That’s right. We built a 6.0 x 2.5 x 2.1-metre lean-to shed and spent about the same amount of money as you’d pay for a box of screws.
Actually, the screws were just about the only things we had to buy to complete it.
I’m into recycling and reusing things whenever I can. I’ve never quite understood throwing away perfectly useful building materials simply because one particular job has finished. Timber, roofing iron, shelves and other odds and ends tend to hang around our place because I know that, sooner or later, another use for them will present itself.
This shed proved the point beautifully.
We had roofing iron left over from work done on our outdoor area. The guys doing the job messed up the original roof and had to redo it. Replacing the sheets was the only way to fix their mistake, so another set was ordered and fitted.
They let me keep the first set.
Rather than seeing the sheets go to waste, we stacked them behind the garage. They stayed there until we started thinking about building a new shed and wondered if we could put them to use.
We pulled them out and started measuring.
There was EXACTLY the right amount of sheeting to roof and wall our new lean-to shed.
We couldn’t believe it.
Better still, I had Jarrah left over from other building projects. I tend to hang onto useful pieces of timber for exactly this reason. They might sit around for a while looking like leftovers, but leftovers can become building materials again if you wait long enough.
The Jarrah gave me what I needed to make the posts and frame. The roofing iron gave us the walls and roof. Suddenly, we had almost an entire shed sitting around the property in pieces.
All I was missing were the right screws to put the thing together.
They cost $23.
Naturally, the shed became known as Shed 23.
Even the shelving was recycled. While Margo emptied out our old lawn locker, I removed its shelves and installed them in the new shed. Shed 23 soon had a new job looking after the mower and our garden implements.
And the recycling didn’t end there.
With the mower and tools moved into their new home, the old lawn locker was freed up for another purpose. Rather than getting rid of it, our plan was to turn it into a sewing room for Margo.
That’s the kind of recycling I like best. It doesn’t necessarily involve putting something into a recycling bin and hoping it becomes something useful later. Sometimes it’s simply a matter of looking at what you already have and asking, What else can I do with this?
In our case, some leftover Jarrah, unwanted roofing iron and a set of second-hand shelves became a full-sized garden shed.
Total cost: $23.
Not bad for a box of screws.
Now I have to get back to writing another post to my blog.
–Michael (Dark Fiction. Author of SEETHINGS (the first book), free for a limited time)
SEETHINGS II follows the return of the Storm Killer as a body on a secluded beach in Moreton Bay, igniting fear and denial. While police dismiss the link, the media doesn’t. Mitchell Felding forms a dangerous bond with a man who understands his darkest impulses. When Natasha enters his life, carrying love letters from her murdered mother, intimacy deepens, and truth closes in. Some futures are inherited. Some have escaped.
Discover more from Michael Forman – Author of Dark Fiction & Drama
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