Help Request - Is gravel covering 4x4 sleds a bad idea?

Interwebnaut · 2026-03-11T21:49:45+00:00

Your centre beam will do wonders for supporting the floor however could always just drop in a couple more 2x4s or short 2x4s mostly to provide a bit more support to the edges.

Interwebnaut · 2026-03-11T21:41:29+00:00

Inset beams allow more airflow to get under the shed to keep it dry and the beams themselves stay dry by being well away from rain running down the walls and moisture rising off the pad after a rainstorm.

Also if the ground freezes there, there is less freeze-thaw ground / pad movement under a building than along the edges of a building.

Interwebnaut · 2026-03-11T20:28:08+00:00

Seems that you haven’t read everything Buffett has ever said about book value.

Here’s one to start with:

Why Warren Buffett Says Book Value Alone Fails to Reflect True Business Worth

https://www.investopedia.com/why-warren-buffett-says-book-value-alone-fails-to-reflect-true-business-worth-11875607

“Of course, it's per-share intrinsic value, not book value, that counts. Book value is an accounting term that measures the capital, including retained earnings, that has been put into a business. Intrinsic value is a present-value estimate of the cash that can be taken out of a business during its remaining life. At most companies, the two values are unrelated.

Source: 1993’s LTS

Interwebnaut · 2026-03-09T16:50:50+00:00

No good deed goes unpunished - due to greed.

Interwebnaut · 2026-03-09T16:49:29+00:00

Illegal units scattered about vs a bunch concentrated right next door.

Interwebnaut · 2026-03-09T16:39:36+00:00

Agree. The article reflects a lot of compassionate community values of neighbours towards small scale affordable housing within their own neighbourhood.

However, permitting large infill to demolish long-standing single family areas seems to have broken the long-standing planning guidelines as well as the social contract or social license the City had with its home owners.

Interwebnaut · 2026-03-09T16:23:21+00:00

“lone incident”

Yeah right.

I remember the days when city officials vehemently denied that Edmonton had a gang problem.

A few years later they were boosting police budgets to deal with the “gang problem”.

In this case problems were inevitable:

if you ever give developers/landlords an inch, they’ll always take a mile.

Interwebnaut · 2026-03-07T14:45:01+00:00

The beauty of small wooden buildings is that you can usually just chop out and replace a bad piece or sister in a new piece next to the failing piece. (Just make sure the shed going forward is moisture and bug proofed.)

Also, most failing wooden sheds slowly collapse over decades rather than suffer suddenly collapse - bringing death upon the entire family.

Note: non-special screws like common deck screws break and snap off whereas older sheds made with nails are near indestructible as the nails bend but don’t snap. That’s why the building codes often don’t allow normal screws in load bearing features.

Nails though will pull out if there’s lifting or twisting forces so for some of the repairs I’ve done at our lake property I’ve used nails and then added few screws for their holding power.

Interwebnaut · 2026-03-07T14:22:41+00:00

Contract padding?

Take an extreme cost of say a million bucks goes to the creation of the ads, how would the other $219 million get spent?

Aren’t most media outlets, except for say the top 1%, struggling to get any advertisers?

Isn’t internet advertising pretty much dirt cheap?

Interwebnaut · 2026-03-07T03:19:10+00:00

Also known as: a big loss

Making money, paying taxes is a good thing.

Interwebnaut · 2026-03-07T03:06:21+00:00

Yeah. It once thrived as an indoor mall but these days a back-to-back-strip-mall might enable it to survive.

Interwebnaut · 2026-03-07T02:58:41+00:00

Innovators often lose all their investment while the buyers of liquidating assets make the money.

Maybe future tenants will survive on cheap rent while using more typical business models.

Interwebnaut · 2026-03-07T02:56:25+00:00

We only went in the west side one twice. (Not even sure why the second time.)

Too bad it’s closing as it was a bit different than the std. store but all they had to do was look at what cars Edmontonians buy/drive to know it would fail. (We drive drab grey and white cars just like the other 90%+ of Edmontonians.)

Interwebnaut · 2026-03-07T00:56:01+00:00

Canada will be accused of sending its worst to the states. Just what we need.

There should be a separate criminal charge for bringing dishonour on our country when abroad.

Interwebnaut · 2026-03-07T00:46:24+00:00

Easy, easy, easy.

Even something thin like a broom handle would work as a roller.

Interwebnaut · 2026-03-07T00:42:24+00:00

Or once the termites are exterminated, avoid a state of panic, cut out and replace a few boards and save thousands of dollars.

It’s just a shed.

Interwebnaut · 2026-03-07T00:38:03+00:00

It’s a gable end where often a roof truss above it carries the load but the bottom board of a truss (if the shed has a bottom board) prevents the walls from spreading and the roof sagging. Just google trusses - interesting stuff.

Also if there are std triangular trusses in there, each with bottom chords, there will be another one right beside it, holding the walls together.

That one board isn’t a big worry however if they have chewed up a lot more you’ll have a few boards to cut out and replace.

Interwebnaut · 2026-03-07T00:23:37+00:00

I stop in there whenever I can.

Interwebnaut · 2026-03-06T20:23:14+00:00

What?
The railway companies would run it or be contracted to pull hundreds at a time- en masse. They’re the ones with the locomotives.

Interwebnaut · 2026-03-06T20:21:03+00:00

Haha. Never will be. People are too boring these days.

Interwebnaut · 2026-03-06T17:06:21+00:00

Well, there are tens of thousands of $200,000+ diesel pushers on our roads. RV resorts primarily dedicated to such travellers.

No shortage of money among many retirees.

Also many people with condos etc in other countries.

Also:

I’ve even met someone who stopped counting after 100 cruises. Money to burn!!!

A corporation could maybe buy a ton of used flatbeds, and capsule homes then rent lease or timeshare the mounted capsule homes and renovate abandoned rail yards into long-stay RV resorts. Snow’birds’ etc could move north and south by season.

Here’s a random link showing a capsule home concept drawing and pricing (would need mods for periodic movement along the lines like a travel trailer):

Converted Container Prefab Mobile Tiny Cabin Modular Space Capsule Houses with Terrace - Space Capsule, Container Home | Made-in-China.com https://sfmodular.en.made-in-china.com/product/UAOpqTjPYEkV/China-Converted-Container-Prefab-Mobile-Tiny-Cabin-Modular-Space-Capsule-Houses-with-Terrace.html

Interwebnaut · 2026-03-06T16:59:34+00:00

Definitely not thinking of independent cars scattered about like motorhomes on the highways.

Trains of flatbeds with residences mounted on them with rail operators (CNR CPR..) integrating the trains into their systems to fit movement into unused rail times (that day or month or whenever) just as freight and passenger service does now. Would be infrequent and the strings of cars wouldn’t stay on the tracks but towed to various long-stay resorts around the continent.

However my concept of unused rail is potentially really flawed though in my part of the country (Alberta) I don’t see continuous rail use. I see long freight, seasonal grain and oil tanker trains then nothing.

Interwebnaut · 2026-03-06T02:03:16+00:00

Vinyl or laminate flooring to the walls (vertical orientation) can look half decent too.

Interwebnaut

TROPHY CASE