I Built A Port-A-Potty Shed

"Takuro Spirit" (takurospirit)
06/04/2020 at 13:08 • Filed to: SHEDLOPNIK, sheds, shed, lifetime, costco, shed review, lifetime studio, lifetime shed

This is the plastic Torch’s Changli should have been made out of.

But how did I get here? Well, first, you take the door and windows off the old rotten wood playhouse/shed that has a 5-foot tall entrance that you always band your head on:

Then remove the ‘siding’ and insulation (whatever’s left that the mice, bird, ants, wasps, whatever have been munching on):

Then the walls come a tumblin’ down:

Inside as well, where you find not only a HORNETS NEST (abandoned, thank the Lort), but the scribbles of kids names, some tic-tac-toe games hidden behind the inner plywood walls, and of course scratch marks made by the vermin that made the walls their home :

GARTH? Must have been a 90's kid.

Once all the insulation is removed, you find that a porcupine built the damn thing. I probably have 73.6 pounds of nails in all these 2X4's I saved for other projects:

Once ALL the walls have been removed....

You cut off the roof (image not available because heavy and dicey even when cut i n half to be removed ) and think for a few minutes how to bring the rest of the floppy structure down... then you just YANK:

Once you remove all THAT , you’re left with the perfect level base for a new shed floor!

And a SHIT TON of wood:

Okay, NOW we can start putting the new shed into place, first with the floor pieces:

Then you decide to work smarter and not harder, and bring as many pieces of the new shed out from the garage and across the yard as possible:

Meanwhile sending the scrap wood you are NOT keeping to reuse to the firepit:

Then you start putting up some of those walls:

Windows and d oors:

And finally the roof:

Then you admire all the newfound room for all your crap:

And put the crap in:

I t literally feels like a roomy port-a-potty inside. Just a new one, that hasn’t been pooed in yet. Kinda dark, kinda warm, kinda plasticky smelling. While exploring those sensations, I noticed its not QUITE air tight (there are screened vents on the walls up near the side windows) . I saw some light poking from the corners that could easily let bugs in. Not wanting to let that happen (again) I used leftover butyl from sealing in the windows that came with the ‘kit’ and squished it into all the gaps I found. Basically all four corners, and where braces on the roof went through the walls there was light/air/bug gaps.

(nevermind the writing, I did some pre-assembly in the garage and this made it easier to identify which steps I could skip later)

Another issue I faced was the CHEAP plastic nuts that snapped into the panels that the screws were to thread in. They expand when the screw is run into them, tightening their grip on the panel and allowing them to be forced to mate with the panel being attached to them. Well, some of them started to spin in their holes, no matter how carefully I screwed or how much I spread them before snapping them in. And both the nuts and the holes are oval shaped... but still they’d spin. Some I was able to carefully massage screws into, others I had to shove a washer in the gap to keep them from spinning. Which did NOT work on the ones that were hidden. I wasted too much time on those, especially when I dropped one in the dirt. You’d THINK they’d send a few extra but NOPE. I had to find it :

Other than that I have no gripes. Well, maybe the fact that there’s no info on this shed anywhere online, even Lifetime’s website. Or Costco’s, the store we bought it from. I’d love to leave a review, or read others.... I took a chance and it worked out I guess.

I’m going to put up some solar powered lights with motion sensors to illuminate the inside and out, since the slightly tinted windows do not let enough light in late in the day, and I have some work to do on the foundation. And oh yeah, that ramp. I have to figure out something better for that. It works, but its not ideal.

That’s a project for another day. Now that I got my garage back, again, maybe I’ll work on the Trans Am a bit...

DISCUSSION (17)

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > Takuro Spirit
06/04/2020 at 13:21

“It literally feels like a roomy port-a-potty inside. Just a new one, that hasn’t been pooed in yet”

If you want, I can stop by and fix that for you...

:-p

Nom De Plume > Takuro Spirit
06/04/2020 at 13:27

Smoke test?

Better off not knowing is my guess. Besides, roof vents are for heat not air transfer of chemicals that would pool at levels far below.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Takuro Spirit
06/04/2020 at 13:31

I built a few of these to house oil skimmers in a rail yard and they looked good initially but winter and wind did them in and they were falling apart after one year. If you can reinforce the connections and stiffen up the walls a bit it should fair better than the ones I had.

Takuro Spirit > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
06/04/2020 at 13:36

There’s a massive metal center frame that holds it all together, and the walls each have a center metal support tube going through them. Its got a 10 year warranty so I’m hoping its made to last at least that long.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Takuro Spirit
06/04/2020 at 13:37

What’s your plan for weatherproofing the exposed floor of the platform? Don’t do like I did and leave it unprotected for too long.

CalzoneGolem > Takuro Spirit
06/04/2020 at 13:43

The roof windows make this look fancy AF

Tripper > Takuro Spirit
06/04/2020 at 13:46

Getting nearly the same shed delivered today!

ranwhenparked > Takuro Spirit
06/04/2020 at 13:55

Im pretty sure the side wall of my house must look like that inside, based on all the scratching and rustling noises, all the poison and repellant Ive spread around doesn’t seem to do shit.

Takuro Spirit > TheRealBicycleBuck
06/04/2020 at 15:39

The deck’s plywood is already painted, just needs a few touch ups. The rest is painted pressure treated wood in good shape, minus some of the bracing I need to re-do. But this shed weighs a LOT less than the wood one that was there, so it doesn’t have as much movement as it did previously.

I was thinking of using some of the extra shingles I have stacked up to place around the horizontal edge, but water’s just gonna pool under the shed if it wants to.

I’m not married to the platform anyways. If it fails it fails, I’ll level off that area and pour a pad , or move the shed somewhere else (like next to the garage where I was thinking of putting it originally.

Takuro Spirit > CalzoneGolem
06/04/2020 at 15:39

They’re TINTED :O

Takuro Spirit > ranwhenparked
06/04/2020 at 15:41

I feel ya. We had (still have, occasionally, somehow) mice getting into the basement, shitting and dying in the walls, and insulation. Stupid previous homeowners put poison E V E R Y W H E R E.

I think I got it all cleaned up now, and have sticky traps down to catch any that dare enter .

Takuro Spirit > Tripper
06/04/2020 at 15:41

The dark blue one from Menards?

Tripper > Takuro Spirit
06/04/2020 at 15:48

it’s a tan one from home depot but very similar style, how big is that one? 10x10?

Takuro Spirit > Tripper
06/04/2020 at 16:50

7.5x7.5

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Takuro Spirit
06/04/2020 at 17:33

i helped a friend tear one of these out. asshole PO e poxied the seams when he assembled it. Whole day was one “youve got to be kidding me” moment after another.

ranwhenparked > Takuro Spirit
06/04/2020 at 17:55

I thought it was just squirrels, but recently found a desiccated bat in the furnace, which means I may have been breathing aerosolized COVID-19 all winter.

CalzoneGolem > Takuro Spirit
06/05/2020 at 10:35

FANSEH!