Hmmmmmmm … are there images of “Man Cave” lurking in the dark areas of your mind perhaps? A small mini-split would be all it would take. 
Or a window unit retro’ed in for markedly less.
2 Likes
You could also get a rolling autonomous unit that could be used in your home or your new man cave, I mean storage shed.
Most of the rolling stand alone units have two issues. 1st, they take indoor air to run over the condenser and exhaust outside with the rejected heat. This requires that outside air (and humidity) leak back in with the same volume. 2) they try to eject the condensate by spraying it on the condenser, and helping efficiency as it evaporates and is blown out as humidity. But especially as you are drawing in humid air, they often condense more than they evaporate, and if you don’t have a plumbed drain, they will fill the tank and shut off.
I own one and it works great … but you DO need to maintain it! Lol
A small 5K unit will chill that space down wonderfully - assuming a different roof!
Did I say there were 7 sections of roof? I was wrong. There are 8 sections.
4 secttions done
6 sections done
7 sections done. The 8th section is where it gets hairy and I use the ladder and the building for support in ways not really intended.
Completion.
The wide-angle view.
I know about the hump in the ridge. It’s there because someone forgot about the offset demanded by, uhm, not properly considering the phase of the corrugation and making the overhang too short. I expect it will still keep the rain out.
A few more screws to sink along the perimeter, some gaps to fill, and it’s pretty much done.
Got a $400 dual-hose unit (this is important for portable ACs - big efficiency hit when you run them at negative pressure with room air across the hot side of the compressor) from Amazon some ~4 years ago for my office. No issues whatsoever with condensation nor overfilling drip pans.
Ain’t happening at this point. Long-er term plan is to essentially sandwich insulation between masonite in the ceiling and hope that the white ‘outboard’ coating does like a cheap radiant barrier.
2 Likes
There’s actually a simpler solution. The roofing panels float over the rafters by ~¼", plenty of room to slot a sheet of Masonite into: retention via the rafters and at the base in the quasi-slot between the panel, the base purlin, and the closure strip.
Nature provided an impromptu field test for the roof - doesn’t look like there was any leakage. Which is a good thing because getting to the line of bolts along the center would have been troublesome.
2 Likes
But a test of your mettle and commitment!
I called a rain delay this weekend thus have little to show for myself.
Installed the window and taped around the edges since by design windows have a tendency to leak. This is because the window is ~1/2" smaller than the rough opening on both X and Y dimensions, you can’t really seal up to the framing anyway, and the interface with the siding is going to have gaps-a-plenty no matter how much caulk you spooge the arrangement with. So I decided to take advantage of the OCD-esque absurdity of wrapping a mere storage shed and eat up some of my surplus tape in the process (still ~20% of the first roll remaining).
Getting the spacing right was interesting. The bottom spacers were no sweat but the lateral spacers I ended up slotting in along with the window.
Finish out here remains an exercise for the reader. Expect I’ll do some secondary pane of plex on a hinged frame so that the effective R value of that space is something greater than the ≥0 that a cheap single-pane window offers.
4 Likes
Yes, wouldn’t want to work on a relatively cool day.
Work has stolen sleep from me for much of the week so I got off to a late start.
Had a small, slight leak in the roof after prolonged rain. I identified the source, as hinted at in this photo - to the left of the fastener is the initial attempt at a pilot hole, abandoned because it struck another fastener in the purlin. I have since filled it with gratuitous quantities of adhesive to match the other similar such incidents.
I approach application of expanding foam much like how I approach soldering : the bigger the blob the better the job.
Naturally, I’m going to have to cut some of that back come trim time. Was sure easier to do the foam seal on the back of the roof than it was the front where I ran some foam rubber weatherstripping.
At one point during the day I had to deal with a stowaway - a juvenile Texas Spiny Lizard. Saw some movement at my feet, looked down just long enough to identify it and then it disappeared in the vicinity of my feet. I made sure it hadn’t hidden under my shoes, then went inside and discovered it on my pants. Released it outside without incident only to nearly step on it a few times going in and out the front door. Hope it makes it to adulthood - they’re insectivores and I’ve seen them catch cicadas.
9 Likes
Ok, been following the building process with interest. Like all the detail you post, and the progress pics.
And love the spiny lizard pic. It’s the tiniest one I’ve ever seen. I have one that lives outside my studio window that drives the cats INSANE. I’m pretty sure he knowingly taunts them. He’s named Godzilla because he’s huge and has attitude.
1 Like
Thanks. Good to know I’m not just updating for my own vanity.
I’ve never knowingly seen a juvenile Spiny Lizard, however in retrospect I may have seen them previously and just assumed they were house geckos forced into daytime activity by circumstances. Adults are incredibly skittish and difficult to photograph; even the juvenile would not cooperate after seemingly preferring capture to an offer to dismount onto some low-lying foliage.
Not sure if it’s because I’ve been paying more attention or something has changed in the local environment, but it seems like there are more spiny lizards, anoles, and geckos around in recent years. Of course, I’ve also noticed that June Bugs are more like March / July bugs now with an apparent two generations per year so perhaps their predators are more numerous to boot.
2 Likes
I there are often several that hang out near my porch light as it attracts dinner for them. Some manage to zoom in when I open the door and keep insects at bay by going where I can’t.
That one is exceptionally tame or it has some wasting disease.
2 Likes
Hard to say. It did take a lot of coaxing to try to get it off my pants leg before I resorted to capturing it. I took about six photos of it on my hand; five were worthless because it kept trying to go around my hand. Clearly not as wary as adults (whom are devilishly difficult to photograph), but moreso than the hordes of juvenile geckos.
1 Like
I love it when I have moments of serendipity with the critters around us. For me they are one of life’s magical moments that appear and then disappear.
4 Likes