My Summer Project

My son is starting 7th grade this fall.  That means he will be playing football. His middle school had 'strength & conditioning' camp during the summer to get the boys ready for the season.  He really enjoyed lifting weights and asked if we could get some weights at home.  Since I also enjoy working out, we agreed to get a weight bench and weights for the garage. 

However, before that could happen we needed to find another home for the garage's current tenets, the lawn equipment.  I had originally picked out a Lifetime shed at Costco, but then saw a Rubbermaid shed advertised in Lowe's 4th of July Ad.  It was over $100 dollars cheaper (the price has since gone back up) and was about the same size.  The hubs and I drove to Lowe's to check it out and they had one on display.  It was perfect so we purchased it had it delivered with our new Char-Broil Commercial grill (I will blog about that later).

Once the shed was delivered, my son and I got to work preparing a level foundation for it.  The hubs couldn't help due to recent back surgery.  We opted for a slab of 12 x 12 brick pavers from Home Depot.  I figured that would be the easiest and most cost effective solution for us.  I contemplated building a platform with landscape timbers and plywood, but didn't feel comfortable with my woodworking skills.   

Daisy was a big help!

Because it is unbearably hot here during the day, I opted to work in the evening.  It took about a week to get the ground prepped and all of the pavers down.  I started by digging out the area according to the dimensions provided in the instructions. Next, I poured 5 bags of Pavestone decomposed granite and compacted with a handheld tamper.  Another 5 bags of Pavestone sand went on top of the granite and was also compacted. 

 


 I leveled each paver as I laid it down, taking away or adding sand when necessary.  In the end, the slab was super level and I was so proud of myself!  Because our yard slopes slightly and I didn't want one side below ground level, I chose to have one side above ground level.  I added a stone edge around this side to prevent the base material from eroding away.

 Once the foundation was done, my son and I built the shed in about 4 hours.  It was easier than I expected.  I think it was the well-written directions and the help of the most awesome 12 year old.

The lawn equipment was transferred to it's new home.  The cool thing about the shed is that you can hang stuff on the walls using the included wall anchors.  I was able to remove most of the wall organizers from the garage and relocate them to the shed.  I also purchased shelves from Lowe's for about $40 to store more items.  The walls have a weight limit which I did not want to exceed.

I am very proud that I was able to accomplish this project without the help of my husband. (Remember he just had back surgery).  


The garage has now been cleaned out and a weight bench purchased.  Stay tuned for the transformation of the garage to workout central!