Photos: New Shed
Nov. 6th, 2024 11:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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gardeningOur new garden shed arrived today! :D 3q3q3q!!! I'm so excited. It's made by Everlast, which has distributors in a bunch of places around central Illinois.
The delivery turned out to be a lot of fun. There were actually two buildings on the bed of the semi-truck, our little garden shed and a rather larger chicken coop (identifiable as such by the two hen doors on the back). Just behind the cab sat a clever device called a Mule 524 shed mover. Think of it as a miniature, folding, terrestrial tugboat. It has two big fat wheels and one much smaller wheel, giving it a near-zero turning radius. It very much relies on physics, which is why the lifting fork is so short, and why it's actually easier to move a big shed (whose mass makes it stay on better) than a little one. (Watch a shed delivery video here.) Our exceptionally capable delivery man was happy to geek out with us about the tools of his trade.
To remove the shed, he first put the mule on the ground, then unlatched our shed from the trailer bed and pushed it partway off the end. The trailer and truck turned out to be jointed and commanded by a wireless controller, so that the front end could fold upward, tilting the back end toward the ground. (Most just have a flat bed that tilts up, not articulated.) This enabled the mule to extract the shed from the trailer bed. He then lifted one end of the shed and popped two double wheels underneath. These had a rail on the top to hold the skids under the shed, which is designed to be portable, thus securing the wheels in place. From there it was a simple matter to lift the far end of the shed with the mule and tow it into the driveway.
The whole rig is astoundingly agile for something that big. This is a combination of operator skill (impressive Visual-Spatial Intelligence) and well-designed technology. He steered an 8x12' garden shed up a not especially wide driveway made narrower by the fallen tree limbs that are still off the south edge of it, around our parked vehicles, and through the yard.
He then proceeded to shimmy the thing neatly into the place we wanted it. Apparently he is used to doing this in the much tighter quarters of a suburban yard. We didn't have a fence or anything to sight along, so getting it evenly aligned was a bit hard to tell. Eventually I shrugged and said, "Just park it there. It will be fine. It's facing the right way and doesn't need to be perfectly aligned with anything." There's something to be said for knowing enough Eastern philosophy to understand when perfection is not required.
He used the mule to lower one end of the shed, then lifted the other enough to pop the wheels loose and set it down flat. Then he installed the brackets for the ramp and was kind enough to position it for us. It's sturdy, so it's heavy enough to need both of us to budge it, but we can lift it if necessary. Or more realistically, fetch the 4' prybar lever and the handtruck to move it. He then unscrewed the keys from the wall. :D Clever trick: easy to remove in 2 seconds with a power tool, harder and slower with a hand tool, probably impossible with fingers. Yes, I tipped him: it was well worth it for the excellent service, entertainment, and a few educational tidbits about landscaping power equipment.
This is a long view of the shed, with me standing at the northeast corner of the patio, looking southeast toward the east end of the south lot where the shed now resides.
This is a closer view of the shed from the house yard, not far from the border between house yard and south lot. It looks nice and homesteady. :D
This is a front view of the shed, standing in the south lot, looking east. The doors face west into the south lot. The shed is barn-red with white trim and a shingle roof of dark gray.
A little point about aesthetics: high-contrast trim makes it easier to see where the edges of an object are, or its features like doors and windows, so you don't run into it -- for instance, driving a mower while the sun is setting. The trim looks pretty but is actually painted that way for a practical reason.
The ramp is plain wood. Another company we considered had the option of a diamondboard ramp, but their sheds cost about half again as much and that was the only key difference. So we went with this. I figure if the ramp wears out before the shed, we can always get a metal ramp then.
This is the left / north side of the shed. I'm standing about at the border between the house yard and south lot, near the picnic table, looking south. From this side, you can also see the ends of the skids under the floor that make it relatively easy to move with the right equipment. it works like a sleigh.
Here's part of the back side of the shed. I can't zoom out to show all of it, because I'm standing only a few feet away with my back to the wall of brush. There's about one and a half mower-widths between the back of the shed and the brush, so it can be mowed around. Right under the roof you can see one of the air vents. There is one on both short sides and on the back, though not the front (which has the barn doors and a window).
This is the right / south side of the shed. Again, I can't get far enough back to show the whole thing, but it looks basically the same as the other short side. Right under the peak of the roof is another air vent.
This is a genuine, operable window with a screen to keep bugs out. That's more than can be said of some houses nowadays. That said, these sheds do heat up in full sun, which we discovered while comparison shopping. The lovely little greenhouse was completely unbearable. :( As this one is located in a somewhat shaded area, it should stay a bit cooler.
Here is a long view showing the little stump a few feet in front of the ramp. We've been trying to dig and cut it out, with some progress, but not yet a clear path. Bother.
It's a volunteer honeysuckle, in case you're curious. We pulled up or cut out all kinds of stuff that's been growing where the old mulch pile was.
