Loafing shed rebuild

I completed most of the loafing shed rebuild before snow and Winter came the beginning of this month.

In case you forgot, here are a few photos of the damage.

The roof

I had to focus and concentrate on the rebuild as the weather forecast didn't give me much time.  I was able to get the roof back on a day before the snow came on November 1.   I have some finish work left on the roof but it can wait until Spring.


I had to replace the three tree trunk posts.  Once I did, and before I attached the roof to the new posts, I pushed the back wall back to stand straight again.

To replace the tree trunk posts I lifted the roof and placed temporary posts to hold the roof upright.

The calves checking out the hole I dug for the first post.

Here is one of the tree trunk posts.  As you can see it had rotted away a few inches below ground level.  While I don't know the entire history of the ranch and loafing shed, I suspect the tree trunk posts were used starting back in 1941 or 1942 when I believe the loafing shed was built.

Here are all the remains I dug out of one of the tree trunk posts.  I found that two posts went 36 inches deep and the other post was 40 inches deep.  As you can see I do not have 36 to 40 inches of rotted post.  I found what remained of the posts usually were at the bottom and that is why I know how deep the posts originally were dug.  The first foot or two usually had completely decayed or was in such bad shape the form did not hold when I dug it up.

I had three 10 foot railroad ties and they were perfect to use as new posts.  They should last my lifetime. The posts only needed to be about 7 1/2 feet tall and therefore I could bury the post 2 1/2 feet deep which is deep enough to be solid.  Solid is important as the cattle like to rub against the edge of the posts.   The tree trunk posts were pretty smooth from decades of rubbing.

I took the roof apart rather than try to attempt to lift it back into place.  I was able to use almost all of the boards, only needing a few to replace or buttress the ones that split or broke.   While the supporting boards were 2x6s, as you can see, the frame to attach the metal sheets were rough cut lumber.

The next day it snowed.  Part of why this post about the rebuild is 'late' is that I was waiting for a sunny day to take a good photo of the rebuilt shed.

We finally had a little sun and I got a better photo showing the rebuilt shed.

The following photos show the remaining work.  While I placed the railroad ties in the same place the old tree trunks were located, I found I must have rebuilt some of the roof just a touch longer.  The metal formerly overhung the frame just a touch and I now found part of the new frame was just a touch longer than the metal sheets.  So the remaining work is to use some odds and ends of metal sheets I have laying around and eliminate the small opening at the back end.  Not so good to have the water run off the metal onto the wooden frame.