Over the years we have made several 'carports' out by the shop to
protect the cars from the sun, falling limbs and birds but none were
designed to last and the most recent was recycled a few years ago. I
saw an opportunity to re-purpose a few of the pieces of well
drop-pipe from our recent well upgrade so surplus well pipe became
carport roof support posts. All of the wood was from homestead
stock; maple and cherry for the main support beams and rough-sawn
basswood 2x4's and more cherry for the five trusses. The roofing
metal and a few U-bolts to hold the roof down were the only
purchased materials. Here is a brief review of how this fun project
went.
In the beginning ...
Overall this was a fun project and so far the carport has done its job as intended. A couple of weeks of enjoyable outside work and less than $500 invested. All's well on the homestead! |
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Some folks have their GARAGE attached to their house, some a little bit away. Here in the Upper Peninsula it is common to see old houses back a ways from the road but with the garage built right up by the road, with a very short "driveway". Such were practical the home builders of old. And we did the same. Of course, the distance from our house to our garage is a bit longer -- about 1/2 mile through the woods, up or down the fairly steep hill, depending on if one is coming or going. This has worked wonderfully for us for forty years and we expect it to continue for another many decades. Much of the year we drive down to the homestead, parking near the shop. But when the snow arrives we dig out the snowshoes and start packing our path to the garage. That is so much easier and more pleasant than trying to plow or blow snow that whole way, which isn't practical anyway. This friendly little building has held up well but we knew it was time, and it deserved, a nice new roof... September 22, 2021 -- Garage Roof Update A bit of history on our garage: It is located at the end of the county road about ½ mile south-west of the house, on our neighbor’s property. We built it over 40 years ago on the edge of the snow-plow turnaround. The county road stops there because of a significant escarpment. About 30 years ago the paper company that owned adjacent land filled and graded beyond that cliff to create a viable logging road which gave us a nice, gated driveway. Nice in the summer, that is. The hill is steep enough that it is not passable once covered with snow and ice.
Having the garage up there at the top of the hill has been nice,
especially in winter. We sized it for the smaller cars we were driving
in our early years here on the homestead; Opel Kadetts, Toyota Corolla
and Dodge Rampages. Our 2007 Prius fits in lengthwise but it is a bit
tight getting in and out.
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There are many times, in all seasons, when the sun is out bright and the
batteries are fully charged. Sometime this happens early in the day and
the potential energy from the solar panels for the rest of the day is
just wasted. The charge controller sees that the batteries are full and
says, "I'll do my job of protecting the batteries from overcharge by
reducing the power I'm sending to them".
The resting voltage of our battery bank is (as of 2024) 26.6 volts so in the morning, before the sun hits the panels, the diversion relay is OFF. The voltage increases as the sun hits the panels and usually by mid-morning it climbs to or above 27 volts. Some time later, usually 15 minutes to an hour, depending on how bright the sun is and how much battery power we used the the previous evening, the controller will go through a short 'Absorb' mode and then switches to 'Float' mode. At that point both criteria have been met and the
heaters are turned on. There is enough hysteresis in the
controller's programming to keep the heaters on throughout the day
even though the solar input may vary quite a bit due to clouds. In
the evening the process reverses and when the battery voltage drops
below 27 volts the relay switches OFF. Usually there is a short
period during which with the heaters off the voltage will go back up
to more than 27 volts and the heaters may turn on for a few minutes.
Sometimes we notice this happening but usually, since the relays are
pretty quiet and the heaters are virtually silent, we are unaware of
this little shut-down process.
On a typical partly sunny day the diversion
controller shut-down is early enough that the panels have a chance
to top off the batteries before sundown. It is an understatement to
say that we are very happy with this unit's performance! At this
point (April, 2025) the controller has performed flawlessly for over
eighth years. I changed a couple of settings when we upgraded our
battery bank to lithium ion (LiFePO4) batteries but otherwise it has just worked
without even being touched for all those years. I estimate the cost
for the controller was less than $20, a pretty good return on
investment! Temporary Storage using Straw Bales and some boards and plastic sheet The articles, discussions, and books on straw bale building have been fun and intriguing. If we build again, it is a technique we will certainly look into. But it is an idea that can be used on a less formal scale as well, for temporary storage and shelter.
When we first moved to our current homestead, we discovered, to our surprise and dismay,
that one summer was not long enough to build a complete homestead -- not even a complete
house -- not even close. We also discovered that those unanticipated odds and ends drained
a limited savings even faster than the grasshoppers devoured the new garden, planted on
worn-out soil. Fall arrived with the house built up only as high as the footings. We
looked around and made the responsible decision to move back down to the city to work for
money for a few more years (which lasted two months before instinct overruled supposed
responsible action, and we moved back to the homestead). * * * * * * Copyright © 1999 by Susan Robishaw / Updated 5/2025 by Steve Schmeck |
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* Should you want to use all or part of one of our articles in a non-profit publication, website or blog we simply ask that you give proper credit and link (such as "article by Sue Robishaw/Steve Schmeck from www.ManyTracks.com"), and we'd enjoy knowing where it is used. Thanks! We always appreciate links to our site www.ManyTracks.com from appropriate sites, and we thank you for recommending us! |
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Have you read "Frost Dancing - Tips from a Northern Gardener"? A fun short read. or "Homesteading Adventures" Creating our backwoods homestead--the first 20 years.
and
"Growing
Berries for Food and Fun"
A journey you can use in your own garden. |