From the front, you can get a closer view of the ramp. It's very well built and portable, though heavy because it's so sturdy. The front lip is about an inch above the ground. The back end hooks into a pair of heavy brackets attached to the base of the shed just below the doors. A ramp can be attached to any wooden surface in this manner. The metal ones we looked at instead folded the surface plate down over the back of the ramp and dropped that into a metal slot on the shed.
The side view of the ramp shows how the support boards are cut to create the slope. This basic pattern will work anywhere you need a low ramp to get up one step. With wordworking skill, it's straightforward to build. (You can find some ramp plans here.)
Here is a closer view of the doors and ramp. These are double doors, the big barn style, so we can fit a mower in there. (We measured. Twice. Hopefully the numbers will hold.) The doors can stand open singly or together, but you have to open the one with the handle first because the other has a lip on it that goes behind the handle door as part of the secure closure.
Here is a closeup of some of the door hardware when closed.
The door with the handle opens first. You can see the lip on the other one.
On the inside of the handle door, you can see its half of the hardware that secures the door when closed. The handle has a lock in it. The keys were actually screwed to the inside wall when the shed arrived!
The inside of the left door, the one without the handle, has a different set of hardware for its functions.
The floor is diamondboard (aka diamondplate, runnerboard, etc.) which is has great traction and durability. I'm note sure whether this is aluminum or stainless steel. As soon as I saw this while we were out shopping, I refused to consider any shed that had only a wooden floor. It's an upgrade option from some companies and worth every penny.
You can also see the little square hardware that helps hold the doors closed. The left door has the piece that fits down into that socket.
This is the view into the shed from the door, looking toward the back right corner. You can see some of how the roof goes together. There are options for higher gambrel-roof sheds with a loft, but we didn't think that we needed those, and they were considerably more expensive. Neither of us really wants to store things that high overhead.
Once we get the mower and chipper in, we might consider adding a shelving unit, a toolstand, or some other organizer(s) if there's room.
Here is an interior view of the left / north side. I'm standing near the right / south end of the shed looking north. Look up and you can see both the sealed ridgeline and the metal plates used to fasten the roof rafters securely.
This is an interior view of the right / south wall, also showing part of the front window. I'm standing near the left / north end facing south.
This is an interior view of the window and part of the door. I'm standing near the back / east wall looking west.
I am very pleased with our new shed! :D
The delivery turned out to be a lot of fun. There were actually two buildings on the bed of the semi-truck, our little garden shed and a rather larger chicken coop (identifiable as such by the two hen doors on the back). Just behind the cab sat a clever device called a Mule 524 shed mover. Think of it as a miniature, folding, terrestrial tugboat. It has two big fat wheels and one much smaller wheel, giving it a near-zero turning radius. It very much relies on physics, which is why the lifting fork is so short, and why it's actually easier to move a big shed (whose mass makes it stay on better) than a little one. (Watch a shed delivery video here.) Our exceptionally capable delivery man was happy to geek out with us about the tools of his trade.
To remove the shed, he first put the mule on the ground, then unlatched our shed from the trailer bed and pushed it partway off the end. The trailer and truck turned out to be jointed and commanded by a wireless controller, so that the front end could fold upward, tilting the back end toward the ground. (Most just have a flat bed that tilts up, not articulated.) This enabled the mule to extract the shed from the trailer bed. He then lifted one end of the shed and popped two double wheels underneath. These had a rail on the top to hold the skids under the shed, which is designed to be portable, thus securing the wheels in place. From there it was a simple matter to lift the far end of the shed with the mule and tow it into the driveway.
The whole rig is astoundingly agile for something that big. This is a combination of operator skill (impressive Visual-Spatial Intelligence) and well-designed technology. He steered an 8x12' garden shed up a not especially wide driveway made narrower by the fallen tree limbs that are still off the south edge of it, around our parked vehicles, and through the yard.
He then proceeded to shimmy the thing neatly into the place we wanted it. Apparently he is used to doing this in the much tighter quarters of a suburban yard. We didn't have a fence or anything to sight along, so getting it evenly aligned was a bit hard to tell. Eventually I shrugged and said, "Just park it there. It will be fine. It's facing the right way and doesn't need to be perfectly aligned with anything." There's something to be said for knowing enough Eastern philosophy to understand when perfection is not required.
He used the mule to lower one end of the shed, then lifted the other enough to pop the wheels loose and set it down flat. Then he installed the brackets for the ramp and was kind enough to position it for us. It's sturdy, so it's heavy enough to need both of us to budge it, but we can lift it if necessary. Or more realistically, fetch the 4' prybar lever and the handtruck to move it. He then unscrewed the keys from the wall. :D Clever trick: easy to remove in 2 seconds with a power tool, harder and slower with a hand tool, probably impossible with fingers. Yes, I tipped him: it was well worth it for the excellent service, entertainment, and a few educational tidbits about landscaping power equipment.
