Rebuilding my shack

/ Rebuilding my shack #1  

tallyho8

Super Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2004
Messages
5,263
Location
North of the Gulf of America, west of Westwego
Tractor
Kubota L4400, Kubota ZD326
Hurricane Katrina destroyed my old shack by my horse barn. My barn is a quarter of a mile down my driveway from my house so it is nice to have a building with a bathroom and refreshments closer to my barn. My old shack needed replacing anyway so when Katrina dropped a 75 foot pecan tree on top of it, it just made me start my renovation earlier. My property is on the old Willswood Plantation on the River Road not too far from New Orleans and all the houses and old barns and buildings on it were made with wood from the old 1790 plantation that is mainly old swamp cypress and old red pine. I want to make a shack that looks vintage so that it matches some of the other structures a little and also so that I can use some of the old lumber from the buildings I tore down.

First I dug and poured some footings and used some old concrete blocks for piers. Then I had 3 old creosote 12 x 12s and a 9x9 that I found that had drifted up from the river after Katrina. This is where I used my tractor to make this post eligible to put in the tractor projects forum.:p I notched them out with my chainsaw and placed them on the piers and bolted them together with long galvanized bolts that were in them when I found them.:) Then i made my floor joists out of the old heart pine 2x6s that were in the old shack. These are rough-cut 2x6s that measure 21/2 inches by 6 1/4 inches so they are stronger than new 2x8s. Since they were rough cut and slightly different sizes, I had to trim each one individually to level them. I then covered the joists with 3/4" treated plywood.
To be continued:
 

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/ Rebuilding my shack #2  
Tally,

That picture of the tree on your shack really suprised me. It's almost like it was aiming for it!!!!

How are you securing the floor to the ground?

Eddie
 
/ Rebuilding my shack
  • Thread Starter
#3  
EddieWalker said:
Tally,
That picture of the tree on your shack really suprised me. It's almost like it was aiming for it!!!!
How are you securing the floor to the ground?
Eddie
The floor is held down by gravity only. The long 12x12 weighs about 1000 pounds so there is considerable weight there. I did not want to compromise my termite shields by putting lag bolts through them because termites are a big problem down here. Besides, if this area floods like New Orleans did, maybe this will be a good escape raft.;)
 
/ Rebuilding my shack #4  
Nice start on that raft!!! I love using recycled building materials. Not only saves money, but takes alittle more thought to make it all come together.
 
/ Rebuilding my shack
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Today I got the walls framed. With new lumber because I don't have enough old lumber for the job and I am going to use my oldest wood where it can be seen the most. Think I can make anything look good with this pile of old trash boards?:confused:

To be continued......
 

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/ Rebuilding my shack
  • Thread Starter
#8  
Finally got most of the roof up and most of the OSB on the sides. I have discovered that June is a little warm to be working on a tin roof.:eek:
Tomorrow I am hoping to be able to start using some of my old cypress boards and I can't wait to see how they look.
 

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/ Rebuilding my shack #9  
Nice progress!!!

It looks like you have one window in the building and I was wondering how you will cool it? Window unit? I've had them in buildings and they work great, especially for what you pay for them, but they also block the view of the window and I'd sure plan on putting in an extra window just to mount an AC unit if I only had one window.

Eddie
 
/ Rebuilding my shack
  • Thread Starter
#10  
EddieWalker said:
Nice progress!!!It looks like you have one window in the building and I was wondering how you will cool it? Window unit? I've had them in buildings and they work great, especially for what you pay for them, but they also block the view of the window and I'd sure plan on putting in an extra window just to mount an AC unit if I only had one window.Eddie

I am installing a window unit through the wall. I did not cut a hole in the osb yet because I do not want to install the unit yet and I do not want to leave a hole in the wall. It is already framed in. I can just cut a hole through the outer wall when I am ready. Thats the best part about osb, it cuts like butter!
 
/ Rebuilding my shack #11  
The “shack” is looking great. I like the raft comment if a bigger storm makes it up your way. With a few 55 gal drums strapped to the side you could call it your Katrina house boat.

MarkV
 
/ Rebuilding my shack #12  
I'd say it would take a lot to move those beams. Also very good progress for just a few days. I wish my projects could go that fast.
 
/ Rebuilding my shack
  • Thread Starter
#13  
It has been a long, HOT and busy day but I finally got to see what my cypress boards will look like on the front of my shack. I was glad to see that the old paint is very easily removed with my cheap Karcher pressure washer with the high pressure rotating tip. See the photo of how the board looked before and then how it looked after I used the pressure washer on it for just 15 seconds. It looks like it might just look pretty decent after all.:)
 

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/ Rebuilding my shack
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#14  
I got the rest of the siding on the front today. I like the antique look it has.;)
 

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/ Rebuilding my shack #15  
I think the shack looks great with the cypress siding and metal roof! You've done a great restoration job! Love the pics!
 
/ Rebuilding my shack #16  
The siding looks great!!! I really like it allot.

The only thing that I keep thinking is how nice a big covered porch would be for relaxing, or just coming and going on a rainy day. Your roof is alreay in place, so I'm curious if your putting on a porch?

Eddie
 
/ Rebuilding my shack
  • Thread Starter
#17  
EddieWalker said:
The siding looks great!!! I really like it allot.
The only thing that I keep thinking is how nice a big covered porch would be for relaxing, or just coming and going on a rainy day. Your roof is alreay in place, so I'm curious if your putting on a porch?
Eddie

The porch is what I am building. The building is only there to hold up the porch. ;) PORCH: "Coming Soon":)
 
/ Rebuilding my shack #18  
tallyho8 said:
The porch is what I am building. The building is only there to hold up the porch. ;) PORCH: "Coming Soon":)
Guttering will top it off, to control the water that will leave a drip path on the ground (pet peave of mine).

That looks great. Thank you for sharing the project here. I have enjoyed.

:tiphat:
 
/ Rebuilding my shack
  • Thread Starter
#19  
I finally finished the walls on the other sides. Unfortunantly I didn't have enough old cypress boards to do the sides but I tried to make it look old to match the other buildings. Yes, I know that the siding usually comes all the way down to cover the beams, but my wife talked me into leaving the beams showing for that "rustic" look. I coated them with a creosote type stain to even out their looks.:)

NEXT: The Porch!!!
 

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/ Rebuilding my shack #20  
tallyho8 said:
I finally finished the walls on the other sides. Unfortunantly I didn't have enough old cypress boards to do the sides but I tried to make it look old to match the other buildings. Yes, I know that the siding usually comes all the way down to cover the beams, but my wife talked me into leaving the beams showing for that "rustic" look. I coated them with a creosote type stain to even out their looks.:)

NEXT: The Porch!!!

Very nice.

Regards,
Kevin
 
 
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