The Ten Foot Wall

The shed design went from a place to just store tools to an alternative sleeping spot as well.  I'm not exactly sure when the idea happened, though I do know who inspired it (that would be Uncle Greg).  Anyway, without getting into the lengthy details of my convoluted design process, I have decided to add a decent sized loft to the shed.  I love the idea of heading out there on a cool spring or fall night and being "outdoors."  So, to accomplish this I needed more headroom.  With the style of roof I had settled on bringing one wall up doesn't necessarily get you the requisite headroom for a good sized loft.  So I decided to raise one wall from 8' to 10' and to create a dormer (explained well here on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dormer) for the middle of the building.  The dormer will be around 7' wide and stretch from the east wall to the west.  It will not be gabled, as many dormers are, but will be a shed roof style like the main roof (though in all actuality it will be so big that it will be the main roof!).  It will slope from the ten foot wall to a new wall extension I will build that will be 8.5' tall.  The end result will be a loft that has 3' of headroom at one end and 2.5' at the other and will be at least 56 square feet.  the plan is to install screen on the open wall studs on both sides to allow for a cross breeze.  I think in the winter I'll use plastic sheeting to weather proof it (until I have the money to buy glass for storm windows), we'll see.

I had grand plans for progress last weekend, that obviously didn't materialize, and this weekend was no different really.  I find with life and building I always assume I can do more in the time given than I actually can.  So I still have lofty expectations (after all: dream big or don't dream at all, right?) but with an understanding that finishing everything in one day generally doesn't happen!

This Saturday the forecast, or my interpretation of it, trapped me outside in a downpour with power cords, saws and nail guns scattered.  I tried to erect a temporary shelter for the tools, but the hurricane-light winds weren't having any of that.

Before the REAL rain came

So I ended up getting bracing done on the walls (one piece of OSB sheathing on each wall to stabilize it) and then getting absolutely soaked running tools back into the basement.  For anyone who has been there you spend a good 20 minutes setting up a workstation, so getting only 30 minutes of work in before having to run it all back inside was pretty frustrating.  Needless to say, after a hot shower going back out did not seem to be in the cards.  But sure enough just 20 minutes later the sun came out and after I was certain it was there to stay I headed back out with minimal tools to add the east wall extension and I finished it around 8.

Wall extension Saturday evening.

Sunday it was supposed to rain and never did, but having been bitten the day before the prospect of it did delay me.  When I finally got out there I worked on rafters.  I'm using old (~1920s) dimensional 2x6s.  I first cut them all to length and then beveled the ends.

Beveled ends

The last time I did birdsmouths (explained here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birdsmouth_joint) with a hand saw I traveled in what ended up being non perpendicular fashion ending up with non satisfactory results.  So this time I decided to create a temporary jig for every cut with just a piece of 2x4 and the finish nail gun.  I would set the 2x4 a saw blades width from the marked line and nail it in place.  After making the cut these 2" finish nails pop right off with the 2x4.  Hammer the nail brads down and the 2x4 is ready for the next jig placement.  I was much happier with these results.  I've got the two North end rafters up and they fit well.

Tacking on the 2x4

Cutting along the jig

End result: Birdsmouth

Rafter seated on top plate. Notice the difference between the size of the 1920s stud (brown wood on bottom) and the new lumber top plate.  It's about a half inch difference.  I lined them up on the outside edge for siding purposes. 

First two rafters on.  Next two waiting.

I'm excited to get working on the dormer, but as I am at my buddy Ted's wedding in Arkansas this weekend and Greg and I have two fences to build in the next few weeks (we'll post progress here: durhambackyard.blogpsot.com) it could be a while.  Until next time my yard will continue to look like something out of a suburban neighbor's nightmare!  I continue to be thankful for such good and patient neighbor's in Elaine and Doug.  Doug even helped me remove nails last weekend from my most recent used-wood haul!

