I looked around for a different thread, as this one is sort of on a gardening theme, but I wanted to post a picture of my latest project - a dedicated charcoal shed. The footprint is 10x10 feet. I wanted to build something I couldn’t possibly burn down, although the super cheap corrugated metal roofing would probably melt pretty fast if I tried to run a retort inside without a chimney! I put it up in 2 half-days of work, and the total cost was like $360 - most of which was the roofing.
It is already half-full with all my retort barrels, and bags of charcoal, so the next step is to make a grinder and a trommel to start making engine sized pieces.
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Hi Carl,
I think I’ve found a solution for my next storage shed. I presume you made some sort pattern to keep the hoops equal and then a pipe bender to shape them. How did you handle joining the corners? Did you start with the back to stabilize the arch? Sure beats framing, sheathing, siding, painting and roofing! I couldn’t do wood for $360! Nice job!
Pepe
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I love it Carl, that is really nice, is it anchored into the ground? Where I live the first wind coming through would blow it away.
Keeping everything under cover is very nice.
Bob
Yes, I need one too! My 300th barrel is loaded, (packed tight), covered, and ready to light as soon as the burn ban is lifted. I have way too much charcoal sitting everywhere in my barn which is 84’ long and 56’ wide. During the ban, I have kept busy by grinding,sifting and grading the charcoal already made, plus the few gallons I make every outdoor cooking session.
What I see: Ten Sonotubes (or plastic buckets) of concrete in the ground in two rows, each ten feet long. 20 sacks (or more) Quikrete 80# @$3 ea, (15)10 ft. Corrugated Galvanized Steel Utility-Gauge roof panels from Home Depot at $20 each, including Tax. 200 Screws at ten cents each. Ten 10’ 3/4" EMT Conduit for $60.
Adding it up:
Sonotubes $25
Quikrete $60
Panels $300
Screws $20
3/4" EMT $60
Total $405
Carl, am I close? Corrections, Please.
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Nice shed build carl’ and thanks for the info on wood chips, and that the chips steel the nitrogen till rotted out,€@?
Yeah, I cut a 5’ piece of 1x12 to the radius of my arch, and then I would bend a little at a time and check it against the pattern. Doesnt have to be millimeter precision, just pretty close. Also, there is a straight leg 26" long at the base of each arch, to give the structure better headroom while maintaining a 5’ radius.
The end wall did go up first, and you cant really see them, but I ran a few 1/2 pieces of EMT across the back to support the panel edges. I hammered the ends flat, and then screwed them to the frame. Once the back was covered, I just trimmed them to the curve with an angle grinder.
It is sitting on 10 concrete footings (8" diameter footing tubes). I made short sections that I slit the bottoms and splayed open so they would anchor in the concrete. Those short base sections could then be cut level. The structure itself then sits on the tubes and is joined with little emt unions. Since the unions are not very strong, the metal siding laps down over to the footing tube, and that should anchor it pretty well.
This design would probably need to be modified for high wind and for snow loads - we have neither. A 40 MPH gust of wind here is a rare (and scary), and my little valley is fairly sheltered from the wind. I was thinking that for snow you could make the structure a bit taller, then zigzag some aircraft cable back and forth between the ribs near the ceiling. That would act as collar ties, and prevent the thing from crushing like a pop can under a large layer of snow.
Yes, you are spot on - only I used much less concrete. I had the footing tubes on hand, so I think I spent 25 on the footings. I only used 5 bags of concrete. Also I will add to your list that I used 4 sticks of 1/2 EMT to shore up the back, and you will need 15x 3/4" EMT unions (25 for $10). Otherwise, the difference seems to only be the regional price of materials.
The design was a simplified version of my greenhouse, which I built using the same arches, but with complete end walls, and a covering of clear plastic. It has held up pretty well, although its frame is also a bit more sophisticated. It is screwed to a base of 2x6’s and has not been blown away yet. the curved sides probably help with wind.
