A guy I know has in the past ordered very large machinery from Japan. The machines come in custom sized, welded steel frames. He now has a nice little side business of gathering these steel "crates" and reselling them. I bought one. It's roughly 10.5' wide, 21.5' long and 10.5' tall. I bought it for $500 so I won't have to pay a storage unit rental fee any more. Probably close to 3000 lbs of steel.
The base is all 5" x 2.5" C channel and 5" x 3" box tubes welded up. The sides are angle iron frames with 1.5" square tubing running vertically. The top is 3" x 1.5" (I think) box tube welded into a firm grid and covered with welded on galvanized sheet metal. It's very rigid.
The wife and I set a foundation out of concrete blocks. 4" x 16" square blocks everywhere, and then added CMUs, 2" and/or 4" blocks set in order to achieve a level surface. Looked kinda like a cemetery when it was done.
IMG_2604.jpg
I then used the skid steer to swing the base into place and set it down on the blocks. Lined up perfectly.
IMG_2606.jpg IMG_2609.jpg
Then, the wife and I set up the sides. The long sides probably weighed 200 lbs - we could not pick them up, but could prop them up to an angle and then we used the winch on the polaris to raise them the rest of the way.
The end walls were light and we could set them up manually. All the sides were then bolted to each other and the base.
IMG_2611.jpg
Then… the roof. It weighed 800 lbs and the skid steer could not lift it high enough. I ordered a crane rental. $105/hour, 2 hours minimum. The ground (I'm in Texas where we've been getting all this rain) was dry enough to drive on when I ordered it Tuesday morning for a Wednesday morning appointment. However, Tuesday evening we got another inch… … what to do? I thought the crane company might cancel. They didn't. They showed up 7:45 AM on Wednesday and starting driving to the lift spot after he scoped it out on foot. He indicated he was light on his rear end. I said no matter, I have a track loader and I can pull you out if you get stuck. He couldn't quite reach the lift spot - he started slipping, so I gave him a nudge and got him right where he needed to be. The roof went on flawlessly.
IMG_2621.jpg
Time to leave, < 1 hour later. He backed up and started spinning. 15 ton crane truck. I pulled him from the back (a bit downhill) enough so he could turn his wheels to leave and head up the hill to the driveway. He spun out. I tried pushing and pulling with the skid steer… not budging. Wheels were about 4" deep. The ground was hard - just too doggone slippery.
Time to call a tow truck. First truck arrived… several attempts - no luck. Tow truck was just pulling itself towards the crane.
Called another tow service. HUGE tow truck came out, set up, and pulled it out, about 250', in 3 separate pulls. It was an expensive day. About 7 hours altogether, and just over $1500 for both the crane and wrecker. The payback on my little storage shed just got pushed out another year.
IMG_2623.jpg IMG_2628.jpg IMG_2635.jpg
I still have to clad it and I'll build some trusses to set on top and make it look like a real shed. Will probably use an 8' x 8' rollup door for it and build some steps.
Reply With Quote