Step one of restoring storm damage from Memorial day weekend

Some of you may recall my tale of woe about the storm here six weeks or so ago, and how my already-wrinkled-from-a-previous-storm shed got crushed, and me commenting from time to time that there are 3-4 times a year when I could really use a pickup truck. Today was such a day.

Got home from work Friday, and got a robot phone call saying that my replacement shed (for the one the tree squished) had arrived. A couple guys at work with actual pickup trucks had offered to help, but I hate owing people favors. And I didn't want to interrupt their weekends anyway, or wait till Monday. So, just to see if I could, and so I could say I got accomplished this week, I decided to go fetch it myself. Took seats out of the minivan, and laid down some shiny planks salvaged from dumpstered water bed frames. At Lowes, 4 guys loaded shed crate with a forklift, and I had to explain to them how to line it all up and just SLIDE it off, and not wreck their backs. Too bad my van is short wheelbase- it did stick out the back a little. It was only

300-some pounds, not the 600 they told me on phone.

It was a lotta fun getting it out (without bending it) at home- took about an hour, Egyptian style, with more planks and levers. Wish I had a big eyebolt in garage wall that I could have tied it off to, and pulled van from around it. With the planks below it so it didn't get a tailgate kink, that 18" drop would not have hurt it. Even managed to get it sort of tucked under the bumpout in the back of garage, so I can still park both cars inside. I do have to step over the corner of it walking in and out of the house, though.

Always good to have half a dozen assorted planks in the corner of the garage. Never know when they may come in handy.

Now I just have to wait for weather cool enough to tear down the remains of old shed, which is still holding yard stuff, and assemble the new one. Since my arms aren't 12 feet long, I really could use help with parts of that process. Heat index will be in mid 90s or higher here for next 5-7 days, so it won't be anytime soon. Thinking I should wait till tree guys do their thing, whenever that is, in case they have an oopsie with their heavy equipment. Several thousand trees got blown down in storm, so back-of-backyard trees like mine are at the bottom of list. Still a lot of blue tarp roofs around town, and a lot of debris piles along the side of the roads. Many neighborhoods near me are WAY too sunny now, and will be for many years.

aem sends...

Reply to
aemeijers
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do you live in the IL / Wisc area?

Reply to
hrhofmann

Thanks. Reminds me of the time I hauled a crated riding lawn mower home on my PU. Quite fight on that. Ended up cutting the crate apart in the PU, doing some minor assembly there and driving it off.

Harry K

Reply to
Harry K

One click to the right, in Baja Ontario, aka SW Michigan. It has been one hell of a spring/summer so far here in flyover country. The counties over closer to the big lake got nailed again, just a couple weeks ago.

Reply to
aemeijers

On 7/16/2011 11:17 PM, Harry K wrote: (snip)

Yeah, I thought Real Hard about cutting the box open in the van, and unloading it all in pieces. But I know it is gonna be several weeks or more before I get around to assembling the damn thing, and I was afraid of elves making off with parts. And it would have made me feel old and puny, too.

Reply to
aemeijers

I was at one of the big box stores, Home Depot and they have little trucks they rent by the hour. There are always a few Rent-A-Wetbacks hanging around too. I laugh at your puny Heat Index, here in Alabamastan our Heat Index or Real Feel as The Weather Service calls it has been

100+ for weeks. I've been sick as dog eating grass and had to get out in that oven to repair some AC units. ARGUHHHH!

TDD

Reply to
The Daring Dufas

Be ready when the tree guys get there...a few hunks of tree limbs, roll it out Egyptian style. Doubt the tree guys would be able to resist helping you move it; I could be wrong.

Sorry to hear about the storm....hate to see big trees go down. Went out exploring this winter after first big snow, around the dump the town uses for yard waste. A huge oak tree, cut in sections...counted over

150 rings. A slice of that would make an awesome table top, even if it split.
Reply to
norminn

I am familiar with southern heat indexes. There is a reason I only visit my Lake Charles, LA, property in December.

As to the rental trucks- I'm a cheap SOB. I could have had it delivered for $70. By myself, getting it out of a pickup truck would not have been much quicker, so I would have had to pay for multiple 75-minute (around here) segments. Plenty of Spanish-speaking folk around here even up in semi-frozen 5-month winter North, but I have never seen any hanging around the big-box stores. Of course, I have never been at any of them at crack of dawn, especially M-F.

Reply to
aemeijers

(snip)

No rolling it out- it is bolted to slab, trapped in a fenced enclosure, and it is a metal erector set tin can anyway, not a real shed. It'll be coming out in lots of little pieces. Replacement shed is basically same make and model, so I can salvage some parts (like the extra beams for the snow-load roof reinforcement kit) off the old one, and reuse the original mounting rails at base, so I don't have to drill out all those rusted-in-place concrete anchors. The roof colors on the old and new ones are pretty close, so I'll probably even salvage some other parts for spares, if I can figure out where to stash them where they won't cause problems.

Yeah, one of the down trees near the shed is probably 24" in diameter near the root ball. Thinking about asking them to carve me a slice to keep. I did a similar thing 30 years ago with a huge tree they cut down near my office at the university, and hauled it home to dry out, but never got around to doing anything with it. When my mother sold that house, I didn't have any place to move it to, so ended up abandoning it there. I'm pretty sure it ended up being the porch step for the ratty little site-built shed on blocks in the back yard there.

Reply to
aemeijers

Well, I used to be able to pick up a car engine but my health kind of rules that out now. It's embarrassing to have to ask for help when I once picked up my friend's 327 short block, put it on my shoulder and carried out to his truck for him. :-(

TDD

Reply to
The Daring Dufas

Did you make out OK on the insurance? Damage like that is bad enough without catching it in the shorts.

Harry K

Reply to
Harry K

On 7/17/2011 10:05 AM, Harry K wrote: (snip)

Made out pretty good- insurance company gave me 3200 for the shed, 3x more than what it was worth. They assumed I would hire the work done, and counted the busted section of fence that only needs a section of top rail and 2-3 of those pot-metal cap things. So the shed will pay for most of the tree work, which is NOT covered unless it hits house or other buildings. I didn't even put in a claim- I called them to ask about tree coverage, and they sent out adjuster (just to check that house was still there, I assumed), and he put it in.

Of course, this probably counts as my one 'freebie', so now I have to keep fingers crossed that I don't need to put in a REAL claim for next several years, like a tree cutting the house in half.

Reply to
aemeijers

Sounds good. Just finished clearing dead/dying locusts from a place. Had to leave one big one as it leans over the house and I don't 'do' hazard trees. He ahs a bid for 650 for a pro to chunk it down. I asked if the insurance wouldn't cover. Nope. they won't spring for a few hundred to remove it before it falls but will gladly spend thousands to repair the house after it falls.

Harry K

Reply to
Harry K

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