The. Shed. Is. Moved!
Dec. 12th, 2022 04:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unicorndukeIt has been moved to a new location and no one got squished in the process!
By Friday afternoon, I had gotten the shed as prepared as I could manage by myself. I had gotten all the bracers up on three of the sides of the shed, the two short sides and one long side. The shed was 12x16 and we were most worried about it collapsing downhill, which was parallel to the long side. So the short sides got five bracers each, which were rough cut 2x4s. I did as many as I could from the top of the wall to the bottom running at a 45 degree angle. It was 8 feet tall, so math means I had an 11ish ft bracer. On the short side, I fit three full long ones and then fit two more on either end, they were around 8 feet long. Total of 5 bracers on each end wall. Got two more full side bracers on the long wall.
There was a pile of gravel delivered that really wasn't enough but I wasn't sure if I would get more delivered in time.
I removed all the junk from the shed, plus so many nails. All of it got piled under the balcony until a later time. Which is hopefully going to be this week some time because it's annoying me. I also removed all the junk from around the shed, included two 8 inch diameter trees which had been under the shed. I don't know why. F helped me get the last of the stuff out of the shed the other day because there was two wooden closet doors, wooden folding closet doors and one giant 2x24 inch plank all stored in the rafter of the shed. There was a giant nest on top of the wooden doors so I'm planning to remove the hardware and then burn them. The giant plank will be put out in the weather to hopefully lose the mouse pee smell since it was mostly not a mouse nest and is a really nice piece of wood.
Dad got in late Friday, after dark so we hung out and planned.
Saturday morning we got to work. First, we unloaded the bobcat and supplies. Surprisingly more difficult than expected given our driveway. It went fine. Then we ran to the hardware store for pressure treated 4x4s. The plan was to skid the shed on 6x6s then switch to 4x4s.
No 16ft 4x4s so we picked up some 12ft ones and planned to overlap.
Then we attempted to get the site ready for the shed. Turns out the elevation change of 16ft on the flattest part of the property was 19 inches. Oh well. I didn't get enough gravel. So we scavenged larger rocks from the yard because we did have some rocks. We did our best to get the shed area level but decided it would be fine if it wasn't because we could always put cinder blocks in to level. Just as long as the pad wasn't too uneven. We used a laser level which was very cool. We were about 5 inches off level.
Then it was time to get the shed ready. We got the door off and started putting the 6x6s onto the bottom of the shed. Dad was the one to climb around under the shed because I was terrified. He decided it was safe enough by trying to push the shed over and failing. We used L plates to attach the 6x6s to the joists, with 8-9 per 6x6. I made a minor goof by buying philips head metal to wood screws but honestly options were limited at the store. We got all the 6x6s on, then attached two 4x4s to the bottom end of the 6x6s to keep them stable and to give us something to wrap the chain around. Dad used an impact wrench and lag bolts. Very cool.
As we were putting the 6x6s on, we decided to leave them on and not switch to the 4x4s just because of the difficulty of getting things on and off. It was a good idea to be honest and probably better for the long term stability of the shed.
Then we were ready! Dad drove the bobcat around one side of the shed, picked up the shed and I pulled the cinderblocks, leaving one small one on the downhill side to keep it balanced long enough so we could get around to the other side.
Dad drove the bobcat around the other side and picked up the shed. I pulled those blocks too and Dad carefully lowered the shed to the ground. It didn't collapse! Or slide down the hill! We attached the chain and then Dad dragged the shed very very slowly down the hill. There is some video on Dad's phone which he gave to me for videoing, and F took some video since she just got home from work. I don't have them yet but at some point soon, I'll post some videos.
This picture was taken with the shed in the same place as I took the first picture in the post.
