Shop Storage Shed

[Chestnut]

4 minutes ago, wdwerker said:

The used railroad ties in the south end up pretty degraded . Guess what they are replacing them with ? Treated railroad ties ! New railroad ties might just last forever under a shed, but you need equipment or a small army to move new ties.

Odd up here they are going either all composite or concrete. Also the lifespan on ties is a LOT shorter than people think. I think the busy lines it's 15-20 years. I always thought it was a lot longer.

[wdwerker]

We grow big chunks of pine down here. But busy mainlines are getting concrete ties in certain areas. I saw how they use shredded recycled plastic that's rejected elsewhere & melted down into ties. Takes days for them to cool enough to be moved without distorting.

[JosephThomas]

You're right to do treated...don't skip the compacted gravel below it, as others mentioned. 

[wdwerker]

Plastic ties aren't that expensive if you pick them up in Illinois.

https://compositeties.com/ 

They've got them up to 16' long  for $50 each

[wtnhighlander]

In a former life, I worked for a landscape contractor. We often built retaining walls of used RR ties, but I wouldn't trust them under a structure. Aa Steve said, in this part of the country, ties get pretty degraded before the line changes them.

[Chestnut]

Who needs a full size pick is what I say.

Load #2.

Decided to go ground contact structural beams for 1 row than set a 2x6 frame on top of that.

[Alan G]

I'm sure you are well within the load rating for that Ranger!

[Minnesota Steve]

I built my shed on a slope... so I had to fill it.   I used PT 4x4's and built a frame about 3 boards deep, and then filled that with debris and gravel.  (by debris I mean we had a bunch of broken up concrete in the back yard to get rid of)  Then I set concrete blocks (those 4" solid blocks) level into the gravel, and built my 2x6 PT frame on top of that.   So there's good drainage around it, and that gravel is maybe 8" deep in there.

It's about 6 years old now and hasn't shifted through the winters.

 

[Chestnut]

1 hour ago, Alan G said:

I'm sure you are well within the load rating for that Ranger!

I might have exceeded it this time. I'm rated to carry about 1600 lbs if i got based of scaling the truck empty and the sticker on the door. I  estimate that i exceeded that by maybe 200 lbs. I only had to drive a couple miles at slow speed, there is no way i'd do this and go over 30 for a long distance.

[wdwerker]

I can picture the front end getting airborne going over a big bump !  I built several things in my yard using the old CCA (chromated copper arcenic) ground contact treated over 25 years ago. There is no signs of rot yet. I wonder how the new ACQ treatments that use copper will hold up in the long run? 

They still use the CCA  treatment in some commercial/ industrial/marine environments. I'm kinda glad the arcenic & chrome is gone from the residential uses. 

[Chestnut]

On 4/12/2018 at 10:51 AM, wdwerker said:

I can picture the front end getting airborne going over a big bump !  I built several things in my yard using the old CCA (chromated copper arcenic) ground contact treated over 25 years ago. There is no signs of rot yet. I wonder how the new ACQ treatments that use copper will hold up in the long run? 

They still use the CCA  treatment in some commercial/ industrial/marine environments. I'm kinda glad the arcenic & chrome is gone from the residential uses. 

I expect the AC2 stuff that i bought will last 20-30 years just long enough for me to retire to tear the shed down and rebuild it

I took last Friday off of work with the hopes to get some work done on the shed. There was still too much snow and the ground was frozen so i did as much prep work as i could with out potentially hurting myself. It started with a lot of standing around and enjoying the first really nice day of spring. I needed to trim back a fir tree that was encroaching on the space i wanted the shed to sit. I didn't want to damage the tree too much so I cut back branches only as far as i needed them to go. I'm not an arborist so i don't know if leaving half a branch with some needles(leaves?) is a good thing or not.

As i was standing there my neighbor stepped outside his shop, we got to talking about the leaning tree above. Both of us noted that if I had to take it down after the shed was built it would be difficult and probably costly. So he walked into his shop grabbed a chain saw and have it down and chopped up in about an hour.

Tuns out it was a box elder tree so i had him save some 2-3' segments of the trunk that i might do something with some day. It had a crotch that had some staining on it from some damage so there could be something cool inside. I moved on to cutting the timbers for the base. I am making the shed a perfect 12x16 so that it's easy to sheet the outside to minimize plywood cutting or so i hope at least. I cut half laps in the timbers so i can glue and nail them together after i get the base dug and rock placed. This reminded me how useful circular saws are. I was shoveling some of the snow on the driveway to accelerate the melting. I'm glad i did the front yard has no piles and is snow free now.

