6.75×5.25m total, comprised of two structures in one. solar shed is 2.5×5.25m. barn side is 4.25×5.25m.solar equipment shed was built by me and my 81-82 y/o (at the time) dad from 4/2023 to 6/2024. barn construction began 2/2025 and was bult mostly by me with some help from my wife. wife's rabbit business partner/friend and her husband helped install the steel roof and siding. the roll-up door arrives in 4 weeks, but the actual building(s) construction is complete as of 5/2026.solar shed houses inverter & batteries with our smaller 2440w array mounted on the roof. larger 4450w array is ground mounted just south of it. power to the house is buried in conduit that runs under the barn side. shed also stores building materials and garden tools. Barn side is dedicated to wife's rabbit business.shed side is 2x4 walls, 2x6 rafters, on concrete slab foundation, OSB sheathing and composition shingle roof. barn side is pole barn construction with 4x4 posts set 1m deep in concrete, furring strips between posts for steel R-panel siding and roof. there is one 2x4 stud wall on the north, also furred for steel siding, but it is not load bearing in the traditional sense. the barn currently has a dirt floor.all built on an extreme budget using lots of repurposed & scrap materials. shed cost aboot $975 all-in. barn was more expensive, less scrap/repurposed material @ $4,150. total structure $5,175 includes every screw, wire, conduit, panel, lumber, doors, window, concrete & trench machine rental.solar system provides 85%-110% of our power, total cost: $15,200. system layout designed by me, DIY install, grid-tied, non-export, self-consumption. all pricing in CAD. Dad's still happy, healthy and doing Dad stuff with Mum @ their house.
>3 yearslooks like something a meth head built under a bridge over a weekend
The interior of the barn side:I drove 30 min into town last weekend to purchase the window, one additional stud & a 4x4 post to cut/fit a beam above the roll-up door as a header. I forgot the fucking 4x4, so i just made do with what was available. I had an old termite-eaten 4x6×8 post i was given when somone replaced their fence. I cut it down to 8.9cm×10.15cm×1.8m then shored up a split with moisture-curing polyurethane glue. I would say the beam is 90% and it wont be bearing any real load, so.... good enough.I salvaged an old kitchen sink cabinet & counter from a job so wife can have some basic water, cleaning utility and a "workbench". there is much cleanup & rearranging to be done inside the barn to finalize the rabbitry setup. we will wait to add the rest of the high-value rabbits & their housing until the roll-up arrives. we dont want to risk $1000's worth of top-tier genetics to predators.
solar shed interior. very basic. reclaimed cabinetry with reclaimed 6mm plywood top for rudimentary storage and work surface. I used cast-offs from drywall install to finish the walls.
>>2992467congratulations! i'm starting an off grid cabin in a little over a month. i'm curious about the route you went with your solar. there used to be a great /diy/ solar thread that had tons of info but of course it 404d because people want to argue about how their brand of tool is better or whatever. any advice or resources you can recommend?
>>2992474im only familiar with what I purchased and installed. obviously, I went with Sol-Ark 12k Inverter. I have had Ø problems with it. it gets good reviews, specifically mentioned it it is quieter than its budget competitor, EG4. we use 4x Pytes V5 LiFePO4 (20.48kwh) now. they are CAN bus connected for closed-loop comms. these replaced our 300ah Trojan FLA. We cycle them to 25% SOC every night. they carry us from sundown to sun-up about 60% of the time with no load reductions in our "normal use" North American household. with any light reductions we can be totally off-grid 24/7. we have 8 Qcell 305w panels on the shed and 10 Canadian Solar 445w panels ground-mounted. we have had no issues with either. the Qcells are 5 years old, I can see no real effeciency loss.entire system is grid-tied, non-export, self-consumption. our May electric bill was $78.40 for 316kwh from The Grid. in April we produced 1150kwh. as for resources? Will Prowse videos.
>>2992476thank you so much for the starting points. i'm going to be running off a honda generator while i build this thing so i'm going to be totally off grid. does that sol-ark have the ability to connect a generator to it?
