OK, got lazy and did use a few bucks worth of air driven nails, otherwise ‘new’ 200 sq ft shed built at zero cost except dozer and chainsaw fuel.
For your ammusement<G>
More pix & details if amused?
OK, got lazy and did use a few bucks worth of air driven nails, otherwise ‘new’ 200 sq ft shed built at zero cost except dozer and chainsaw fuel.
For your ammusement<G>
More pix & details if amused?
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Replies
Nice sills.
Wouldn't pass code here, but I like it.
Edited 6/5/2005 11:35 am ET by Martha Stewart
What do you have against the vehicle parked in it?
Shout out to Andy C. Namaste my friend.
http://www.hay98.com/
I think the vehicle was the old shed.
Are we going to go there again? :o)
notice how the tires are sunk down in the mud? Ease of entry/exit.
That there is some smart thinkin ahead
I don't mean to speak for others, but don't you think this is a little too high-end for this site? I can appreciate your creaftsmanship, but I think you'll find your target audience more in places like Architectural Digest or House Beautiful :).
heehee
You said creaftmanship.
Didn't you mean createmanship?
be created
Forgot a pix of the roof, which is the hardest to get cheap. A year in the planning for this one, loaded up on dented whiteboards at free scrap wood lot, left them in the rain over the winter, the steel comes off the part. board easy then.
Not that the job site schedule can be marked off on the roof even as needed!
'tuffshed' or somebody in King-Co WA "contributed" enough to county council that we actually can now legally build a 'shed' up to 200 sq feet without any permits.
only way to go here is for the hack/cheap sheds, as when I die in 10 to 30 years, it is a certainty that anything other than a main house will be dozed so why build anything to last longer than that. Builders bought 3 houses up the street, dozed them down so they could put 56 houses ($400K and up) on the 7 acres total, yuck.
Not bad.
I salvaged some greenhouses bows that were bent from a tree falling escapade and had some greenhouse plastic.
Sucker would get hot hot even with vents till I sprayed it with my freebee white ext latex. Been on there years.
Covered over the original plastic with another layer after 3 or 4 years when the willow limbs and age got nasty on it.
Nope, no mold or funny stuff between the layers either. :o!
You guys are a bunch of nuts....wiping the tears from my eyes. :)
cratemanship?
heh heh Last summer I built a domeshed using the bottom sled pieces made for crates.
Hey, not fair - it looks like some of that wood may have been PURCHASED???
True. Spent a grand on that one. Mostly for the door and shingles I had better stuff I wanted to store in there.
Ok, back to freebees.
About $100 for nails, some rolled roofing to meet up with what I couldn't scrounge and a garage sale buy of most of the homemade trusses from a guy's boat shed he tore down.
Railroad tie foundation, no leaks in 15years.
I wish I were that creative a wordsmith; "creaftmanship" was what I call a keyboardo.I'm neither a Sear basher or Sears fan, but would "Searsmanship" have worked?Didn't think so...
