Shed foundation DIY

Ok, so when I bought this house, I knew I would need a shed. Storing yard and garden equipment in the porch was going to get old real fast (and it did). The thing is, where the shed was going would be the back corner of the yard that has a gross little slope. I didn't want to pour a slab because I'd have to dig down quite a bit to get the back level with the front. I came up with two options; either deck blocks with a frame and then plywood floor or a paver patio. I costed out the two options, and for me, paver patio was cheaper.

So here's the start. We dug up the grass and leveled it as best we could to start. The green garden borders won't serve a structural purpose, but really helped to outline the footprint. Then 2" of gravel went in followed by 1" of sand.

After the gravel/sand, we used 12"x6" paver blocks. I used a spiral configuration to help the platform not to spread. I leveled each block with itself and the ones next to it. I would add/remove sand to fix where needed. It turned out that we didn't dig down enough in the back to level it out, so I had to build it up in the front. Not great, but that front row won't actually have any load on it, so I'm not that concerned. At some point in the future I'll have to repair/fix that, but it's mostly an aesthetic problem.

The shed itself was pretty easy to put together, although picking the windiest day of the fall was a very bad idea when trying to link the wall panels together. We chose the Rubbermaid Big Max for low maintenance, size and price. It works. 

Definitely true when the manual says you need a level surface. The walls would not go together correctly on the grass (I was trying to preassemble and then move it up to the slab). Good thing the slab is level enough! 

In hind sight, I may have gone with the deck blocks foundation for my non-level area. Oh well, live and learn. Not too bad for my first shed, right?

Floor Easel Chalkboard



So, I have no children, but some of my friends do, and I take every opportunity of spoiling their children that I can. Why not? :) We got the pleasure of watching my friends' little boy recently, and I figured since we were gating off the kitchen demo zone from him, I better have some entertaining distractions. This chalkboard fit the bill perfectly.

Work Bench

One of my first projects, primarily out of necessity, was to build a work bench. This was so easy and I use it constantly. It is built from Ana White's plans. I modified it slightly to be deeper, and since I was in a hurry, I just went with a cheap plywood top that I had. LOVE the extra shelf on the bottom; it's always packed with "stuff".

Bed - Post 1

So I just closed on my house at the end of July. For whatever insane reason, I thought it would be brilliant to have friends stay over the day after I moved in. No real appliances hooked up, everything is in boxes, but sure, great plan Melanie!

So, while my friends will endure a lot, I NEED to have another bed for people to sleep on! Right, talk about working with a deadline. I had intended to make myself a new bed, but a dead line of 24 hours is a bit much! Oh well, plowing forward.

The bed I had my eye on had plans done by Ana White (this will likely become a theme in future posts). I knew I couldn't get it stained and all that, but I figured I could get the frame done at least to have something to sleep on!




And look at that, I did it! It wasn't very hard at all if you ignore the fact that every cut was made with a circular saw and boards were suspended between two plastic containers in the middle of my kitchen. Definitely need a work bench soon!



Stay tuned for future posts on actually finishing the bed!