Building the shed for the FW

[LibbyLA]

Our FW is now out in the forest in the middle of nowhere. We're not really having a chance to enjoy it just yet, other than as a refuge from the heat, a place to grab a bite to eat, bathroom and shower facilities, and a place to sleep, but we are definitely enjoying that part of it.

This weekend, we got the stringers up on the posts on the south side of the shed-to-be. The first photo shows T working on the stringers. I was the designated forklift operator. Never in a million years did I think I'd be working on a construction project in the middle of nowhere ever in my lifetime!

It's not going to be a pretty shed, but the "rustic" look will go with the forest atmosphere, and we recycled some telephone poles, so that's a good thing.

The second photo is looking to the west. The front of the FW will be on the east end of the shed (foreground of photo, back a couple of poles). On the right side of the photo (to the north), you can see some of the natural trees (as opposed to planted pine) that we'll be able to see from the slide. We'll be looking straight out into the canopy of the trees, lots of hardwoods, some magnolias, some huge pines.

The third photo is from the far side of the "bowl", looking at the bulkhead. The rear of the FW will be at this end of the shed, facing over the bowl, and there will be a deck/porch behind the FW, to the edge of the bulkhead. The brown pine in the foreground is the top of a very tall/large debris pile accumulated when the "bowl" was cleaned. The "bowl" will be planted with deer forage so all the weeds will be gone. Will probably plant the steep area below the bulkhead with honeysuckle and other pretty vining plants.

Next weekend, we hope to finish the stringers on the north side and do something on the framework for the porch roof. Labor Day weekend, we'll put the trusses (rafters) up and get the purlins up. We're hoping to get the sheet metal on the roof the over the two weekends after that and then we can move the FW under the shed.

Then we'll build the pump/generator building and perhaps get some time to actually enjoy the FW. The porch/deck will go in as we have the time and inclination to put it in.

By the time this is all done, we'll have earned our little slice of heaven out in the boondocks...

liz

[Tha_Rooster]

Keep the photos coming.

[LibbyLA]

I'm looking forward to being able to post photos of the FW under the shed, and of the view from the slide windows.

liz

[Ray,IN]

That is a great setting for a home. Your comment about honeysuckle made me remember 2 years ago Indiana put honeysuckle on the list of noxious weeds that are required to be sprayed with brushkiller when found. I love the smell, but the vines are destroying woods in SW Indiana. Kinda like Kudzu does in the South, which BTW is slowly moving Northwards too.

[LibbyLA]

Ray,

Thank goodness there's no kudzu in the part of MS where the FW is, but I'm very familiar with the stuff. My family traveled through MS frequently when I was a kid and I got to see lots of it. It's really bad in the Greenwood area and from there towards Columbus.

The deer keep the honeysuckle in check where we are. There's some of it growing in the pines on the place, but not a lot of it. We're planning to build some long metal A-frames and plant honeysuckle in them so the deer can eat the parts that grow out of the A-frame without eating the plants to the ground.

Too bad no one has figured out how to make biofuel out of kudzu!

liz

[LibbyLA]

Last weekend, we got the stringers up on the south side. This weekend, in spite of tropical storm Lee, we were able to get the trusses up Saturday morning and the strongback (an L-shaped horizontal brace through the bottom center of the trusses) up Sunday morning.

T and I considered not going, but Mr. Larry (the guy who's done a lot of tree clearing and dirt work for T) said that it hadn't rained much up there, so we decided to go. Had a flat on the trailer with the lumber and no jack, so our early start turned into a two-hour delay by the time we got road service with a jack, then a replacement tire and a jack at nearby Wal-Mart. Rained on us most of the trip up, but we ran out of the rain just before we got there, so unloaded in a light misty drizzle.

Mr. Larry showed up about 6:30 and was ready to work in the rain, so we did. It wasn't every heavy and it wasn't windy, but it wasn't long before we were all soaked to the bone. I kept telling myself that I'd been almost as wet from sweat on previous weekends, and at least the temperature was comfortable and it was almost like being at the beach, only in jeans/workboots and without the sun and with mud instead of sand...

The first photo shows the last (sixth) truss still attached to the trackhoe bucket and T (on the forklift) and Mr. Larry (on the ladder) nailing it in place. You can see the "delightful" red mud we slogged through. Fortunately, the mud isn't deep and there's a solid, hard gravel layer right under the surface.

We finished a little before noon. It didn't rain for a couple of hours that afternoon, but we were sleep deprived from getting in late Friday so we napped rather than worked. Frequent interruptions for tornado warnings, but nothing in our area, thank goodness.

Got up Sunday morning and no rain from 6:30 to 8:30, but the minute we went outside to work, it started raining again. We got the strongback and some bracing up. The second photo was taken through the rain when we were done. By the time we had put everything away and were loading up to leave, it was raining pretty hard. This was the first time we've used our awning and we were darned glad to have it. At least there was a little bit of a dry spot right outside the door where we could get out of the rain, strip down, and dry off.

