How I Spent my Covid Year

[WRideout]

With a nod to the perennial back-to-school essay, here is the result of my efforts when I had waaay too much time on my hands.

Betsy and I moved into this house about seven years ago, when our landlord (Betsy's ex; but that's another story) put his house up for sale. There was no garage, but the rest of the house was move-in condition, and I love old homes. We bought it anyway, with the agreement that I could build a shed in back for doing my "man" stuff. Right away I started begging friends with hauling capacity to bring me discarded pallets, but the project didn't really get into high gear until I bought a used utility trailer. Here is the finished structure.

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The project was built almost entirely from salvaged material. My neighbor across the alley had to remove a deck and hot tub to dig up his drain line, and he generously donated sections of deck and support structure. It was all good rot-resistant cedar and pressure-treated. I did have to buy a few 1x boards, and some OSB for the roof sheathing. Much of the material came from dumpsters in front of new home construction. The builders were throwing away half sheets of OSB, ten and twelve foot two by fours, and quantities of two by six lumber. In my sixties, dumpster diving is even more fun that it was when I was a kid. In case anyone cares, here is my mugshot (first selfie ever.)

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Mothers pull their children closer when I walk by.

[beezapilot]

Nice! My shop is known as OPG (Other People's Garbage) I've built lots of nice looking stuff from old crates, construction dumpsters... on an on... Nice job!

[Scrounge]

With a nod to the perennial back-to-school essay, here is the result of my efforts when I had waaay too much time on my hands.

Betsy and I moved into this house about seven years ago, when our landlord (Betsy's ex; but that's another story) put his house up for sale. There was no garage, but the rest of the house was move-in condition, and I love old homes. We bought it anyway, with the agreement that I could build a shed in back for doing my "man" stuff. Right away I started begging friends with hauling capacity to bring me discarded pallets, but the project didn't really get into high gear until I bought a used utility trailer. Here is the finished structure.

299768

The project was built almost entirely from salvaged material. My neighbor across the alley had to remove a deck and hot tub to dig up his drain line, and he generously donated sections of deck and support structure. It was all good rot-resistant cedar and pressure-treated. I did have to buy a few 1x boards, and some OSB for the roof sheathing. Much of the material came from dumpsters in front of new home construction. The builders were throwing away half sheets of OSB, ten and twelve foot two by fours, and quantities of two by six lumber. In my sixties, dumpster diving is even more fun that it was when I was a kid. In case anyone cares, here is my mugshot (first selfie ever.)

299769

Mothers pull their children closer when I walk by.

That was a great deal more useful than what I did with my first Covid year. I sat at my computer and surfed the web obsessively. Not at all useful, really. Realized as the 2nd year started that I'd accomplished much of nothing, and started working on my shop. I don't have to build it, as you did, but it was a storage area absolutely full of mostly crap. It's less full of crap now, but still kinda full. 5 lathes, 3 milling machines, and a shaper, among other things. And some intersection between the lathes and mills, since one of the machines is a 3-in-1 Smithy CB-1220XL. The Atlas TH42 lathe is operational, the Smithy and the South Bend Heavy 10L are not. The Atlas MF horizontal milling machine and the HF Mini-Mill are also not operational at the moment. Not sure where the Atlas is, though it started as a box and 57 baggies. There are still some baggies in a tool box, but the last I played with it, I'd put the motor back on, and was going to plug it in and try it out after reducing the dent in the cap start motor case... but no power switch. And it's been sitting long enough that I probably need to take it back apart, clean and lube it again. The Smithy is also apart. It sat for about 25 years before I got it, and all the oil and grease are now varnish, and the poor thing wasn't properly cleaned when it was unboxed in 1997 by the previous owner. My brother bought it for me, and I think that means he wants me to make stuff for him... The lathe spindle is at my feet as I type, the new bearings are near my elbow... and my back as as good as it's been in the past year, so it might get some love here soonish. ;)