I don't have pics, but I'll try my best to describe the most interesting and shocking "build" I've seen.I went camping up north in New Hampshire with my kids. We were in timber country and my SUV #### the bin, something electrical and I couldn't get it running to save my life. We got a ride to the nearest store from a local hunter. The girl running the store sees that I am trying with no luck at the pay phone to find someone home to come get us. She offers to let us stay at her place in town for the night and drive us halfway back home. I consent as she seemed safe and it was getting damn late and my two teenage girls were tired and anxious.So we climb into her poor ailing mini van and she explains to me that she and her husband and son live at their house they are building outside of town but they also are renting a house in town, but since they aren't there, we can stay there for the night. Ok, seems easy enough.We get to home #1: An old school house moved onto a slab from another site. The slab is bare and a homemade fireplace marks the center of the room. The place is heated with a furnace in a pallet made "addition" off the side that also houses a water heater. The shower is an enclosure made of 1 x 3's and corrugated fiberglass, stuck off to one side with patched together plumbing and a plank floor that sits over a hole that serves as a drain. I couldn't even figure out the plumbing for the heat and water as it was such a mess of used materials and waht ever. The kitchen was one plank nailed to the wall with a laundry sink nailed to the wall next to it and two spigots to empty hot and cold water.Ok, so what? we lay out our sleeping bags upstairs and get a night's sleep.THe next day she comes over in the morning to pick us up and explains that they weren't suppsoed to live in that house until they upgrade the works, but they weren't paying rent and the owner was out of hte country...so they live on their "land" building their house. She wants to show it to me and she has to switch vehicles for the long ride down and also get me to a local mechanic who will tow my vehicle and get it running. So, after dealing with the car, it is time to go home and she to get her other ride. We bump along in her old Toyota to her homestead. How conveniently it is placed she tells me --just across from the town dump! THe entrance to the property is a long winding driveway/road up a wooded hill that on each side is littered with abandoned vehicles, refrigerators, a wringer washer, minibikes, old sinks, etc. It seemed the only seperation between their property and the town dump was the dirt road and that was geographic only.Finally up the road we turn onto a flat patch where I see a hole holding smoldering products of wood or whatever. She chirps, "Here we are!" and states that the hole is where they dispose of their building debris as the dump charges for disposal. She directed me beyond the hole that is bigger than any burn hole I've ever seen.She directed my eyes forward. I remember the confusion I felt; I wasn't seeing what she was describing as her "home".She offered proudly offered a tour, so I followed her toward her home. I walked carefully around the burn hole that appeared that the dirt sides were sinking in and would take me in. Beholden to my eyes was a long and wide floor made of plywood of all sizes and thicknesses, applied to what I assume were joists which were also, of all sizes and thicknesses, seemingly shimmed here and there to make for some regularity. This floor sat on a series of rock piles or cement blocks placed at important points of support, say at about 15' apart at the front where I could see. There was no outside wall, so we walked up some wide rocks and into the "kitchen" that was exposed to the weather like an amazonian hut. A cast-off table and some chairs made a kitchen table. A sink with no faucets served as the sink. A filthy rug covered the plywood in spots. Flies scampered about like in a campsite.Walls had been erected also of scrap lumber, some 2 x 4's some 2 x 6's , again shimmed where necessary to make for some kind of level line and bedrooms were claimed with beds for each with sheets, etc., all grey like the rug with soil.The roof line that hung over this exposed side of the house and all along the other parts had "rafters" of all sizes and lengths, making a sort of jagged edge along, poking out from under peices of plywood and scrap metal nailed in place on top to act as a roof.I remember a man appearing from out of nowhere, he was wet. "Oh that's my husband, he just went swmimming. Want to see our pool?" ok, I was game and still numbed with disbelief. They had a large peice of rubber roofing laid over a square hole about 3' deep and about 10 x 10. She explained that the black rubber made for a nice heated pool. She also explained how with black hose over the metal roofing they could provide all the hot water they needed.She was proud of her homemade home and I was stunned. I still haven't forgotten about that scene and wonder what happened to them. Was she instituionalized? Was her child taken away? Did they complete their house and live happily ever after? She said their goal that summer was to get that last wall up before winter. Did a big wind blow it down? I don't know, but when anyone tells me us Americans live better than anyone, I have to disagree. Poverty lives everywhere among us, we just choose not to see it.
I humbly contest your view of my wife and house.
And my heated black swimming pool works great, thank you very much.
'Nemo me impune lacesset'No one will provoke me with impunity
When I was on the Rescue Squad in upstate NY about 15 years ago, we answered calls to places like that often. They usually had at least some pink fiberglass in the mix somewhere.
There wasn't much in the way of zoning, and such officials as there were looked the other way, because if those houses were condemned, where would the people go?
The owners were as tough as barbed wire, and as prickly - they did their best with what they had to work with. I had to admire their guts, & I felt great sorrow for the women & kids. (I do understand your horror...)
Thank you Kate.
How long a minute is depends on what side of the bathroom door you're on.
At least 2 of the grandkids already got the idea when thy are grown they will live in our house, and if grandma dies before me I will live in the barn and be happier than ever.......
Actually, sometimes not too far from the truth...... can usually get away with drinking all the beer I want in the barn! Actually, lived in a LOT worse accomodations in college.