This is a long view of the shed, with me standing at the northeast corner of the patio, looking southeast toward the east end of the south lot where the shed now resides.
This is a closer view of the shed from the house yard, not far from the border between house yard and south lot. It looks nice and homesteady. :D
This is a front view of the shed, standing in the south lot, looking east. The doors face west into the south lot. The shed is barn-red with white trim and a shingle roof of dark gray.
A little point about aesthetics: high-contrast trim makes it easier to see where the edges of an object are, or its features like doors and windows, so you don't run into it -- for instance, driving a mower while the sun is setting. The trim looks pretty but is actually painted that way for a practical reason.
The ramp is plain wood. Another company we considered had the option of a diamondboard ramp, but their sheds cost about half again as much and that was the only key difference. So we went with this. I figure if the ramp wears out before the shed, we can always get a metal ramp then.
This is the left / north side of the shed. I'm standing about at the border between the house yard and south lot, near the picnic table, looking south. From this side, you can also see the ends of the skids under the floor that make it relatively easy to move with the right equipment. it works like a sleigh.
Here's part of the back side of the shed. I can't zoom out to show all of it, because I'm standing only a few feet away with my back to the wall of brush. There's about one and a half mower-widths between the back of the shed and the brush, so it can be mowed around. Right under the roof you can see one of the air vents. There is one on both short sides and on the back, though not the front (which has the barn doors and a window).
This is the right / south side of the shed. Again, I can't get far enough back to show the whole thing, but it looks basically the same as the other short side. Right under the peak of the roof is another air vent.
This is a genuine, operable window with a screen to keep bugs out. That's more than can be said of some houses nowadays. That said, these sheds do heat up in full sun, which we discovered while comparison shopping. The lovely little greenhouse was completely unbearable. :( As this one is located in a somewhat shaded area, it should stay a bit cooler.
Here is a long view showing the little stump a few feet in front of the ramp. We've been trying to dig and cut it out, with some progress, but not yet a clear path. Bother.
It's a volunteer honeysuckle, in case you're curious. We pulled up or cut out all kinds of stuff that's been growing where the old mulch pile was.
From the front, you can get a closer view of the ramp. It's very well built and portable, though heavy because it's so sturdy. The front lip is about an inch above the ground. The back end hooks into a pair of heavy brackets attached to the base of the shed just below the doors. A ramp can be attached to any wooden surface in this manner. The metal ones we looked at instead folded the surface plate down over the back of the ramp and dropped that into a metal slot on the shed.
The side view of the ramp shows how the support boards are cut to create the slope. This basic pattern will work anywhere you need a low ramp to get up one step. With wordworking skill, it's straightforward to build. (You can find some ramp plans here.)
Here is a closer view of the doors and ramp. These are double doors, the big barn style, so we can fit a mower in there. (We measured. Twice. Hopefully the numbers will hold.) The doors can stand open singly or together, but you have to open the one with the handle first because the other has a lip on it that goes behind the handle door as part of the secure closure.
Here is a closeup of some of the door hardware when closed.
The door with the handle opens first. You can see the lip on the other one.
On the inside of the handle door, you can see its half of the hardware that secures the door when closed. The handle has a lock in it. The keys were actually screwed to the inside wall when the shed arrived!
The inside of the left door, the one without the handle, has a different set of hardware for its functions.
The floor is diamondboard (aka diamondplate, runnerboard, etc.) which is has great traction and durability. I'm note sure whether this is aluminum or stainless steel. As soon as I saw this while we were out shopping, I refused to consider any shed that had only a wooden floor. It's an upgrade option from some companies and worth every penny.
You can also see the little square hardware that helps hold the doors closed. The left door has the piece that fits down into that socket.
This is the view into the shed from the door, looking toward the back right corner. You can see some of how the roof goes together. There are options for higher gambrel-roof sheds with a loft, but we didn't think that we needed those, and they were considerably more expensive. Neither of us really wants to store things that high overhead.
Once we get the mower and chipper in, we might consider adding a shelving unit, a toolstand, or some other organizer(s) if there's room.
Here is an interior view of the left / north side. I'm standing near the right / south end of the shed looking north. Look up and you can see both the sealed ridgeline and the metal plates used to fasten the roof rafters securely.
This is an interior view of the right / south wall, also showing part of the front window. I'm standing near the left / north end facing south.
This is an interior view of the window and part of the door. I'm standing near the back / east wall looking west.
I am very pleased with our new shed! :D
(no subject)
Date: 2024-11-07 06:43 am (UTC)Yes ...
Date: 2024-11-07 07:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2024-11-10 07:42 pm (UTC)Do you plan to put blocks underneath and level the building, or is it sound enough as is? I know our building inspector would also require a cable or other method beneath this sort of free-standing structure to keep it secure in high winds(they did with mine). And are the skids PTL?
Overall a wonderful and useful addition to any property :o) Mine is quite overfilled with equipment!