>>2992478yes, Sol-Ark is a hybrid system. it can run totally off-grid, grid-tied, woth or without batteries and have a generator input in either/or setup. generator can be set up to auto-start when needed. you do want to make sure you generator can provide "clean" power, as in a smooth sine.... i say this without first-hand experience myself, as we do not currently have a generator, but i have heard it from multiple sources and I believe i read it in the Sol-Ark manual as well. in other words: check me on that.all of this is what steered me to Sol-Ark. the flexibility was king.
>>2992482yeah and I am also happy you pointed out it was quieter. the honda generator is going to be brand new and it has very clean power.
how much does onions ark pay you to make these threads
>>2992484do you have an argument against what he says or are you just upset he spent money that you don't have?
>>2992485crackhead rabbit shack doesnt exactly scream wealth
>>2992486did you see the new construction home in the background of the pictures?
>>2992485>>2992492>>2992486Anon's a fucking Bunnyhug in July. pissed off because the best wank he's ever had was while sniffing his mum's crusty gitch.all talk & no tools.
>>2992537lmao tell me more about myself, very few people can do the stuff i do
>>2992378Looked fine in pic 1. Unsure why you took it apart
>>2992538hey it's 45k guy
Next phase: HVAC installation. just arrived today. 100% paid for by livestock sales. Wife and I should be able to get it installed this weekend, and will post update.We opted for the hybrid AC/DC model. it is just the updated R32 version our our 2022 model 410-A units we have installed in our house. they can simultaneously switch between our home 120v AC and a dedicated PV array via internal inverter. this will allow us to replace our 8 Qcell 305w panels with newer 460w panels, then repurpose the older 305's DC direct power our existing Great Room HVAC and the new barn HVAC unit. this will remove 1200w-2600w burden from our household 120v solar/inverter/battery system. this means more PV available to our inverter and less import from The Grid.Overhead 1.8×2.4m roll-up door door has been held up 9 days past delivery date, waiting on some random part on backorder. spoke to the manufacturer today, updated delivery date is next week, July 8... allegedly.
Just got the 3rd wall frame up. How did I do?
>>2998012quality work, Anon. lumber looks true and framing is square. looks like youve got a overhead or double door opening. any windows or man-door planned for the 4th wall? Will it be steel roof & siding?what is its purpose? tool shed? Lawn equipment? Storage? A little bit of A, B and C?
>>2998060this fag bumping and hyping his own thread lmao
>>2997986 Me>>2998060 Me>>2998012Not Me.I updated my thread with this weekend's next step. if thats "bumping" then so be it. in that case, ill be "bumping" my thread again this weekend with the mini-split install and probably next weekend when I get the roll-up door and install it. I find it odd that participating and showing progress of ACTUAL DIY rather than just abandoning a project thread is so frowned upon in /DIY/.>>2998061all of that said, thanks for the "Bump" wanker.
Mini-split installed... mostly. I had to order an open-end torque wrench for the lineset fittings. It will be here Thursday July 9. I will also be installing a lineset/drain/electrical cover to tidy up the inside and outer wall.next step is overhead door installation. it should arrive this next week. If it does I will install it next weekend. once the door is installed we can remove all the construction materials and move the livestock in. we will begin using it as-is while we save up for closed-cell sprayfoam insulation. hopefully livestock sales will pick back up in September and we can get it insulated by November. until then... I guess the EG4 will just run at max capacity during the day. It just needs to stay under 28°.