It went just fine, the bracers and 6x6s worked together to keep it from collapsing and sometimes there was two corners off the ground with the center of the shed balanced on the forks. Incredibly terrifying to watch but it went very smoothly. It didn't turn very well at all but we didn't have a ton of turning to do. Dad dragged it down partway onto the pad, then detached the chain, then shoved the other end over to be straight on the pad without hitting the tree that was awkwardly too close. Took a couple pushes to get it mostly straight, then he hooked back up and pulled it as far onto the pad as he could manage, I blocked it up and he detached the forks from the bobcat so he could get turned without falling into the giant ditch next to the driveway.
It was dark at that point so we stopped for the day and went out for dinner.
The weather was forecasting snow, so the next morning we got the forks out by hand, hooked them back up and shoved the building the rest of the way onto the pad. We also put cinderblocks under the centers of the 6x6s because we messed our level up by driving the bobcat over it and also we didn't do that great of a job with limited amount of gravel.
This picture was taken from the shed's previous location to give a sense of how far it traveled and how far down the hill it went.
Then we loaded everything up and got Dad on the road home by 9am and he drove mostly fine until he got off the major roads then it was slow going apparently. We got 6 inches of snow here overnight and I got to have fun with the snow blower.
I cleaned up all the tools and things before it snowed and managed to incur the only injury of the weekend: I hit myself in the chin with the pointy end of an extension cord and cut my chin. We also realized how much more open the yard looks with the shed elsewhere and it is a relatively flat spot. So we are planning to put the fire pit up there and some chairs and it will be a lovely hangout spot for the summer.
I'm so glad it is dealt with. With the 6x6s permanently under there, we can easily jack it up and re-level as needed. I need to get the bracers off and let the building settle on the gravel. Then I need to vacuum every level surface in there because there is SO MUCH mouse poop. I'm leaving the door off for a bit to let it air out as well. I'll need to put a new door in on the uphill side but that's not urgent. Once it's cleaned out, I'm going to move all our lumber in there! Storage space! Incredible!
By Friday afternoon, I had gotten the shed as prepared as I could manage by myself. I had gotten all the bracers up on three of the sides of the shed, the two short sides and one long side. The shed was 12x16 and we were most worried about it collapsing downhill, which was parallel to the long side. So the short sides got five bracers each, which were rough cut 2x4s. I did as many as I could from the top of the wall to the bottom running at a 45 degree angle. It was 8 feet tall, so math means I had an 11ish ft bracer. On the short side, I fit three full long ones and then fit two more on either end, they were around 8 feet long. Total of 5 bracers on each end wall. Got two more full side bracers on the long wall.
There was a pile of gravel delivered that really wasn't enough but I wasn't sure if I would get more delivered in time.
I removed all the junk from the shed, plus so many nails. All of it got piled under the balcony until a later time. Which is hopefully going to be this week some time because it's annoying me. I also removed all the junk from around the shed, included two 8 inch diameter trees which had been under the shed. I don't know why. F helped me get the last of the stuff out of the shed the other day because there was two wooden closet doors, wooden folding closet doors and one giant 2x24 inch plank all stored in the rafter of the shed. There was a giant nest on top of the wooden doors so I'm planning to remove the hardware and then burn them. The giant plank will be put out in the weather to hopefully lose the mouse pee smell since it was mostly not a mouse nest and is a really nice piece of wood.
Dad got in late Friday, after dark so we hung out and planned.
Saturday morning we got to work. First, we unloaded the bobcat and supplies. Surprisingly more difficult than expected given our driveway. It went fine. Then we ran to the hardware store for pressure treated 4x4s. The plan was to skid the shed on 6x6s then switch to 4x4s.
No 16ft 4x4s so we picked up some 12ft ones and planned to overlap.
Then we attempted to get the site ready for the shed. Turns out the elevation change of 16ft on the flattest part of the property was 19 inches. Oh well. I didn't get enough gravel. So we scavenged larger rocks from the yard because we did have some rocks. We did our best to get the shed area level but decided it would be fine if it wasn't because we could always put cinder blocks in to level. Just as long as the pad wasn't too uneven. We used a laser level which was very cool. We were about 5 inches off level.
