Garden Tractor Forums banner

Help me get my shed open....

3K views 35 replies 19 participants last post by  MH81 
#1 ·
Well, we are getting snow. Not only did I not install my plow or blower, but now I can't even get my shed open. I have pavers in front of the doors, now that the ground has frozen, the pavers have raised and are preventing the doors from swinging open.
Other than prying the pavers up, does any one have any ideas? I'm guessing not, but I figured it was worth asking :rolleyes: :confuse:
 
#3 · (Edited by Moderator)
Does neighbor have a chainsaw you can borrow?

But seriously, can you take the doors off at hinges and saw a couple of inches off. Cause it sounds like you will have to cut them off anyway, either that or take pavers up and dig down a little more.
With doors still on, you could scribe a line coupla inches above pavers and cut doors off in place with circular or recip saw.

Just a couple of thoughts.
 
#6 ·
dryrun said:
Does neighbor have a chainsaw you can borrow?
I can get to my chainsaw, but I think I will pass on that idea....:D

dryrun said:
With doors still on, you could scribe a line coupla inches above pavers and cut doors off in place with circular or recip saw.

Just a couple of thoughts.
I like the circular saw idea, I will have to see how much I can take off of them and still seal the threshold. I might not have enough room between the ground and the cut. Then I guess I can just remove the doors to cut them.? :bash:
 
#15 ·
grnspot110 said:
How big is the shed? Is it on runners? If so, I'd block it up! ~~ grnspot110
12x20 and really heavy. I tried to jack up one corner a couple of years ago to level out the floor. I could not keep the jack from going onto the ground or crushing anything under the jack.. It has twice as much stuff in it today.
 
#18 ·
Can you boil some water, pour it on them to remove them without harm? Don't feel too bad, I once washed out my shop floor and squeegeed the water off the floor and shut the garage door, which promptly froze solid as could be to the floor. It took a LOT of work to free that up!
 
#21 ·
tweidman said:
I was wishing I had a roll door last night when I was trying to get in there, but the roll up doors that size are so ugly. Maybe I could make a slider out of the two I have?
Mine don't roll up, they slide to the side like the old barn doors. The shed is just an 8x8 single slab, the garage is two 4x8 slabs. I have to move the fence a bit, one garage door only opens about half way, but that's a "when I fix my own fence" job. Ya ever notice that the things other people pay you to do never get done at your own house?
 
#22 ·
I find the problem ( at least for me ) with sliding doors in the winter is that the channel at the bottom will fill with ice,and then it is quite a job to get it out so the doors will slide.
 
#23 ·
Propane cooking pot heater, 10 gallon pot, water pump, 50' of garden hose and a couple of pieces of 2" styrofoam. Weave the hose on the pavers in front of the door, cover it with the styrofoam and recirculate the water. The water does not have to be hot, just warm. I've melted a hose into ice pumping ice water out of my portable carport. Use the exterior grade foam, a couple of 2'x 8' panels, and cut to the size you need. That should thaw out the ground under the pavers, but it probably won't be quick and you'll have to keep an eye on the water level.

High temps won't make the job go faster. The heat transfers through the pavers and ground only so fast and I don't think anything over 100* will help, probable 70* or less would be as much as you can use effectively. Just guessing here. You also want to cover 50% more area than you need to open the door.

At least your frost shouldn't be as deep as ours.

Bob
 
#24 ·
mjodrey said:
I find the problem ( at least for me ) with sliding doors in the winter is that the channel at the bottom will fill with ice,and then it is quite a job to get it out so the doors will slide.
Yeah, but my option on the garage is shovelling snow enough for a four-foot door to swing open, since there isn't enough headroom in there for an overhead door. I don't think the people who built it were very tall.

I built the shed new, but there's a wooden ramp that forms the channel, so there's lots of room for debris and it's fairly well protected.

I was thinking about the original post and would be concerned that lowering the bricks near the garage might channel water into that space. I don't know the property, obviously, so I can't say for sure, but I think I would tend to shorten the doors, not lower the bricks.
 
#25 ·
mjodrey said:
I find the problem ( at least for me ) with sliding doors in the winter is that the channel at the bottom will fill with ice,and then it is quite a job to get it out so the doors will slide.
Maynard, is the channel at the bottom made of metal like the one at the top? If so (and this is probably a job for summer) if you could remove the bottom track and install heat trace on the bottom of the track, You could turn it on when the cold weather hits and it would keep the track clear of ice for the winter. Just a thought.
 
#26 ·
caseguy said:
Maynard, is the channel at the bottom made of metal like the one at the top? If so (and this is probably a job for summer) if you could remove the bottom track and install heat trace on the bottom of the track, You could turn it on when the cold weather hits and it would keep the track clear of ice for the winter. Just a thought.
Not metal,it's a channel in the concrete,but your idea is good though.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top