Generation X

Two years ago, the power went out up here during a storm.  At some point, PG&E got everybody else back on but me and my next door neighbor.  Because there was a lot of outages (and totally understandably) they didn't get us sorted out for a few days.  Five days, to be exact.  Just long enough for everything in my freezer to be ruined.

It was then, after learning that lesson the hard way, that I decided I did indeed need a generator.  I picked up the $1k Honeywell model with a Honda engine from Costco.

This is all well and good, but the generator can't stay in the living room.  Or on the deck.  So, it needed a shed.

After the roof debacle, I knew I needed to learn carpentry and construction.  The convergence of these two needs meant I was building a shed for the generator.

Google has a product called Sketch Up that's really neat (and free).  It is a 3D modeling program that makes it really easy to design things like generator sheds.

This is where I started, and a few decisions went into this initial design.  First, it's too small to bother with 16"-on-center stud framing.  Second, 4x4s for corner posts was probably excessive.  It's heavy and it's sturdy, and that added about $20 to the final cost, so 4x4s it was.  Finally, doing the doors with heavy hinges and a reasonable design means they should last a while and not sag.

So, I took this design I'd made, bought materials, and dove in.  A few things became apparent pretty fast, such as "4x4s are heavy, when you screw a few of them together with 2x4s in between, it's real heavy."  Another was that any time you're going to start on something like this, you need to build it on a flat, level foundation and not try to frame it and move it after the fact.

Here's what I should have built first -- the foundation:

I did a post and pier foundation with very short posts -- 3.5" tall, to be precise.  wrapped the outside of them with 2x4s and then hung 2x4 floor joists evenly within the space to support the floor.  I laid plywood on top of that, and covered it with roofing asphalt.

I did the roof of the shed with plywood, asphalt paper, and shingles, and made a valiant effort at flashing it properly.  It's probably not watertight, but it's not bad.

To finish it off, I wrapped the outside with Hardie siding -- that stuff is insane.  It's made of concrete fiber or some such, and each sheet weighs nearly 80 lbs.  It's hard to cut, hard to handle, and easy to punch a nail through, but it doesn't burn and it dampens sound nicely.

To make this a fully functional generator house, I still need to route exhaust out and fresh air in, run electrical cable to the house, get a transfer switch installed, and a few other things.  For now, though, it's a place to keep the generator, and that's exactly what I needed.

The full set of pictures of the project are on Flickr.