wbrian63
Well-known member
I've got another thread running on my workshop/garage build out currently in progress, but I thought I might add another one for the stuff close to home.
I live in a patio home with a detached 2-car garage. The house is a corner lot, so instead of the west wall of my house being the primary view to the east from a neighbor, I've got a swath of land about 90' long and 25' wide (from curb edge to lot boundary). Not all of that is usable, of course.
About 15 years ago, I fenced in about 10' of the width, starting at the front the garage and going all the way back to the end of the property. The fence was 7' tall. Our deed restrictions don't allow for separate structures, so I carefully constructed a shed that used the fence for the west wall, the garage/house for the east wall. I put standard corrugated galvanized roofing in with a 2x6 roof structure. It was OK for storing things like my old jet ski, utility trailer, etc, but it was never weather-tite. The entire north end was a gate that swung out using an electric gate opener. (First made from a system I crafted using a linear actuator designed to move old 5-meter satellite dishes, then later using a off-the-shelf operator). The headroom was just above my 5-8' scalp. The shed was 45' deep.
Hurricane Ike made short work of that shed, ripping a number of roofing sheets off, but thankfully not collapsing the structure. It was already in bad shape anyway - the direct west exposure combined with a decade or more of benign neglect had taken its toll.
The entire fence needed to be replaced, so we got the OK to build it further out and bigger. I don't know if we would have been successful if we were the first in our neighborhood to try this construction, but once others did (don't know if they had the OK), and the HOA didn't force the removal of the fences, that paved the way for ours.
So, the new fence went in - 8' tall, using 2-1/2" sch80 galvanized pipe for poles. Inside the perimeter of the fence, we built a larger shed. This one is 12' wide and 65' long. Key to the process, once again, was keeping it away from the prying eyes of the HOA. Also, as the saying goes, "out of sight, out of mind" - we don't have to worry about people breaking in as much when they have no idea what exists.
Here's a view of the front of the shed:
The only "tells" are the handle at the left edge, and the two paths that lead to the inside. We periodically park cars on this spot when there are visitors, etc, and the HOA never has asked what they're for...
There's a gate to the right for storage of the rollaround trash cans we have to use here in Houston. I built the door short, because I initially intended only on having a "cubby" behind the door for the trash bin. However, having access to the side yard without having to walk all the way around the house has proven too useful to enclose the space behind the door.
Pressing a button in the garage, or using a keypad available inside the gate unlatches the door. You physically have to pull it open:
The door sections are about 6 feet wide each, and are supported by heavy-duty 6" ball-bearing hinges at the pivot, and a barn-door track at the top. The actual door structure is just milled 2x4 stock (to get some consistent dimensions) with pressure treated 1/2" plywood for a face, to provide diaphragm strength and a barrier to the weather. The pickets are just screwed to the door.
The advantage of a folding door like this is that we don't have to worry about supporting a 12' wide door, although the corner post is a 4" galvanized pipe sunk about 5' in concrete. The bigger advantage is when we have to use the shed with any sort of serious wind. a 12' x 6' door is a gigantic sail. No gate operator can handle the loads created by wind catching a door of that size. With the fold-up aspect of the door, once fully open, any wind pushing against the door actually causes it to bind in the track rather than close. Very handy for one-man operation.
The lock for the door is a simple magnetic catch:
.
Run on 24v, it provides 100# of latching force. Since there's no place to easily insert and use a lever to force the door, this is more than enough. Fortunately, the natural resting location for the door once closed is about 1/2" shy of meeting the latch, so when you activate the release, the door opens just a hair. Keeps you from having to rush to get the door open before the open cycle times out and the latch comes back on.
On the original shed, I just attached a 2x6 pressure treated header to the brick with some tap-con screws. For this structure, I wanted something more durable, but I didn't want to put any load on the bricks. The solution for clear span of 12' came with 2" square tube with a 1/4" wall. 12' was settled on for width (and yes, I wish I had a little more - 1 more foot would be wonderful) because steel like this comes in 24' lengths, and the supplier will cut long sticks in half for free. We put some 2" angle iron on the foundation, attaching it with drilled 3/8" anchors every 2 feet. On the angle iron, we stood a simple 2x4, attaching it to the brick with a couple of tap-con screws, just to keep it in place vertically. On top of the 2x4, we sat the tube.