Walls Up

Quick update on the shed project.  I took a couple of weeks off but got back to it today.  I continue to be amazed by people's generosity.  From the floor joists to the subfloor to the studs and tin roof EVERYTHING (even many of the nails I have used) has been given to me from tear downs, excess material or people's kindness.  People are even leaving me things in my driveway that I don't ask for, am I the cool neighborhood recycler or quickly becoming people's trash man soon-to-be wood-horder, hmmm...!  Hopefully I don't end up on some reality TV show about people who meant well but went wrong!  The idea of turning down a usable 2x4 does feel crazy to me so I might be in trouble.

I had mentioned in the last post that Ken had offered me the tin roofing Miles had given him because he wasn't going to be able to use it.  It's a beautiful old (early 1900s) piece (~12'x14') of standing seam roofing.  It is beat up, no doubt.  The seams have long been pounded down and it has holes to patch in many places, but what re-purposing project in a historic neighborhood would be complete without a recycled tin roof from two blocks away!  Below Greg and Jeremy are shown on the last leg of our tin roofing retrieval campaign.  Ken lent us his trailer and we walked it the 2.5 blocks to my house.  It was an adventure, but went well!

Jeremy helped me out again today, which was huge.  We started by banging down the tin roofing that had been sitting on the shed floor since we brought it over.  While there remained a 12'x8' platform to hammer it out on we thought we would take advantage of it.  It went a lot quicker than we thought.  It's never going to be totally flat, but we got it close and then moved it to the yard so we could start on the walls.
 

A view of the underside of the roofing

I spent part of the morning debating whether to change the roof design.  My plan all along had been to build a gable that ran in the same direction as the gable of the house, but attempting to truly embrace the recycle concept I wanted to build a roof that would require no additional tin (besides patching).  Uncle Greg suggested a "shed roof", which slopes from only one side thus greatly decreasing the surface area of roofing that needs to be covered.  So grudgingly I decided he was right.  I switched the plan from 6 foot walls with a peaked roof to one 8 foot wall that slopes down to a 6 foot wall opposite (from east to west).  I'm not in love with it, but I do like that I sacrificed my aesthetic desires for practicality and function and hell lets be honest: money savings!

Jeremy and I spent time collecting all of the old 2x4s I had, sorting them, pulling nails and figuring out which to use.  We settled on old 2+" dimensional 2x4s (1920s vintage) for the west and east walls and newer, but still old (~1950s probably) for the north and south walls.  For the top and bottom plates the long (14') 2x4s from Brad's construction site were invaluable.

Above: a view of the four walls from the deck

 

 

A view from the driveway.  There will be a door on the right for easy access.

A row of old time 2x4s ready for new clothes

A view from the backyard.  There will be a door and steps for garden access on the left side of the structure

 Tomorrow I hope to get a lot done.  I'm planning to use old fence pickets for clap board siding (taken from unnecessary parts of my fence), which I hope will go quickly, and to get the rafters and roof on.  We'll see, but that's the plan!

Not Under, But Out! Not New, But Green!

Wow.  So a lot has happened since I last posted here.  Republicans have taken control of the US House and the NC General Assembly, I have two beautiful dogs, andee and I have separated, I started a side business with Greg "The Uncle" Allen, Greg "The Uncle" Allen rents the front room of the house, The VW Bus is parked at Kevin's house no longer in the yard, the workshop (though not shown here) is 95% complete, I'm reading the Bible (Jesus was a carpenter after all) and it's springtime once again in the Bull city!

Though indirectly, this post is basement related as the reason for it is the situation in the workshop.  When Greg and I started our side business with plans to build outdoor structures for people I thought nothing of the storage of tools.  But what has quickly happened is that the workshop has turned into the easy place to drop tools off at the end of a long days work.  Other than the first 4 feet or so it is barely walkable.  There are tools and materials everywhere.  So I decided that a shed was in order.  If you have followed us at all at durhambackyard.blogspot.com you'll know we have built one shed so far, but this shed is different in that is for me, and it is planned to be as green as I can possibly make it.

