Shed Construction Day

And so it begins....

The pile of pieces and parts on the back of the truck can't really become a big shed can it?


These guys are like the brain surgeons of backyard storage construction. They are all business! Not an ounce of humor in them. :D All kidding aside, they were thoroughly professional and know their trade very well. They worked as a team quickly and efficiently. There was a perfect amount of good-natured ribbing between them that made it rather funny to hang around and watch.


In the above picutre, you can also see their floor joist methodology. Rather than treated lumber base joists, they use galvanized steel. Combined with the drainage of the gravel pad, I think this will work well.

End Walls up and front wall going in. All told, it took them 2 hours to get the rails down and leveled, floor decking in and screwed down, all 4 walls stood up, and the door header installed. I was impressed to say the least.


In less 7 hours, it was all done. Here is the front view.


Here is a view from the right side so you can get a better look at the overhang. I'll add some framing around this area for firewood storage. The overhang is 2ft so it will cover regular 16inch cut firewood. I'm guessing I can store at least 1.5 cords here.


There was another event today, but I didn't get pictures. It was dark and rainy by the time we got back to the ranch. You'll just have to check-in tomorrow to see what that one is. :D

Things Starting To Happen Quickly

After a short hiatus enforced by work travel, I'm back at it.

1) My shed gets installed tomorrow. It is a big 10x20 TuffShed. I had them put a 2-foot roof overhang on one end for storing firewood. I'm wondering now if I should have gotten the 2-foot extension on all four sides.

Before the shed can be installed, it needs a solid level surface. While they say it can be placed directly on level ground, I wasn't too keen on that idea. One of my neighbors runs an earthmoving business on the side. So I had him come put a couple gravel pads in. It is the first time I've used him, but I'm very impressed with his work. Both pads are very well compacted and it looks like he probably used a laser to level them.


2) Water Tanks - The DC water pump system doesn't produce enough pressure to directly drive a normal pressure tank based well water system. Thus I'll need to pump into storage tanks and then use a boost pump (also DC powered) to pressurize the system. I'll be using a pair of 1500gal water tanks. At a weight of 12000lbs each, I definitely need a good pad under them as well. Here is that pad


3) Lumber and man-tools. I want to put a fence around the water tanks just to screen them visually. Given the wet weather here, wood rot is a huge problem. I'm using a product called CPES from RotDoctor as a starting point. I'll likely also fill the checks in the fir fence posts with epoxy/sawdust putty and then paint them with a good polyeurethane coating. Likely Elastuff120 and a topcoat of RhinoTop also from RotDoctor. The so-called "pressure treated" lumber can rot quite easily here. I avoided it and went straight to green fir. The CPES/L&L/polyurethane coating should be far superior. I want to get started putting coats of CPES on tomorrow. That means a big load of 4x4s for fence posts.

Just in case you want to count them. Yep, 24 8ft 4x4s strapped down to the DiamondbackHD. I'm definitely getting some good used out of that. The bed is currently full of other manly implements of construction and destruction.


Time to get some sleep. The crew is supposed to show up between 0800 and 0900 tomorrow morning. Elysium is about an hour from where I'm living at the moment. There should be a big update late tomorrow evening.

-BDH

Diesel Powered Equipment - grunt! grunt! grunt!

There are lots of places on my property I can't get my truck into. I also need something to mow the place. I could get a lawn tractor or a full-size tractor. Those can't get into the tight places. Besides, they aren't nearly as fun.

Arctic Cat 700cc 4x4 Diesel ATV. They were made in 2007 and 2008. Due to the changes in the diesel power vehicles regs, they weren't made in 2009. They are coming back as 2010 models. Developed in conjunction with Roush Racing, they were targeted at the military and farm/ranch markets. All those markets primarily run on diesel. A diesel powered ATV means they don't have to stock and maintain another fuel supply. I found this one still in the crate as a closeout at a local dealer. It was their last one. I did a bunch of research and digging online (shocking, I know). Everything I could find about them was positive. I also found 3-4 others for sale used. Those used units were the same price or more expensive than this brand new unit.

Link to Arctic Cat's web page on the model.

Needless so say, I'm a happy guy. In the picture, it is sitting on top of the bed of my truck. The DiamondbackHD bed cover is designed for exactly this use. The shiny things in the center are the ramps. I just drove it up there and strapped it down. Now another short work trip and then I can get to work!

-BDH

In the beginning, there was a place..

Welcome to the blog. As I work on my new place, I'll be updating here at least once a week or more. I will post as many pictures as possible so everyone can follow along as my new home takes shape.