A story for the grandkids.
So... I hate Arrow metal sheds. Not really, they do what they are supposed to do when finished, but god they can be a pain in the ass. We built a 10x14 one down in the South Valley a year ago. Because we did it on a paupers budget, the ground prep wasn't as well done as it should have been and it wasn't level and caused many extra hours of fighting. But once it was done, it rocked for our needs for the next year and held up well against our famous Land of Enchantment winds.
I love it here. Gorgeous view of Albuquerque and the mountain. It actually rains here and thunderstorms come up out of the blue, seemingly forming in a matter of minutes right over our house...there in lies the rub.
This go round, since I want to eventually get a 10x14ish Tuff Shed for a workshop in the future, we decided to do another Arrow metal shed, which we vowed last year never to do again. But this time only 10x8 as we will be getting more space in the future. I spent WAY too much on ground prep, the whole shebang is 6 inches off the backyard behind pressure treated lumber, 4 inches of packed sand, a permeable barrier and well over an inch of river rock gravel. The ground prep alone took nearly a week of effort as I had to steal 24 wheelbarrows of dirt from my neighbor, lug it a few hundred feet over soft sand, back down a step into the back yard and then dump, spread and tamp it. And 24 cubic feet of gravel by the bag isn't light either, transported in similar fashion to the back corner of the yard. All that and sinking 4 corkscrew anchors 6 inches below the surface. Add in 3 sheet of nearly an inch thick pressure treated plywood for the floor, and we are talking some serious shoulder muscle definition I'm gaining, which contrasts nicely with my perpetual pot belly.
So, today... build day. The parts that could be pre-assembled had been. The base and floor installed as level as humanly possible, the bottom frame tied down to the anchors. We are good to go. We even scheduled Darby's daycare for today, to give us time alone to build this beast for a good number of hours. I get him down there at 9am and we are building by 10am. Now, this morning there was a fair breeze, not the ideal conditions, but according to the news, no high wind advisories were listed, so it was today or never. The first few panels in the breeze weren't fun, but with strategically placed wheelbarrows and saw horses, we were able to keep the whole thing from turning south early on. By the time the wall frames went up, the wind died down. By mid afternoon, the roof was going into place...almost too easily. As opposed the hours of tear and making our own holes the last time, this time everything lined up. WOOT!
Come 4:30, Everything but the bottom row of screws along the roof line, and some capping pieces are in place. Jessica tells me I am under a mandatory break, so I go to get Darby from daycare. When I get there Darby is trying to eat a piece of plastic cherry pie and having a ball with the girls over at the play kitchen area. I steal his yummy, albeit wholly plastic piece of pie, tell everyone good bye, walk him out to the car and brave rush hour traffic to get home. As I am getting ready to turn onto Unser, my phone says I have a voice-mail. I listen to it and my mother in law is almost in tears telling me to get home NOW, the wind has kicked up and the building is getting torn apart. Just as I hang up, she calls again. I tell her I'm on my way. I was expecting the bottom of the panels to be flapping in the decent breeze that is happening down at Southern and Unser, but two miles away it was a whole different story.
As I race to the house, I see Jessica and Rubye out at the shed, the wind has got to be approaching 50mph with gusts much higher and the roof panels have peeled back to point of almost snapping free entirely. They managed to get a two by four down on 2 of the six in their peeled back state. They are holding dearly two a third one and three others are litterly 3 sheets to the wind save for a couple of screws. Had one broken off, it would have been 40 stitches at best to whom ever it hit and probably far worse. I grab Darby out of the car, dash into the house and leave him with his distraught Nana, and dash back where Jessica is strained to hold one panel down as the whole structure is moments from complete failure. She thinks its hopeless, but with some Samsonesque strength and grip and a power screw driver, we eventually get the panels down, one, by sharp sheet metal one. As I finish the last several panels, Jessica goes and get the doors and gets them in place before the wind rips the roof off from the inside. Just as she is starting to get the doors up, the thick cold rain starts hitting hard. The wind dies down then, but I stay outside with an old fashioned screwdriver getting the strengthening trim into place as I'm getting soaked for 45 minutes. Finally, as I finish building the shed under duress and adrenaline, the storm passes.
The shed itself came remarkable close to total loss, but it is actually not in as bad of shape as we feared. The southern wall frame buckled about an inch, but it is repairable. The roof panels peeled back at per scored and cut angles so there was some tearing of the metal at each cut, but not to the point I fear failure under normal Rio Rancho load in the future. The overall bending and crumpling was thankfully workable, so it came out in the end not that bad for as close to loosing it all as we did. I am very sore and Jessica is too. She has the added benefit of not working outside as much as I have these last few weeks, so as much sunscreen as she lathered on this morning, she is still a fair impression of a Cape Cod lobster served ala fine china. Thankfully none of us got sliced in all this, even though the whole building was made to give Emergency Rooms brisk business.
