Moving a Shed for Dummies (2-by-4 Week 6)

As the Antisocial Network's 2-by-4 week, during which we take eHow.com freelancers to task for apparently thinking that 2-by-4 means "2 foot by 4 foot," winds down; we bring you the case of some freelancer who clearly had a lapse in common sense. This time it's returning DotD Ann Johnson, whose "How to Move a Storage Shed"¹ an HomeSteady.com brought tears of laughter to a staffer's eye.

Johnson's solution to a misplaced storage shed is to use the time-honored roller method: create a flat, semi-level surface between the old and new positions of your shed, jack the structure up, and put rollers underneath. Nothing could be simpler, right?

Well, it sounds simple, but not when you read Ann's instructions:

"Have a helper place one piece of pipe under the lifted edge of the shed about 2 feet from the edge. If the ground is not paved, place the ply wood [sic] or 2 2-foot by 4-foot [bolding ours] runners under the piece of pipe perpendicular to the pipe so the pipe will roll on the runners." Is this idiot kidding? No, she's not -- or, more likely, her idiot content editor wasn't... Of course, that pair of sentences has other problems as well -- besides the fact that "plywood" is one word, not two. Anyone with half a brain should realize that you lay down the plywood (or 2-by-4s) first, and set the pipe on top of it. Is that so difficult?

Johnson's instructions say, "Obtain at least 3 pieces of 2-inch diameter pipe, preferably metal or heavy duty PVC..." at which point we were wondering that options there are besides metal and PVC, not to mention why just three? six or ten would be a lot smarter, if you ask us.

Johnson also instructs her readers to

"Stop the rolling of the shed before the pipe is about a 1/3 of the distance under the shed. The shed should be on an angle with the leading end slightly higher than the end being pushed on..."

...which strongly suggests that Johnson is just another "communications major" unfamiliar with Newton's laws, momentum, and physics in general. In other words, your basic Dumbass of the Day material.

¹ The original has been deleted by Leaf Group, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   ehow.com/how_5036168_move-storage-shed.html

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