To be continued...
I live in a patio home with a detached 2-car garage. The house is a corner lot, so instead of the west wall of my house being the primary view to the east from a neighbor, I've got a swath of land about 90' long and 25' wide (from curb edge to lot boundary). Not all of that is usable, of course.
About 15 years ago, I fenced in about 10' of the width, starting at the front the garage and going all the way back to the end of the property. The fence was 7' tall. Our deed restrictions don't allow for separate structures, so I carefully constructed a shed that used the fence for the west wall, the garage/house for the east wall. I put standard corrugated galvanized roofing in with a 2x6 roof structure. It was OK for storing things like my old jet ski, utility trailer, etc, but it was never weather-tite. The entire north end was a gate that swung out using an electric gate opener. (First made from a system I crafted using a linear actuator designed to move old 5-meter satellite dishes, then later using a off-the-shelf operator). The headroom was just above my 5-8' scalp. The shed was 45' deep.
Hurricane Ike made short work of that shed, ripping a number of roofing sheets off, but thankfully not collapsing the structure. It was already in bad shape anyway - the direct west exposure combined with a decade or more of benign neglect had taken its toll.
The entire fence needed to be replaced, so we got the OK to build it further out and bigger. I don't know if we would have been successful if we were the first in our neighborhood to try this construction, but once others did (don't know if they had the OK), and the HOA didn't force the removal of the fences, that paved the way for ours.
So, the new fence went in - 8' tall, using 2-1/2" sch80 galvanized pipe for poles. Inside the perimeter of the fence, we built a larger shed. This one is 12' wide and 65' long. Key to the process, once again, was keeping it away from the prying eyes of the HOA. Also, as the saying goes, "out of sight, out of mind" - we don't have to worry about people breaking in as much when they have no idea what exists.
Here's a view of the front of the shed:
The only "tells" are the handle at the left edge, and the two paths that lead to the inside. We periodically park cars on this spot when there are visitors, etc, and the HOA never has asked what they're for...
There's a gate to the right for storage of the rollaround trash cans we have to use here in Houston. I built the door short, because I initially intended only on having a "cubby" behind the door for the trash bin. However, having access to the side yard without having to walk all the way around the house has proven too useful to enclose the space behind the door.
Pressing a button in the garage, or using a keypad available inside the gate unlatches the door. You physically have to pull it open:
The door sections are about 6 feet wide each, and are supported by heavy-duty 6" ball-bearing hinges at the pivot, and a barn-door track at the top. The actual door structure is just milled 2x4 stock (to get some consistent dimensions) with pressure treated 1/2" plywood for a face, to provide diaphragm strength and a barrier to the weather. The pickets are just screwed to the door.
The advantage of a folding door like this is that we don't have to worry about supporting a 12' wide door, although the corner post is a 4" galvanized pipe sunk about 5' in concrete. The bigger advantage is when we have to use the shed with any sort of serious wind. a 12' x 6' door is a gigantic sail. No gate operator can handle the loads created by wind catching a door of that size. With the fold-up aspect of the door, once fully open, any wind pushing against the door actually causes it to bind in the track rather than close. Very handy for one-man operation.
The lock for the door is a simple magnetic catch:
Run on 24v, it provides 100# of latching force. Since there's no place to easily insert and use a lever to force the door, this is more than enough. Fortunately, the natural resting location for the door once closed is about 1/2" shy of meeting the latch, so when you activate the release, the door opens just a hair. Keeps you from having to rush to get the door open before the open cycle times out and the latch comes back on.
On the original shed, I just attached a 2x6 pressure treated header to the brick with some tap-con screws. For this structure, I wanted something more durable, but I didn't want to put any load on the bricks. The solution for clear span of 12' came with 2" square tube with a 1/4" wall. 12' was settled on for width (and yes, I wish I had a little more - 1 more foot would be wonderful) because steel like this comes in 24' lengths, and the supplier will cut long sticks in half for free. We put some 2" angle iron on the foundation, attaching it with drilled 3/8" anchors every 2 feet. On the angle iron, we stood a simple 2x4, attaching it to the brick with a couple of tap-con screws, just to keep it in place vertically. On top of the 2x4, we sat the tube.
To be continued...
