Shed Update

I posted some new pics today... I added to the goat shed album to show the progress. It's coming along pretty well so far, the walls are all up and 5 of 7 trusses are up. The remaining 2 trusses require additional cuts to accommodate the stud walls, so they weren't quite ready to be installed yet... if it doesn't rain tonight, perhaps we'll get those cut and put up.

(For anyone that missed the dimensions of the shed, its 8 ft wide by 12 ft long. The roof is 7 feet on the short side and 9 friggen feet on the tall side, cause clearly we're housing giraffes! The shed has 2 doors, at opposite ends, each door is 3 feet wide.)

I'm still undecided about a few things about the shed... like window ventilation, roofing and siding... nothing major ;)

For window ventilation, ideally I want large windows on each side that I can open and close as the weather changes... I also don't want my goats to be able to ram on the windows (they won't be made of glass, in any case!) so they have to go above 5 feet high. That means I can have windows on 3 sides that are about 18 inches tall, which seems good. On the tallest side, I could in theory have windows that are 3.5 feet tall. It's mostly figuring out the best and easiest method of making easy open / close windows that will seal out the worst of the rain and snow.

My idea for "windows" is just to sheet the outside up to 5 feet and then leave the space above open, covered in hardware cloth to keep birds and stuff out... then plywood "shutters" that would hinge open and fasten shut. The walls studs will obviously still be visible, but I don't think that's a problem in any way and is maybe even more useful than the normal framing out for a window thing you normally have to do.

As for roofing, I originally was thinking that we'd put up metal roofing sheets, like we have on every outbuilding here (and the house too!). I haven't ruled that idea out by any means yet. I am considering the possibility of polycarbonate panels though. They have the advantage that you get use, say mostly gray panels, but put a clear panel in the center for extra light. (Our shed does not have electricity or water). They seem easy enough to install, from looking at the website... and Home Depot sells them as well, so they are easy to obtain.

I'm not convinced yet, though, I still want to compare prices on the Sun Tuf versus tin sheeting. Stay tuned for the big decision ;)

As for siding, we originally started planning this shed using rough cut hemlock and doing the outside in board and batten... well that was WAY out of the budget, even though it would've been beautiful. There's quite a bit more framing required for board and batten as well, that helped push the costs up.

So my siding options at this point are:
-- 5/8" plywood, one side is finished to look like rough cut vertical planks, more attractive than other options, but a bit pricier, could paint or stain it.

-- 5/8" or 3/4" standard plywood, would require painting, could be sided over in the future

-- 3/4" OSB (particle board, wafer board), would require painting and would still probably not last for very long out in the rain and snow, but is CHEAP and could either be sided over or replaced with something else as $ permitted.

For a long time, I was leaning towards the faux plank plywood... then was leaning towards the cheapness of the OSB and now, just haven't decided :)

Our original design also called for an interior wall in the shed, sort of an airlock between the people door to the outside and the goats. Goats think its funny to try to escape when the door is open and are very good at it. If they ever get their noses between the gate and the frame, they can wiggle their way through if you're not paying very close attention.

After getting the exterior walls up, we looked around and decided we wouldn't build the interior wall, as we just didn't want it eating up that much of their lounging space. So for now, we'll manage without the air lock and just pay close attention at all times ;) haha

We do have a "phase 2" plan for the airlock... we'll build it externally to the current structure, a small "porch" type idea with a gate and a bit of a roof so that we can enter the building without being dripped on and stuff like that. But "phase 2" will likey have to wait until next spring, unless fall is long and kind to us.

Anyhow, now I'm pretty sure that you have more info about my shed than anyone ever wanted to know!!

I also took a few pics of the dogs at play the other day... they are constantly in motion outside, especially Pixie and Oliver ... its really difficult to take digital pics of them that turn out ok... I end up deleting lots of pics that either have no one in them (they took off before the camera caught them) or just have ear and tail tips in them. I posted a few of the reasonable ones.