In 2018 we built a 12x24 shed just on the edge of the bank behind our house. It does drop off quite a bit, but I wanted to take advantage of that, for the ability to throw stuff under the shed that I don’t want in full weather, but don’t really need to store indoors, like snow tires, wheelbarrows, hoses, and lumber.
The idea of the shed was to have three parts: The middle (12x10) for bikes, mowers, hand tools, gas, oil, floor jack, basically the detritus that usually takes up a garage bay. Then on each side of that, a 12x7 space with 4" spaces in the walls for ventilation, to be filled with approximately 3 cords of wood each. That’s about what we burn in an average year, and I like to be a year ahead, so ideally each fall, both sides would be mostly full - one for this year, and one for the following year.
Part of the thinking here was that we’d build a garage next, and whatever we built would be actual garage space for cars because this already existed. However, we’re kind of in an endless loop on that. One, we’d have to figure out how to pay for it. We kinda spent a lot on the land we acquired in January, so that didn’t help. Two, we have to figure out what it will look like. Sounds obvious, I know, but here’s what happens (have you ever read If You Give A Mouse A Cookie?):
1. We should build a garage
2. It should probably have 3 bays since we have 3 cars
3. It should definitely be attached to the house
4. If we’re going to build out a space like that, it should be able to have living space above, even if we don’t finish it all at once
4(a). If it’s going to have living space above it, we should be able to access that living space without having to go into the garage space itself. Which means... DRUM ROLL... attaching it to the second floor of our house. And, that would mean cutting a door into where one of our kids’ bedrooms is, or knocking out the closet in one of the kids’ rooms to extend the hallway. No matter how you cut it, that’s significant interior construction on two floors of our house now.
5. Well, that escalated quickly! And... back to the shed.
Well it turns out the structure underneath just wasn’t really up for all the weight of 3 cords of green wood, and it bent and curved a bit; we reinforced it over last winter, temporarily. The doors on the wood storage areas aren’t happy, though, and the floor was visibly uneven.
Now, the guys who built it have come back to fix it, and there’s a reason we like to work with them. They’re semi-retired but still like to take on small projects like this. The main guy lives just down the street from me, actually. His kids are my age, and we grew up together. He’s not charging me any labor to get this right, but I am paying for the materials. That seems completely fair to me, and I’m excited to have the building back to square and stronger than before.
The kids are clearly entertained by the action, and I’m happy for the distraction (for them).
Side note, you can see one of my new MTB trails going up and off into the woods in the background.
And whose idea was it to leave that tree so close to the shed, anyway? Honestly, I feel kinda dumb for not cutting it when I had the chance. It isn’t doing any harm, but still.