The Green Plan

1. Use 90%-100% recycled materials salvaged from demos or new construction waste.
2. Build a dry stack foundation out of urbanite harvested on site from an old sidewalk
3. Spend less than $50 on what would cost someone $3-$5 grand to have built or around $1300 in new materials.
4. Build a stronger structure than is possible with modern lumber.  Using older dimensional lumber for the structural elements of the shed will hopefully make this something worthy of Paul Bunyan, not Home Depot.

The Materials

Big shout out to Elaine and Doug next door who have been beyond patient with their wood hording neighbor next door.  Our shared driveway has become a strange looking pile of used lumber and they have taken it all in stride, as if most people must live this way.  So thanks guys for putting up with me!  I must admit some of the lumber I have collected to use on this project dates back many multiple months, but much of it is also new.  I have the following people to thank for the accumulation of materials: Greg Allen (for his trusty green Nissan with modified wood rack), Ken Gash for 7 sheets of 7/16 OSB and my pick of dimensional 2x4s, 2x6s and even a sweet 4x6 from his work site, Brad Redfoot for some great new construction waste from Pittsboro including a 14' 2x10 and a heck of a lot of other great stuff, and Phillip Jackson at New Beginnings for providing all the materials, from a tear down he worked on, that make up the shed's joist system.  I just can't say how thankful and appreciative I am for the kind people who have taken the time to tell me about and save materials for me.  Not only does it make this project affordable, but it gives it character it would otherwise lack and makes it pretty darn eco-friendly.  Once I'm done I imagine 6 old houses will have their footprint on the place.  And I will stand on and walk under materials that, in all liklihood, would have ended up in the landfill.

Much of what will become the floor and stud walls

100 year old materials up front, Great new stuff from Brad against the house

So Far

Started building this weekend.  Greg was out of town, but he left right as his college friend Jeremy arrived.  Jeremy is here for 6 months to help Greg build his parents house (just two blocks away and seen at www.cobandon.blogspot.com).  But as he was here I asked him if he would be up for helping me out for a couple of half days.  With Jeremy's help a lot got done.  We took a muddy patch of old garden with a fence in front of it and turned it into a 12'x8' floor system that sits proudly atop recycled concrete and granite.  There is an old sidewalk on the side of my house that I spent a few hours breaking into 2'x2' sections for the dry stack foundation.  I used the hammer drill, a sledge and some concrete chisels.  I realized pretty quickly that I had hauled away much of the sidewalk before I knew I would use it so there wouldn't be enough.  Then I remembered the huge slab of granite I had in the front yard.  A couple years ago I dug it out of our driveway.  It had been thrown there I believe when the curb cut was put it so it is a piece of original Durham streetway.  I always wanted to use it for something and proudly display it but it is so heavy that it seemed it was in its final resting place whether I liked it or not.  That is until I came up with the idea of cutting it into blocks to set as the top block of the dry stack piers.  Below you can see it in full form and then broken up and finally as the top support for the floor system.

Jeremy and I spent an hour or so digging 16"x16" holes and filling them with rubble then gravel and compacting it all for the rubble trench footing then the urbanite (recycled concrete) and granite blocks went on top to form the foundation piers.  Leveling it all was tricky, but with improvised stone wedges and some care we got it done.  There isn't a picture here, but Ken's OSB is now on as the floor and, as Doug says, with all that dimensional lumber, it is STOUT!

Above: the full piece of Granite with score marks from my grinder.  I scored it with the grinder, used the hammer drill to drill two pilot holes, inserted the pointed stone wedge into the holes and used the sledge the bust it into blocks.  By the end I was covered in white dust, my ears were ringing but I had four nice looking pieces of solid granite block (below)!

Above: the rubble trench with some stone, before final gravel layer

Above: Jeremy using the scientific method to level our back left pier!  This pier was the tallest with three pieces of urbanite topped by the granite block.  Below this pier is shown complete with floor system in place

Below: The floor system Saturday evening, almost done!  Sistered boards for two of the joists to reduce waste (#s 3 and 7).

I plan to keep plugging away during the evenings this week and hope to post as there is progress to show.  Next big project is to rescue some roofing taken from Miles' house on Carlton to use for an old time tin roof!