It’ll average out, it’ll cool off by raining as soon as he puts the floor on.
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It’s surely not a dry heat.
Soon as the floor is installed I may take a break - plan on using treated plywood so I’ll have the luxury of time to procrastinate.
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So this is a true Maker project: Start projects, finish whenever.
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Well that was tedious and further ensured that my sweat glands are well primed for the summer. Secondary supports (very secondary since they’re anchored with #10x2½ screws) and a couple of #10x3½ screws into each joist end. Not sure if these serve much of a purpose other than potentially taking up some slack as the structure starts to bear down on the primary ½" bolts, but they’re in now.
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I think you will be better off ducking into your shed if a tornado comes.
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I am clearly a glutton for punishment.
Bed rating is 500lbs? What’s an extra 100lbs for a short trip from the Home Despot? Smooth enough ride nearly on the bump stops.
If only it stacked itself…
10 bags of concrete = ~7.8 boreholes filled. The remaining 4.2 will have to wait - I’ve had enough self-flagellation for the weekend.
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Part 2 of the concrete work: finish the piers and backfill on some of the existing piers to raise the concrete footing over the level of the surrounding soil to keep water off the wood post as best possible.
Concrete done, beginnings of the subjoists starting. Only 14 more to go! But it’s f_cking hot out and heat exhaustion doesn’t sound like fun so I’m knocking off for the day.
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Shade happens in my yard in the afternoon, hours after I’ve wrapped up. Maybe in a couple of weekends I will have made some shade once the roof goes up…
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Sometimes it’s the little things. Like discovering that an awl can serve as a spacer with lateral fine-tuning capabilities.
Subjoists almost done.
A rebuttal to an oft-cited justification for a full-sized truck: so I can haul plywood (for weekend projects).
Some (additional) fitting required. Sigh. I should of course know by now that treated lumber is warped on the stacks at the lumber yard and warps some more when it dries. But it would be nice if it was straight.
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For the home gamer, the Ranger has been sufficient for my project needs.
In terms of pushing the safety factor, I also abused my former Mazda 3 to degrees that the Ranger has yet to experience:
Yesterday, yeah, that was not well-advised. Today was pretty mild by compare.
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I’ve always considered load ratings merely advisory. Everyone knows they have at least a 3X safety factor.
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Been there. Done that. On all accounts. Only mine was not a Mazda, but similar hatch. Took 800 lbs of tile once. Likewise, hardwood (along with its sedan stablemate, equally loaded, got the whole house worth in one trip). Ditto concrete, fence posts, pickets, etc. Hauled 1400 lbs of debris to the dump (per their scale) in a trailer…
Like working outdoors in this heat (which you shouldn’t do, especially if you’re a squidgy office elf like me), I can’t recommend it, but sometimes it’s what we do… 
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I’m pacing myself to a degree that I’d go broke trying to get paid doing similar work.
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I had a 94 ranger, and a set of 2x6 cut to carry sheet stock over the wheel wells. I know there were a number of unplanned times sheet stock wound up riding up on one wheel well. In the 13 years on the F150, I have yet to have issues bringing a load home because I forgot some 2x6 that I wasn’t expecting to need.
I’m pretty sure I carried 2x the rated 500 lb load at least once without thinking about it, as paving stones add up quickly. I don’t think I’ve gone nearly that far past the 1500 lb rating on my F150.
And the tow capabilities are hugely different also. But while I do need a full size for tow rating, there are times I really miss the 5 speed ranger.
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The structural work is so nice it’s almost a shame to cover it up. And the way you’ve designed it, it won’t impede the normal drainage flow in your yard either.
How do you keep snakes and rats and other vermin from nesting under it?
I believe he has a cat or two. Let them earn clean litter.
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A rebuttal, not “this video destroys [subject] in 60 seconds” Facebook-style rebuttal.
I do see a fair number of lifestyle full-size pickups (crew cab, bed at least as short as the Ranger’s, ill-advised levels of lift, typically-spotless undercarriages / hitch receivers) which is what sparked my little aside. Those vehicles are pretty clearly someone’s daily driver to a static work location, not their between-jobsites work truck. Suspect they grab loads of plywood, mulch, lumber etc perhaps as often - and in similar quantities - as I do in the Ranger.
The local Home Despot is pretty close, and since this isn’t my daily driver if I’m going to get something remembering the 2x6s isn’t too big of a stretch. Unfortunately they don’t stow neatly in the cab, but neither does the ‘cargo frame’ that dad made for his '96 Ranger that happens to fit the '03 like a glove.
Thanks, but like most things, photographs don’t tell the full story. There are numerous little imperfections, bodges, and improvisations that the photos don’t tell. But that is the nature of these things in my experience: plan, execute, adapt.
I will say that a surprising amount of effort went into such a small percentage of the overall structure. But since it’s the foundation, it makes sense.
I’m hoping that the framing goes together a tad faster.
A somewhat convenient accident of siting - there’s pretty much nowhere else to put an 8x14 outbuilding on my property - and the necessity of not doing a slab.
An open question. I’ll probably skirt the thing when I’m finished which will go into the ground to some degree - making it inconvenient for some vermin - but skunks, armadillos, and some other creatures like to dig legitimate burrows. I’ve pondered putting down a layer or six of weed cloth with some gravel over it, but that’s apt to impede water flow.
Ah, if only it worked that way…
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A ranger was my daily driver for about 11 years. The F150 was a daily driver for about 5. I now commute in a mercury grand marquis, and the truck is more local/weekend/actually need truck trips now. But yeah, the 5.5 foot bed on the F150 super crew is annoyingly short, but as someone who has moved twice with the ranger, and closed out a few storage units with the F150, the extra width, and 2.5 foot bed depth really does carry more, especially boxes. At least 5.5 of bed and 2.5 of tailgate is support for the full length of 8 foot sheet stock.
While I am absolutely not looking to replace the truck anytime soon, I suspect a crew cab f350 is going to get strong consideration for the next one.
Not arguing your specific use case, just musing how what is typically a corner case - hauling plywood - does not necessarily need to dictate the vehicle one drives daily, alongside some general observations about the crewcab/shortbed trucks I see prowling my town. As a contrast, heading into work on a daily basis it’s work truck city convoying north with 5-30 year old trucks loaded down with everything from tile to plumbing to bricks to turf to Bobcats - and have the scars to prove it.
Before I disposed of my 1996 F150, it not only made hauling plywood a snap, but also served handily as the DMS Logisticsmobile, frequently hauling in one load what would take the Ranger two. Were it not for the borderline-reckless level of lift combined with a static hitch on the bumper, I suspect it could have been a decent tow vehicle as well.
I’m still pondering the idea of a DIY RV/tinyhouse, so a 250 or 350 class vehicle may be in my future as well - up to 10,000 lbs tow capacity is to be expected with that sort of usage. Maybe I’ll fetch some plywood on occasion as well.
But until and unless that project becomes a reality, the Ranger is proving adequate.
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