Next for some reason I'm telling my self was necessary, i precut all the studs i needed to build the walls and a couple extra just in case. Did this with my fancy new TSC 55 with the boards all laid out. Made quick work of cutting 50 studs to length. I'm really impressed with the battery powered saw. It seemed that it cut through material better than my corded porter cable saw, that's not even considering that the PC saw blade had fewer teeth and was thinner kerf. Also the dust collection bag works exceptionally almost to a point of fault. After cutting about 20 boards I'd have to empty the bag because it was full

I needed to cut a notch in 22 of the studs. I'm putting ceiling joists at 8' to give the attic storage a bit more space. Instead of building an 18" stubby wall above it i decided to do balloon framing with a ribbon ledger set in a notch. Again TSC 55 impressed me here. I cut 50 studs to length and notched out 22 studs and the batteries still had half a charge left. Here every other pass I'd have to empty the bag. Also in the picture blow i had JUST finished a cut so you can see how much dust the saw without a vac left behind.

[Chestnut]

So it's been a few weeks. I've still been working on the shed just slowly. It's spring so I have a lot of around the house and yard things to do.

Got the base set. I had to do a lot of digging. After the digging was done things went really quickly. I have 3 walls up. I wish i could be crazy and work on this non stop to see how fast i could get it done but i don't have that ability. Also dragging the project out makes it easier to stomach financially.

[pkinneb]

25 minutes ago, Chestnut said:

... It's spring so I have a lot of around the house and yard things to do...

Nice! I hear you on the spring projects hoping to have most of those complete in the next couple weeks so I can get back to regular shop time.

[Chestnut]

1 hour ago, pkinneb said:

Nice! I hear you on the spring projects hoping to have most of those complete in the next couple weeks so I can get back to regular shop time.

Yeah i want get a couple trees planted so when the ash trees die there is something nearby that is somewhat established that will take over. We have one that shades our main floor really nice and when we lose that the cooling bill is going to get considerably more expensive.

Have any good advice on where to buy?

[pkinneb]

8 minutes ago, Chestnut said:

Yeah i want get a couple trees planted so when the ash trees die there is something nearby that is somewhat established that will take over. We have one that shades our main floor really nice and when we lose that the cooling bill is going to get considerably more expensive.

Have any good advice on where to buy?

Bummer about the Ash trees! I have 5 acres of oaks with oak wilt so I feel your pain. I haven't bought a ton but the half dozen or so I have purchased I picked up at Rum River Tree Farm in Oak Grove.

[Chestnut]

Got the front wall in place, and some sheeting up. A friend of mine needed some help with a retaining wall so i got him to help me get some shed building done.

If some of the studs don't look strait it's because they aren't Apparently i had a difficult time knowing which side of my stud line i needed to place the stud on so some are skewed.

I started working on the attic floor yesterday. I cut all the ceiling joists to length using my track saw again. Man I'll probably never use a miter saw for framing type carpentry work again. I took a picture before and after so you can see how much dust is captured by the TSC with the dust bag.

I did end up stalling the saw on this cut when i tried to get the saw to cut as fast as i could push. If it didn't have a plywood blade on it this thing would be a monster. This was all the further i got. After this i went downtown to visit my aunt and uncle that just moved into a high rise off of Nicollet Mall. You can see Bird Death stadium on the right hand side of the picture.

When i got home i wanted to work more on the shed but then realized that i need to get a tree planted before it just died in a pot.

[wdwerker]

Good progress .

Didn't know about the stadium issue until you mentioned it. They were warned and used plain glass anyway. Being in 3M's hometown that's stupidity bordering on arrogance.  I wish there was a nationwide ban on public money for professional sports stadiums. Doing it on the national level would preempt threats to move teams as financial blackmail.  

[Chestnut]

10 minutes ago, wdwerker said:

Good progress .

Didn't know about the stadium issue until you mentioned it. They were warned and used plain glass anyway. Being in 3M's hometown that's stupidity bordering on arrogance.  I wish there was a nationwide ban on public money for professional sports stadiums. Doing it on the national level would preempt threats to move teams as financial blackmail.  

I think it's embarrassing that they could easily and inexpensively do something but fail to do so. The small dots they have put on windows are proven to be effective and wouldn't be noticeable by humans.

