Bruce's Journal

Bruce

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When we were done splitting the "too big" pieces I cut up some smaller branches that hadn't been dealt with earlier in the summer plus a few from the cord Al delivered that were a bit too long. Those filled up the rest of rack #6. Sorry it is fuzzy, I took the picture through the bedroom window
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Much neater in front of the barn now. Next task (raining today) is to clean up around the backhoe (the thing under the ripping silver tarp, it lived only about 1 year) and attempt to erect the small carport I got at Harbor Freight. Hopefully it will hold up to the wind and snow of winter.
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Since you probably don't recall, this is what it looked like before I finally got the pad built.
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thistlebloom

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I'll offer an observation about the carport. I don't know what your winter snow is like, or how the carport is constructed, but around here, I would be sure to pull the snow off a structure like that before it accumulated more than 6". You can get away with more if it's dry, and if it's wet and heavy than that would be the max I would be comfortable with. I lost a Shelter Logic shelter last year from a heavy wet snow, there were other factors involved, but it sure is a disappointment to have to deal with a collapsed roof in the winter.

Your new wood storage area looks good! Isn't it great to have improved organization?
 

Bruce

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It should be lots easier to get to than it was 2 years ago. Last year I moved the racks up into the front yard and while close to where they needed to go to be used that location was also a bit problematic. I had to be super careful to not back into DW's flower bed when lining up to get to the porch and the racks were about where I needed to put snow.

I hear you on the snow load. Given the carport will be only a few feet from the gate down to the barns, I'll see it at least twice a day to remind me to clear it off. A couple of years ago I hooped cattle panels over the blueberry bushes then covered that with chicken wire to keep the birds out. Never thought about snow not falling through those big holes and in the spring what originally looked like an upside down U looked like M. It still does since I never got around to taking it all apart to try and flatten the panels.
 

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I like the pad you built for the wood racks and hope that it will make wood moving easier for you. It will eliminate the soggy wet muddy ground right there for the wood and that is great.
Amazing that chicken wire, which is mostly "holes" will actually pile up with snow.... Had one once in CT that actually was soo well covered that the chickens went out in it and it was bare ground in a couple days under it. We had a long cold spell, so it didn't melt for a couple weeks. They ate the snow on the ground and then wore it down and used it like a "covered run"... Amazing....
 

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When we were done splitting the "too big" pieces I cut up some smaller branches that hadn't been dealt with earlier in the summer plus a few from the cord Al delivered that were a bit too long. Those filled up the rest of rack #6.

Mr. Bruce, sir,

Mike Morgan would be proud!

When winter comes and you start burning wood, do you plan to move a rack with your tractor to the porch, so it will be easier to get wood when you need it?

Senile Texas Aggie
 

Bruce

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I bet even Mike and his Wolf Ridge commercial splitter would have had to do a little planning with those oddly shaped pieces. I notice all his wood is nice and round ;)

Yes, for use each rack in turn is put on the porch landing. The empty is moved off the landing back to wherever the racks are stored (on the new pad now!) then the roof and back are moved from the empty one to the new one and the new one moved to the landing. While not beautiful at all, the vertical piece of roofing on the left side and the wood and plexiglass panel on the right keep most of the rain and snow out of the "in use" rack.
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I had made the wood and plexiglass panel to go on the north side of the other entrance to the house before we had to rebuild most of it. The north and west winds would blow plenty of snow right onto the covered landing. This is during construction (destruction?), the landing isn't there but you can see the door and roof over it on the right. The panel was on the near side.

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We originally planned to just have the existing porch roof extended over and replacing the small roof since a LOT of water got dumped off both the porch and house roofs into the space between the covered landing and the covered porch. But the existing roof didn't lend itself to that extension and we ended up enclosing even MORE porch in front of the house. It is nice to have an "airlock" between the outside world and the heated space. Plus we have even MORE space to store a lot of stuff we don't use.
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Bruce

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The "carport" project
Step 1 - remove the ripped tarp on the backhoe and attach the backhoe to the tractor (which of course was harder than one would want) so it could be moved
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Dumped a bunch of "excavated pond bottom" on the slope to bring the barn side up some. Not level and not going to be!
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Assembled the top frame
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Assembled the legs, if you "bigify" the picture you can see that the barn side legs are on a 12' 2x6 so the structure is level side to side though not front to back. Got the rear anchors in without too much trouble. After literally HOURS AND HOURS AND HOURS of effort got the front anchors in. What a PITA!!!!! Every little stone (after the softball size rock was removed) caused the anchor to stop digging in.
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Got the front and rear panels on
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DD2 helped put the top on. I attached a 1x2 to the bottom of the door to make it easy to roll up.
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I can get the tractor (with canopy removed and ROPS down) all the way in so I can put the hoe all the way to the back and the rake in front of that. BUT I'm thinking for the winter I might move the garden tractor and splitter into the "tractor bay" and put the hoe and rake in the drive bay. The "tractor bay" isn't wide enough for the hoe. The hoe would be near the front of the drive bay because I don't trust the structural integrity of it to hold up the tractor. I could then put the tractor in the "carport". I use the flail mower as rear weight in the winter (and most of the year actually) and I THINK the tractor, flail and bucket will fit in the carport with the door closed.

Why would that be useful? Well because to get the tractor out of the "tractor bay" I have to slide both of the drive bay doors left a couple of feet and the "tractor bay" doors all the way left to get the tractor out. Not a huge deal in good weather but if we've had a significant snowfall, there is a lot of digging out needed before the doors will slide.

Mike, does that special paint come in "barn red" because other than for Halloween, the orange material is really not very attractive.
 

thistlebloom

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Not level and not going to be!
😄


After literally HOURS AND HOURS AND HOURS of effort got the front anchors in.
We have extremely rocky soil soil we didn't even try the anchors. We pounded in three t-posts per side and tied the legs to them. Another thing I found useful was to run rope in a zigzag over the beam and eaves (?) between the purlins (hopefully that's the right terminology). The amount of space between the purlins is large enough that with any snow the roof will belly out and make it difficult to remove. Same with a hard rain. The rope support helps it shed a little better.
 

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