If I were to do it again, I would probably enclose the entire back wall - originally I had thought i wanted a vent so I could burn inside and let the smoke out, but I am not thinking that will be very practical. In that case, I should have used 8’ panels stood on end along the back, and then trimmed to fit. It was a fun project though, and you can keep an eye on how its doing the background of all my future charcoaling pictures, although I will probably block it out of frame if it falls down 
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Hey guys woke up to our fourth garden knocking back frost in the last 30 days.
Ha! Be no showy garden pictures from me this year.
My Father-in-law claimed he once saw actual snow fall on the 4th of July up here in our mountain valley back in the early 1950’s. Both long perimeter fence trailing grape vines got frost hammered back earlier.
Ha! Ha! M-a-y-b-e it is just my discovered forgotten Norwegian blood, eh?
Fruits trees and blue berries are all heavy set this year and high enough not to be affected.
tree-farmer Steve unruh
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Greenhouse is a big improvement this year.
Someone gave me some tobacco plants in the pots on the corner of the beds. I’m going to try Garry’s insect spray tea.
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Carl, I like the shed! nice efficient use of material.
Good warnings about chips. Yes, I will keep them on top in paths to control weeds. We don’t till/turn our soil. Keep those microbes happy! When the strata are disturbed, it makes it harder for the little critters to reestablish themselves. A little bit of forking is all it takes to prepare our mounds/beds.
It takes some effort to build a good compost pile: besides C:N ratio, it helps to watch particle size (shred contributions when possible), air (providing air from underneath and in center of the pile), moisture and minimum volume of pile (3’ X 3’ X 3’). Get these things right and it really cooks hot and fast.
For a while I was obsessing over whether to add stone dust/flour, but then I saw some research showing that composted leaves are a great source of bioavailable minerals brought up from deep underground by tree roots.
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Wife was telling me this morning that my compost piles need more green. With the current drought, almost everything is brown. One of my 1400 pound cows drowned in one of the ponds with a very steep bank. We dragged her out with the tractor and put her next to our largest compost pile, and then moved the pile on top of her. Makes real good compost after a year or so, and I put the bones into my charcoal making barrel to recover the phosphorous and calcium. I finally convinced my neighbor to stop burning her leaves, so now she shows up with truckloads of them for my compost piles. (Besides, it is against the law to burn outside, so she doesn’t have much of a choice.) We might get some rain today!
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Sorry to hear about the cow Ray. Good info on composting it! It shocks me a year is enough to decompose it!
I moved my first biochar compost today! Horse manure with leaves (bedding) and about 10% charcoal. Steamed realy well for about 2 month then it slowly cooled and compressed down to 50%. Will report how it turns out next year.
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The 4th of July, Happy Independence Day, Have a wonderful Day, Amercan DOW members, and to all the rest of you have a wonderful day on your Independence Day too.
Bob
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What Bob said
Hope everyone had a great 4th July .
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You could grow a ton of cucumbers on there too. They wouldn’t even interfere with the pumpkins. Those cattle panels are sturdy.
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Tomatoes are good on them to but you have to tie them up.
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I would not grow tobacco near my tomatoes or store dried tobacco near them either. You could lose your tomatoes to tobacco diseases/etc. You might lose your medium to disease also. Big mess!
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More info please. Lose my medium?
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I think Bill will be pretty safe where he is, far outside traditional tobacco growing area, and isolated from any nearby neighbours. I’ve grown tobacco up here for 17 years, and never had any indication of disease.
I’m betting Bill has no worries about potato bugs either, due to the isolation. Potatoes are a magic crop if you don’t have to worry about bugs…
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I don’t worry about potatoe bugs I raise a bumper crop of bugs each year…
They are really hardy if you like I can send you a few to start your crop…
There are some good organic sprays you can use to fight them but they always seem to come right back. Tough little buggers them potatoe bugs.
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