>>2998446i love how this thing looks rough as fuck always using lower tier materials, and then you buy one of the most expensive mini splits on the market
>>2998446>nausea
>>2998587the mental retardation of buying a 12000 btu minisplit to cool a 100 sqft cuckshed made of garbage you cant afford to insulate boggles the mind
>>2998587 #observation appreciated. this entire project as been about cost savings & function over form. I have used an incredible amount of free & reclaimed materials in process. PICREL: door is from a Gub'ment Cheeze Communist Housing Unit where some trash tenants got into *yet another* domestic, resulting in another kicked in door. after replacment, I brought it home and repaired it *good enough* for farm use - FREE.as stated in OP we live on solar power. it is a 22 square meter livestock barn; livestock require constant air change (ACH) for respiratory health. that increases the size of HVAC. this is not sole random purchase mini-split. it was chosen for its dual/hybrid AC/DC power option. it can run on AC grid, AC home solar/battery, DC solar panel direct and switch between them seamlessly, while also being one of the most efficient inverter units available. we splurge where added cost adds actual value.>>2998640 #"can't afford" is totally different from "debt-free & budgeting" society as a whole fails at this. we are SAVING MONEY TO PAY CASH for insulation... I know it's a foreign concept: make do today in order to excel tomorrow. delayed gratification. our approach is always function first, budget second. 238sqft is a little different from 100sqft. we can discuss your mathematical abilities, HVAC, ACH and livestock managment later.its ok... most retards dont understand HVAC, sizing, BTU, thermal load, humidity management, livestock, or general health & comfort. i dont fault you for being a normie, its expected. shall we discuss your financial position, home/land portfolio, trade certifications, self-sufficiency, and apparently general mathematical abilities? I built an entire homestead, farm and infrastructure in 3 years, while living debt-free, saving for retirement and building self-reliance, all done on a single meager income and I/we have had fun while doing it. how 'bout you?
>>2998663if you're gonna larp as a math expert canadian, at least learn to convert metric properly tx
uhh you forgot the floor anon
>>2992378hey I remember this wreck from the abominations thread!
>>2992378You didn't hire any non-white people to help with it? I only see whites in the pictures
>>2998663>>2998663You are kind of an asshole mate you ask what people think about your build but when they give negative feedback you tell people that YOU know how to budget which is not common these days heh heh Like c'mon man you don't have to do the tough guy actMaybe this schizo >>2999245 is onto something, you starting to seem like a racist
open-end torque wrench arrived yeasteday. set line nuts to 27Nm. turned on and tested unit: we are go. cool air, good airflow & low watt use. this R32 unit is SEER2, 22.5 vs our "identical" but 3 year older R410A units in the house. the house units required standard vacuum pump installation, vs this unit's DIY precharged accumulator & pre-vac'd lineset with quick connect & o-ring fittings. no vacuum pump required. still no updated delivery date on our roll-up door. I have called at least once each week, and they keep giving a nebulous "it should be here soon" non-answer. shame, as I was hoping to install it this weekend.based on an unexpected boost in livestock sales, we are already halfway to the sprayfoam installation savings goal. it looks like we may get it done by end of July or beginning of august.
>>2998012Main door way missing cripple studs. That header is just there for looks I guess...
>>2999263The roof load is carried by the embedded posts right and left of doorframe, not by the door framing. The 4×4 header over the door is there to frame in the door, provide a place to attach the door frame and the furring for the steel siding, not to carry roof load.cripples are not required to carry roof loads in post frame buildings. the roof load goes directly through the concrete embedded posts. both posts, right and left of doorframe are embedded 1m deep in concrete.
>>2999246>you starting to seem like a racisti prefer the term race realist
>>2992378What the hell is with that door placement? Both on the far ends of one side? Cut an angle to fit the double doors? Why??
>>2999453the structure is two buildings under one roof. solar equipment and storage shed side is 2.5m wide. double door sits in the middle of that; 184cm rough opening. due to the 30° pitch of the roof for panels, I had to cut the right hand door to accommodate. while odd, it serves our purpose perfectly and maximizes utility and access.the left side is a 4.25 wide pole barn. door placement seems normal to us, but if you're looking for details; the rabbit cage layout, window & utility sink, counter & cabinet placement left us with about 1m of open space for a man door. placement also puts the door closest to the man door exit on the side our our attached garage. we wanted to preserve the north barn wall unobstructed, for cage layout, thus why there are no windows on it either. with the 1.8m roll up door on the wall opposite the man door, sink & window, the layout makes perfect sense. man door inswing doesn't interfere with primary floorspace, allows tractor, tiller, trailer, storage and work area in center if needed. it just generally makes best use of the entire open floor layout.while I certainly understand the curiosity about the one custom cut door on the solar shed, I dont really see the oddity of the barn door location.>>2999263picrelI misread your comment as "man door" instead of "main door". if you are referring to the roll-up door header, the same reasoning applies to it. header is not intended or needed to support the roof load. 1m concrete imbedded posts support the roof perfectly well without cripple assist.
