After mulling over the ways of making some sort of curtain for the open front of my mini excavator garage I decided that the best thing to do was make a pair of full height doors. The doors did not have to be totally weather-proof. All they needed to do was stop the wind blowing rain inside and as the wind would not be blowing to force them to open – quite the reverse actually – they did not need to be of overly heavy construction.
I had plenty of tarpaulin left over after covering the walls so I decided to cover the frames with it and then hang each one on three hinges from the front verticals. The wood was very cheap – just under 3€ for each 3m length – and I reinforced the frame joints by gluing each joint and then gluing and screwing plywood reinforcements over each one made from scrap pieces of the crate the excavator came in. I finished off hanging the doors working in blistering heat over a very long day yesterday and the results are shown below.
It was tricky getting the doors to line up as the garage hasn’t been constructed on totally level ground. Nevertheless they didn’t come out too badly. The bolt I bought is far too small and securing it, although not easy, is possible. To make it even easier I’ve ordered a couple of flip-over latches that I’ll place above and below the bolt which will align the door fronts better and make securing the bolt easier. I’ve also got some very short nails which I’ll use to secure the tarp to the outsides of the door frames and that really will be it.
The garage really has turned out out to be a very nice, weatherproof shelter and will, I hope, be worth all the work when the weather deteriorates and the winds blow, as they undoubtedly will. I’ll now be able to finish greasing up the excavator (I’m waiting for some lithium grease to be delivered), change it’s engine oil for what I know is good quality stuff and be able to start using it. And not before time 🙂
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