Bill

[WRideout]

That was a great deal more useful than what I did with my first Covid year. I sat at my computer and surfed the web obsessively. Not at all useful, really. Realized as the 2nd year started that I'd accomplished much of nothing, and started working on my shop. I don't have to build it, as you did, but it was a storage area absolutely full of mostly crap. It's less full of crap now, but still kinda full. 5 lathes, 3 milling machines, and a shaper, among other things. And some intersection between the lathes and mills, since one of the machines is a 3-in-1 Smithy CB-1220XL. The Atlas TH42 lathe is operational, the Smithy and the South Bend Heavy 10L are not. The Atlas MF horizontal milling machine and the HF Mini-Mill are also not operational at the moment. Not sure where the Atlas is, though it started as a box and 57 baggies. There are still some baggies in a tool box, but the last I played with it, I'd put the motor back on, and was going to plug it in and try it out after reducing the dent in the cap start motor case... but no power switch. And it's been sitting long enough that I probably need to take it back apart, clean and lube it again. The Smithy is also apart. It sat for about 25 years before I got it, and all the oil and grease are now varnish, and the poor thing wasn't properly cleaned when it was unboxed in 1997 by the previous owner. My brother bought it for me, and I think that means he wants me to make stuff for him... The lathe spindle is at my feet as I type, the new bearings are near my elbow... and my back as as good as it's been in the past year, so it might get some love here soonish. ;)

Bill

I know how you feel. I like to fix old broken stuff, but after the backlog gets too big, I start chasing the newest "great idea," before finishing anything.
Wayne

[WRideout]

So now a time-lapse look at the project. The base started with a chunk of my neighbor's deck that was 96"x96" pressure treat 2x12. Originally I thought that might be the size of the shed, but after looking at it, I decided I needed something a bit bigger. I replicated the square, but did not want to buy 2X12, so built it out of 2x6, then lag bolted them together. This worked okay because the site has a slight slope anyway, so the skinny end went on the uphill side.

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Here it is on the site.

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One of the first things I learned was that no matter how careful I tried to be, everything required adjustment to make it fit. The closest power outlet is in the house, about 150' away, so I did a lot of the work with hand tools. I truly came to appreciate using good hand tools; the rhythm of sawing is calming and good exercise. Same with hammering nails.

Wayne

[Scorpion8]

Mothers pull their children closer when I walk by.

Quote of the day!

[Scrounge]

I know how you feel. I like to fix old broken stuff, but after the backlog gets too big, I start chasing the newest "great idea," before finishing anything.
Wayne

I'm trying not to add any more projects than I really need to. Wife needs a new computer, and setting that up for her for a Mother's Day present is what's happening tomorrow, assuming UPS delivers like they promised. In the mean time, I'm still spending too much time on the computer, right now downloading Popular Science magazines from archive.org, but last night in class I worked on a milling table for a Unimat DB200 micro lathe I acquired earlier this year. Only have a few more weeks of class, two class days per week, and last night I cut the 3 T-slots in the table, and started the screw holes to mount the table to the lathe. Broke a center drill point off, and spent the rest of the class getting that broken piece of HSS out, and ready for drilling, countersinking, and tapping. Then it will be done, and I'll do the other one that just has a pattern of M6x1 threaded holes on it. And in a bit I'll be moving stuff out of the shop area so I can move the sheetrock jack in to fix the ceiling. Need more clear floor than I have now, and once the ceiling is done, I can get back to restoring some of the machinery. Hope to have that well started at least by the time I run out of class, so I can be using my machines after I lose access to the school machines.

I've got a couple of 100' extension cords, and a collection of Ryobi One+ cordless tools, and just repaired a 100' air hose, and bought another, so I can reach anywhere in my yard now with compressed air for air tool, and electricity for power tools and battery chargers. Get the in-house stuff done, and I can start working on the sheds outside. I put in a 10x14 steel shed over a decade ago, and it got packed full of stuff before I even finished building it. Leaks like a sieve, and needs the roof coated to waterproof it, and I hope to put the dirty tools like grinders and sanders out there. I will also run power to it. Of course it's only about 4 or 5 feet from the house.