I totally agree, it's also not like the spots team owners are hurting for money, just ask Mark Cuban. The other side of the coin is that the large spots complexes in a lot of areas get used for a LOT more than just the pro team. I don't know how it works in most cities but the sports arenas in my how-town and where i went to college were used dang near 16 hours a day, every day. Home shows, boat shows, conferences ect.

[wdwerker]

The team usually profits from all other uses of the facility and has priority on booking dates , so besides state or local support for utilities, roads etc. I say let the teams and sponsors pay for it. 

[Chestnut]

I got the attic access framed out and some of the ceiling joists in place. This is what i mentioned when i notched the studs. I'm using old balloon framing technique to essentially make the shed 2 stories. I'm going to call it 1.5 because there won't be enough room in the attic to stand but it will leave a lot of good storage room. My plan for getting up there is to just leave a ladder in the shed.

I threw all the 3/4" ply for the attic floor up there and I'll attach the rest pf the joists tonight or tomorrow night. My plan is to grab my festool track and that battery powered saw and cut the plywood to fit up there.

I used 2x6s and they aren't strong enough for a whole lot of load but as long as i keep things to the walls i'm not worried. Each joist will hold 2 of me with minimal deflection so i should be safe storing up to 4,000 lbs up there which is a LOT of junk. Heck that's a lot of wood.

The view from the attic floor is awesome. My shed is built on the highest point in the area so standing on top i can see over the neighborhood. I'm for sure going to have to put a window on the gable end.

[Tom King]

I don't know how I missed this thread, but am just now seeing it.   I'm glad you went with treated for the sills.  Railroad ties last good on top of ballast stone, but the creosote does leach out when in contact with the ground.  I used them to outline our Dressage arena, and in maybe 15 years they were splitting all to pieces, with no signs of the brown, creosote color left, but of course, they were out in the weather.

I'd double up that one second story floor joist that carries half the load of the one in front of it.

[Chestnut]

51 minutes ago, Tom King said:

I'd double up that one second story floor joist that carries half the load of the one in front of it.

That is a great suggestion i have an extra joist as well. I should have thought about that. Thanks!

[Chet]

On 5/21/2018 at 7:03 AM, wdwerker said:

 I wish there was a nationwide ban on public money for professional sports stadiums.

Amen!!!  The one owner that I know of that put a major portion of the money up for stadiums is Paul Allen the owner of the Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trailblazers and if I remember correctly he paid for all of the Trailblazers arena. 

[Tom King]

When I was a teenager, back in the '60's, one of my jobs was driving a half ton pickup the 25 miles to town, and come back with a load of 9 300 pound blocks of ice.  The front wheels touched the ground most of the time, but it's a good thing there was little traffic on the roads back then.   The back springs on that truck had to be replaced several times though.   Is the empty ride height still the same on that Ranger?

Before anyone is tempted to surpass the load rating of a trailer, please reconsider.  I've done it, to a very troublesome result, and see them sitting on the side of the road fairly often.  Trailer axles are rated to a max load for a reason.  If the axle sags past horizontal, not only do the hubs deflect upward, but the pull on the inside of the tires now, also deflects them to the back.  It doesn't work good like that for long, and often permanently ruins the axle for keeping tires, and bearing working for long, even with no load on  the trailer.   I see trailers on the road, all the time, that it's obvious they have been overloaded sometime during their life, because the axle now has a permanent bend in it, judging by how the tires are rolling from behind.  

[Minnesota Steve]

On 5/14/2018 at 12:24 PM, Chestnut said:

Yeah i want get a couple trees planted so when the ash trees die there is something nearby that is somewhat established that will take over. We have one that shades our main floor really nice and when we lose that the cooling bill is going to get considerably more expensive.

Have any good advice on where to buy?

You looking for saplings?   4' trees or bigger trees?   Fleet Farm has good prices on potted 4' trees.

4' or shorter is the best tree... those big ones they like to transplant they take out so much of the root system it takes years for them to recover.

We have a tree line along the back of our lot, and a number of trees died.   I think a few were elm, which doesn't surprise me.   The others were boxelder, which again is no surprise.

There's a couple black walnut tress in there, and a nice basswood.   The neighbors have some big white oaks in there yard.   So I've been looking to plant a few trees to add some more diversity.   Thinking maybe some sugar maple trees.   Maybe another hackberry, we've got a couple on the other side of the lot.   they ain't pretty, but they're very resilient.