Shed upgrade started

[Magicman]

I guess this rain has had you slowed down.......or stopped?

 

[Old_Paint]

I guess this rain has had you slowed down.......or stopped?

I'm starting to think I should have built a swimming pool instead of a shed. We had 6.05 inches of rain last Friday, or whenever the heavy rain came through, and probably that much more since. That's more rain than South Australia gets in a YEAR, in less than a week. I'm losing track what day it is because of rain and supplier delays. Starting to think maybe I just pour and self finish a footing with Sakrete and put gravel in it, then come back later for the floor. I need to get some building started SOON, or lumber will be completely out of reach. Metal building costs are climbing with lumber because of the demand that lumber prices are causing. I put a liberal budget on this to allow for anticipated greed associated with COVID excuses and local building demands, but even my generosity has been far exceeded. The budget is history because of climbing lumber costs. It's gone up nearly $.60/board foot since I did the initial material estimate. And I need a lot of board feet. Not to mention, if I don't get some progress soon, I'm likely to lose my building permit and have to reapply. The job can't stop for 90 days, and that's coming up faster than I like. Somethin's gotta give. Not to mention, I have two doctor appointments the first part of June to determine my disability status, one of which is ordered by Social Security Disability. I need a roof on this shed by June if I get sent back to work, but it ain't looking hopeful. I am going to ask my doc to get another MRI done on the left shoulder. It just doesn't want to quit hurting. Got good range, but it's quite weak and very painful when I lower my arm after raising it. Something's not right in there. Right one is doing great, and nearly twice the size of my left one. Dunno, maybe I got carried away with the PT or something and reinjured the left. Gonna have to call in some favors to get a shed stood up or pay through the nose for it. Gotta have a slab before I can have a shed, though.

 

[Magicman]

Yes, I figured you were getting the daily rain douching like I have.

Lumber cost has my sawmilling job list overloaded, but the rain also has that at a standstill for now.

 

[Old_Paint]

With any luck at all, the slab gets poured tomorrow. Fast runnin' outta time to get it built, though. May be going back to Plan A with a metal building. Was sorta looking forward to the outside work, and framing it myself, as well as getting my first experience with siding. But, I quit looking at lumber prices. They make me ill. Everything I saved by waiting a few weeks for the concrete (as if the rain gave me a choice) has been gobbled up by lumber company greed. I didn't want to buy lumber until I had a place off the ground to store it so it wouldn't get muddy and dirty. That might have been a big mistake.

 

[Old_Paint]

Well, the mud is poured, problem is, it really wants to stay in the mud state. We’re thinking the concrete supplier sent makeup loads with retardant in the mix to keep it from setting in the truck. Poor contractor has been here since 1030 this morning, and still hasn’t finished the glaze yet. Great guy, and will probably use him for any future concrete work, but I think he got screwed over by the supplier. Took just under 50 minutes for 2 loads, 9 yards and 6 yards, to screed and float. 10 hours later, still trying to get the finish complete. Either the mud was wrong, or I did a much better job on the moisture barrier than I thought I did. The missus made sandwiches for the guys and gave them snacks and water‘cause I know what they do for a living, and also what it’s like to be stuck on a job on Friday night. Everybody was expecting this to be done and over within a few hours. The mud just isn’t cooperating. Close, but not done. The supplier tried to say that my contractor hadn’t scheduled the loads, but somehow, they had the delivery address. Something tells me they were pissed about not getting a better price once they connected the dots between the delivery address and the quote they gave me at $160/ud. Duuuuuhhhhh. Pretty obvious we were duped by the supplier.

 

[Magicman]

Congrats on getting it poured but what a sucker punch on the product. Hopefully things are looking better this morning.

 

[thirdroc17]

I noticed in your original post you are building a 24'x36' shed. That's the size of garage I built, couple years later, soon as it was paid off, I added a 24'x40' addition, less than a year later, I'm contemplating another addition soon as this addition is paid for.

So even once you're finished, you probably won't be finished. Just sayin'.....

 

[Old_Paint]

Yeah, the slab looks pretty good, but there is that hint of brown from too much sand, especially where they decided to finish by hand because the machine kept rolling the grout off the pour from the second truck. Very definitive difference in finish, but hey, it's a shop floor, not the Taj Mahal. Not like I'm going to be putting marble tile on it. I started to go with brushed finish, but the contractor recommended slick finish since it was an exposed floor that will certainly need some cleaning. Brooms last a lot longer and creepers and jacks roll better on slick floors. I'll just have to be aware of any wet spots or oily spots, and keep them cleaned up.