Been having a bunch of back problems too, since the job evaporated, and got a epidural injection in the lower back that helped a lot last week, so I've been doing more work, but it leaves me breathless since I've been sitting on my duff for so very freaking long... Got to work back into working. PITA, it is! Keep posting, I need all the inspiration I can get, and you're providing a bunch!

Bill

[Markopolo]

Quote of the day!

Especially comming from u Rangemaster!!!!

[WRideout]

Here is the shed partially done. I thought long and hard about how to frame the roof, since there are several approaches. I finally decided that working by myself, I could install trusses. I assembled the trusses from the salvaged deck boards, and added them one at a time, braced with a temporary 2x4 on top. My next door neighbor, Scott, has been a professional roofer, so I enlisted him to put on the sheathing and shingles. I did the shingling on my kids playhouse once, and it looked like a kid had done it. The most troublesome issue for me was cutting the birdsmouths to fit the top plate. I finally just tooks some measurements, marked them out, and cut. They aren't a perfect fit, but are okay.

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As I was getting the walls up. I used a double top plate of 2x4 on everything. Except that on the wall facing the alley, I did not account for the thickness of the top plate on the adjoining wall; so the one long wall now has a triple top plate (measure once cut twice, or something like that.)

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Here is a view from the inside, underneath.


The trusses were still a little wobbly, even after Scott put the sheathing on, so I went around the inside, and added hurricane braces which stiffened things up considerably.

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[WRideout]

Another friend, who happened to be an electrician, helped me wire it up for 120 ac, which allowed me to put in overhead lights, outlets, and a fan above the casting bench. Here is my bench; the top is covered with sheet metal from a discarded door of a bathroom stall.
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We had an unused bathroom fan that I installed above the casting bench. I tried venting it through a filter into the interior of the shed, but even so it put too much smoke inside. I rerouted the exhaust outside, through a homemade filter box. I used a vacuum sweeper filter that was nominally HEPA rated.

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I have a habit of prowling the back of stores, because that is where I find usable discarded stuff. One day I found two gas cylinders that were marked "carpet glue, do not reuse for any purpose." Since I had read on this forum and elsewhere about the many uses of discarded cylinders, I took them both. One I converted into a wood stove for the shed, so that I could work out there year-round.

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I had trouble finding standard flue pipe that was small enough for the stove, so I went to an auto parts store where I purchased automotive exhaust pipe with the proper bends in it. It was one of the more expensive parts of the project. I used a two foot square paving block on the bottom of the stove, but wanted more separation from the floor, so I put down a bigger square of concrete board, covered with the same sheet metal I used on the bench top. For insurance, I put a heat shield all the way around on the plywood walls, consisting of sheet metal mounted on one inch pieces of tubing to give it some standoff. I gave the setup a good test this past winter, and found that even with the many air leaks in the shed, a good fire will warm it up within minutes. The inside of the walls is insulated with discarded carpet pieces, stapled in place and covered with plywood or OSB.

[WRideout]

Here is the back of the shed showing the flue pipe installation. It is supported underneath by an upside-down joist hanger. Where the pipe penetrated the shed wall I cut out a square, and filled in with a piece of concrete board, sandwiched on both sides with sheet metal. The setup draws extremely well with a slight breeze outside.

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Here she is in winter dress. You can see the repurposed fence gate which I used as a cover for the fixed window. I wanted to secure it from the inside, so I through-drilled a hole from the inside, and put a threaded tee nut on the outside of the window cover. A piece of all-thread with a handle goes through the whole thing, and I can secure it from the inside. The handle on the all-thread is the cutout from installing the door knob.

