5 minute read
Howle’s Hints
BY JOHN HOWLE
THE HERB FARMER He Shed, She Shed, Hay Shed
for the Lord and not for men.” Colossians 3:23 In last month’s edition, I showed how we saw HOW’S YOUR GARDEN milled timber into lumber and the proper way to store the wood long term. We didn’t store the lumber for long, because we needed to build an extension on our hay barn with the freshly milled pine. Follow this arti cle step by step for a do-it-yourself hay barn or shed extension.
First, make sure the ground is level where you plan to build the extension. You may have to grade out the area with a scrape blade or front-end loader. Once it’s graded level, it is a great time to lay down gravel for a mud-free working environment. Creek gravel spread SIMPLE TIMES along the shed floor packs well and keeps the mud out.
The first part of construction involves determining the width and length of your shed. Ours was 15 feet wide and ran the length of the barn, which was 60 feet. We measured off the distance from the barn to set our barn poles in place to serve as the opposite STEP #1 wall. Using batter boards and stakes, you can set the two corner posts, and the posts along the wall can be set against a string. To make sure the structure will be square, use the “3,4,5” rule. Once your strings are in place in the batter boards, THE CO-OP measure down the string that sits 90 degrees from PANTRY A carpenter’s level, string level and string will allow you to make sure the posts are level and square as you tamp or cement them into place. measure from one string corner down 3 feet and mark the first string 4 feet, and mark the spot on the string. the place on the string with a permanent marker. Next, Use your tape measure to measure from the first mark
STEP #2
STEP #3
The 2-by-6 side plate attaches to the outer side of the posts. Two more 2-by-6 planks will rest on top of this side plate and on top of the posts.
on the first string to the second mark on the second string. This distance should be exactly 5 feet, which means your corner angles are square. We secured a plate to the barn side onto which the upper parts of the rafters would rest. The upper end of the rafters rests upon this plate and they are nailed to the sides of the existing barn poles. The lower end of the rafters will rest on a plate running across the tops of the lower wall posts.
As you set your wall posts, make sure they are level before tamping or cementing them into place. Nail temporary bracing to hold the posts square and in
The evenly spaced rafters will rest on this completed plate.
place until you have the permanent bracing in place. Once your posts are set, it’s time to build a plate across the tops of the wall posts on the lower side on which the rafters will sit.
Determine the amount of fall on your roofline you desire, and mark the spot on the posts where the end plate will sit. We used two-by-six lumber for the side plate and the top two plates. Attach your side plate on the outside of the posts; then, cut off the excess posts above the side plate. After that, attach two top plates lying flat across the tops of the posts and side plate.
Once the plate is complete, you can then install the
STEP #4
STEP #5
STEP #6
The lathing hanging over the final rafter is trimmed to accommodate the last piece of tin allowing overlap of the tin to protect the lathing from rain.
“Y” bracing from each post to the inside of the top, side plate. This will brace the structure so you can move onto installing the rafters. We secured a water tank cage to the front forks of the front-end loader for a handy, elevated working platform for finishing out raf ters, pearling and lathing.
After the lower wall is braced, you can proceed to put the rafters in place. Make sure the distance between the rafters on the lower plate is the same as the distance on the barn side. We then put pear ling planks between each rafter to prevent swaying and turning of the rafters and then we started putting down the lathing with 2 feet spacing between each row of lathing.
Now, it’s time to install the tin roofing. It’s criti cal to get the first piece of tin exactly in place so the rest of the pieces will remain in line. Once you attach that first piece of tin, you now have a safer surface on which to stand to install each additional sheet of tin. Since the 17-foot pieces of tin were cumbersome and apt to bend, we secured a pallet with two, eight-foot 4-by-4 beams to the top of the pallet. This pallet was secured to the top of the water cage with heavy-duty ratchet straps. This allowed us to lift the tin up to the level of the roof without bending with the use of the front-end loader. Before we placed the last piece of tin in place, we measured the lathing hanging out over the end of the last rafter and cut the planks to where the last piece of tin would cover the end lathing appropriately.
STEP #7
We ran 2-by-6 lumber down the inside wall for additional support and 2-by-6 lumber down the outside wall for lathing to attach two runs of tin for rain protection for the hay.
Finally, we ran two-by-six lumber as lathing down the outer side of the lower wall to attach two runs of tin. This will serve to protect hay from blowing rains. This August, time your work for the cooler hours of the day so you can work heartily.
STEP #8
