At Home In The Woods

[Obed]

You might get another chance at the loading ramp : Seriously you should get started on where the garden is going to go, and some how fit the plan for a storage shed in that area, then cut the trees down and grade out where building would, in the future go, plus the loading dock, and the garden.....I think the soil for the garden could be turned and limed now, and an overall garden plan begin to be thought out... not that you don`t have enough other projects on your mind Tony

Tony,
Yes, now is the time to start thinking about the garden. An equipment shed is not on the horizon for the time being. I could imagine putting in a wood shed first. However, I could potentially envision a single shed housing some firewood, the wood splitter, and the tractor. I would want a wood shed to be fairly close to the house. I don't know if we have a big enough flat space near the house for a shed that is sized for firewood, wood splitter, and tractor.

Obed

 

[clemsonfor]

Tony,
Yes, now is the time to start thinking about the garden. An equipment shed is not on the horizon for the time being. I could imagine putting in a wood shed first. However, I could potentially envision a single shed housing some firewood, the wood splitter, and the tractor. I would want a wood shed to be fairly close to the house. I don't know if we have a big enough flat space near the house for a shed that is sized for firewood, wood splitter, and tractor.

Obed

Thats why you build one big one or 3 or more small ones. Ever seen a farm or homestead they have out buildings all over. My family farm had a tobacco barn a regular barn for horses and hay, both now gone. A wood shed, carshed, chicken house and the other barn with cow loading area.

 

[Obed]

I think we're done building shelves for awhile. But then again, I had thought that before.

I'm quite pleased with how the shelves have turned out. My wife actually did a lot more of the work on this last set of shelves than I did. I installed the upright 2x4s against the concrete wall. My wife cut and assembled the 2x2 frames. Then we worked together to install the frames and screw the OSB boards onto the frames.

We now have approximately 18'x2' of shelves, 5 shelves high. Plus we have 4'x16" shelves, 5 shelves high.

It will be nice when we get the clutter in the basement is finally organized. Until we got some shelves, cleaning up the basement was almost futile.

Several people suggested we buy shelves instead of build them. Their comments have a lot of validity. Buliding the shelves took a lot of time, much because we are slow and too detailed for this kind of project. We have less than $250 in materials in the shelves. However, our time is a factor in the cost. With all that said, I'm glad we built instead of bought.

 

[brin]

Nice job Obed....You did it yourself and saved some money and the time was spent with your Mrs. and daughter so that was good time not wasted and the shelves were built to fit the space with quality like you wanted ...All is fine until your Mrs. decides she needs more shelves...LOL

 

[clemsonfor]

Hate to say it but what are you planning on doing when you go to finish that space? I bet you will want your man cave on part of that area one day.

 

[brin]

Hate to say it but what are you planning on doing when you go to finish that space? I bet you will want your man cave on part of that area one day.

Yes but even if he does, it looks to me like he and his wife have done such a good job at constructing the shelves that he could easily finish them and even add some hinges and cabinet doors and make them into built in bookcases or storage that would be very attractive and would fit nicely into any den or man cave.

 

[PAGUY]

Oh boy, the safety post police are bound to notice that bent top on the step ladder. They all have stickers that read -NOT A STEP - and it looks like somebody didn't pay attention. :-0

 

[Obed]

Hate to say it but what are you planning on doing when you go to finish that space? I bet you will want your man cave on part of that area one day.

That's a good point. Fortunately we did consider that when we located the shelves. We have floor plan drawings for the basement for when/if we ever finish the basement. The shelves are in the utility room and garage that will never get finished, even if we finish the basement. So I do not foresee any issue.

Obed

 

[Obed]

Yes but even if he does, it looks to me like he and his wife have done such a good job at constructing the shelves that he could easily finish them and even add some hinges and cabinet doors and make them into built in bookcases or storage that would be very attractive and would fit nicely into any den or man cave.

brin,
I hadn't considered that possibility. We took care to make the shelves square; they could be turned into cabinets if desired though I doubt we would have a need for them.
Obed

 

[Arkaybee]

Obed:

How did your wife get into that small space on the top shelf (see attached image)? Surely she didn't stand on top of that little ladder with the bent shelf :laughing:
I almost didn't notice that it was a person. She is really a contortionist folded up like that. Looks like she has a drill in her hand.

You two are quite the team. Good work and satisfying too I'll bet.

