rockinacummins
Well-known member
Well it’s been 3.5 years since we moved into our new house and we’ve been saving for a shop ever since. I built a 20x36 carport at the same time the house was being built and then added a 12’ lean-to shed off the end of it. The shed has served as my shop (or at least, where I store part of my tools) as well as housing for the wife’s zero-turn mower and other yard working tools. It’s not ideal for storing tools because it has a gravel floor and is open on the east side, which we’ve discussed upgrading with concrete and a roll-up door. We really didn’t want to spend the money on it though since we’ve been saving for an actual shop, so it’s still just an open shed with a gravel floor. Here’s a terrible quality picture of the carport and shed:
It looks like it’s leaning terribly but I assure you it is actually plumb. Anyway, we’ve been planning for a shop since we’ve lived here but the finances just haven’t allowed for it. By the beginning of this summer, we had finally saved up enough to make a good start, but severe drought in Oklahoma (all of the plains region, really) coupled with inflation has driven hay and feed prices to severe heights. Right before the drought we made a large investment in a specialty breed of cattle, so we decided to keep the herd and pay the higher feed costs in the hopes of regaining our savings next year. So far we’ve been able to keep a slim profit margin, but I’ll be satisfied if we can just break even by next spring. At that point I believe it will be a seller’s market because so many people will be trying to re-build herds after having to sell off this year. But I digress.
So, with no shop and limited funds, we desperately needed more space for general storage, feed storage, tool storage, and equipment storage. We revisited the idea of enclosing part of the carport and expanding it, but I really don’t have the time to do it and we also don’t want to alter the simplicity of it. So we started thinking of something more portable, like a shipping container. I asked my mother-in-law’s ex-husband (I don’t really know what relation that would be, but he still comes to Christmas and Thanksgiving) what a decent 20’ container would cost since he sells them, and I nearly choked when he said his cost is $4,000 and he would deliver it to us for free. Those things used to be a dime a dozen, but I guess nothing is insulated from inflation. I decided I’d just keep an eye out for a used container and use his trailer to move it, figuring I could find one cheaper this way. As it so happened, I came across an online estate auction that was located 45 minutes west of my house. The were selling a “semi-trailer” with nothing more in the description other than the roll up door needed a bit of work. So I contacted the auctioneer and asked about the condition of the roof and floor, which he assured me were solid. I took a chance on it with a max bid of $2,000 and ended up winning it for $1,800. A few days later, I borrowed my cousins Freightliner and brought home my prize:
The trailer had sat so long in the same spot that the tires and the landing gear were all sunk about 6 inches into the sand. Luckily, I was able to crank the landing gear high enough to get the truck under it and the brakes were caged so it came out pretty easily. The thing pulled pretty well and most of the lights even worked. I’m not sure what year it was built but it has Budd wheels (which we have on several trucks) and it was last tagged in like 2008. I got it into it’s final (maybe) resting place:
Here you can see where one of the panels of the roll-up door is rotted. There are about 4 panels that all look the same, so I’ll be addressing that at some point. It operates well enough for now. We chose a spot that’s close enough to be convenient and that’s far enough from the house so we can’t see it from any of the windows. I also purchased 4 large steel shelves from the same online auction, which rode home in the trailer. I got them all stood up and swept the floor, which looks to be in great shape. I burned all the cardboard that happened to be in the trailer and moved all the shelves to the front:
I’m not sure if they’ll stay in this configuration, but that’s where they’ve ended up for now:
And a view looking out the back:
The next step will be building a ramp up the back. You can see I’ve already got the ground pretty clear and level, so next I’ll cut some logs to make a “wall” against the back of the trailer. Then I’ll backfill with dirt until I get a nice, gently sloping ramp. I’ve got a LOT of fill dirt from the pond I cleaned out this summer. The ultimate goal here is to be able load pallets of feed with the skid steer and also park the skid steer inside the trailer. I had originally planned to take the axles and the landing gear out from under the trailer and sit it on the ground, but I really like the idea of being able to move it easily later on. My wife says this trailer will be very handy the next time we move. She wants to move out of state really badly, but it’s gonna take a LOT to convince me of that. Thanks for looking and stay tuned for some dirtwork!
It looks like it’s leaning terribly but I assure you it is actually plumb. Anyway, we’ve been planning for a shop since we’ve lived here but the finances just haven’t allowed for it. By the beginning of this summer, we had finally saved up enough to make a good start, but severe drought in Oklahoma (all of the plains region, really) coupled with inflation has driven hay and feed prices to severe heights. Right before the drought we made a large investment in a specialty breed of cattle, so we decided to keep the herd and pay the higher feed costs in the hopes of regaining our savings next year. So far we’ve been able to keep a slim profit margin, but I’ll be satisfied if we can just break even by next spring. At that point I believe it will be a seller’s market because so many people will be trying to re-build herds after having to sell off this year. But I digress.
So, with no shop and limited funds, we desperately needed more space for general storage, feed storage, tool storage, and equipment storage. We revisited the idea of enclosing part of the carport and expanding it, but I really don’t have the time to do it and we also don’t want to alter the simplicity of it. So we started thinking of something more portable, like a shipping container. I asked my mother-in-law’s ex-husband (I don’t really know what relation that would be, but he still comes to Christmas and Thanksgiving) what a decent 20’ container would cost since he sells them, and I nearly choked when he said his cost is $4,000 and he would deliver it to us for free. Those things used to be a dime a dozen, but I guess nothing is insulated from inflation. I decided I’d just keep an eye out for a used container and use his trailer to move it, figuring I could find one cheaper this way. As it so happened, I came across an online estate auction that was located 45 minutes west of my house. The were selling a “semi-trailer” with nothing more in the description other than the roll up door needed a bit of work. So I contacted the auctioneer and asked about the condition of the roof and floor, which he assured me were solid. I took a chance on it with a max bid of $2,000 and ended up winning it for $1,800. A few days later, I borrowed my cousins Freightliner and brought home my prize:
The trailer had sat so long in the same spot that the tires and the landing gear were all sunk about 6 inches into the sand. Luckily, I was able to crank the landing gear high enough to get the truck under it and the brakes were caged so it came out pretty easily. The thing pulled pretty well and most of the lights even worked. I’m not sure what year it was built but it has Budd wheels (which we have on several trucks) and it was last tagged in like 2008. I got it into it’s final (maybe) resting place:
Here you can see where one of the panels of the roll-up door is rotted. There are about 4 panels that all look the same, so I’ll be addressing that at some point. It operates well enough for now. We chose a spot that’s close enough to be convenient and that’s far enough from the house so we can’t see it from any of the windows. I also purchased 4 large steel shelves from the same online auction, which rode home in the trailer. I got them all stood up and swept the floor, which looks to be in great shape. I burned all the cardboard that happened to be in the trailer and moved all the shelves to the front:
I’m not sure if they’ll stay in this configuration, but that’s where they’ve ended up for now:
And a view looking out the back:
The next step will be building a ramp up the back. You can see I’ve already got the ground pretty clear and level, so next I’ll cut some logs to make a “wall” against the back of the trailer. Then I’ll backfill with dirt until I get a nice, gently sloping ramp. I’ve got a LOT of fill dirt from the pond I cleaned out this summer. The ultimate goal here is to be able load pallets of feed with the skid steer and also park the skid steer inside the trailer. I had originally planned to take the axles and the landing gear out from under the trailer and sit it on the ground, but I really like the idea of being able to move it easily later on. My wife says this trailer will be very handy the next time we move. She wants to move out of state really badly, but it’s gonna take a LOT to convince me of that. Thanks for looking and stay tuned for some dirtwork!