I'm guessing there's no neighborhood covenants?
kinda seems to me they were a littlke better off than you
when your suv #### the bed they had a vehicle to get you somewhere safe.next morning probably fed you out of their food stores (or not it doesnt matter),hooked you up with someone to fix your suv and gave you a ride back
maybe they are richer than most people knowDue to recent budget cuts the light at the end of the tunnel will be turned off until further notice.
My sentiments exactly, you put it much better than I could have.
You know, I was really caught up in my description of the house and its conditions that I guess I came off kind of rough and snooty. As a matter fact, I was also overwhelmed with this woman's generosity in spite of the fact that she apparently had little for herself. And as a matter of fact, I ain't quite reached the middle class myself you know...raised three kids alone so and am struggling to get this business going, so if I seemed snooty, it was not intentional.I just couldn't believe the town let them live like that and what got me the most was her spunk! As if she lived in a castle. She was proud as a peacock of the world her and her husband had created, a little haven of their own.SHe drove us about 50 miles south in her poor rickety minivan to meet a friend of mine. He is a swamp yankee himself and he gave her 100 bucks cash and he also gave her some copper wire and other scrap he was going to scrap himself. She was tickled pink. I felt so helpless in that I had to put a ton of money into that dumb SUV, I didn't have much to give her and I never got her address. I really mean it, I wonder what happened to them. Now you guys are making me think I should find out. And I wasn't going to philosophize, but her spunk and happy attitude could be interpreted by many as serious mental illness because she wasn't all depressed that she wasn't living like a middle class maven like we're all supposed to want and that's why I seriously wondered what has happened to her...kudos to you guys for seeing the REAL point in the story:)
ive met a lot of people in the short time ive been around (53yrs)
seems that the people who have the least help you out the most and are happy to do it
i would rather live around people that live in a shack and have enough for themselves but will share with you cause you need it and its just what you do
hungry? well sit down and eat we aint got much but ma sure cooks it up good
than around rich folk that look at you lke your scum when you come to work on thier house,wont even offer up some ice water in the middle of summerDue to recent budget cuts the light at the end of the tunnel will be turned off until further notice.
"than around rich folk that look at you lke your scum when you come to work on thier house,wont even offer up some ice water in the middle of summer"Now ain't that the truth.Its because poor folks understand the pain and they also understand something that people who've had it easy never had a chance to learn: that its relationships that make this life sweet, not cash.
When I did insurance repairs, I had two calls the same day that made an impression in my mind: First one, a relatively poor family whose house burned down, in the poor part of town. It had been destroyed in the fire, and some time later we had been contacted by the insurance company to bid on a rebuild. The family met us at the home, and kept thanking us for coming out to fix their house. We told them, All we are doing is bidding the job, they kept thanking us anyway.Next job, up on the hill, in the richer part of town. Small scorch on a kitchen cabinet due to a stove top fire, again, we went out to bid it. Homeowner starts yelling right away "WHERE THE H@LL HAVE YOU PEOPLE BEEN?!!" I told her Lady, we just found out about the job yesterday, we came right away to give a bid. Then she starts in "I HAVE HAD TO LIVE LIKE THIS FOR MONTHS NOW (small burn mark on the upper cabinet), can you BELIEVE IT??? And I'm thinking, naturally, of a whole family displaced, house practically levelled, saying "Thank you for coming to fix our home"!The contrast of that day has stayed with me over the years.
huck====exactly what i'm talkin about
i know and you know you cant lump either of the two differant people into they are all like that class but....i find its mostly trueDue to recent budget cuts the light at the end of the tunnel will be turned off until further notice.
thanks for the update,
Merry Christmas, and God Bless you and yours and those who have helped us over the years and those we have been able to help!
Good to see you came back to clarify things. Sometimes it can difficult to see the intent in a post thru this one dimensional media.
Glad your here. View Image
'Nemo me impune lacesset'No one will provoke me with impunity
I wonder if she has a sister in the northwest...
How long a minute is depends on what side of the bathroom door you're on.
Luka,
I'm glad I was between sips when I read that. :o)
'Nemo me impune lacesset'No one will provoke me with impunity
Luka
I'm guessing a distant cousin would suffice!
