It has been inspiring to see finished and in-process MD100 "modern sheds" around the net. I don't have the patience to do a time-lapse as others have done, but I can take notes and put up some photos I took along the way. I hope this is similarly motivating to others, because this is a sweet little building.
I realized I would finally have space to put a studio when, after living with an overly large in-ground swimming pool for 12 years, my husband and I decided to get rid of it. There wasn't much objection from the kids, which is why it seemed like a good idea—nobody was using it much. Demolition started at the end of April 2012 and by the end of June we had completed installation of sprinklers, grass, and some landscaping—mostly moving around stuff we already had. Its too hot to plant new things here (Pasadena, CA) in Summer.
I started working in earnest on my MD100 "studio" in July 2012, having positioned piers and assembled the floor joists in June. Unfortunately, there was a pretty extreme heat wave for a lot of August and some of September. I wanted to get work done, but I'm not a total masochist, progress during this period was practically nil.
Because we'd just had the pool removed, and the studio is positioned at roughly the transition between the shallow and deep ends, I didn't feel the need to dig holes for cement anchors. The demolition company had compacted the high-clay content earth to the point that even the trenching machine we rented had trouble getting into it. I figured that was stable enough for just cement piers resting on the ground, as pictured in the design plans for the MD100. Also, I reaaaaally didn't want to dig holes.
I'd read on another of the blogs that Blazona recommended using 2x6s for the floors, and since this is earthquake country I thought I'd go one better, so I used 2x6s for the joists, but hung them from 4x6 rails at the front and back. I used pressure-treated wood for the floor joists as extra insurance from the ever-present termites. I made the required adjustments to various measurements. Be aware that pressure-treated wood is pretty wet, and wants to warp, so you need to get it in place as quickly as possible. Its also harder to drill into. I used Simpson Strong-Ties to hang the joists, since I wasn't going to drill through the 4x. Most items for this project were purchased at Home Depot. I didn't take pictures of just the platform, oops.
The pool on a party day:
Thing 1 holding up the as-yet non-existent studio:
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