Next weekend, we'll put up the rafters for the back porch and maybe start with the purlins. Will probably start putting metal up in a couple or three weeks. The weather is supposed to be a bit cooler this coming weekend so maybe we'll be able to have the windows open and not have to run the AC for awhile.

I did not think I'd be doing this kind of manual labor at this time in my life! And I HATE getting dirty...

The cats aren't enjoying the traveling, but they do seem to enjoy being there. The two that don't get along at home seem to get along fine up there, even sleeping within a few inches of each other on the bed. Wish they'd get along at home.

liz

[Tha_Rooster]

Looking good keep us updated.

[LibbyLA]

This past weekend, we got the FW under the shed. What a relief!. We took a three-day weekend, and T finished putting the last eight sheets of metal on the shed roof. He finished early enough that we were able to move the FW under the shed Friday, a day ahead of schedule. We are now hooked up to "city" water (a water tank with a pump run by a generator) and the septic system. The generator will be moved away from the FW next weekend when T gets the proper plug for the wiring that's been run from the utilities area to the FW parking spot.

It is beautiful out there and will be quiet once we aren't running construction equipment.

The shed gables aren't complete and won't be for awhile. Next weekend's project is to finish planting all the deer food plots and start laying out the pump/utility shed so we can pour concrete. Then we'll build the shed. That should be an easy project compared to this darned pole barn. Then we'll work on the porch deck that will be at the rear and side of the FW.

It was so nice to be under the shed and out of the sun. We've been fortunate to have only one rainy weekend in the two months plus we've had the FW on the place. The view from the dinette window is every bit is lovely as I imagined.

View from the west, before the bowl was bush hogged and the vegetation cut from the bulkhead. The awning is out because it needed cleaning. We only used it once, on a rainy weekend in August and had to roll it up wet. Unfortunately, we just got around to extending it again.



South side of shed, showing as much of the roof as I could get in. It's actually forest green, not the bluish green it appears to be here. It's almost 60' long.



FW only. There will be a deck on this side, probably as far forward as the opening for the refrigerator. The side deck and the rear deck will be separate so that the side deck can be moved over if the FW has to be moved out of the shed.



Front view. There's plenty of staging space for supplies and equipment, covered parking for unloading.



View from the north side, down by the little creek. One of these days, we hope to have some metal stairs coming down the embankment.



View from behind the FW, which is what you'll see from the deck once it's built. That trash pile will be burned and we'll have a lovely area that will be planted with deer fodder all year.



This is what I see when I sit at the dinette. I'm looking out into the trees. Yep, that's a telephone pole on the far left. Nothing we can do about that without having the pole directly visible behind the couch.



View from the dinette when looking down at the little creek. You can't really see the creek in the photo, but it's on the left side, a little above the black stripe of the louver.



liz

[tvman44]

Where is this located?

[LibbyLA]

tvman44,

In the Homochitto National Forest in MS. A few acres, mostly planted pine, surrounded by the forest.

liz

[w6pea]

Looks Good

Nice Job.

If We Can't Haul It....You Don't Need It ! Motor-T

[LibbyLA]

I know this thread is old, but I thought I'd update it with a few photos of what we accomplished through early April. The barn is complete, except for perhaps another couple of solar panels on the roof (two panels installed a couple of weekends ago to keep the batteries topped off so we can leave the fridge running for several weeks at a time). We were almost done with the projects for the spring when my SO fell from a big trailer and broke his left ankle and heel. This weekend, we'll start going back to the camp pretty much every weekend through sometime next spring.

So we finished the utility shed (home to the water tank, generators, and assorted other stuff) and almost finished the deck. There's an "annex" that doesn't have railings yet and that will have railings and some sort of counter for outdoor cooking. We dealt with air conditioner and heater problems but seem to have ironed those out. Thank goodness SO is handy!

We got to spend spring in the forest and enjoy the beautiful flowering trees (dogwood, wild azalea, hawthorne) and gorgeous butterflies.

This weekend, we start working on a low-water crossing of the little spring-fed creek and will probably build the weir within the next couple of weeks. My new "toy" is a mini excavator so I'm going to be a workout the next few weekends! Although we still have a lot of work to do, we are looking forward to being able to enjoy our living space and not having to work nearly as hard as we worked in the past.

Here's the barn and FW from down in the bowl by the creek. Cooking annex is on the left side of the deck.



Here's the deck, standing beside the FW and looking out over the bowl.



This shows the steps to the deck.



And here's the utility shed, which holds the water tank (had to have a well drilled), generators, and assorted tools and whatnot.

[DonavonP]

Nice work. Thanks for the pictures. Makes it fun to watch the progress.

[djbmsu]

Excellent job, you should be proud ! nice to see craftmanship accomplished.
Many many years of enjoyment to you both !