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Bad news on the lumber service supply side of economic front lines, it apparently has collapsed in an attempt to save the lumber industry. Now, if you want right long lasting kdat lumber, you have to supply the horse power yourself. In light of this new discovery, I have slightly altered the project. Not from a big box store, but a local lumber supplier had some 1/2 dried lumber and so I decided to only send the small lumber, the 2x4 2x6 and 1x6 wood to the drier and either use the larger lumber as is, or in case of the 4x4's, switch to a 2x4 alumunum and mortice the metal into the 4x6's to hold the morticed 2x6 roof structure. It starts by making a jig, to guide the router, and then plunging the router into the wood to get started. The depth is 1/2 inch.
This week saw a sub tropical environment and the work done was measured in seconds, I gathered or made tools to see to accuracy as well as shorten the duration of time it took to complete the given task. I set the posts as close as possible and fine tuned the level using sand and water to fill the void below.
This is as far as I could proceed w/o having materials delivered which I shall do this week.
Everything is square and plumb to receive the metal roof.
This week I got as far as being ready to apply the floor. The lumber issue is a still significant problem, somehow a 2X8 is delivered 1 1/2" by 7 1/4", I found some 1/2 dried lumber but you have to either fasten it down well in a couple days, or clamp it straight and let it finish drying. The 4X4's are not saveable once they start to twist and check up and so I defaulted to aluminum 2X4"s here.
With that said, I experimented with some structural lumber (a wooden I beam consisting of 2X4's routed out to accept a length and width of plywood, they can span great distances and are not compromised once a hole is drilled through them for whatever reason), since I wont be holding much weight or spanning much distance I eliminated the plywood and instead turned one of the 2X4's and routed it only 1/4" deep, these two will then be glued and screwed and even supported in the middle, it has remarkable strength as is and gives me a wider surface to secure the floor once it has fully dried.
I just cant stress enough how difficult it is going to be for many going forward if you are not at least part of a small experienced organized outfit that can find a way to work with todays inadequatly treated lumber, as the hard work you may be doing, can be ruined by the trade or industry that came before you.
This is a direct consequence of lawmakers not having proper laws in place like truth in just about everything, from design to manufacturing to advertizing.
And lumber is no execption, there is no advantage to being a carpenter, if your work becomes inadaquit due to the trade that came before you.
So I had to brace one stick like a tooth going the wrong way until I can prepare the aluminum 2x4's for the roof, I'll fine tune the floor until then.
I have yet to fully pack the outer posts into the ground, if once the roof is applied, any drying stresses to the posts can be slightly relieved by packing the bottom end in the direction the top needs to be to be as fully aligned as is possible in this rather questionable age.
So the only floor boards that are permanetly screwed down are the two end boards and the center board, the remaining screws were only used to tighten the boards together as they will only need to be removed as the boards continue to dry and shrink, i'll have to tighten and recut four boards to keep the floor tight perhaps twice in a year, as it appears to take that long now for the floor boards to finish shrinking.
In the meantime I make the pattern to accept the metal roofing once the 2X4's are ready some time this week. In this way, once completed, I can force the structure into being square one crank of the nut at a time to get the 4X6's in place, and then finish drying the structure as a whole. It should stay that way for quite a long time.
This week brought more than just another sub tropical environment as a metal object was somehow obstructing my aluminum 2X4, so as I wait for the materials i'll remove the offender and turn my attention to filling in the bottom part of the structure to keep the generators dry, I use, oil based painted, 5/8" thick, plywood for sheds.
I want the paint to adhere to the wood real good, so the first coat i'll add 30 or 40% paint thinner and especially on the sides i'll hit it 3 or even up to 5 times until all the holes are filled, reducing the amount of thinner with each new batch of paint.
The idea right now is to fill in the sides of the structure and leave the front open to view through.
Im not the only one whos stopped trying to use 4 X 4 lumber and switched to aluminum, there is a shortage of 2 X 4s at the wearhouse, so painting is the next task.
Unless you are painting some high end trim or flat surface work, it costs more to clean a brush today than to simply use it for a day or so and then throw it out.
Since this floor is a dollar paint brush job, I use it through out the day and after each use I wrap it in a plastic bag, and that keeps it from drying out to much so it can still be used, once and a while it can even be used the next day.
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