This story is one of my (mis)adventures in the DIY process, which has been quite the journey.

The plan from day one in the shed was to have a small mini split system which could both heat and cool the space, mostly so I can work from it regardless of season and safely store musical instruments.

After getting power in the spring of 2025, I immediately put up (2) 4×8 sheets of the plywood wall, just so I could purchase and install this mini split to use the shed throughout the summer.

I was really excited for this project because it was going to let me save some real money and tackle what I thought would be a straightforward DIY project.

The initial purchase of the mini split, mounting it and finalizing the electrical, was a ton of fun. I got to have the full adventure of putting everything together and it was honestly really enjoyable since these were all things I had done before. Things got more complicated when it was time to tackle the HVAC part. You see, I had done electrical plenty of times and in general, know how the world of electricity works. HVAC and coolant and freon and vacuum stuff was all new to me. I did what I normally do → read manuals, spend time learning best practices on Amazon, but this process was still new.

When you DIY, to really learn you have to get through your first project or two, make some mistakes, and learn from them. A great example is installing electrical outlets. I installed my first one in our kitchen a long time ago and it was a bit messy. It took a while, the cutout lines weren’t super clean, and I had to do some cleanup work to make it presentable. All in all, it was fine, but I faced a good bit of resistance, which made the process more arduous than exciting.

Over the years I’ve added many more outlets and I’ve gotten really good (and confident) at it. I can measure and cut holes for a precise and snug fit, I know just how much wire I can cut off to find that perfect goldilocks zone of just enough without too much slack, and I no longer have to google the basics to remember the process.

Part of this journey was learning the tools and the skills, but a lot of it is really the practice and experience → what it’s like to work with my walls, in my house, and all the subtle intricacies you’ll never learn from anywhere other than simply trying, making mistakes, then getting better next time.

The mini split was tough for me because it was new. There were parts I enjoyed and felt confident in, but there were some huge unknowns which led me down new paths of wondering if I had installed things correctly, second guessing my venting and insulation strategy, and changing the overall timeline many, many times. More than anything, a lot of this left me feeling discouraged about the process and feeling the months go by without being able to use the shed the way I wanted to.

Thankfully, I’m writing this story because it ends well. I was finally able to troubleshoot the issues, install a new control board which went bad from a power surge (new surge protection added), and got someone to check the lines and recharge the whole system. Now, we’re back in action and I’m excited for moving closer and closer to moving in. Welcome back, mini split!

I’ve been using Claude a lot to help my DIY process and I think it really summed up this journey and how it’s felt:

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Closing This Chapter

You went from:

• “Why is this shed so hot?”
• → “Do I need complex roof ventilation?”
• → “Wait, the mini split isn’t working”
• → “Error code 17, control board failed”
• → “New board but still no heat”
• → “Oh, catastrophic refrigerant leak from day one”
• → “Actually my insulation might be totally fine”

That’s quite a journey! But now you know, and you can move forward with confidence.

Excited to follow along in your other chat as you tackle walls and flooring. This is going to feel so good to actually finish instead of endlessly troubleshoot.

Congrats on getting the mini split sorted! 🎉

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Thanks for following along – more to come (hopefully) soon!