Recent content by Ranger Rick

I built my coop on an old hay wagon. I can move it around the fields so there is always new bugs and grass for them to eat The roost is at the back of the wagon and has 1x2 welded wire under it so the poop falls to the ground. The remainder of the floor is 2x2s with 1 1/2" gap between them so...

When I was setting my 16 foot post for my workshop I lift one end of the pole over the back of the forks on my tractor. With the forks close together to help steady it when it was vertical. I used part of the chain to hook to the post under the forks and do the lifting. The other end I used to...

Here is another set of plans for Bluebird houses from the Virginia Bluebird Society. I have built several of these houses. I can usually get two nestings if I clean out the old nest after the birds have fledged. Rick

The mantle looks good. I think I would raise it up some so that there is some stone between the mantle and the firebox. The building code here in VA says Section 1001.11 of the IRC (2006 edition), "Exception 4: exposed combustible mantels or trim may be placed directly on the masonry...

The Barn painting is DONE!! I now have to install the garage door. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions? I have already read the instructions Lee. Glad to have the painting done. Rick Saw this guy when I was walking back to the house.

I have been busy painting the barn with the nice weather that we have had. I have gotten all of the walls painted and am now working on doing the trim. This is one part of the project that is slow going. The west gable end on the building is now complete. The scaffold is down and you can see...

Between rain showers yesterday my wife and I managed to get one side of the building painted. I was doing the cutting in and she was using the roller. We only worked about an hour in the late afternoon after the morning rain. Hoping to get a break tomorrow and get some more done. Rick

I am nearing completion of my 30 x 40 pole barn. I have been doing most all of the work myself. My building has a metal roof, trusses on four foot centers, OSB sheathing with 4 x10' Hardie panels as siding, 5 windows, a man door and a garage door and a concrete floor with radiant tubing and...

I got some help yesterday so we were able to get the siding up on the gable end. Over the weekend I had been working on getting the battens on the building. A time consuming job as I cut each one to fit and then primed the end and then nailed them to the wall. The gable siding went well...

Couple more pictures of the progress. I worked on putting the trim around the windows today. Working my way up this side of the building. My helper had football practice today so I could not get the gable siding on. Rick

Well, we got all of the siding up on one of the gable ends of the building. I spent a couple of hours doing little odds and ends to the gable before I take the scaffolding down. I caulked the gaps between the trim and the soffit. Also puts some screws in the side of the roof metal trim. That...

Here is a picture of the Hardie panel siding that shows the texture really well. The sun was low and at an angle to this wall so it shows the texture well. Rick

Made some more progress on siding the building. I have siding on the lower 10 feet of all of the building now and have started working on the gable ends of the barn. I still have battens and trim to put on the walls but we have made some good progress. Rick

Yesterday and and today I had some help from my neighbors son to help put up the some of the Hardie panels. We worked only a few hours each day because the heat and humidity have been awfull lately. The heat index has been over 107 each day. We made quite a bit of progress in spite of the...

I have not posted for a while now. I got side tracked on to a fence project that was a hundred plus feet of new board fence and a thousand feet of new wire fence. Along the line I had put my camera in a jacket and could not find it until recently. I got all the sheathing on and last month got...