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[skeettx]

That shop is a thing of joy and usefulness
Well done, well done
Hope you spend many hours out there :)

[WRideout]

That shop is a thing of joy and usefulness
Well done, well done
Hope you spend many hours out there :)

It is, indeed. Now I just need to catch the guy who keeps piling junk in there!
Wayne

[WRideout]

Duplicate post.

[quack1]

Nice job Wayne.

[WRideout]

Couple of lessons I learned along the way:
1. Pallets are anything but standard.
2. Almost anything can be repurposed to a different use.
3. It's best not to fight the authorities; just get the permit.
4. People will give you all kinds of things if they know what you are doing with them.

Wayne

[lcclower]

Nice job and eco-friendly as well.
("Look, Mom! I made a pallet out of two old
coffee tables!")

[Scrounge]

It is, indeed. Now I just need to catch the guy who keeps piling junk in there!
Wayne

Get you one of those great big bear traps...

Well done, Wayne. It's beautiful!

Bill

[CastingFool]

Perhaps a little off the thread, I wanted to run power to our barn, and I thought I could run a 100 ft of under ground wire to the barn, and tie in to the box that feeds our pool pump. When I investigated further, whoever wired the pump used 14 ga wire! So my project just got more complicated and labor intensive

[Scrounge]

Perhaps a little off the thread, I wanted to run power to our barn, and I thought I could run a 100 ft of under ground wire to the barn, and tie in to the box that feeds our pool pump. When I investigated further, whoever wired the pump used 14 ga wire! So my project just got more complicated and labor intensive

Seems a lot of that going around. My house was built in 1963, and has a 60amp main entry panel. My son got a ceramic kiln off Craigslist most of a decade ago. 240VAC, 60amps, without the extra ring. That is all the power my house can handle. SWMBO would not have appreciated us using all the power to run the kiln in the summer, when she needed air conditioning. MIGHT have been OK with it running in the Winter, but I'd not care to bet on it. One of these days, I'm going to have to break down and put in a complete new entry panel and all new wiring. Honestly, I'd rather burn the house down and move elsewhere. Only how to pay for the new place? And if I get caught, of course I wouldn't need to worry about my power bills anymore, but I don't think I'd be allowed access to files and hacksaws and machine tools anymore. ;)

Bill

[15meter]

Seems a lot of that going around. My house was built in 1963, and has a 60amp main entry panel. My son got a ceramic kiln off Craigslist most of a decade ago. 240VAC, 60amps, without the extra ring. That is all the power my house can handle. SWMBO would not have appreciated us using all the power to run the kiln in the summer, when she needed air conditioning. MIGHT have been OK with it running in the Winter, but I'd not care to bet on it. One of these days, I'm going to have to break down and put in a complete new entry panel and all new wiring. Honestly, I'd rather burn the house down and move elsewhere. Only how to pay for the new place? And if I get caught, of course I wouldn't need to worry about my power bills anymore, but I don't think I'd be allowed access to files and hacksaws and machine tools anymore. ;)

Bill

I understand you're joking about the arson, I unfortunately worked with a less than bright guy who thought it was a great idea to get his new home.

Hauled all his important papers to the office "to keep the kids out of them". Scheduled veterinary visits for all 9 pets on the same day. 9 kids = 9 pets. His, hers and theirs. Kids that is, not pets.

And the dishwasher had an electrical short and burned the house to the ground.

He was absolutely outraged when the insurance company wouldn't write him a check for the entire loss.

The checks would go to the contractor who would rebuild his existing house on it's original foundation.

Cost of contents would be paid as he purchased them, subject to depreciation.

And his dream house he had picked out before the fire was sold before he could try and sue the insurance company.

Aw, schucks.:violin:

[WRideout]

Get you one of those great big bear traps...

Well done, Wayne. It's beautiful!

Bill

Thanks, Bill. Labor of love, you know.
Wayne