On the level!

News flash: Never try to use a level that isn't!

Last Friday afternoon and most of Saturday was spent at the site constructing a structure to house our toilet facility. We set up a canvas shelter last spring and it has been passable for us members, but starting Friday and running all next week we will have the Permaculture Class participants on site often and the canvas (not to mention the idea of it being the shelter) was wearing pretty thin.

The new shelter was designed (and I use the term loosely) to be large enough not only to sit down in a private, dry, level place, but also to allow storage of extra buckets, saw dust and paper, storage for tools and other things that need minimum protection from the weather, and provide a place to change clothes and hang up a few items while working at the site.

I had four treated 4X4 8-foot poles and two that size that aren't treated to work with, plus lots of miscellaneous wood from the old barn. The poles were part of a large lumber buy made at an auction some years back, and since I was doing the work by myself and there wasn't planned to be anything but dirt to hold them in the ground, I was grateful that they're treated. In the best of circumstances, though, they would not be and we would encase them in clay or concrete and paint them.

The plan was to make the inside of the structure 6 feet by 6 feet, cover it with 8-foot roofing sheets from the barn, and build a heavy-duty metal grid floor from shelf material like one might find at a Lowes or Home Depot which I had left over from building the greenhouse shelves at home.

I started digging using a shovel and a post-hole digger. When it was deep enough I put a piece of flat limestone in the bottom and filled it in with the heavy clay that had been removed. The clay proved to be the predominant component of the soil where I dug. The site is in the woods, north of the smaller clearing. I hope this clay isn't everywhere we dig, but finding it here, in an area much like where homes will be built, makes me believe we will have plenty to use if we choose to use an earthen finish on foundations or walls.

Next came making the post perpendicular. This wasn't too hard, especially since the soil was loose and I didn't plan to tap it down hard until all four were in place and braced.

The second hole was centered a little more than 6 feet away, and it went in just as easily. There wasn't much need to worry about it until the third pole was set and the right angle established between them. (Sure wish I'd brought a carpenter's square.)

While pushing and tapping each of the three posts to get them both perpendicular and as close to 6 feet apart as possible, I was having a heck of a time getting them right. I'd tap a post about an inch to level the bubble, tamp down the earth around the post and hold the level up to it again. It was off the other way! I'd repeat the process and hold the level upright against it again. Back the other way! Was I just getting hungry and doing a sloppy job?

It finally occurred to me to test the level. I held it against the post, eyeballed the bubble, and turned it in my hand 180 degrees. The bubble was somewhere else. The level was off!! This is a very nice level which I bought cheap (the keyword) at a store closing. It has three small slides on it to aid in putting up pictures and such. The slides have holes in their centers through which one marks the spot for nails. Very precise, and level in the horizontal dimension. But I had never used it in the vertical position before. Lesson learned.

In the end, I reminded myself that this shelter was being used for our temporary toilet and decided that most users would have plenty to keep themselves busy in there and wouldn't be critical if the posts were not perfect. I tried to average the bubble position between the two sides and nailed up diagonal braces going each way on three of the structures four sides.

The two non-treated posts were used for top plates on opposite sides, some old wood from the barn became the end pieces connecting the two top plates. The metal roof sheets were placed and nailed without incident. I added one more than needed and let it extend beyond the end of the headers more than two feet. Since they were already more than a foot longer than the building, the total width of the extension beyond the uprights is now about 3 feet.

I'll add a picture when I remember to take batteries for the camera.

The old tarp is back in use as the side cover for more than half of the building, the part that could possibly be seen into from the path. The other half is open to the world, at least until I find the best way to cover it. No one can approach the structure from the uncovered side unless they want to bushwhack, and a user would hear them coming. In a few days I'll add the metal floor grids, and we'll be ready for customers, so to speak.