I put the roof panels on the bike shed today, leaving only a day or two of work. The shed will be moved to its permanent location tomorrow. Then I will put the back wall on. Perhaps on Monday I'll frame up the doors, and finally decide what the bikes will be locked to. By Tuesday the doors should be in place. When the last screw was in the roof panels today, I felt a glow of satisfaction, but no great pride. On the other hand, I'm quite proud of the design. I had worked out the dimensions and layout that would meet my objectives, compromising where needed. I had figured out how, with standard ply and lumber, I could build it with least waste in materials, and get the most shed for the money. I had made detailed drawings to show how all of the pieces would fit together. (This last was more difficult than I had imagined.)
I found the design process interesting. I worked in stages: First design the 6 foot by 5 1/2 foot pressure-treated 2X4 base with its cross beams supporting a 1/2 inch pressure-treated ply deck. Then work out how to put uprights at the corners, taking advantage of this to add a few inches to the overall length. Then work out how to attach the 1/4 inch ply sides with 2X2 reinforcements along the top. Then work out how to build roof trusses and make them the backbone of the roof framing. (By this point I was doing more and more of the design "in wood"--which is to say, on the fly. But this was still design.) Finally how I could combine simplicity with utility by using entire ply sheets to make the roof panels overhang front and back, keeping rain out of the open ends of the shed. All that remains to be decided is how to frame and attach the doors, and how to lock up the bikes in the shed.
The working-out of the best overall plan, and the anticipation and solving of problems is what I like best about designing. This experience has wet my appetite for the far more challenging task of someday designing a boat.
I found the design process interesting. I worked in stages: First design the 6 foot by 5 1/2 foot pressure-treated 2X4 base with its cross beams supporting a 1/2 inch pressure-treated ply deck. Then work out how to put uprights at the corners, taking advantage of this to add a few inches to the overall length. Then work out how to attach the 1/4 inch ply sides with 2X2 reinforcements along the top. Then work out how to build roof trusses and make them the backbone of the roof framing. (By this point I was doing more and more of the design "in wood"--which is to say, on the fly. But this was still design.) Finally how I could combine simplicity with utility by using entire ply sheets to make the roof panels overhang front and back, keeping rain out of the open ends of the shed. All that remains to be decided is how to frame and attach the doors, and how to lock up the bikes in the shed.
The working-out of the best overall plan, and the anticipation and solving of problems is what I like best about designing. This experience has wet my appetite for the far more challenging task of someday designing a boat.
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