Thread: Righteous Recycling or The Story of a Shed

When my daughter & SIL bought their first house there was a shed in the garden, just a bog standard 6' x 4' with felt roof.
Years went by, kids came along, outdoor toys etc. required more space.
'Do you want a shed' says she. 'Yes please' says I.
So said shed was dismantled and move to my place.
Many more years went by and SWMBO decided we needed to move house for various reasons, the new (old) house already had plenty of sheds.
A friend had just moved into a new house and was shedless, 'Do you want a shed?' says I. 'Yes please' says he.
So said shed was dismantled and move to his place.
Years more went by and friend decided he needed a bigger shed. 'Do you want your shed back?' says he.

Now by this time the shed was well past it's sell-by date but it was a choice between me or the tip.
Guess who got the shed....
So said shed was dismantled into small useful pieces, move to my place and stored away up in the rafters of my barn.

Chatting with the local churchwarden one day he was bemoaning the fact that woodworm had all but devoured the old Nativity Stable and now there was nowhere for Mary & Joseph to take refuge.
He wondered how I felt about building a new one like the one they have in the next village.
Now i'm an atheist but at my age you never know if a few points might come in handy one day so I said I would see what I could do.
Visited the next village church, got some idea of what was wanted and started looking through my wood stores for suitable material.
What did I find - yes... the old shed.

Here is what I came up with, probably a bit 'up market' as a stable for the baby Jesus! but compliant with the design spec......
IMGP3673.jpg

3 foot wide x 3 foot high. 1 1/4" framing with 1/4" paneling, 1/2" x 1/2" rafters & 1/2" x 1/4" purlins, all from the old shed.

To thatch the roof I used long grass stems from hayfield edges, the bundles of grass are tied to purlins with string. (That thatching was a serious learning curve...and needed a lot more bundles of grass than I expected)
There are frosted glass panels in the ceiling which let in light from a 9v LED unit in the roof space.
The star is cut from MDF and painted.

All I have to now is get it from my shop to the church - wheelbarrow I guess.....

Mark

BTW the flag bunting is left over from the Jubilee and not part of the stable!