Now, pray for me. I'm about to venture into Lumber Land. Ouch.

 

[Old_Paint]

I noticed in your original post you are building a 24'x36' shed. That's the size of garage I built, couple years later, soon as it was paid off, I added a 24'x40' addition, less than a year later, I'm contemplating another addition soon as this addition is paid for.

So even once you're finished, you probably won't be finished. Just sayin'.....

Well, perhaps my sprawl will be limited by my relatively small lot. I'm pretty stingy too. I don't need a whole lotta equipment, and we try to do purges more regularly as the kids get older and leave home. I do want to down-size one day, but just not sure where yet, and wouldn't hurt my feelings for the property value to double what I paid because of nearby developments. Then I can pay cash for my next place of abode. This shop should add about 20K to the value.

 

[Magicman]

This shop should add about 20K to the value.

I hate to kinda pop your bubble but additional builds/sheds raise the property's appraisal value very little. It does raise the desirability though.

 

[Old_Paint]

I hate to kinda pop your bubble but additional builds/sheds raise the property's appraisal value very little. It does raise the desirability though.

Well, in the grand scheme of things around here, $20K is very little value these days. The one next door, with an unfinished basement and horrible back yard (which drains across MY yard) just got listed for $259K. If that house is worth that, mine's worth at LEAST $290K-300K. I've got three more bedrooms downstairs, or one could be used as an office or game-room. A bit small for a bedroom. AND, I've recovered about half of the lot that was completely feral when I moved in. And still going. My goal is to get rid of all the junk brush, get the water/erosion tamed, and make a little walking trail through indigenous plants and flowers (non-poison ivy that is). Azaleas, camelias, St. John's Wort (crack for bumblebees). Leave enough habitat for birds, and draw as many as I can with the right plants. It's a long row to hoe, but having the LX makes a BIG difference in how fast I'm progressing now.

 

[JimmyJazz]

I have spent $10,000 keeping and old barn "alive" over the last 9 years. I could probably spend $30,000 more. I used to turn my nose up at metal sided structures. No "magic" in them I felt. Not anymore. Seems to me like the metal sided and roofed agricultural building is a no brainer. There are some pretty tasteful designs being carried out with the material in my opinion.

 

[Old_Paint]

I have spent $10,000 keeping and old barn "alive" over the last 9 years. I could probably spend $30,000 more. I used to turn my nose up at metal sided structures. No "magic" in them I felt. Not anymore. Seems to me like the metal sided and roofed agricultural building is a no brainer. There are some pretty tasteful designs being carried out with the material in my opinion.

There certainly are. Problem is, there's no real adjustment in price if you want to buy the kit and build it yourself. Best price I've seen yet for that is about $1000 discount. For that price, they can come build the bugger. I've done a lot of shopping for metal structures, and strangely enough, they come right up against the price of doing it with lumber. Imagine that, an industry playing the market. Steel should be relatively cheap right now, but with lumber where it is, there's no reason for the steel market to back off one cent from the max price they can get.

One of my reservations about steel roofing is a good hail storm. I've seen hail turn a car into a giant golf ball around here. Insurance on metal roof structures isn't priced very well, either. If hail doesn't create a leak on a composite roof, no biggie, just keep waiting for the one that does. Can't really see any damage. If hail beats the heck out of a metal roof, it's hard to get it replaced if it isn't leaking, and you're stuck with a beat up roof. One would think the metal roof insurance would be cheaper because of it's fire retardancy, but Insurance does what Insurance wants to. In the 30's, the FBI called folks criminals for doing the same thing insurance companies do.

I ain't no spring chicken, but I still enjoy a good carpentry project to test my geometry skills, and give me some good exercise, even if it does hurt some. Nothing like digging an inch-long splinter outta ya thumb or nursing the black nail where you missed the steel one. I love building stuff. There's nothing like that sense of satisfaction when you step back and admire your own handiwork because it not only looks good, but it's well built.

