Saturday, October 16, 2010

The never ending shed project....

So Today's "goal" was to get the gable ends complete with brackets, "bead board", and the eave trim installed, heck, maybe even get the tar paper on the roof....




So it appears that this shed project is revealing the fact that my tools are cheap, old, and on their last leg - last weekend I had to replace the power cord on my chop saw, and this weekend my 11 year old portable table saw blade finally stopped cutting...speaks well of the 89 bucks I spent, but that blade did not come off without a fight, and an hour and a half.... Then the jigsaw starting acting up, but with a few choice words, I managed to get through what I needed, but its days are numbered....
In any case, I did get the front overhang done before I ran out of daylight, and I have a plan to get the back done, providing that yet another tool doesn't drop dead completely or need some sort of repair......

Saturday, October 9, 2010

More shed progress...

Today I made more progress on the new shed - the fake overhangs are done on the sides and I have moved to the brackets on the front and back - With one of the original brackets from the house as my model, I made a scaled down version. I was surprised to learn that the original brackets are made of three different thickness of wood, so of course, I had to duplicate that element on a smaller scale.


I was able to get the ends installed when I ran out of daylight - I am going to put a third one at the peak, which will be different from the main house - the house has four brackets on each side, two on the ends and two on either side of the center vent - the shed is too small to do that, but I think it should look OK. I am going to build some lattice roof peak vents to finish off the front.

From the side installed - the vertical piece is a 1X4, the angled bracket is a 2X4, and the top is a custom milled 3X4...
Steve got in on the action, and installed the doorknob and lock, so we can secure it without leaning sheets of plywood and cinder blocks...We have a real lock now...

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Shed project progress and Garden...

So today I stared work on the fun part of the shed project - that is to make it match the main house with the exposed rafter tails and beadboard overhangs and such, so it looks like it has always been here.
As I was building the fake rafter tails, I had to snicker because the original intent of the craftsman movement was to eliminate "fake" decoration and reveal the true construction details, and here I am making "fake" construction details...I am sure Gustav Stickley is rolling in his grave, but at least it LOOKS Real!
In other news, the front yard is looking amazing...the roses have gone insane and it looks like a postcard...the hard work is slowly paying its dividends...