Big new shed - 8-10 cords

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.
edthedawg

edthedawg

Minister of Fire
Oct 5, 2008
878
Northeast, CT
www.orchardworksct.com
Reckon I oughta share this with y'all. Been workin' on it for the last few days.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_5mhIqTQE16g/SiXhz5AAsuI/AAAAAAAACmY/zCREaF0_bRg/s400/0602092007.jpg

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_5mhIqTQE16g/SiXh0-HXwtI/AAAAAAAACmg/heNq9SHx2Pw/s400/0602092007b.jpg

Hadda move a whole cord today just to get at the locations for the last four posts. Still two of them to go tho - need a pair of pre-cast post bases for an 8x10 footprint section that juts out away from the fence wall... And I have to add more 2x4 bracing for the roof panels (2x8 corrugated plastic sheets) to be well supported.

Pure math sez it'll hold 11 cords, but I think it'll be more like 8 or 9 w/ all the gaps and spacing. Hope y'all like it :)
 
I think the scale is confusing me. How high are the horizontal cross members off the ground?
 
Those are 4x4 posts about 6 1/2 to 7 feet tall. the horizontal 2x4's along the top are all 8 footers. For reference the wall of the barn is almost exactly 20 feet long. The whole structure slopes down away from the corner point where the fence and barn intersect.
 
Yea, I thought it was much smaller. I thought your 4x4's were 2x4's. and the fence behind was only about 4' high. Just putting a flat roof on?
 
The 4x4's sit on/in pre-cast concrete post bases ($5 ea at HD). Roof is gonna be corrugated plastic sheets.

Ground support for the wood stacks is mostly cinder blocks (3 per 8-foot long stack - 1 on each end and 1 in the middle) w/ a pair of PT 2x4's as skids across the blocks. I don't like pallets insofar as they are not rot resistant.

I had a bunch of cinder blocks already here, so it was pretty easy to just get a bunch of PT 2x4's for about the same level of effort it'd take to scrounge pallets every couple years. Plus I can put a big stack of 2x4's inside and on top of my little Mazda - can't do that w/ pallets nearly as easily. Ain't got me a truck yet :)

For the pending 8x10 extension, I have 3 railroad ties (visible in the upper photo) which will be used in place of cinder blocks, and will similarly have 2x4's layed across them as skids @ 2 per stack for 4 anticipated stacks.
 
I'm beginning to grow tired of the pallets too. They work great except for the decomposition. Same problem I'm having with the visqueen, it gets brittel as it decomposes. One day, I'll build something for a shed.

Looks like a wood arbor right now.
 
I hope we don't have any hurricanes this Fall.
Nor any blizzards with wet heavy snow this Winter.
 
I'll presume that Bigg_Redd and billb3 are talking about the same things - pitch and attachment of the plastic panels.

Pitch:
It pitches about 6" for every 8 feet. Not much, but plenty enough to keep it dry underneath. not like there will be ice dams on it.

Attachment:
I'm planning on using a screw and a fender washer (plus a dollop of silicone) every 12-18" all around and down the center of every panel. Last year, sitting in the same spot, these same panels were perched precariously on my smaller piles w/ only 2 or 3 mid-sized splits holding them down, and thru all the wind, snow, rains, etc, we had exactly zero of them so much as slide a little, let alone blow away.

If there are other problems seen, i'd really enjoy hearing more details of what you're seeing. thanks.
 
I would say that is Yankee ingenuity at it's best. Use what you have, and scrounge what you don't.

It may not be pretty, but most likely pretty effective.


KC
 
:)

I live in one of the worst towns in Ma. as far as rules and codes go.

If one farts, one better have done a recent environmental impact study and have a copy on hand.
 
billb3 said:
:)

I live in one of the worst towns in Ma. as far as rules and codes go.

If one farts, one better have done a recent environmental impact study and have a copy on hand.
Click to expand...

I live in SE Mass also (Middleboro), so I'm curious as to where you live. Are things really that bad?
 
Spikem said:
billb3 said:
:)

I live in one of the worst towns in Ma. as far as rules and codes go.

If one farts, one better have done a recent environmental impact study and have a copy on hand.
Click to expand...

I live in SE Mass also (Middleboro), so I'm curious as to where you live. Are things really that bad?
Click to expand...

oh geez i thought i was the only one in mass that had a town watching everything i do!!!!
must be mass in general........ i was running the other day guy stops, introduces himself and then asks how much wood is in my back yard..... all my neighbors look at my wood pile and think its an eye sore .... i am gonna lower it from 6.5 ft to 4.5 and put some evergreens to create privacy for my wood pile ..... because i know the town is gonna create a bylaw only allowing a days worth of wood in ones yard!!!!!
 
iceman said:
Spikem said:
billb3 said:
:)

I live in one of the worst towns in Ma. as far as rules and codes go.

If one farts, one better have done a recent environmental impact study and have a copy on hand.
Click to expand...