I now feel these last 12 hours have actually been 3 whole days but I will sleep well tonight, knowing we beat mother nature in one of her finest moments. But bejesus I despise microbursts. It makes me wonder if God hates our team sometimes.
I love it here. Gorgeous view of Albuquerque and the mountain. It actually rains here and thunderstorms come up out of the blue, seemingly forming in a matter of minutes right over our house...there in lies the rub.
This go round, since I want to eventually get a 10x14ish Tuff Shed for a workshop in the future, we decided to do another Arrow metal shed, which we vowed last year never to do again. But this time only 10x8 as we will be getting more space in the future. I spent WAY too much on ground prep, the whole shebang is 6 inches off the backyard behind pressure treated lumber, 4 inches of packed sand, a permeable barrier and well over an inch of river rock gravel. The ground prep alone took nearly a week of effort as I had to steal 24 wheelbarrows of dirt from my neighbor, lug it a few hundred feet over soft sand, back down a step into the back yard and then dump, spread and tamp it. And 24 cubic feet of gravel by the bag isn't light either, transported in similar fashion to the back corner of the yard. All that and sinking 4 corkscrew anchors 6 inches below the surface. Add in 3 sheet of nearly an inch thick pressure treated plywood for the floor, and we are talking some serious shoulder muscle definition I'm gaining, which contrasts nicely with my perpetual pot belly.
So, today... build day. The parts that could be pre-assembled had been. The base and floor installed as level as humanly possible, the bottom frame tied down to the anchors. We are good to go. We even scheduled Darby's daycare for today, to give us time alone to build this beast for a good number of hours. I get him down there at 9am and we are building by 10am. Now, this morning there was a fair breeze, not the ideal conditions, but according to the news, no high wind advisories were listed, so it was today or never. The first few panels in the breeze weren't fun, but with strategically placed wheelbarrows and saw horses, we were able to keep the whole thing from turning south early on. By the time the wall frames went up, the wind died down. By mid afternoon, the roof was going into place...almost too easily. As opposed the hours of tear and making our own holes the last time, this time everything lined up. WOOT!
Come 4:30, Everything but the bottom row of screws along the roof line, and some capping pieces are in place. Jessica tells me I am under a mandatory break, so I go to get Darby from daycare. When I get there Darby is trying to eat a piece of plastic cherry pie and having a ball with the girls over at the play kitchen area. I steal his yummy, albeit wholly plastic piece of pie, tell everyone good bye, walk him out to the car and brave rush hour traffic to get home. As I am getting ready to turn onto Unser, my phone says I have a voice-mail. I listen to it and my mother in law is almost in tears telling me to get home NOW, the wind has kicked up and the building is getting torn apart. Just as I hang up, she calls again. I tell her I'm on my way. I was expecting the bottom of the panels to be flapping in the decent breeze that is happening down at Southern and Unser, but two miles away it was a whole different story.
As I race to the house, I see Jessica and Rubye out at the shed, the wind has got to be approaching 50mph with gusts much higher and the roof panels have peeled back to point of almost snapping free entirely. They managed to get a two by four down on 2 of the six in their peeled back state. They are holding dearly two a third one and three others are litterly 3 sheets to the wind save for a couple of screws. Had one broken off, it would have been 40 stitches at best to whom ever it hit and probably far worse. I grab Darby out of the car, dash into the house and leave him with his distraught Nana, and dash back where Jessica is strained to hold one panel down as the whole structure is moments from complete failure. She thinks its hopeless, but with some Samsonesque strength and grip and a power screw driver, we eventually get the panels down, one, by sharp sheet metal one. As I finish the last several panels, Jessica goes and get the doors and gets them in place before the wind rips the roof off from the inside. Just as she is starting to get the doors up, the thick cold rain starts hitting hard. The wind dies down then, but I stay outside with an old fashioned screwdriver getting the strengthening trim into place as I'm getting soaked for 45 minutes. Finally, as I finish building the shed under duress and adrenaline, the storm passes.
The shed itself came remarkable close to total loss, but it is actually not in as bad of shape as we feared. The southern wall frame buckled about an inch, but it is repairable. The roof panels peeled back at per scored and cut angles so there was some tearing of the metal at each cut, but not to the point I fear failure under normal Rio Rancho load in the future. The overall bending and crumpling was thankfully workable, so it came out in the end not that bad for as close to loosing it all as we did. I am very sore and Jessica is too. She has the added benefit of not working outside as much as I have these last few weeks, so as much sunscreen as she lathered on this morning, she is still a fair impression of a Cape Cod lobster served ala fine china. Thankfully none of us got sliced in all this, even though the whole building was made to give Emergency Rooms brisk business.
I now feel these last 12 hours have actually been 3 whole days but I will sleep well tonight, knowing we beat mother nature in one of her finest moments. But bejesus I despise microbursts. It makes me wonder if God hates our team sometimes.