Shed Project

With the kitchen project finished, next on the list are remodeling the bathroom and building a shed in the backyard.  Cabinets are ordered for the bathroom, but nothing substantial has happened yet.  The shed foundation, however, is well underway.

Space where shed will be located, squeezed into the corner of the property

The shed will be 14 ft long by 5 ft wide in order to maximize internal space while still fitting in our limited space.  I also wanted to place the shed on the property line to best utilize yard space as well as act as part of the fence (forthcoming project).  In order to not be subject to setback requirements, the shed must be no taller than 8.5 ft.  To maximize vertical space, I'll be building a subgrade foundation consisting of railroad ties.  Eventually, the framed walls will be nailed directly to the railroad ties, with the floor of the shed consisting of compacted gravel inside of the ties, at the level of the existing grade.

After one pretty full day of digging, I had most of the foundation excavated

I haven't yet mentioned, but I have two side goals related to this project.  One is to complete as much of it as I can using a minimal amount of power tools (hence digging the entire foundation by hand using a shovel).  The other is to obtain as much of the building supplies as possible from reused sources.  Not only is this a greener way to build something, but it's also less expensive!

Fabric placed, ready for gravel

Barely visible in the above photograph is a while PVC pipe exiting the house and popping up inside the foundation perimeter.  I excavated and installed this conduit to possibly bring utilities to the shed in the future.  The stump barely visible on the far right of the above photo is going be removed by the same people bringing in the gravel (and repairing the sewer line between the house and the stump), so we'll see how soon we can get this all scheduled.j

The project schedules for both the bathroom and shed projects will likely be delayed due to hunting season.  I have plans in September to archery hunt for bighorn sheep, elk, and deer in Montana, so hopefully some worthy blogposts come of that as well.