Down to Earth

26 August 2016

The shed is finally resting back on its foundation and is free standing without braces staked to the ground or ropes tied to trees.  Here is how it got there.

I cleared away all the vegetation and removed most of the studs and door framing from the front of the shed.

A trip to Lowe's got me all the lumber I needed for the new floor structure.

First I got all nine piers ready for the three beams. I got them all within 1-1/2" of each other. I planned to shim them to make up the differences.

Amy and I placed the beams. Then it was just a matter of getting them all level across and level with each other. I used the large concrete block at the back left corner as my reference.

Next came the rim joists. I had also set the center floor joist. At this point I also did all the final shimming for level and checking/adjusting for square. 

The first boards going in. This will be the sub floor. I am putting them on the diagonal because that's the way it was built before. Not saying it's better. I just like the idea of the construction being approximately historically accurate. However, I am using pressure treated pine lumber and screws instead of rough sawn oak and nails. The finish floor will be the original tongue and groove boards that I took out - well, at least as much of it that is still good.

Half way done!

The floor structure is finally complete.

I have removed the excess cribbing as I lowered each corner down.

The shed is now resting fully back on its own stud walls. Next I removed all the excess lumber and worked on getting the walls plumb and the framing squared up. 

Two of the original corner posts were not in good enough shape to leave in place. These were 4" x 6". All the wall studs are 2" x 4".

I fabricated new 4" x 6" posts from the lumber I had used to lift the shed.

This is the back right corner. There is a crack in the tin roof over this corner so all the wood in this area was rotted away. I had to replace the corner posts and portions of the top plates. Note to self : fix the roof.

The original shed construction did not have any lateral bracing. I decided that I would add some. Here I've started to create the mortises for a modern 2x4.

A few cuts with the circular saw, and then the careful application of a hammer and chisel is all that was needed to create the mortises.

The right side of the shed is done and ready for siding.

I  have put back the studs and door framing on the front. I've cut the diagonal braces for the other three sides but not mortised them in yet. I also increased the door width from 31" to 36". I will have to fabricate a new door. Putting the original siding back up will be a large jigsaw puzzle (I did not label the pieces when I took them off - I'll probably regret that). That will be another day.