Melissa's Place

It Takes a Village to Build a Shed

We're feeling a little bit untouchable...like we could conquer anything thrown at us now...now that we've built ourselves a shed.

We calculated approximately 8 hours to dig the foundation, lay the gravel and screening and level the patio stones ontop. Probably 10 wheelbarrow loads full of dirt, hidden around the yard under shrubs, behind the compost heap, between cedar bushes and behind the new shed. (Note: When borrowing a wheelbarrow from a friendly neighbour, ensure the tire is not flat.) It took fourteen 60-pound bags of gravel and nine bags of screening (which, I've learned is not like the screen on a screen door, but rather more finely crushed gravel...also very heavy). It took nine very heavy patio stones and seven smaller ones which we scavenged from a mysterious corner in our back yard.

On construction day #1, we had to return to Home Depot at least four times to replace damaged wood or to buy wood we didn't know wasn't included, or to buy the right types of machinery, such as metal snips or a chalk-line. (Thank GOD for chalk-lines!) But once we got going on the walls, we were laughing. Who would have thought.... we were building walls!












Construction day #2 left us short-staffed. Dad had returned home and we were left to put up the roof alone. Screwing nails through a tin roof never seemed so foolish. We tried using a screw driver and a hammer and a ratchet. We discovered after stripping two screw driver bits with the funny hexagonal screws that the bit we were using wasn't actually a screw driver bit at all. Once we returned to the hardware store and purchased a real drill bit, things got a bit better.

My flowers succumbed to a fatal blow when the door that was being installed fell on them. Frankie's not sure what to make of the new edifice in her play area, and Mark's left thumb may never be the same again (certainly the nail won't). But we've left our mark. We built us a shed.