We passed through your area during the holidays and would have enjoyed driving by to see your place in person but it was a long and tiring trip and we hadn't asked your permission. Maybe next time we will make an appointment with you to stop and see the fine home place you two have created.

Always enjoy seeing what you are up to next.

Arkaybee

 

[clemsonfor]

That's a good point. Fortunately we did consider that when we located the shelves. We have floor plan drawings for the basement for when/if we ever finish the basement. The shelves are in the utility room and garage that will never get finished, even if we finish the basement. So I do not foresee any issue.

Obed

Good thinking. Glad you thought about that. I would hate to see you have to try and remove them intact if you wanted to drywall that area or whatever after you spent somany days working on them.

 

[Obed]

Tonight when I got home from work I cleaned the ashes out of the fireplace. We put the ashes in a heavy galvanized bucket that we purchased for the purpose.

Since we are heating the house with the fireplace, we have to clean out the ashes while we still have hot coals in the FP. We can't remove all the ashes but do get enough to keep the ashes from filling the fireplace and overflowing onto the hearth when the doors are opened.

I used the shovel to move as many of the coals as possible to the back of the fireplace. Then I shovelled the ashes remaining in the front of the fireplace into the bucket. When dumping the ashes into the bucket I have to be careful or the fine light ashes will puff up into the air and make a mess in the room. So I hold the bucket cover with one hand over the top of the bucket while dumping with the other hand the shovel full of ashes into the bucket. Covering the bucket as much as possible with the cover catches most of the ashes that would otherwise float into the room.

A few warm coals made it into the bucket so I put the bucket of ashes outside in the gravel driveway to let the ashes extinguish themselves.

 

[tony Cecil]

Obed--Hi--

A couple of cold days down here in Charleston---fire was nice---The ash situation is just messy, although your system sounds fine with some hot ashes.....I usually wait til the fireplace is cold, and use a couple of plastic bags--one inside the other...Carefully shovel out a good sized scoop at a time and carefullly deposit in the bag, until about full..Then tie the handles together and ease out the house--carefully---I have a minimum amount of dust, but still a little.....I`v tried wetting the ash down with a small amount of spray, but is just still is a worse mess....Tony

 

[Bill 55]

Try firing up a shop vac and hold the hose over the bucket and work slow. The shop vac should catch most of the fine ash dust that wants to float.

 

[ruralruss]

Try firing up a shop vac and hold the hose over the bucket and work slow. The shop vac should catch most of the fine ash dust that wants to float.

That is what we do as well. Just make sure you don't suck in any coals!

 

[woodlandfarms]

Two weeks ago a work acquaintance left hot ashes on her back porch. It ended so very badly. Make sure no matter how cold it is those coals get moved away.

We lived with a metal wood stove as sole heat as a kid. My dad had a lid welded onto a coal bucket with a hinge. Worked like a charm.

 

[Obed]

That is what we do as well. Just make sure you don't suck in any coals!

ruralruss,
Do you clean out your fireplace with the wetvac? How do you prevent sucking up hot coals? Hot coals could do a number on a wetvac.

Obed

 

[tony Cecil]

Hi
Cleaned out the fireplace today...Man what a mess...Tony

 

[Obed]

Hi
Cleaned out the fireplace today...Man what a mess...Tony

Tony,
I can see how using the plastic bags could be tedious. We got our galvanized bucket with the lid at True Value Hardware; it was $10 or $15 dollars. I can clean out our FP using the bucket and lid without much mess.

Obed

 

[Obed]

I've attached a picture of my aborted attempt at attaching vertical supports to a pallet a few weeks ago to keep the firewood on the pallet. The chicken wire pallet baskets are easier to make.

I've included a picture of the first pallet basket I made a couple weeks ago. The chicken wire does a great job of keeping the firewood on the pallet. I can throw irregular pieces of wood in it with no trouble. I have some one foot long logs in the basket. If you've ever tried to stack logs that are only a foot long, you know that they don't stack very well. The stack just wants to fall over. That's not an issue with the pallet basket.

Today my wife and I made 3 more pallet baskets using chicken wire. The slats on one of the pallets overhung the joists so I trimmed the slats with my circular saw so that I could attach the chicken wire to the sides of the joists. To make the baskets, I just staple the bottom of the chicket wire around the sides of the pallets. Then I splice the ends of the chicken wire together.