>>2992378absolutely based anon, love it. wish happiness to you and your wife. kids?>>2992538hhhhnnnngh those arches, please tell me about those. why, who, and how.>>2998446>open-end torque wrenchthat is such a gay and specific thing to have to order, damn>>2998663very good requirements-based approach to hvac selection, always ignore>why didn't you just [x]faggotswhat region? you say north america but that's bigalso if you have any workbooks or hand calcs for sizing your solar/etc post that shit
Roll-up door finally arrived. I just brought it home and parked it for today. I hope to install it this weekend but will likely need some help hoisting it up since we dont own a forklift or tractor. If its not too bad, wife and I can just rig up a lifting mechanism with pullys and rope.>>3000699appreciated. we live, work, build & budget from a practicality first standpoint. at least the open end torque wrench is bought can also function as a standard ratchet and socket wrench. dual function is a requirement for almost everything in our lives.as for calculations or workbooks to size solar: its all so needs-specific, nothing i could post here would be generically applicable. identify and totall ALL of your loads then work backwards from there to accomodate them. I started 10 years ago, learning via books, forums & videos. im glad I was pushed (forced) to learn it manually but there is no longer a need to do it so analog. just use AI. that is a valid and entirely legitimate use for it. JUST MAKE SURE THAT YOU ACTUALLY ABSORB THE INFORMATION. dont just blindly do what it tells you. make sure you actually learn WHY you are doing whatever you do & understand your system. my input; always go 48V system, always incorporate batteries. I like hybrid inverters, if the grid is available, why not tie in and have yet another redundancy?ill update more during & after installation.
>>3000699>hhhhnnnngh those arches, please tell me about those. why, who, and how.female customer found instagram/pinterest pictures and told me to go nuts, so i did
>>2992397why are you guys like this?Sure a bunch of amish may raise one over the course of three day. But some people have stuff to do, OP didn't claim. to have invested 3 man years.Congrats on the barn OP.
>>2999250the adjustable insert seems to be quite a bit longer than the ratchet to begin with and different size bolt heads will further shift it. While irrelvant for your current project be sure to calibrate for the adjustable one with the size of intended hex if ever doing something critical.
door is installed, however, there is basically no spring recoil and the tensioner mechanism is seized. all instructions were followed, including the preloading via two rotations in the "door closing" direction prior to feeding the curtain down into the guides. the tensioner takes a square socket and should rotate downward in the "door opening" direction to increase tension, or "door closing" direction to lessen the tension. when looking at the face of the tensioner side clockwise would lessen, counterclockwise would increase. no matter what, it will not budge. i put considerable force on it, but won't risk damage with retard strength or a breaker bar. I have contacted the manufacturer and submitted photos directly to the service/install/repair tech. he agrees something is not right with the unit. luckily I have a good portion of it on video, so there were no questions of whether or not install and process was correct.they are sending a tech out at no charge. he is 500km away so it'll be tomorrow, but thats still pretty damn snappy in my professional service experience.despite the hang-up it looks good. the wavy-ness you see is the connection points of the individual steel panels that comprise the door. it is made up of 5 panels seamed horizontally. I hope that will disappear over time, but its not really that important.
Tensioner assembly was bad. Tech came out (no charge) tested, tried to adjust and the tensioner broke while he attempted to free it. he replaced it, then made a few additional track adjustments, all at no charge. Great guy, great service, great company & excellent product overall.I am tentatively scheduled for sprayfoam installation next week. I hope to hear back on an exact date within the next few days.
>>2992474All the solar info lives in https://rentry.co/solarshit
>>3001763Nice, glad he got it working. You're not going to diy the spray foam with those froth packs? What is having the spray foam done going to cost you? Are they going to top coat it with that rubberized paint to protect the foam from UV damage?
So, uh, wtf happened here my man? Measuring tape too complicated?
