Ugly Old Shed Demolition

If you drive around this area and take careful note of your surroundings, you’ll find many an ugly thing. One of the most ugly was the shed we had situated in our very own back yard. On more than one occasion when driving home from the grocery store or from some other outing and after peeking through the trees, Laura has stated in no uncertain terms, “That thing is ghetto. That’s G-H-E-T-T-O!” Up until a certain point, I disagreed. This was most likely because I was using the shed for one thing or another. Firewood, lawnmowers, junk, who knows. The point is, I was using it and it had a roof so therefore it was just fine. Through the years though, I came to see what she was referring to. While most other aspects of our property appeared to be in somewhat good shape, that shed stuck out like a sore thumb. It needed to come down.

Here are a few photos. Let me know what you think of it.

There are two aspects of interest when it comes to this shed. While it definitely was falling apart, the asphalt shingles up on the roof appeared to be in splendid shape. Strange. Also, somehow a very nice apple tree sprung up behind it. The tree is about 15 feet tall now so by tearing the shed down, we’ll be revealing something of beauty.

One day last week, I got the idea in my mind that I’d like to see how difficult or easy it was to take one of the wall panels down. With crowbar in hand, I marched through the back yard towards the beast and after a half hour, this is what I had left.

It’s remarkable how weak a shed is when it has no walls on it. With just a slight nudge, I was able to make it sway back and forth like a tire swinging from a tree. One good push, and moments later this is what I had.

I’ll tell you something; a guy can learn a lot about how things are built by taking them apart. As I was pulling boards down and removing nails from the wood, I discovered many techniques regarding shed construction. It’s not a tough challenge, but knowing what you’re doing when building something like this helps a lot. I’ve always wanted to put my own shed together, so maybe now someday I will.

Over the past few days, I’ve been outside picking this pile of junk apart. I’m making three piles. One is of good wood that I’ll save for later use, another is of the shingles I pull off the roof for disposal and the final is the bad wood that I’ll torch when the time comes. Hopefully, within a week or two I’ll have the entire mess cleaned up. I’ll confess that I’m losing interest though. While I was excited to pull the shed down in the beginning, the cleanup has proved to be slightly less interesting. And now that it’s getting warm and the bugs are here, I may have to wait until November to do any more work. Hmmm…

It’s been a few weeks, so I thought I’d give you a beard update. It seems that everyone who is able is growing one these days. I love that. It’s been about 60 days now, so this is what a two month beard looks like. All I’ve done so far is trim down near my neck, up on my cheeks a tiny bit and the sides with a half-inch trimmer a few days ago. The sides were getting too puffy and I was beginning to look like a leprechaun. Not the appearance I was going for.

UPDATE

I finally finished disassembling the entire shed. I very much wasn’t looking forward to pulling all of those shingles off the roof, but once I got going, it went faster than I thought it would. They came off in sheets as opposed to individually. I made two piles of shingles and managed to transfer almost all of them into two garbage cans. I can’t believe they fit. I have only a tiny pile left over.

As for the wood, I saved a lot of what I could and then burned the rest. While I first attempted to keep the fire small, when night came and I could see more clearly what was happening with the embers, I let things get a bit larger. Within a few hours, it was all gone. This is the fire pit after I shoveled all the ashes and nails into my metal wheelbarrow.

And here’s the pile of wood that I managed to save. I’ve got 2x4s, 2x6s, and plywood.

I’ll be using this wood for a few different projects, starting with finishing up those posts above the garage.

This is what the ground looks like that was underneath the shed. We’ve had a plethora of animals live under there, from whistle pigs to fox.

And finally, behold the beauty of what once was and is once again. What a pretty area we have in the back yard now. Apple trees and some very pleasant pines along with other hard woods. This would be a stellar area to situate a gazebo, if I were into gazebos, which I’m not.

Well, that’s it for this project. I wasn’t even planning on doing this, but I’m glad I did. It was a long time coming.