Doug
Many, many years ago had similar happen to us once, but appreciated the effort the people (Ozarks vs. NH) made (fixed our 48 ford blown radiator with a soldering iron heated over a wood fire), left a $20 in appreciation as was all we had.
Hope you at least did similar if now going to trash/pity them in an internet post.
Junk
I was out in Montana in 1984 delivering a large air compressor for a road construction job.
While out there we sprung a leak in our radiator. Got someone to tow us into Sundance where we was able to find a full service station just getting ready to close for the weekend(not open Sundays). this town was suffering economically back in the 80's.
The man did a makeshift fix/solder on our radiator. We all examined it and felt it would make it back to Iowa.
We went to settle up with him and he wouldn't take a dime, said it was less then professional and didn't feel it would be right to take money for it.
Hell we were driving a company truck, he knew it, could have charges us $500, we'd a paid it!
While arguing with him about taking money we snuck a c-note up on the cash drawer and left. Felt we got out of there cheap enough.
I don't know if I've ever meet nicer people in my life as those that I met up and around Montana/Wyoming.
Doug
Doug
You said creaftmanship.
Didn't you mean createmanship?
So you are the guy typing to me in that seach engine!
Wow!!! What a bon fire that would make.
Remove the Mini-van and the step ladder before lighting up.
marshmallows anyone?
I can understand removing the ladder....
but why the minivan???
it'll eventually melt down and the gas and oil will keep the fire going...
http://frogstar.com/wav/displaywav.asp?fil=mp-fart.wav
Art, that wall is a pallet? Looks like 4"x12" planks?
What comes on a pallet like that?
Large stacks of gold maybe?
Joe H
Why oh why is this thread making that Fred Eaglesmith song, "When, eggzactly, did we become White Trash...?" run through my head...?
Dinosaur
A day may come when the courage of men fails,when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship...
But it is not this day.
Joe:
Aircraft parts and aluminum sheet.
If you look close at the wall pix, next to the ladder is the last few letters of the aerospace company it was shipped to. One side of the roof uses 5x10 sheets of plywood - 737 rudders are shipped from Short aircraft in Ireland on a 30 ft by 5 foot by 7 ft high pallet made up with 6 sheets of the ply on each side of 3x3" 30 ft long members (used for truss2).
A few years ago the company started just sending all pallets thru a tub chipper. After a couple of the pricey rudders went thru the chipper along with the pallet they started just setting them out for employee dis-assembly again.
So where are you gona hang the banjo?
My god- I feel like I've entered some sort of back country twilight zone.......
be afraid (very afraid)Justin Fink - FHB Editorial
???
How long a minute is depends on what side of the bathroom door you're on.
Light years ahead of some I have seen.
I was called in to do a minor electrical repair and saw a winner in a man's back yard.
The HO explained that he was building his own home. Needed a place to put tools and supplies out of the rain. A small apartment complex was replacing its refrigerators. He picked up what looks like five of the refrigerator boxes. Also four pallets and some cheap corrugated roofing.
He put down the pallets in a square pattern. He painted the boxes inside and out. Sealed the cut edges with duct tape. Screwed the boxes down in a square to the pallets with drywall screws and fender washers. connected the boxes to each other with fenders and stove bolts. The fifth box was was used to jack up the roofing in the front. The roofing overhung the shed by about a foot all-round and was screwed down into the double-thick corrugated cardboard. Two 'doors' were cut into the front and two facing the back. He just cut three sides and let the cardboard be the hinge. This was reinforced with duct, fiberglass tape and, in time I suspect, a few 1by3s and some stove bolts. The wood may have come from pallets.
He told me he had intended the shed to last only a few months. But it was still there ten or eleven years later. A few of the walls were a little bowed but it was still keeping the wind and rain out. I asked how he kept the termites and carpenter ants out and he explained that his main job was in pest control. I suspect he used enough insecticide that if this thing caught fire anyone downwind would be at risk and the remains would be listed as a superfund site.
Not exactly fine homebuilding. More like fine shanty building. I guess in the slums of Brazil it would, in your case, considered a mansions.
I brought my illustration up only to point out that people use what they have. And that humble materials, if put together with some care and competence, can outlive anyone's estimation for durability and longevity.
