My Z barn

[cygnusx1]

My property has a 1.5 car detached garage and it's just not enough for us.  Building a larger garage is not currently an option but the two Z's need to be sheltered.  It's a bad idea to keep a Z exposed to the elements out here.  It is very often 100% humidity in the Summers with wet grounds, and stagnant air.  In the Winter it's snowy and can get downright nasty.  So I built a 10x18 shed a few years back to store the 280Z but with the 240Z taking up the main garage, our other cars sit outside.  I decided to build a little more shelter off the shed.  I graded the area and filled with 4 yards of crushed stone and framed out a 10x18 covered area.  Eventually I will close it to all the elements.  Right now it's just rain, branches, snow and hail protection for one of the cars.  The shed is very tightly sealed against rodents as well.  My worse fear is that the rodents will make a home in the car parked under the roof...and they will.  I will need to turn it into a rodent-tight shed pretty quickly.

 

The rafters are lagged into the shed roof and secured with hurricane ties.  We are pretty sheltered from straight line winds by the steep terrain anyhow.

 

Edited June 27, 2010 by cygnusx1

[JSM]

Property is always nice to be able to do things. Something is better than nothing.

[Tony D]

A 40 foot Standard Conex Sea Container is anywhere from 800 to 1500$ and will handily fit two Z-Cars in them, free of rodents and insects. The nice thing is with some pressure-treated 2X6 bolted to it, you can make a nice lean-to off either side as well, giving you outside storage for four more! If you ever decideto pare down the Z's you can use it to make a secure workshop inside---unless someone has a torch, they aren't getting into it!

 

I currently have five at my place, and will soon have a metal building roof on order to cover three of them making for a 24X53 workspace between three of them.

[woldson]

You built the original? Kit? Those 2x4 on 16in centers? The posts in concrete? How deep?

Edited June 28, 2010 by woldson

[yetterben]

Looks good dave real good. Tony one day you should spruce up one of the containers throw some cedar on the side and make it all well natural looking. Give it a grass roof ala midwest mi/wi

[cygnusx1]

I considered containers because they are so secure and permanent and expandable.  However, I am sure my neighbors would run right to town hall and dig up some code against it.  The codes around here are pretty strange.  I am bending the law with what you see here, but my own general rule is that if it's "quaint they won't file a complaint."   

 

The main shed was a kit and the roof I added is just stick built 24" centers and the posts are PT 4x4's in post concrete about 16" deep.  The main shed has two parallel 6x6 runners underneath the floor frame supported by blocks.  They are set right under where the car rolls, to bear the load.  The shed is elevated and thus remains quite dry inside.  It's actually better than the sweaty concrete floor in our detached main garage.  A metal container would sweat ALOT around here.  You get cool nights and then as the sun comes over the ridges, you will see steam coming off the trees and exposed grounds in the morning.  The metal containers will take a while to come up to daytime ambient temp and would probably sweat like a soda can for a couple of hours.  Sometimes when I take the Z out from my main garage in the morning, the entire car fogs up inside and out.  Not a pretty sight to see 35 year old Japanese steel covered with beads of dew in and out. Visions of rust! 

 

 

[junglist]

Do you mind me asking how much you paid for the shed kit? I know those things can get extremely pricey.

[cygnusx1]

Around $1800 without shingles about 10yrs ago.  I am sure they are a lot more now.