Shed Chronicle

[Mainsail]

I needed a garden shed to store the mower and other yard tools, but I also wanted a small storage building to get some things out of the garage to give me more room there. This house has no basement and boy do I miss basements. Storage shed means I want it sealed up tight to keep bugs from finding an easy way in, and I would end up pumping ten tubes of caulk into the nooks and crevasses before I get done. Bear in mind that I have little experience or knowledge in building, although this would be my second shed.

To get started I needed a spot in the yard and a plan. There is no flat spot in the yard for even a small shed so there was going to be some digging. If I went with a wood floor on skids, I would need to dig a lot because the slope is towards the front of the shed; I figure a 2x6 deck, plus flooring and skids, that could put the door sill almost a foot in the air. Been there, done that, not doing that again. Like last time, however, I would be building this one as I go, no written plan.

So I made the decision to do a slab. I called a guy and he quoted me $750 for an 8x10 slab. No way, and I started digging. Got a level spot dug in, graveled, tamped, and put the forms up. Then I called the guy again and he quoted me $650. What the....? My milsurp trailer trailer worked great for hauling the gravel, it's a lot easier raking it off into a cart or wheelbarrow than to lift it one shovel-full at a time from a pile on the ground.

The biggest problem would be to mix and pour the 60 or so bags of concrete and get it in the form before the beginnings would be partially cured. So I decided to use some movable internal forms to break it up. The first two pours would be 3x8 and the third would be 4x8. That worked out OK with just the seams to show for it. I considered pouring some self-leveling concrete to hide the seams, but the mantra was, “It's a garden shed”. In the picture you can see how much better I got at working the concrete from the first part, on the right, to the second, on the left, and then the center last. The apron pour would go even better.

 

[Mainsail]

Continued:

 

[mdhillbilly1]

I suggest you put joint material made for concrete joints that can be purchased from a Lowe's or Home Depot. They make a pourable epoxy or a material substance for joints. The use of them allows the concrete to expand and contract.

 

[Mainsail]

Continued:

 

[Mainsail]

My original idea was to ring the entire shed with narrow blocks, except for the door area. I only really needed the block for the back corner that would be below grade, and after the drama of laying the ones I needed I changed my plan and removed the rebar everywhere else. Block isn't as easy as it looks in the videos. I did a few more blocks than show in the pictures to keep from having narrow wall studs.

 

[Mainsail]

Next up was the roof trusses. I wanted about a foot of overhang front and back, so I made the trusses 10'. I didn't like the notched truss design, and I wanted some storage space, so I made my own.

Time for walls. I stood on the slab and extended the tape measure up to a point above my head and decided on a ceiling height. I really had no idea how to do a stepped wall, so I worked it out as best I could. I used ground-contact 2x4s for the bottom plate.

 

[Mainsail]

To keep from having a low doorway, I put the header on the inside wall. The trusses are up and temporarily braced, the the roof sheathed.

I sided the two short walls and before I sided the long walls I trued up the building with the floor jack; it was just a tiny bit out. I have no place in the backyard to get a vehicle and nothing to tie a come-along to, so the floor jack was it and it worked great.

 

[Mainsail]

At this point the walls are sided with just a narrow opening on the rear to allow be to get inside when working on the door. The door is mocked in place to get the gap settled, then sided and hung. I used spring hinges, two are plenty but I added a third later. They're all bolted through the studs with carriage bolts to keep anyone from simply unscrewing the hinges. The side window got trimmed, and the front got trimmed with faux shutters, and a flower-box.

 

[Mainsail]

I got tired of tripping into the hole so I filled that in and tamped it down. Two solar powered motion sensing LED lights are inside with the panels outside- they were on sale at walmart for $9 each so I picked up four sets. I also painted the shed to match the house using the paint that was in the garage when we bought the place last summer.

Finally, I poured the apron in front of the door.

 

[Mainsail]

I ripped a length of 2” PVC pipe in half to make the gutters for the front and rear, and put a rain-chain on the front (wife request).

 

[Mainsail]

Inside is a lot of shelving, and there are two attics (open in the middle) for more storage. Around to the right in front of the front window is a small workbench for my wife's plant potting supplies and such.

Last I hauled in the big rocks and made a retaining wall for the downhill side of the shed.

 

[Kanewpadle]

I don't see any permits.

 

[lrrifleman]

Excellent job, I am quite impressed! When I start a project involving tasks that I have either never done, or done just a few times, I break out the appropriate Boy Scout Merit Badge book!

 

[Mainsail]

I don't see any permits.

lol the county only requires a permit above 120 square feet of floor space, I'm only at 80.

 

[JSR III]

I don't see any permits

Depending on your state or town, permits may not be required. Here in MA, the state follows the BOCA code and you can build up to a 200 square foot auxiliary building without a permit as long as you meet zoning requirements. In other words you cannot build within x feet of the front, side or rear lot lines.

