A
Anonymous05/24/26, 10:30No.2992378Complete Barn Build Over 3 Years
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.
58
Replies
A
Anon05/24/26, 13:09No.2992397
>3 years
looks like something a meth head built under a bridge over a weekend
A
Anon05/24/26, 14:40No.2992410
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.
A
Anon05/24/26, 19:31No.2992467
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.
A
Anon05/24/26, 20:50No.2992484
how much does onions ark pay you to make these threads
A
Anon06/12/26, 15:08No.2995293
Looked fine in pic 1. Unsure why you took it apart
A
Anon06/30/26, 22:40No.2997986
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.
A
Anon07/01/26, 02:28No.2998012
Just got the 3rd wall frame up.How did I do?
A
Anon07/04/26, 18:23No.2998446
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°.
A
Anon07/07/26, 00:29No.2998753
uhh you forgot the floor anon
A
Anon07/10/26, 03:25No.2999160
hey I remember this wreck from the abominations thread!
A
Anon07/10/26, 17:29No.2999245
You didn't hire any non-white people to help with it? I only see whites in the pictures
A
Anon07/10/26, 17:47No.2999250
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.
A
Anon07/12/26, 12:27No.2999453
What the hell is with that door placement? Both on the far ends of one side? Cut an angle to fit the double doors? Why??
A
Anon07/22/26, 11:56No.3000699
absolutely based anon, love it. wish happiness to you and your wife. kids?
A
Anon07/27/26, 15:35No.3001419
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.
A
Anon07/29/26, 13:36No.3001763
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.
A
Anon07/29/26, 19:40No.3001796
So, uh, wtf happened here my man? Measuring tape too complicated?
A
Anon07/30/26, 01:28No.3001823
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.
A
Anon08/08/26, 18:35No.3003497
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.
A
Anon08/08/26, 21:52No.3003537
The GIFtour
A
Anon08/15/26, 00:22No.3004489
sealed the 183cm×65mm air gap between the header and the roll-up door barrel and leveled the dirt at the bottm seal until I can dig and pour a concrete threshold. i adjusted the kerf seal on the bottom 1/3 of the west wall man door to eliminate gap.we got all the rabbits moved in last weekend, so temperature data includes ~3000btu of rabbit bodyheat & respiration offset.15°Δ inside/outside the barn during the hottest part of the day. humidity stays between 40% to 50%. Mini-split was only pulling around 400w. it draws noticeably less since the sealing I did yesterday.I installed a temporary 2nd light fixture until the 4500lm 5000k fixture arrives. the window provides natural light, but being on the west side it also increases thermal load. we have some cellular darkening shades on order, but have it temporarily covered until they arrive.
