John Bos

Hi, finally I decided to dillute the tar that has been curing for two weeks using 100% ehtanol: I applied it with a paintbrush ans just "painted" (dilluted) it using ethanol in order to spread the wet areas and help it suck into the wood. Not sure if this helped the drying process, but last week I decided it was good enough, although some parts were still sticky.

I mounted the gutter and it looks beatiful! And it works perfectly. I dug two small canals and two wadis, so every gutter has its own wadi to let the rainwater soak into the ground. I mounted two bamboo sticks vertically touching the gutters, they both are just put into the ground where the canals start. I checked this during windy conditions: 6 Bft, and some moderate rain. There was almost no water movement to be seen at first glance, but when I put my finger against the bamboo stick, water was flowing over my finger. When I removed the stick, the water was dripping in a much bigger radius. So it seems this is working quite good!

@John C Daley: yes! But I liked the idea of using wood as much as possible, as I had it in stock.

I plan to drop the water into a hole in ground,  so no downspout, and fill that hole with shells against splashing, and then I want to dig a trench to a wadi for drainage

@Stephen B. Thomas thanks for your response! I use a commercial product: https://www.auson.se/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Black-Pine-Tar-ENG-200213-1.pdf

Unfortunately when applying the tar, I did it outdoors, and it was moist. I did that in order to prefent excessive fumes. After 4 days I moved the gutters indoors. After another 4 days I turned on the heating of the room, and right now, after almost 2 weeks, it seems the tar is slowly drying! It still feels sticky, but not as fluid as a few days ago. I think I have to be patient?

The only "problem" I have are concerns about the shed having no gutters at the moment, as rain water is spashing against the wooden walls. The wooden wall starts about 15 cm above ground level, as the measured foundation wall extends at least 15 cm above ground level. All wood is painted, so I guess it can handle some splash water for antother 1 or 2 weeks?

Nice work, especially the hand tools, and nice result!

hi all,

I built a small shed myself, mainly out of wood and mainly with hand tools. It was a lot of fun!

Now I have also made the rain gutter out of wood myself. I coated it with pine tar. But because I did this late in the season during colder, wetter weather, it hardly dries.

Even when there is a lot of sun and heat the tar tries (penetrates the wood) slowly, but during these time of the year (autumn) even slower... I have therefore put it inside in a heated room (about 16 degrees C) in the hope that it will dry faster than outside, where temperature averages 6-8C.

Do you perhaps have any ideas, how I can promote the drying process? Or should I just be patient and keep waiting? The gutter has been drying for about 10 days now and the tar seems to be getting subtly drier now....

Hi, plans have changed drastically: I finally decided to build a mansonry wall, which protrodes 10 inches above ground level. I used (very) old bricks (over 100 years old); I'm very pleased with the result! This will keep the wood construction elevated from the moist ground, wich is a good thing I think. It also anchors the building to the ground, so these problems are solved. I added 12 open head joints, for under-floor natural ventilation. Those joints are about 0,5-1 inch wide. Some people warned me for mice.

The general opinion seems one have to keep mice out of your shed (basement). But before adding grids to block entrance for mice, I was wondering if this is really an issue? What if I just don't prevent these mice from visiting my shed basement, what would be the worst thing that could happen? I have no electrical wires in my shed, nor any food. I will store only bicycles and garden tools in my shed, but this is above floor... I'm curious about your opinions!

@Bri England: thanks for the suggestion! I will add some vertical diagonal bracing. I live in The Netherlands; it rarely gets below -10 Celcius nowadays...

@John F Dean: thanks for the idea!

hi,

I decided to make a foundation after all, after doubts, to be sure that the shed is well fixed.

Now I want to make the foundation as durable as possible, so with reused materials. I myself thought of old, used, monastic bricks that I was able to find at a local store. But later I discovered that these bricks come from Hungary, which is about 1400 km away from where I live. I am curious now, whether the environmental impact for transportation will be greater or lesser than producing new bricks. Do you perhaps have any idea about that?          

Hi, thans for all your responses! I think I will just build and see if it works out...