However, when building my tool shed/woodshed at my Maine cabin two years ago, I learned that Maine has a waterway act that prevents any construction within 200 feet of lakes, ponds, streams or the ocean. Luckily, my cabin is grandfathered and the distance is reduced to 100 feet, however, that didn't help me because my shed was only 93 feet from the pond.

And that my friends is as they say "another story".

 

[Frank46]

My old chimney was toast so had to do a new footing for it prior to getting the new one installed. 40 bags of pre mix and a bunch of rebar. Took all day and never thought about renting a cement mixer. Course was only 40 back then. Good thing I had borrowed a hilti gun with chisel and spade concrete bits. So having said all that the cement mixer saved you a bunch of time and your back. Excellent work. Frank

 

[amazingflapjack]

Great project-thanks for sharing!

 

[soFlaNative]

Well thought out and executed.
Noticed some details during the build that showed planning
and due care... right down to the ground brace for the adjustable ladder.


Nice touch with the workspace for the wife.

 

[walkin jack]

I have seen people living in houses that were not nearly as well built as that "shed". A really well designed and built structure. I'd pro'lly not call it a shed. Rather, a yard building sounds more like it.

 

[Mainsail]

Some lessons learned and other notes:

First and most importantly, I had no plan whatsoever; only an image in my mind of what I wanted. A real plan would have shortened construction time considerably. I had two projects planned for the summer, the shed being number one and that fence was number two. Most of my spur-of-the-moment plans changed on the spot, like running block all the way around. Spot decisions and changes slowed it a lot, BUT, I think I had more fun with it that way.

I would also suggest if someone were to build one; get some help! I turned 54 about the time I finished, and we had a real hot summer this year. All that digging, hauling, hammering, etc, took a toll on me. When did a 30# sack of concrete get so heavy? I didn't have any friends with an open schedule to help me, and by the time I had volunteers offering to help I had done so much of it I decided to stubbornly press on alone. Help from a power nailer would have been appreciated as well. My wife helped from time to time when I needed an extra hand, because squeeze clamps and temporary nailing can only do so much.

Picture 13 shows the stepped side wall going up. I had no idea how to best attack this wall, so I did it in two pieces (notice the top isn't connected). While I understood the term 'on center' as it applies to locating the studs, I didn't think it through enough to recognize that it also means that you locate the first stud in the center of the wall, and work outward. On an eight foot wall that's very important, because the center is where the two four-foot pieces of siding will come together. I had to add an non-structural 2x4 later to give me something to nail into. D'oh!

As mentioned above, with no paper plan, I had to wait until I was ready to start framing to go look for windows. I hadn't put too much thought into it as I figured small cheap windows would be easy to find; nope. I went to the local building recycler and tried to find some cheap windows, but small shed-sized windows were impossible to find. Lowes would come to the rescue with their “utility windows” at $38 each. They're single pane and slide sideways vs up/down, but they're new and work great.

Block is not nearly as easy to do as they make it look on the youtube videos. I used an entire 80# sack of mortar mix to lay the first 11 blocks. Much of that was waste- butter the block, go to put it in place, and the mortar leaps from the block into the dirt. The block work was hands down the most frustrating part of the whole build. I did end up getting another sack to put a few more blocks down to make the framing a little easier.

The gutters: 4” gutters are cheap, but I felt they'd look out of proportion to the size of the building. Being it's a ten foot wide shed, and PVC pipe comes in ten foot lengths, it seemed like a perfect fit. Only I forgot the shed is not really ten feet wide after the siding and trim. The elbows worked to make up the difference. I used 2” pipe ripped in half on my little table saw (what a mess that made), but as they sit I think they're too shallow for a heavy rain. We don't get heavy rain very often here in the Pacific Northwest; usually days of drizzle and light rain, but I may re-attack and go with 3” some day.

Ventilation: I did not want the inside to smell like gasoline, diesel (there's 20 gals on the shelf), fertilizer, etc., so I put a bit of thought into ventilation. I used a full length ridge vent to help the air out, but decided against the traditional soffit or fascia vents. Instead I put a louvered panel in the back corner down low. The shed faces due south, so the back of the shed is on the north side. Combining the north side of the building with the tree and fence back there, it will always be the coolest place from which to pull in air. I boxed it on the inside so that if the current arrangement isn't enough, I can add a couple of small pancake fans connected to another solar panel. So if the sun is out heating the shed inside, the sun will also power a couple fans to pull air in through the vent and create a more positive flow out the ridge vent. Both the ridge opening and the intake got some window-screen to keep bugs out. So far on the few hot days I went out to the shed, it still smells like new framing with a hint of lawnmower. The two $38 windows also come with screens, so I can always open them as well.

The door is secured with a puck style lock and carriage bolts. Master and American both make the lock and hasp combination, however the Master lock is a four pin lock while the American is a six pin. Weird since I think they're the same company now. Since I know how easy a four pin lock is to pick, I went with the American.

I should have poured the apron as soon as I had decided on the door opening. It was harder to do with the door in the way.