Snow shed

[GT2]

Heres some pics of what I've been doing the last few handfull of weekends.
Building a temporary snow shed over the trailer.

I assembled the whole thing using screws so I can take it apart next summer.
Boy my arm is sore from pulling against the drill/driver. About half way through I got smart and switched to torques screws and that helped a lot!
I built all the trusses myself, and if I ever say I'm going to do that again.. shoot me! What a pain in the rear it is to hammer those plates in by hand!
All in all I'm happy with the out come, but I'm a little conserned about if the wind will pull it out of the ground. I dident use any concrete around the posts as I want to re-use the posts, They are about 2-2.5' deep and hand compacted.
Do you think I should ratchet sprap the roof down to the trailer wheels?

Heres a pic my wife took out the front door of the trailer, a misty mountain morning and frosty too!

 

[brin]

Heres some pics of what I've been doing the last few handfull of weekends.
Building a temporary snow shed over the trailer.

I assembled the whole thing using screws so I can take it apart next summer.
Boy my arm is sore from pulling against the drill/driver. About half way through I got smart and switched to torques screws and that helped a lot!
I built all the trusses myself, and if I ever say I'm going to do that again.. shoot me! What a pain in the rear it is to hammer those plates in by hand!
All in all I'm happy with the out come, but I'm a little conserned about if the wind will pull it out of the ground. I dident use any concrete around the posts as I want to re-use the posts, They are about 2-2.5' deep and hand compacted.
Do you think I should ratchet sprap the roof down to the trailer wheels?

Heres a pic my wife took out the front door of the trailer, a misty mountain morning and frosty too!

Nice Job...instead of the ratchet straps...check the big box stores for mobile home tie down stakes..it would be easier and they are inexpensive...just screw them into the ground and attach a nylon rope to each one - maybe one at each corner and for appearance sake have a sharp angle down on the rope to the anchor...Just a thought.

 

[bugstruck]

I'd make sure both ends are x-braced w/ two diagonals, not one. That puts one member in compression and one in tension upon loading which is preferred on that type of bracing. I'd do the same on the long sides but the diagonals don't have to stack in an X, just be opposed. That is how you have it in the one slider door side photo but the bottom of that left brace is too far off the ground for my comfort, given the background geology and what I'd guess is some pretty stout wind loading. Your current bracing would probably be adequate for a temporary structure on my tree protected lot in Maryland though.

As for holding it down I'll defer to those with experience in dirt anchorage and strapping. I understand that you are just hand tamped on the supports and that's not much uplift resistance as your question implied. My layman (carpenter) guess is that it wouldn't tend to launch until something approaching 70 or 80 MPH but wind direction matters on an A truss geometry roof. That's an inefficient airplane wing with wind perpendicular to the long side. I will say that winds in that range will also test to potential failure the bracing I suggested.

Just suggestions for discussion of course. I'm no engineer.

Beautiful place.

 

[Steve C]

Heres some pics of what I've been doing the last few handfull of weekends.
Building a temporary snow shed over the trailer.

Boy my arm is sore from pulling against the drill/driver. About half way through I got smart and switched to torques screws and that helped a lot!

Very nice project! If you like doing this type of work and are going to be doing more of it in the future, Do yourself a huge favor. Get yourself an impact driver. When you go to remove the screws you will probably strip the heads out or snap them off using a standard drill/driver. If you use an impact driver it will back them out without breaking a sweat. Also your wrist and arm won't be sore because the impact driver doesn't impart any twisting action to your hand.

If you ever use an impact driver to drive screws you will never use a drill/driver to do that task again.

An impact driver will push a 3" deck screw completely through a 4 x 4 without stripping the head or slowing down and they require very little effort to use.

They are also great for driving medium sized lag bolts for fastening barn hardware, gate latches, door latches, hinges and door track supports without the need to pre-drill the holes. They will drive a 4 inch 3/8" diameter lag bolt into a 4 x 6 in a matter of a few seconds.

I have several Crfaftsman 14.4 and 19.2 volts, and Dewalt, Makita, Denali and Milwaukee 18 volt tools. They all work great for driving and removing screws.

The Milwaukee is the King Kong of small impacts. It will twist 1/4" bolts in half like they are made of taffy and imparts no twisting force to your hand.

It will also drive large spade bits through 4 x 6 material with little effort and no twisting on your wrist.


Amazon.com: Bare Tool Milwaukee 0881-20 18-Volt V18 1/4-Inch Hex Impact Driver Kit (Tool Only, no Battery): Home Improvement

Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Bare Tool Milwaukee 0881-20 18-Volt V18 1/4-Inch Hex Impact Driver Kit (Tool Only, no Battery)

 

[GT2]

I'll check out those RV anchors.
The ends are x braced, you can barely see it in the last two pics.
I've heard about those small impact drivers, I'll look into getting one for the dissasembly.
Thanks for the ideas guys!
Tim

PS, how do you like that cheep tarp? The package said 20x40 in large lettering so I said great I'll make the roof 40' long.
Well upon reading the fine print it says finished size 19x39. Figures

 

[Steve C]

I'll check out those RV anchors.
The ends are x braced, you can barely see it in the last two pics.
I've heard about those small impact drivers, I'll look into getting one for the dissasembly.
Thanks for the ideas guys!
Tim

PS, how do you like that cheep tarp? The package said 20x40 in large lettering so I said great I'll make the roof 40' long.
Well upon reading the fine print it says finished size 19x39. Figures

I wondered about the tarp......

If you have a Menards building supply in your area you may be able to get tarps to finish covering the ends of your roof for almost nothing. They often have full price rebates on small plastic tarps.

I got several that are designed to cover firewood piles they are about 3 feet wide and 20 foot long. I think I only paid $1.99 each for them and they had full price rebates on them, so the ended up being free.