I built a tack room for my daughter and her friend. Before we get into the project, let’s go back to how we got here.
Not back 10 years ago to when my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer and somebody from here first introduced my little one to horses as a way to cope. Nor even 5 years ago to when my little one met her friend while they both were working as “trainees” at a local horse ranch. No, we’re gonna just go back a couple months when California was hit hard by over a week of storms.
The existing tack room was a rickety 6’ by 6’ metal shed. Without the structural strength needed to hang saddle racks or much of anything, most of the tack was just scattered about. And since the floor was just plywood screwed to 2”x 4”s and thrown on the ground, water bubbled up through the floor when it rained. It was already a mess.
At the time they had 2 horses, they now have 3 with hopes of getting another. They use the horses to give lessons and other activities. One is their “Rein On” program where they offer special needs families a chance to interact with the horses free of charge. They are currently gearing up for “summer horse camp” and recruiting trainees. They were outgrowing the existing shed.
The first night of the storm they were worried about the shed leaking. I gave them a tarp to throw over the shed and some rope to tie it down. I’m sure that was keeping the shed dry but nothing could hold back the tree that blew over making a direct hit on the shed. By the time I returned from work, my shop and laundry room was filled with wet saddles, blankets, bridles, etc..
They were scrambling to decide on how to replace the shed. The barn manager did give them permission to increase the size to 6’ by 8’, still not really big enough. They hoped to find something for about $1000. They were not wanting to just put up another rickety shed but a pre-built wood shed was going to cost them $3500 at the minimum.
Off we went to the hardware store. After looking at some of the material options I concluded we could build the shed with a roof but no door for around $1000.
Besides the restraint of a tight budget, the ranch has no electricity. Everything would need to be cut at our house then brought to the ranch for assembly. Doesn’t leave much room for error.
Step one was building the new floor. This would be made using 2”x6” joisting, concrete deck blocks and OSB subfloor. After buying and cutting the material I was able to go up after work one day and install the floor. A friend of my daughter came up to lend a hand. We all sorta laughed at how bad he was with a hammer …of course it meant I’d be doing most of the nailing. Before leaving I laid out the walls, made some sketches and wrote down all the measurements.
Back we went to the hardware store for wood to build the walls and roof structure. Knowing the slope of the roof I was able to use an online calculator to determine 14 degrees would be the angle some cuts would need. After cutting over 100 pieces of 2”x4” I started assembling the 2 short walls and roof structure. This would save time and with rain starting again it meant less wallowing in the mud. By now I had borrowed my neighbor’s pneumatic framing gun. I also realized I could connect it to my CO2 bottle and use it at the ranch. This was gonna be huge.
The next morning we loaded up the pre-fabricated walls and drove thru the rain to the farm. At the time it was a moderate rain. We set up nail gun and started to build the two bigger walls. Let’s just say, the horses did not like the air gun at all. They were okay with hammers and screw guns. Not having the nail gun. Thankfully my helper did get better with a hammer as the day went on …no doubt inspired by the rain that was getting heavier. After framing and bracing the walls we measured the siding to be cut back at home.
Soaked thru we drove down the hill, grabbing some tacos before heading to the hardware store for siding and roofing material. We were pretty determined to at least get the siding cut and installed. Feeling revived after drying our clothes and eating some tacos we headed back up the hill.
While trying to throw up and screw off the siding, the rain was coming down hard. We were about halfway done when the wind started in earnest. With our clothes heavy from rain, wind blowing the siding, we gave up for the day …which was becoming night anyway.
The next morning in a light rain we finished the siding and started on the roof. Because there is no electricity I recommended translucent roofing material. The previous shed was very dark and they struggled to sort thru their piles of gear. They had also mentioned about wanting a desk to do their paperwork.
Of course, about halfway thru installing the roof, the rain began to pour. But we persisted. Finished the roof, measured the trim pieces, hung a tarp over the door opening and we were done for the weekend.
The next trip back involved installing the trim pieces and a ramp. The ramp was a last-minute thought and was made from left over parts of the previous floor.
This completed what they agreed to for phase one. Final costs, $1100. They were very happy with the results and decided they wanted to move ahead immediately with the door and interior. I’ll save that for next week’s SMHRB.
Read the latest update from the Daily Kos Guild…
“Daily Kos Guild passes vote of no confidence in Will Rockafellow, President of Kos Media”