I live in SE Mass also (Middleboro), so I'm curious as to where you live. Are things really that bad?
Click to expand...

oh geez i thought i was the only one in mass that had a town watching everything i do!!!!
must be mass in general........ i was running the other day guy stops, introduces himself and then asks how much wood is in my back yard..... all my neighbors look at my wood pile and think its an eye sore .... i am gonna lower it from 6.5 ft to 4.5 and put some evergreens to create privacy for my wood pile ..... because i know the town is gonna create a bylaw only allowing a days worth of wood in ones yard!!!!!
Click to expand...
Who owns the property? if it were me I would tell'em to piss'off and mind there own, but I guess thats why i'm just some hillbilly from Michigan :coolsmirk:
 
I went to HD and Lowes last night and at $12+ / 8' sheet or $20 / 12' sheet, I just can't (right now) justify spending $200ish on roofing this thing. So I'm gonna let the roofing-it part kinda ride for now. I could get my hands on 6 or 7 sheets of plywood and some rolled roofing, and make it a lot more "permanent" for the same $$ or less. (def. less since I know I have some material stocked in the barn from prior work).

Curious if anyone else has good ideas. I think throwing a tarp over the top of it in winter is a poor solution for a lot of reasons. I really liked the look of the clear plexi corrugated stuff, too... At the same time, I like keeping it defined more as an elaborate firewood storage rack assembly, as opposed to being a formal "shed" (tho i have been using the latter term...)
 
Edthedawg said:
I went to HD and Lowes last night and at $12+ / 8' sheet or $20 / 12' sheet, I just can't (right now) justify spending $200ish on roofing this thing. So I'm gonna let the roofing-it part kinda ride for now. I could get my hands on 6 or 7 sheets of plywood and some rolled roofing, and make it a lot more "permanent" for the same $$ or less. (def. less since I know I have some material stocked in the barn from prior work).

Curious if anyone else has good ideas. I think throwing a tarp over the top of it in winter is a poor solution for a lot of reasons. I really liked the look of the clear plexi corrugated stuff, too... At the same time, I like keeping it defined more as an elaborate firewood storage rack assembly, as opposed to being a formal "shed" (tho i have been using the latter term...)
Click to expand...
I scrounge pallets. Some of them are cheaply made from plywood only- including spacers and cross members. It's something like 5/8in stock, pretty rugged stuff. They yield pieces somewhere around 36in square or longer. With 16in studs, cut them down to span 32in. Free for a little labor to remove the plywood squares and dispose of the rest. I agree with you- plywood has gotten too expensive. BTW I would span any unsupported seams with wood scraps, screws, and polyurethane glue, for maximum strength. I sometimes like to stack heavy stuff on top of structures, too. BTW pallets should be fine for a base if you support them up on brick, block, or PT lumber. Without ground contact, they should last a good while. Choose good, strong, hardwood ones. Maybe add a few more boards across each one so there are no gaps- to prevent ankle injuries.

Nice wood crib, BTW. Good use of available space and materials. I want to get a wood shed up myself, hopefully this year.
 
iceman said:
Spikem said:
billb3 said:
:)

I live in one of the worst towns in Ma. as far as rules and codes go.

If one farts, one better have done a recent environmental impact study and have a copy on hand.
Click to expand...

I live in SE Mass also (Middleboro), so I'm curious as to where you live. Are things really that bad?
Click to expand...

oh geez i thought i was the only one in mass that had a town watching everything i do!!!!
must be mass in general........ i was running the other day guy stops, introduces himself and then asks how much wood is in my back yard..... all my neighbors look at my wood pile and think its an eye sore .... i am gonna lower it from 6.5 ft to 4.5 and put some evergreens to create privacy for my wood pile ..... because i know the town is gonna create a bylaw only allowing a days worth of wood in ones yard!!!!!
Click to expand...

The town I live in in Northern California has a bylaw that states that you can't store more than 1/2 chord of wood on your property at any given time. It is sort of amusing because on my street, half the neighbors have at least two chords stored in plain view. (Because of the relatively mild winters here, I typically only burn 1.5 to 2 chords per year).

The only time the law is actually enforced is when neighbors start bitching, and most of the time the wood is just another way to propogate a miniature "border war" or sorts. Thankfully, my neighbors and I like each other and almost all of us burn.
 
Spikem said:
billb3 said:
:)

I live in one of the worst towns in Ma. as far as rules and codes go.

If one farts, one better have done a recent environmental impact study and have a copy on hand.
Click to expand...

I live in SE Mass also (Middleboro), so I'm curious as to where you live. Are things really that bad?
Click to expand...


Dartmouth.
If it isn't paint, paper or plastic , there's a fee and a related permit.

Any new ideas for building and electrical codes Dartmouth will be first to adopt them.
And probably apply a fee to it somehow, too.
 
[quote author="billb3" date="1244569452]If it isn't paint, paper or plastic , there's a fee and a related permit.

Any new ideas for building and electrical codes Dartmouth will be first to adopt them.
And probably apply a fee to it somehow, too.[/quote]

When did we entitle these entities to tax and fee everything under the sun with little to no oversight?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom
Back