Then it was time to get the shed ready. We got the door off and started putting the 6x6s onto the bottom of the shed. Dad was the one to climb around under the shed because I was terrified. He decided it was safe enough by trying to push the shed over and failing. We used L plates to attach the 6x6s to the joists, with 8-9 per 6x6. I made a minor goof by buying philips head metal to wood screws but honestly options were limited at the store. We got all the 6x6s on, then attached two 4x4s to the bottom end of the 6x6s to keep them stable and to give us something to wrap the chain around. Dad used an impact wrench and lag bolts. Very cool.
As we were putting the 6x6s on, we decided to leave them on and not switch to the 4x4s just because of the difficulty of getting things on and off. It was a good idea to be honest and probably better for the long term stability of the shed.
Then we were ready! Dad drove the bobcat around one side of the shed, picked up the shed and I pulled the cinderblocks, leaving one small one on the downhill side to keep it balanced long enough so we could get around to the other side.
Dad drove the bobcat around the other side and picked up the shed. I pulled those blocks too and Dad carefully lowered the shed to the ground. It didn't collapse! Or slide down the hill! We attached the chain and then Dad dragged the shed very very slowly down the hill. There is some video on Dad's phone which he gave to me for videoing, and F took some video since she just got home from work. I don't have them yet but at some point soon, I'll post some videos.
This picture was taken with the shed in the same place as I took the first picture in the post.
It went just fine, the bracers and 6x6s worked together to keep it from collapsing and sometimes there was two corners off the ground with the center of the shed balanced on the forks. Incredibly terrifying to watch but it went very smoothly. It didn't turn very well at all but we didn't have a ton of turning to do. Dad dragged it down partway onto the pad, then detached the chain, then shoved the other end over to be straight on the pad without hitting the tree that was awkwardly too close. Took a couple pushes to get it mostly straight, then he hooked back up and pulled it as far onto the pad as he could manage, I blocked it up and he detached the forks from the bobcat so he could get turned without falling into the giant ditch next to the driveway.
It was dark at that point so we stopped for the day and went out for dinner.
The weather was forecasting snow, so the next morning we got the forks out by hand, hooked them back up and shoved the building the rest of the way onto the pad. We also put cinderblocks under the centers of the 6x6s because we messed our level up by driving the bobcat over it and also we didn't do that great of a job with limited amount of gravel.
This picture was taken from the shed's previous location to give a sense of how far it traveled and how far down the hill it went.
Then we loaded everything up and got Dad on the road home by 9am and he drove mostly fine until he got off the major roads then it was slow going apparently. We got 6 inches of snow here overnight and I got to have fun with the snow blower.
I cleaned up all the tools and things before it snowed and managed to incur the only injury of the weekend: I hit myself in the chin with the pointy end of an extension cord and cut my chin. We also realized how much more open the yard looks with the shed elsewhere and it is a relatively flat spot. So we are planning to put the fire pit up there and some chairs and it will be a lovely hangout spot for the summer.
I'm so glad it is dealt with. With the 6x6s permanently under there, we can easily jack it up and re-level as needed. I need to get the bracers off and let the building settle on the gravel. Then I need to vacuum every level surface in there because there is SO MUCH mouse poop. I'm leaving the door off for a bit to let it air out as well. I'll need to put a new door in on the uphill side but that's not urgent. Once it's cleaned out, I'm going to move all our lumber in there! Storage space! Incredible!
no subject
Date: 2022-12-12 11:40 pm (UTC)Unsquished victory! one of the best kinds!
Here's hoping the new location attracts a cat. (or possibly weasels.)
That's a lot! here's hoping the remaining work goes well.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-13 06:13 pm (UTC)Remaining work will happen...eventually.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-13 06:47 pm (UTC)People get tired and declare things done all the time.
(Sometimes they then ship the code.)
Glad the mouse fix looks simple.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-13 08:02 am (UTC)This was fascinating! Also I am very glad that noone got squished.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-13 06:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-12-13 01:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-12-13 06:15 pm (UTC)