1993 - Renovation of the Machine Shed

Machine shed in original configuration

When we purchased the property this machine shed was in horrible condition and filled with junk. In fact every time I would start to clean it up someone would show up looking for items I had ready to throw out. So we didn't do much with it for the first couple years other than try to pick it up inside. The shed was probably built in the early 1900,s and had a floor poured in 1957 (we found the date carved in the cement). It is a pole structure with non treated poles stuck in the ground and by the time we moved in most of the poles were rotted off at the bottom of the cement. The previous owner said he had hoped the wind would take it and he'd collect insurance and move on.

Although the building was in tough shape and we had no need of anything this size we did want to save it for storage until our projects were well under way. So as soon as the loan closed on the property we put everyone on notice that they needed their junk out or it would get thrown away. Well needless to say this deadline came and went and since it was mostly junk we were stuck with getting rid of most of it. For some reason we did not take any pictures of the next project, which was to tear down 70' of the 120' shed. I wanted to get it off the north property line so that was a natural choice for a starting point.

Over half the shed has been torn down

As you can see in the picture above the 70' has been torn off to the north and the bare cement floor is all that is left of this part of the shed. I started this work very late in the fall and had it down in a couple weeks of nights and weekend work. I don't know exactly when I started but remember it being very cold as I sat of the cold steel pulling nails. I used some of the left over steel and framing material to close up the old openings so that the shed would be secure. Following the renovation of the old shop building I used the old overhead door from the shop to close in the one remaining opening. In the spring of 1994 I applied two coats of red barn paint to the steel to clean up the look of the building. Unfortunately the old silver painted surface was not a good surface for the new paint so we had more work ahead of us.

Power washing the machine shed

I was determined that this machine shed would look nice from the road so when the red paint peeled off I rented a power sprayer in the spring of 1994 and went to work removing the rest of the paint and etching the surface in the hope that the paint would stick. I made a real mess of myself and the area around the shed but did take off any paint that was not stuck tight.

The paint is stripped off

Luckily I had only painted two sides of the shed so the stripping went quickly and as you can see not all of it came off. But there was more off than on so the project was worth the time and money. I put two more coats of the same paint back on and it held as well as can be expected. The picture below shows it after the paint was completed.

A new coat of paint

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