>>3001794I will not be DIY'ing the foam. I got several estimates, met with the best 2 and went with the one that had more years, established name/reputation and a dated photographic portfilolio showing years-up-to-current work. asked him specifics on his chemicals and mix, ensuring true closed cell, not some hybridized bastard product. he did offer to paint it at an additional cost. I told him I owned a Graco airless and he told me the product to purchase at Henry, "Baker Solar Flex". aboot $3200 for the foam install.>>3001796its a knot hole, retard. need another picture because your insult assumption didn't land like you wanted?I will install the last of my wiring this weekend in prep for the sprayfoam. I have one more LED ballast to wire 4.5m and a seperate 2.5m run from last weekend's outlets circuit install to the load panel... i ran out of Loomex (NMD90) at my last jct box just before the panel. Dad had a 7m piece laying around in his shop he gave me. its ony #14. the rest of that circuit is on #12, but whatever, im not going to be running welders or anything high draw. just clippers, maybe a saw once in a while, portable lamp or fan occasionally. highest load it might be exposed to is a 2000w space heater, and thats only if something happened to the mini-split.
>>3001798Oh, so at least 3 of those boards (visible ones at least in that photo) happened to have suspiciously straight cut notches, sorry "knots", in pretty much the same spot. Let's just go with that and definitely not your shoddy construction skills showing yet again.
>>3001808do I need to explain shadows, lighting and camera angles to you, or geometry in general? you stepped in shit and failed with your 1st attempt to insult. admit it and go on. maybe try contributing something useful rather than just pissing and grasping at straws.
>>30018142nd picture not really helping your case lmfao
Coming along nicely OP. Been following along since the start so thanks for the update. For those that want to shit on OP by shitting on me, don’t bother. I don’t care and the captcha sucks.
>>3001816you made a stupid & incorrect assessment that a knot hole was a mis-measurement. i provided photo evidence. you clearly do not understand how geometry works. I figured as much. i'll explain geometry, carpentry and photography to you:A 30° miter "adds length" because the cut is measured along a diagonal instead of straight across, so the cut board extends farther than the board it joins, despite both starting as the same dimensional lumber.now tree wood science: trees have branches. when a tree grows, its can grow around its own branch. when said tree is cut into lumber, these branches become exposed as knot holes. depending on location of said knots and potential cuts, the knots will become visible and sometimes fall out.photography: light is critical in photography. how the light hits the subject can drastically affect the photo taken. often times, if lighting is not carefully controlled or ideal, shadows, reflections and "white light" can present a false impression. when combined with perspective angle the result can be visually confusing. often times a simple closer inspection or second photographic angle can clear things up, if the inspector is not too fucking stupid to use their eyes, brain and admit incorrect perception.I have a functional and Aesthetically pleasing barn, which makes us money via livestock with a connected, but seperate solar shed that houses my equipment and supports 1/3 of my panel array. this cuts my electric bill to approx $30-$50 per month depending on season, and provides me critical back-up during frequent rural power grid outages. all of this was built and commissioned by me, my wife and occasionally some help from my 84 year old dad, as a hobby & interest project. All done while remaining consumer debt free, living in a $500k custom built 2023 house, on 10 acres, contributing to our retirement fund, building skills and having fun while living on our terms...what do you have? just bitter condescension? yeah.....
>>3001897you should write a book that no one will read
sprayfoam completed yesterday. paid in full, with ~$975 left over in the "bunny money" bank. I still need to order and install the barrel/header brush seal for the roll-up door. brush seal is only ~$60. it will seal a 65mm×185cm air gap which i assume it will make a noticeable difference in heat/cool loss/exchange. we have a 14° delta inside/outside. mini-split is humming along nicely. with all 3 units running overnight plus all household static loads, we only pulled ~1300W on average. despite that, the new mini-split is a noticeable increase in load added to our system. this makes the planned December expansion/upgrade critical. once ordered and installed we will go from 6890w to 9050w PV through our solark system. after that, we will reinstall the 2440w array as two separate 4 panel arrays, each connected to a mini-split. one for Great Room and one for barn. this will totally remove 2/3 of our potential HVAC loads during solar hours. the December upgrade will also include a 5th Pytes LifePO4 which will expand our storage capacity by 25%. we already have the cash to buy the upgrade, but will wait until December. by that time, we should have 2x the nessesary funding which leaves us in a better financial position going into the new year. I will use the next 4.5 months to purchase all of the railing, wiring and concrete to fabricate and install the ground mount support structures for the panels.
The GIFtour
>>3001814kek this is for sure going in the next abominations thread, thank you for posting such a perfect example