 

[Old_Paint]

The slab is finally finished. The contractor came back out this morning (how many contractors do you know that will come back on Sunday morning?) and put the trowelling machine back on the slab where they had to hand finish it. I was impressed that you could do that to a 'hardened' slab. I'm a lot more familiar with broomed finishes due to my experiences in swimming pool construction and the normal brushed finish on pool decks for slip resistant surfaces. Water on smooth concrete is slicker than greased monkey snot, and not a good combination around swimming pools. But without even casting any cement (which I would have gladly supplied) they just wet the surface and put the upside down helicopter on it and slicked it right up. I was very impressed. I let it sit the rest of the day while I brewed a batch of homebrew beer, then I pulled the forms. This thing is SOLID. I put a 12" deep footing all around the outside edge. I think you could drive an M1A1 up on this slab.

This lil' guy popped out to say hello. He's about 1.5 inches long. Dunno how I missed getting stung, because he crawled up on the slab from where I was standing less than 30 seconds before I took the photo.



Time to go start crying while I buy lumber.

 

[jimh406]

I hope you don’t need any OSB. In my area even 7/16 is $60 a sheet. The small local lumber yard I bought that at had a security guard to check people out. They didn’t have that any other time I was there.

On the other hand, I bought treated 2x6s and they weren’t that bad. Well, I don’t think they were. YMMV and good luck.

 

[Old_Paint]

Yeah, it's stoopid high around here too.

 

[Old_Paint]

Stakin' his claim .....

 

[Magicman]

That looks mighty fine Sir, I say mighty fine indeed!!

Now where is green with envy.....

 

[Old_Paint]

I got board today. Pun intended.

Ordered the lumber at about 10. Was gonna go wash some bottles for home brew that needs to be bottled this weekend, and the phone rang. Lumber order was ready. Went to pick it up, and got back home around 1530. Unloaded onto the pad (in the wrong place, of course). Got the miter saw out, air compressor, and built these two frames by dark with the missus for a helper. Rain caught us just at dusky dark, so she started putting stuff up. She stepped off the ramp going into the shed door, and found the only rock that was large enough to make her twist her ankle. Swollen up pretty bad up high in the ankle, well above any bones, so probably a pretty wicked sprain that she's gonna have to nurse a few days. She doesn't think it's broken, though. We built those two frames in just under 2 hours working together. The big gap in the middle is for the window, and also to allow me to raise this as two 12 foot panels rather than trying to lift 24 feet of wall studs and double top plate. The double top plate is for extra load bearing as well as lets me nail it together after I raise each panel. I'll put the blocking in and square them up tomorrow, put in the header for the widow (centering a window in each end for cross ventilation) then stand 'em up and lean 'em against the shed. Then I'll start on the back wall panels. Two 11.5 foot panels and one 12 foot panel. No windows or cut-outs at all. Just a butt-load of lumber. I should have three of the four walls framed by Thursday night if the rain holds off and the Missus ain't outta commission with her ankle. She knows nothing about carpentry, but follows verbal instructions very well and can usually see where I need help before I ask for it. If I get grumpy, she gives ME the verbal instructions, and they usually include directions to certain places I wouldn't normally visit and/or doing things I wouldn't normally do to myself.

Forgot to mention, I bought a cheap pneumatic nail gun from HF. I got a cheap one because after this project, I won't have a lot of use for a framing nail gun (that I know of). Not sure why everyone bags on the Chicago Pneumatic stuff. This thing's actually pretty nice quality. It's a 3-in-1, meaning I can do 21, 28, or 30-34 degree nails with three little adjustments. Went through 8 blocks of nails today. Sure beats the heck out of swinging a hammer or better yet, trying to hold onto something that you're beating the crap out of with a hammer. It loads in a blink and will hold three blocks of nails in the mag. When I start doing the blocking, I guess I'll find out how well it fits between studs on 16" centers.

 

[PHPaul]

Looking good!

I have three pneumatic nailers - framing, roofing and finish. Had a staple gun for shingling (cedar shingles) and it finally died and parts were NLA. Haven't replaced that yet, probably won't.

Don't use them a lot, they spend probably 95% of the time sitting in their cases, but I'm 70, with serious bursitis in both shoulders and my elbows are about worn out as well, so swinging a 24 oz framing hammer isn't even an option any more.

May never use the roofing nailer again tho. Ladders and roofs aren't much fun any more.