Portage River Farm
Notes on our struggles and successes on our family farm in rural Michigan.
(Pinckney, Michigan)
18 Jul Sat 2009
Shed Repair
The major project of this weekend has been the replacement of the shed door. One of the doors had been badly damaged before we bought the farm and most of it was missing. The previous owner explained that the wind had caught it during a violent storm and broke it in two by slamming it back against the side of the shed.
The remainind portion can be seen lying on the ground in front of the shed in the picture.
The remainind portion can be seen lying on the ground in front of the shed in the picture.
The biggest pain of this undertaking was finding the vinyl siding to match the rest of the shed. After taking a sample to a few hardware stores, I figured out that the color is "almond". Apparently this color is no longer in fashion so it took several days of hunting to find somebody who still stocked it and was willing to sell me a few individual pieces rather than an entire box.
I am reproducing the 4'x7' door in the same style of the original with the addition of a diagonal cross brace on the inside in the hope that this will help prevent it from breaking again. The winter and early spring winds can be very
strong here.
strong here.
The previous version was also constructed using steel mending plates at each corner. While removing the remands of the old door, I managed to cut inch-long slices in two of my fingers on my right hand. This has slowed me down considerably but I still anticipate having the door completed by the end of the weekend. I'm sure the fingers will heal up over the coming week so that I will be ready to charge into something else by the time next weekend rolls around.
John_3
12:00 AM EDT