve feet of twenty-inch-wide shelving there now and it will be useful for a good bit of bulky, not-too-heavy stuff.
It's space that was only really used by the cellar spiders...
For the sake of clarity, these are the undersides of the hanging points on the shelf, leaving an almost flat surface, to avoid snagging, as it's just above head height.
I could, I suppose, have made the short section two inches wider, and avoided the little in-fill here, but there was a lot of 'measuring things in mid-air that weren't really there', and it doesn't detract from the intended purpose, really.
The other four hanging points have only the 15mm head of the M6 bolt protruding below the surface, almost flush - I could have sunk them a little, I suppose, but this is easily 'good enough' for the intention.
I have also organised a top-up of the oil tank today. It should happen over the next few days. Cleaning off the top of the tank, I found a mounting point for a level monitor, so I've fitted a fake wire into that, as the tank is a lot more visible now than it used to be. I
might just have had enough to get through next winter, but it would be a close-run thing and it's one more thing to 'forget' about. By this time next year, the tank should be a bit more obscured again, I hope. A bit of shading wouldn't go amiss, if we get another heatwave scenario, too.
I test-ran the boiler, as it last fired on the 13th of April, and all seemed well - and the pump operated OK - and I operated all the radiator thermostatic valves, as they can have a tendency to stick shut - a few needed a bit of encouragement, but they're all operative now.
I will then have most of two winter's worth of oil, about three years of cooking gas and over a winter's worth of wood on site.