u/soowhatchathink

TL;DR: Gravel shed foundation on uneven ground has interior dimensions of 9'5"x5'5", filled with 5.5" of gravel. Back wall is a ~1ft tall retaining wall with drainage backfill behind it. There's also a fence 1' behind the back wall. Soil is clay loam with low permeability. Planning on getting a resin shed with a gable roof that sheds water to the sides. When looking at shed sizes, what are the minimum margins I should leave around each side of the shed?

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I built a shed foundation before looking at specific sheds. I basically made the foundation as large as I could without getting too close to any trees, and not blocking any paths.

The exterior of the foundation is 10'x6' with 3.5" wide timbers, leaving inner gravel dimensions of 9'5" x 5'5". It is filled with 5.5" of #57 gravel. Here is a pic of it: https://imgur.com/a/omoU60q

The soil is mostly clay loam and has low permeability. The ground there is very unlevel. The grade slopes towards the foundation from behind it, and also slopes somewhat to the right.

The foundation has a 12.5" tall retaining wall at the back that protrudes 1-2" above grade where grade is the highest. There's ~5" thick drainage backfill behind it filled with #57 gravel. The fence is also ~1' from the back wall, which I'm hoping will help keep some dirt/mud away.

I am planning on getting a resin shed with a gable roof that sheds water towards the sides, so the front and back margins (the smaller dimension) don't handle as much roof runoff and can be smaller. Something that looks like this: https://imgur.com/a/0hdVbL3

Looking online for minimum gravel shed foundation margins, I'm seeing varying advice anywhere from 1-2ft margins on all sides to just a few inches. So I figured I'd ask for advice here.

If I'm trying to get the largest shed possible, what minimum margins would you recommend? Also, does a gable roof that sheds water to the sides actually allow me to leave smaller margins on the front and back?

I got a bunch of replacement insert windows (Simington 5500 in case that’s important) and I am wanting to make sure to weatherproof and insulate the windows as much as possible.

My existing windows are wooden windows, they’re just two sashes on aluminum jamb liners. I pull the jamb liners out and the sashes out to reveal the jambs. (jambs shown in first and second image)

The sill is painted, while the jambs aren’t since they were covered by liners. The sills are also angled downwards to drain water. This leaves a gap since my insert windows are flat at the bottom (gap shown in third image, but filled with foam). The new windows come with a sill extender to cover this gap (shown in fourth image)

My house was built in 86. Most of the jambs are actually in good condition, though there were a couple that started rotting. I’m using pc woody petrifier + their wood epoxy on those. The paint on the sill is peeling in a lot of places too.

I want to make sure to weatherproof and insulate the windows as best possible, even though I really just have access to the jambs and not the rough opening. I’ve already done two so far, one I haven’t sealed ttet. My plan for the rest so far is:

– Sand the sill down to bare wood, remove all the old paint

– Apply borate and a copper preservative to the sill and bottom half of jambs

– (only bottom half of jambs since that’s what’s accessible before pulling the windows out, and also that’s where any rot I’ve seen so far was)

– Apply butyl flashing tape to the side jambs and the part of the sill that will be covered by the window

– Install window

– Add foam insulation to the sides and top

– Add sill extender

– Seal everywhere on the inside and outside

– Prime exposed part of sill (part with no flashing tape) with cover stain and a top coat

But in doing this, there are a few things I’m not quite certain of

1. Should I put flashing tape on the top part of the jamb/the header as well?

2. Should there be some overlap between the flashing tape and primer+paint on the sill? If so should I prime+paint and then put the tape on top, or should the prime+paint go on top of the tape? Or alternatively, should I put paintable sealant over edge of the tape and then paint up to that point?

3. When I am sealing the exterior, should I seal the bottom of the sill extender to the sill? (fourth image shows this unsealed, fifth/last image shows it sealed) Or would that trap water in there and I leave it unsealed? Or alternatively should I seal most of it but leave small gaps to drain water?

4. Should I fill the gap between the bottom of the window & sill with low expansion foam for insulation (like in third image) or would that risk trapping water?

5. There are these small ~1/2″ x 1/4″ channel grooves in the middle of the jambs (second image hows them), should I worry that flashing tape over that groove might trap water in there? Or if I flash the entire jambs+sill+header leaving no entrance to that channel should I not worry about that?

Hopefully those questions made sense, my brain is a bit scrambled with this if anyone can answer any of them or if anyone has any other tips that would help too

I ordered a can of primer for delivery from Home Depot and the order was randomly cancelled after it was already out for delivery. Went outside later to find the entire can contents on my walkway.

Forgive me, but this is truly not not what I planned to encounter today…

We live in a condo and it emerged from the ceiling of our small bathroom over a short time span. I’m not actually sure whether it’s electrical wiring that looks biological or a fairytale-esque magic mushroom or something far more sinister.

If anyone could please look at the attached images and let me know what on earth I’m looking at or even the general category of such a thing I would greatly appreciate it!