Our house in Savannah is the first one we have owned that did not have some form of garage, carriage house, storage shed or out building with which to keep my ever growing tool collection. As we looked at the house before making our bid, I did notice that there had been a shed at one time. Someone had torn it down, however. Seeing a pre-poured slab of concrete, my mind immediately knew where the tool shed would be built. Or, so I thought.

We did not have the luxury of moving in slowly. This was also the first time we actually moved into a house we had purchased on the same day we closed. We have a tradition of “Christening” the home on closing day. This had to be a quickie as the movers would be there shortly after we signed the papers. ACK! We like a 1 month buffer at the very least. In every home we have or have had, we like to fix it up or customize it to our own liking. UNFORTUNATELY, this was not the case in Savannah.

Why is it that we buy a home that really appeals to us only to try and change it? We've done this to every home we have/had! ACK! Even the brand new one had to be customized. We were under the gun and running fast. Without a shed or storage facility on the property, my ever growing tool collection would be kept in the sun room and in various closets.

Mrs. CXXC would have NONE of this and ordered me to “GET A SHED, IMMEDIATELY!” So off to Home Depot I went. They had a great deal on one of those build your own 12x10 wood sheds. Now, I should have run when they asked me if I wanted to buy the flooring. Thinking that it was just plywood, I said sure. (BY THE WAY, get the ¾ inch. You will be happier if you do) Then the clerk asked if I wanted to buy the shingles. I thought, “WTF? Do walls come with this sucker?”” So I asked, “Do walls come with this sucker?” The clerk looked at me with a blank stare, saying, “Pardon me? Oh! (insert giggle) Only the floor and shingles come separate.”

It took three days for the kit to arrive to my home. I was a little miffed that it took the full three days as the store that it came from was less than 5 miles from my house. Mrs. CXXC (HATES Home Depot) kept saying that we should have gone to Lowes. The same shed was $300.00 more at Lowes. I reminded her that I was too thrifty to toss that much money away. She still hates Home Depot. The day arrives, the driver calls, pulls up with the kit, roofing, flooring, peg board, and all the needed accessories (I added a few things like the peg board, electrical supplies etc). He VERY quickly unloads the wrapped pile with his little fork lift and places it on my driveway.

I would not be a responsible consumer to accept the shipment without, first inspecting it for defect or damage. It took just 5 seconds to see that this package had been SEVERELY damaged at one time or another in shipping or storage. A good 10x10 inch corner of the entire package was crushed and chipped. This was the roofing and wall sections. There was no way I was going to accept this. I asked the driver how he could have missed this. He shrugged and asked, “Do you still want it?”

“No! I don’t want to accept damaged goods. I want the shed I saw in your parking lot. Call your supervisor and tell him he needs to send one that is not damaged HERE TODAY!”

“Umm, ok. Can I borrow your phone?”

ACK!

Well, after a few moments of frustrating debate with supervisors and store managers, I had my replacement shed coming to my home later that afternoon. I had gone to Home Depot earlier that day to get what I figured I would need to paint power and organize the shed. So, all I needed to do was build it.

It came!!! I unwrapped and fully inspected the kit. No damage that I could see was visible. I accepted the package and moved it, piece by piece from my Driveway to the back yard. Once all was moved, I put on my carpenters belt, cordless drill holster and began the process of building the sections. The shed was very simple to assemble. In fact, I had all the sections assembled within a few hours. I just needed to put them all together. I had to wait as the evening came quickly due to the late delivery of the replacement.

I suggest that you never by a pre-made shed as you could make everything yourself and spend half the money. I am really pissed at myself for not thinking of this ahead of time. Grrr!

The next morning I was in my back yard setting things up and ready to go bright and early. I had the foundation portion already build on the slab and needed to attaché the front and back wall sections first.

“Houston, we have a problem!” The back wall section was longer than the foundation! OH NO!! What the heck? OOPS! I had the foundation turned 90 degrees in the wrong direction. No biggie. It was just framing. But I had to re-level everything! ACK! 30 minutes later, I was moving the 10 foot long by 8 foot high section of wall that would be the back wall. Remember, I am 6’4” 225. I can move just about anything that weighs within 100 pounds of my own body weight. This wall was easy. In fact, all the walls went together and moved easily. I had this sucker up and roofed completely before Mrs. CXXC got home! I had it painted and ready to run power even. I was proud of myself!

“Houston, we have a problem!”

“I thought the hot tub was going there!” mentioned Mrs. CXXC!

SOME HOW, I had forgotten that little conversation among the LONG honey-do list of items that needed to be taken care of! Now, Add one more item to the list, MOVE THE DAMN SHED ACROSS THE BACK YARD!

2 hand trucks, 4 sheets of plywood (Later to be used on another project) one furniture dolly and one 12 foot section of nylon tie-down was all that was needed by me to drag this monster across the yard. As I had just moved to Savannah, I had no one to call for help! So, There I was, all alone. It took the better part of the day, but I had it moved, leveled, and filled with EVERYTHING the wife didn’t want in the house. She had no idea how I moved it. In fact, she thinks these things get built or moved by magic. ACK!!!

Moving forward, I ALWAYS Make sure we are on the same page about what, where, when and how. I am not moving another shed!