Repair-It

So my shed sucks. It's tiny and pretty dilapidated. Obviously I still want my dream garage but I don't currently see a path to that given the amount of site/grade work required, then the structure itself. It's just a huge project.

My realization was I could spend a fraction of that on a big shed. The shed would collect all the things that I currently have strewn around outside (and a little bit in the basement/garage). Collect all my tractors, the tractor implements, dethatcher in the basement, maybe my walk behind snow blower in garage, old generator, that kind of stuff. That would fill up a 12x20 (and may not all fit actually) but this would meaningfully improve my situation. I could keep the snow tractor actually under shelter year round which is good for it.

It all started when I saw this on FBM. My initial thought was to place it in the front near my other shed. But then I'd still need to keep the snow tractor on the driveway during snow season. I realized a better placement is at the end of the parking area of my driveway, around where the garage would be. I could just drive out and do snow, for example. And my tractors under the deck could go in there. Plus I won't be hassled by Flood for not clearing setback requirements (I would still be in violation but it probably won't be a problem and it will be a lot farther from the line than it would have been in the front yard by the current shed).

But I'd need a different config for the layout. I contacted the FBM seller and it turns out it is a company called Old Hickory Buildings and they can just build a custom shed to my spec. It's no more expensive than the one they have on FBM (at least through March).

So I ordered a custom shed. 12x24, gambrel roof, 9x7 roll up door, two entry doors, and barn doors. Plus some windows. Sweet.

But I needed a place to put it behind the driveway. Started the tree removal process to make room for 260 yards of fill.

Before tree removal. 11/19/24

Tree removal. 11/29/24

Dirt being delivered on 12/20/24

Getting stuck in the mud. 12/30/24

12/31/24

More playing with my dirt over the new year holiday. This is when I started worrying about the height of the shed and angle of the required ramp based on how high the snow blower is able to lift off the ground. About 8.8 degrees is the max slope or else the snow blower will drag on the driveway.

The last messing around was on a stand-on loader to make sure the back part of my dirt pile wasn't higher than the front. 1/2/25

Finally was able to receive the shed on 3/4/25

And today I started on the big ramp for the main door. About $250 in lumber and screws. Framed with 2x4, structural screws to attach the ledger board to the shed. Blocked the framing with scraps. Decking is 5/4. All pressure treated.

Ended up choosing about 5 feet of ramp length and I think it will work out. My angle finder says ~6 degrees on the left progressing to ~8.2 which is below 8.8 degrees max pitch. The snow blower should clear the driveway but we'll see.

The ground and driveway does slope down to the right for drainage but I used the scribe method to mark the board cuts and that seems to have worked out ok. It means the ramp surface will start level at the shed and begin to slope to the right.