For this episode I've managed to make a door for the fuel shed the way I said I would. I took some of the 2x4's that I salvaged from the old fuel shed and nailed them together as a combination of three long boards and two end boards to link them together. This is to allow for a solid surface with which to tack the pallet boards solidly. I also managed to salvage a lot of pallet boards from the pallets that I salvaged from the old fuel shed as well, these boards are what was used for the shingles on the door. I was able to tack the boards on from their ends on one side of the door frame with the rest overhanging on the other side of the door. This allowed me to take the reciprocating saw and just do a straight cut along the board to remove the excess pallet board length so I have a flush edge on the opposite side from where the boards start. With this we have a complete door made.
With the door frame done the next thing I had to do was add another 2x4 to the opening on the shed. This board is bare, with no shingles on it, serving as a spacer between the door and the edge of the door frame and the shingles. The reason for this is because with the way the shingles are angled, the door would not be able to open easily without binding against the shingles. The hinges would go on the extra 2x4 and when the door swings open, the lack of shingles will allow the door to swing against that edge without binding. I used two hinges that are around 3" long, held in place with 2" wood screws to ensure they'll stay put. The next thing that I attached was a simple door handle, cheap walmart special of course. Lastly I attached a sliding latch above the the handle in order to secure the door when closed. With this we now have our new fuel shed secured from the elements. The last thing that I made for the new fuel shed was an extra shelf to add fuel cans. This was a pretty simple setup, again using salvaged 2x4s. The shelf consisted of only a few boards nailed together to make two legs, then nailed to the studs at the back of the shed for full support. With the frame in place I took some more pallet pickets and trimmed them to cover the width of the shelf then tacked them in place along the width of the shelf (left to right), butting them together to make a solid surface. I used my gas cans as a gauge to make sure I had the height correct to allow for easy removal of the cans. After finishing the setup I was able to put four more gas cans on the top in addition to the two cans on the bottom. I could probably turn the cans to put them side by side on the bottom and put four on the bottom as well with only minimal protrusion of the cans from under the front of the shelf. The reason that I didn't add another tier to the shelf to be able to add a lot more cans was this: I didn't want to extend the vertical legs at the front of the shelf up past the lower level drums because if I have to remove those drums for any reason, the shelf legs will be in the way and will have to be removed to facilitate drum removal. I could've nailed a horizontal 2x4 across the top level shelves but this would've best been done before putting drums in place. Besides I don't even have that many fuel cans to even require this much storage space. Worst case I might add some smaller shelves extending out from the back wall to hold things like fuel treatment or two cycle oil, basically light weight stuff that won't stress a shelf to the point of ripping it from the wall. For right now though, this setup is adequate. The last things I have to do for the fuel shed is to add some street elbows on the faucets and maybe put a reducer bushing with a length of pipe nipple that will allow me to put the end into the fuel can for dispensing fuel cleanly. If I don't do that I might even add hose nipples and use some lengths of hose secured to the wall in some way where I can just leave the fuel can on the ground and just put the hose into the can to refuel without having to hold the can up to the faucet. We'll see.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
May 2023
|