Colorado

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

Wendy, good luck finding someone to trade with. If you can't, I ran into this ad

http://denver.craigslist.org/grd/3548241445.html

 

[WendyGeisler]

Thanks! I saw this ad too, but was hoping to find some closer to town

 

[Adam7]

Thanks Adam7, I will snap pics in the morning.  Our experience with treated lumber the last few years has been that it is still wet when purchased and it dries unevenly, causing the warping.  This is not cull lumber, at least not in name, it is directly from the racks at Lowe's.  I bought many 2x6x10 for my raised beds, put rebar on either side or made them into benches for seedlings, and all have warped, even those I painted.  Straight skids would partially remedy the issue, but the outer boards of the floor sections (2 12x8) are warping slightly at the corners and that is what has Bob most upset.  The skids are put together wrong - IMO - they should be either solid, or two one direction and the third the other, so they look like a pi symbol - we have done posts this way in the past and they stay straight, these are just stacked three 2x4s, nailed and glued, and one is curling up, the other two are bending sideways, one worse than the other - to the eye it seems not so bad until you try to envision attaching an L shaped bracket between it and the floor joist.

Mind you, Bob is fanatic about straight and true, and these are not.  I think we could make them work if we had to, he thinks it will be a nightmare and ulcer to do so.  There has been some stamping of feet.  I suspect you can relate

Apologies I misunderstood. I assumed the skids were part of the lumber pack that you had ordered. It has been very dry lately, that has probably not helped your lumber stay straight. How long have you add said lumber siting outside? Sounds like if you would have had your shed kit when you were supposed to the wood would not have had a chance to warp on you.

 

[suncatcher]

Quote: Pozee have you ever considered building the coop like a very small pole barn? It is fairly easy, and you could add a concrete floor later on, or frame a wooden one now.

Yes, he is a crook, but those types usually continue as they are, sad to say.

 

[jgurshtein]

He had some adult birds for sale, mainly waterfowl that I saw. But I didn't see any chicks.

WHEW! Glad I didn't miss that boat!

 

[Pozees]

Apologies I misunderstood. I assumed the skids were part of the lumber pack that you had ordered. It has been very dry lately, that has probably not helped your lumber stay straight. How long have you add said lumber siting outside? Sounds like if you would have had your shed kit when you were supposed to the wood would not have had a chance to warp on you.

Oh no apologies necessary, they are part of the lumber pack, just that it's been our experience with treated lumber we have purchased that it rarely dries straight anymore. These have been sitting awaiting the corrected walls since Tuesday at 5:30 pm. They are stacked, glued, and nailed - they have a LOT of nails in them. I doubt screws instead of nails would have fixed that. I think it is at least possible they would have stayed straighter had they been put together properly. We have posts in the barn that look like l= except the = boards take up the entire space of the l, and they seem to have held well. We didn't come up with this design, we copied it from what Cleary did when they put our barn up (before it was our barn). For the record, I couldn't even get a call back from Cleary with a quote. I think this is too small a project for them. I wanted to match the barn. Oh well. Anyway, these skids are built like lll so all boards are the same direction.

 

[Pozees]

Pozee have you ever considered building the coop like a very small pole barn? It is fairly easy, and you could add a concrete floor later on, or frame a wooden one now.

Yes, he is a crook, but those types usually continue as they are, sad to say.

We have what I think is considered a pole barn built by Cleary before we bought the property. Since I want to ensure plenty of ventilation as well as safety from predators for little chicks, I wanted a solid floor and framed doors and windows. At this point I have a nicely bordered gravel pad on which to build a shed or shed-like structure, and will use it for whatever we wind up putting up. I think I can make the floor work, but suspect I'll have to buy a bundle of stud lumber and learn how to frame walls. Always wanted to know how, and I've read many a building plan, so maybe I'll be learning framing on the fly this weekend if I can convince Bob to use the floor we have.

Adam7, if I understand what you are saying, setting the floor on good skids and waiting to attach, and setting the shed on the floor, will stabilize the wood and keep it from further warping, do I have that right? Even if sitting on gravel? I also looked at maybe setting the floor on piers, but am not sure how many to use. Would they be placed every 2 feet one way and every 4 feet the other? The floor we have is 2 12x8 sections with the 8' sides 24" on center, and cross braces (spacers) every 4 feet on the 12' span. It is not perfectly flush which is one of the issues Bob has with it, and if it is going to cause problems throughout, I will not use it. There are a few places where they didn't get the cross braces flush with the outer frame or with the 24" on center joists. The offset is an inch or less. I don't think I will successfully recover all my money from Guillermo so I will use whatever is useful at this point.

 

[Adam7]

We have what I think is considered a pole barn built by Cleary before we bought the property.  Since I want to ensure plenty of ventilation as well as safety from predators for little chicks, I wanted a solid floor and framed doors and windows.  At this point I have a nicely bordered gravel pad on which to build a shed or shed-like structure, and will use it for whatever we wind up putting up.  I think I can make the floor work, but suspect I'll have to buy a bundle of stud lumber and learn how to frame walls.  Always wanted to know how, and I've read many a building plan, so maybe I'll be learning framing on the fly this weekend if I can convince Bob to use the floor we have.

