New Sawmill Shed

[s219]

Got the roof panels finished this morning then spent a couple hours picking up around the worksite. The biggest mistake I made on this project was not thoroughly cleaning up the clay that came out of the post holes when I drilled them. It got spread around, mixed with pine needles, and got under my shoes and on my ladders all the dang time. Whenever it rained it would turn into glue. I should have known that would happen as it's been a pain on other projects too. Next time I need to get that crap shoveled up and out of sight as soon as it comes out of the hole. It's worthless and can't even be used to backfill holes.

The only thing left to do is put up some siding along the eaves and gables, and for that I need to saw more wood. This afternoon I debarked and power-washed these logs that have been sitting around for a year:



I had sawed a couple for 2x lumber, and the center of the logs is fine, but the outer sections are a little spalted and buggy. I wouldn't want to use it for structural stuff, but it ought to look really nice for siding. So I will probably cut all of those logs into 3/4" or 1" boards. I will stack it and let it dry for a week or so then start putting it up. Most likely go with board and batten style (batten will hide the gaps as the wood shrinks).

I am debating whether to put siding on the entire end walls, or just the top section. I think full siding will look nicer, but maybe block too much light. I have some time to think about it.

 

[EddieWalker]

Very nice. I think that if you sealed off the end walls, you could have dry storage inside those walls.

 

[bigtiller]

I've never been around anything like this.

What is your process for debarking and power-washing logs?

 

[czechsonofagun]

Wet yesterday and windy this morning, so I didn't get a start on the metal roofing until about 11am today.

I always rig up a string along the front eave to guide my panels, using little guide blocks that I can line up with the edge of the end fly rafters. This makes it quick and easy to keep the panels in line and avoid any wander

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Got 10 panels up, with 4 left for tomorrow. So far so good. The 5V panels are easy to work with. I pre-drill my holes to make things go faster while up on the roof, though it does tend to eat up a few 1/8" drill bits (I drill 3-4 panels at a time).

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Tonight's sunset shot is from the roof.

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Good show!

Just in time for the 2" of rain we are getting in Virginia.

 

[TnAndy]

I've never been around anything like this.

What is your process for debarking and power-washing logs?

When pine has sat around for a year, the bark practically falls off on it's own. I use a floor scraper to peel bark that is loose.

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For bark that is tight, and really dirty logs, I debark just a strip in front of where my band blade is going to travel to keep it from hitting trash and getting dull.

 

[s219]

I've never been around anything like this.

What is your process for debarking and power-washing logs?

As Andy notes, on these old logs the bark was very loose. I just went up and down the logs with an old ice scraper (kind of like a flat hoe) to knock the bark off, then washed off the rest of the crud with a small electric power washer. As I found when I sawed one of these logs a couple weeks ago, there was all kinds of junk under the bark, including what looked like dirt and clay. I could tell it dulled the blade on my mill, plus it made a mess of the saw area. So it's good to get them clean.

On newer pine logs, I have not been debarking before I saw. But I have a small hand tool called a bark spud, made by Peavey Mfg, that works pretty well with some elbow grease.

 

[s219]

Good show!

Just in time for the 2" of rain we are getting in Virginia.

Boy did we get pounded. It rained steady all evening, then around 11:25pm a front came through that was like a hurricane. I looked out the back window, with the wind driven rain coming at me, and it was like a fire hose coming at the house. Several of the windows actually started leaking, first time I have ever seen that. Knocked some stuff around on our property, washed out some of my landscaping, and some limbs came down, but no real damage. Winds were clocked at around 65 mph. I have puddles in places I haven't seen puddles before.

The saw shed did fine but this storm showed me that I need to put a gutter on the rear edge of the roof. It looked like water had run off the roof then flowed through the shed. I do plan to add more gravel to the floor to raise it up, but I think it will be best to redirect that rainwater away from the structure as much as possible. I figure I'll put up a basic 5" K gutter and downspout, then I can use some drain tile pipe to route that to the nearby ditch. I'll have to keep the gutter cleaned out frequently because of the pine trees, but that rear eave is only about 8' off the ground so it won't be hard.

 

[s219]

Very nice. I think that if you sealed off the end walls, you could have dry storage inside those walls.

Yeah, and there would be room for a big shelf overhead too. I think that will be the way to go.

 

[Rustyiron]

Very nice :thumbsup:
We had your wind and rain on Christmas day, also melted about a foot of snow.
How about leaving a "live edge" on the siding. A fitting tribute to the logs going through your mill and in my thinking, sorta plays on a theme with your tulip poplar bark accents on your home.

 

[czechsonofagun]

Boy did we get pounded. It rained steady all evening, then around 11:25pm a front came through that was like a hurricane. I looked out the back window, with the wind driven rain coming at me, and it was like a fire hose coming at the house. Several of the windows actually started leaking, first time I have ever seen that. Knocked some stuff around on our property, washed out some of my landscaping, and some limbs came down, but no real damage. Winds were clocked at around 65 mph. I have puddles in places I haven't seen puddles before.

The saw shed did fine but this storm showed me that I need to put a gutter on the rear edge of the roof. It looked like water had run off the roof then flowed through the shed. I do plan to add more gravel to the floor to raise it up, but I think it will be best to redirect that rainwater away from the structure as much as possible. I figure I'll put up a basic 5" K gutter and downspout, then I can use some drain tile pipe to route that to the nearby ditch. I'll have to keep the gutter cleaned out frequently because of the pine trees, but that rear eave is only about 8' off the ground so it won't be hard.

I put french drains all over my place, the only way to keep it somewhat dry in normal rain, but this storm flooded us like I no other and we live here for 18 years now. But the pond is full and clean, I like that