If someone would have told me a shed made of refrigerator boxes would last ten years I would have questioned their sanity. But then again people have been questioning my sanity for a long time.
Never heard of such a structure before.
I think that guy deserves a trophy.
A person with no sense of humor about themselves is fullashid
Art;
You might want to submit your photos to FHB Mag for either the "Finishing Touches" section or the "Master Carpenter" section.
I believe they pay for published submissions so, potentially you might recoup the cost of the dozer, the gas and the nails.
OR...you might submit your work as an example of "Wabi-Sabi," the art of "imperfection" in building.
Best regards,
Frank
is that sheetrock on the roof?
No sheetrock.
The white roof is steel sheet (surplus whiteboards). The other side is combination of a 4x8 sheet of lexan (sunroof even) that had been a benchtop for cutting fabric, a few sheets of fiberglas honeycomb aircraft floor panels, etc.
What style would you call that?
Maybe "faux redneck" ???
(-:
It sank, proving once and for all that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.
>>What style would you call that?
Modern poverty
Your foundation seems to be out of level by an 1/8 of an inch. Maybe it's just an optical illusion from the angle the photo was taken.
"Preach the Gospel at all times; if necessary, use words." - St. Francis of Assisi
Steve-o: Good eyeball <G> Would be amazed if it was as close as an inch even, ha!
Dat shed never saw a level or a square -- moving 5 ton pieces of wet cottonwood with a 5 ton machine for the "sill plates" is not exactly conducive to accuracy.
Razzman - I o'uta stop by your place and compare notes someday - think you are in Ohio but not sure where - will be in Dayton and Cincy for meetings on the 20th-25th, if near there let me know via e-mail and can compare schedules.
Boss: nah, "faux redneck" doesn't work, how about "developer repellent" style ???
Opposite corner outside of Cleveland.
Ever do anything with those dome hub connectors?
be a schedule. Ha, me a schedule?
Edited 6/6/2005 12:39 pm ET by razzman
Not the cheapest but certainly done on the cheap.
I 1st picked out four cedar trees in the back yard as corner posts it was in the middle of winter and I was too lazy to dig footings and set posts.
I attached outside rim joists to the cedar trees and let them run up to the top plate.Ran joists between the rim joists all material was left over from previous jobs.
I used demo'd sliding glass doors to use up siding footage. I built flat roof out of 2x12's used fence post cut offs for blocking for plywood seams of decking.The deep roof joists made it easy to put flourescent lights up in between so I wouldn't hit them with wood built 9' tall walls so I could manuever plywood.
The shape was elongated triangle so I have two long walls one for sliding drs the other for bench with radial arm saw in middle.
Then two eight ft walls at one end looks like a F117 jet. It is the most efficient use of square footage for a wood shop i have ever seen.The rubber roof was my biggest expense and well worth it.
ANDYSZ2I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
Remodeler/Punchout
I've got a nice grove of Western Red Cedars (about 4' diameter) next to my barn and several years ago I notched the trunks and lagbolted (1/2" X 10" HDG lags) 4" X 12" beams into the notches to support a ramp into the loft.
It took those trees just 5 years to push the beams and lags out and drop them on the ground.
Damn I'm proud of you guys.
A person with no sense of humor about themselves is fullashid
To Sanford and Son, this would be a mansion!
Wow! If only FLW had lived long enough, he would have been inspired to take his work in an entirely different direction. Pure Genius!
LOL
I bet many of our forefathers were born in homes less noble than your shed. Just spend a little time in there reading Homer by candlelight to assure its dignity.
"A completed home is a listed home."
My entry: the tool & material storage 'shed' at one of my rental properties, complete with hippy paint job courtesy of my daughter (and deployed airbags, courtesy of same hippy daughter).
After 7 (count 'em) engines and 3 transmissions (all under warranty!), and 3 teens learning to drive and/or engaging in demolition derbies, I finally found the best use for this piece of crap!
Like they say, You get what you pay for.
I can understand a limited budget, but you're living dangerously. Good luck.Bruce22
Looked this thread up again to reference for a guy wanting to build his dad a huse for $25 sq ft., hadn't looked since June.
Bruce, saw that was your first post, Welcome, if you are still around - why dangerously???