Adam7, if I understand what you are saying, setting the floor on good skids and waiting to attach, and setting the shed on the floor, will stabilize the wood and keep it from further warping, do I have that right?  Even if sitting on gravel?  I also looked at maybe setting the floor on piers, but am not sure how many to use.  Would they be placed every 2 feet one way and every 4 feet the other?  The floor we have is 2 12x8 sections with the 8' sides 24" on center, and cross braces (spacers) every 4 feet on the 12' span.  It is not perfectly flush which is one of the issues Bob has with it, and if it is going to cause problems throughout, I will not use it.  There are a few places where they didn't get the cross braces flush with the outer frame or with the 24" on center joists.  The offset is an inch or less.  I don't think I will successfully recover all my money from Guillermo so I will use whatever is useful at this point.

The floor doesn't sound like it is in too bad of shape. I would at least attempt to use it.

Let me make sure I have the design clear. You have 8' floor joist running 24" on center with 2 rows of 22.5" blocks spanning the 12'.

You are saying that the rim joist are warping slightly on each end correct? As well as the 22.5" blocking is not 100% flush with the rim joist? You can always trim down the offending blocks with a reciprocating saw. As far as trying to straighten the warping rim joist, the weight of the shed i.e. the walls and roof structure pressing down on the rim joist should help to straighten the warping. Assuming that just the ends of the rim joist are warped and the middle section is still straight; I would put straight skids under it, attach the skids only where they are sitting flush with the rim joist (the middle section) and hope that Mother Nature will help to force down the offending ends after your structure is erected on top.

As far as using screws or nails. I would not use screws to build the skids as that would take FOREVER! I would use a nail gun with 16's, nail 2 nails every 12" or less (assuming the skids are 2x4 if they are 2x6 use 3 nails) as well as a nice bead of construction adhesive(subfloor adhesive works great). Make sure to build the skids on level ground. After shooting the nails in come behind with a hammer and make sure to drive the nails just a little further to ensure the boards are firmly attached and flush. You may have to start nailing from one side and have someone else bend the board from side to side while you nail to make sure they stay flush. Ensure that you either put them in place or stack them neatly on a nice level surface immediately after building them to ensure they do not warp. Nailing the boards like "I=" instead of like "III" would definitely not hurt either. Although I might add it isn't absolutely necessary.

Now that I think about it, if the floor joist are treated(they should be if I would have build a shed I would have made them that way) you could skip skids all together and set the floor right on the ground. Another option is to set it on concrete blocks. They make special blocks with a "+" molded into the top to set sheds on. The joist rest in the"+". This may help you as they do not span the entire distance you just place them intermittently. Just a thought.

Let me see some pictures maybe I can be more clear.

 

[Pozees]

The floor doesn't sound like it is in too bad of shape. I would at least attempt to use it.

Let me make sure I have the design clear. You have 8' floor joist running 24" on center with 2 rows of 22.5" blocks spanning the 12'.

You are saying that the rim joist are warping slightly on each end correct? As well as the 22.5" blocking is not 100% flush with the rim joist? You can always trim down the offending blocks with a reciprocating saw. As far as trying to straighten the warping rim joist, the weight of the shed i.e. the walls and roof structure pressing down on the rim joist should help to straighten the warping. Assuming that just the ends of the rim joist are warped and the middle section is still straight; I would put straight skids under it, attach the skids only where they are sitting flush with the rim joist (the middle section) and hope that Mother Nature will help to force down the offending ends after your structure is erected on top.

As far as using screws or nails. I would not use screws to build the skids as that would take FOREVER! I would use a nail gun with 16's, nail 2 nails every 12" or less (assuming the skids are 2x4 if they are 2x6 use 3 nails) as well as a nice bead of construction adhesive(subfloor adhesive works great). Make sure to build the skids on level ground. After shooting the nails in come behind with a hammer and make sure to drive the nails just a little further to ensure the boards are firmly attached and flush. You may have to start nailing from one side and have someone else bend the board from side to side while you nail to make sure they stay flush. Ensure that you either put them in place or stack them neatly on a nice level surface immediately after building them to ensure they do not warp. Nailing the boards like "I=" instead of like "III" would definitely not hurt either. Although I might add it isn't absolutely necessary.

Now that I think about it, if the floor joist are treated(they should be if I would have build a shed I would have made them that way) you could skip skids all together and set the floor right on the ground. Another option is to set it on concrete blocks. They make special blocks with a "+" molded into the top to set sheds on. The joist rest in the"+". This may help you as they do not span the entire distance you just place them intermittently. Just a thought.

Let me see some pictures maybe I can be more clear.

The floor joists are treated, yes. I wondered about just skipping the skids, in fact Bob originally planned to do that, then for some reason thought maybe he should use them. Seems to me it might actually be more stable to skip them since we have the gravel pad sitting there, but I am not a builder (obviously or I would not be in this mess LOL). I found the concrete piers on Lowe's website, went to the manufacturer's website and they recommend I use 28 of them if I am reading correctly and erring on the side of caution, which would cost me another $200. Seems like it might be overkill. I'll go out and take some pictures and upload them.

ETA: Recalculated and I would need 20 not 28 piers. $137.

 

[Pozees]

Okay here goes. This is a picture of the corner of one of the floor halves showing some warp resulting in separation of rim and support joists - this is where I think a few well placed screws might solve the problem, this separation continues on other support joists where they meet the rim joist.




Next is a pic of both floor sections



So there are 2 12x8 sections, each with 2' on center support joists on the 12' span, spacers at 48", if that makes sense, hard to explain I guess.

This is the gravel pad