The corner of your garage is not a good place to store all your important “stuff”, like tools. But, you can’t just get rid of it. A better solution is to build a wooden shed in your backyard. And the best part – it can be easily done in a matter of only two day (assuming you already have all the materials purchased from the local supply store.) Here’s how:

Day 1 – A Solid Foundation and Framework

First things first – preparing the site. The site should be fairly level. However it is best to have a slight pitch downward towards the back for optimum water runoff. Next, get rid of any large rocks or debris. You want the foundation to be as smooth as possible. And, since this is only a 2-day project, you will have to make your shed with a wood floor, preferably skids, instead of a concrete floor. If you do want a concrete foundation, allow a few extra days to your plan to allow for drying. The advantages of building a wooden floor are its faster, cheaper, easier and more portable. Now use patio (or cinder) blocks for which to rest the frame of the floor. Make sure they are level.

Next, start working on the actual building. You need to cut the floor joists at equal lengths by using the first on as a template for the rest. For added strength, use deck screws instead of nails. Using a power drill makes construction go very quickly and is actually easier than hammering. Once you are finished framing the floor, check for square by measuring opposite diagonal corners. If square, the measurements will be the same. If they are off, push on one of the corners with the longer measurement towards the opposite corner until the measurements are equal. Now you can nail the plywood subfloor to the frame making sure to stagger them (similar to a brick pattern). This will prevent you from having four corners of four different pieces of plywood meeting in the middle of your floor causing a weak spot.

Building the walls is pretty much the same process as building the skid for the floor. If you want any windows on the shed, frame them accordingly. To cover the sides, use T1-11 plywood. T1-11 has vertical grooves cut into it to give the appearance of tongue and groove siding but since it comes in sheets, the amount of time to put on the siding is cut way down. Take one of the wall frames and place the T1-11 on top (outside facing down). Use the same method to make the walls square that you used for the floor. Now nail the siding to the frame. If possible, buy, borrow or rent a router to use to trim the siding to the studs all the way around the walls. Once you have the walls put together, you can now attach them to the floor. Use temporary braces to hold the walls up until you have them screwed together. Make sure you use a level to plumb the walls (they should be perfectly vertical). This is a good place to stop for the day.

Day 2 – Roof, Door and Trim

Building the trusses is the first item for today. Using your plans, cut and assemble the pieces of your first truss but don’t nail it together just yet. Once you have all the pieces fitting together correctly, use each piece as a template for the remaining pieces of the trusses. Now screw (or nail) all the trusses together. Attach the trusses to the top plate of the shed walls. The trusses are now ready for the plywood sheeting that makes the roof. Installation of asphalt shingles is exactly the same as installing them on a house by first putting down roofing felt (tar paper). Be sure to start at the bottom and overlap each row as you go up. The top ridge is made from a couple of layers to add strength. When applying the shingles the seams should be offset. Just like the tar paper, work your way up from the bottom. Cut down a length of shingle into single shingles to make ridge cap. Shingles usually come in a line of three per sheet. Nail these down overlapping one another.

A prefabricated door should be used on your shed to save on time. Attach it to the shed with hinges. And now finish the door and window with trim.

As you can tell, there are a few details that have been omitted from this short article but the intent is to show you how possible it is to have a wooden shed built in only a couple of days.

Before you start, be sure to visit Donald Rickerby’s website for more wooden shed information on how to pick materials, prep your site, and build your own backyard wooden shed.

So you have all of this stuff (like tools) that’s piling up in a corner of your garage. You cant get rid of it – its IMPORTANT! Its gotta go somewhere so a wooden shed is the perfect solution. Here’s a quick overview of how you do it in two days (lets assume you’ve picked up the materials you’ll need from the local supply store).

Day 1 – A Solid Foundation and Framework

The first thing you’ll need to do is prepare the site. It doesn’t have to be level, in fact its better if the ground is slightly pitched down towards the back of the shed for water runoff. Remove any large rocks and/or debris. Because this is a one weekend project, you’ll have to build the shed with a wood floor instead of a concrete one. If you really want to have a concrete foundation, this will stretch the project into another week to allow for drying. But building a wood (or skid) floor is not only faster, its easier, less expensive and even somewhat portable. For this shed, use cinder (or patio) blocks to set the floor on. Make sure the blocks are level.

Next, start working on the actual building. You need to cut the floor joists at equal lengths by using the first on as a template for the rest. For added strength, use deck screws instead of nails. Using a power drill makes construction go very quickly and is actually easier than hammering. Once you are finished framing the floor, check for square by measuring opposite diagonal corners. If square, the measurements will be the same. If they are off, push on one of the corners with the longer measurement towards the opposite corner until the measurements are equal. Now you can nail the plywood subfloor to the frame making sure to stagger them (similar to a brick pattern). This will prevent you from having four corners of four different pieces of plywood meeting in the middle of your floor causing a weak spot.

Building the walls is pretty much the same process as building the skid for the floor. If you want any windows on the shed, frame them accordingly. To cover the sides, use T1-11 plywood. T1-11 has vertical grooves cut into it to give the appearance of tongue and groove siding but since it comes in sheets, the amount of time to put on the siding is cut way down. Take one of the wall frames and place the T1-11 on top (outside facing down). Use the same method to make the walls square that you used for the floor. Now nail the siding to the frame. If possible, buy, borrow or rent a router to use to trim the siding to the studs all the way around the walls. Once you have the walls put together, you can now attach them to the floor. Use temporary braces to hold the walls up until you have them screwed together. Make sure you use a level to plumb the walls (they should be perfectly vertical). This is a good place to stop for the day.

Day 2 – A Roof Overhead And A Door To Pass Through

You’ll start today off by building the trusses. Simply follow the plans and assemble all the pieces of the first truss. Don’t nail this together yet. If the pieces all fit correctly together, take each piece and use as a template for each of the corresponding pieces of the remaining trusses. Now you can screw (or nail) the trusses together and attach them to the top of the shed walls. Next, cut and nail plywood sheets for the roof. Just like a house, for installing asphalt shingles, you will first have to put down tar paper (roofing felt). Make sure you start from the bottom and overlap each row going up. For the top ridge, use a couple of layers for strength. To apply the shingles, offset the seams and work from the bottom up like you did with the tar paper. For the ridge cap, cut down a length of shingle (they come in a line of three) into a single shingle and nail them along the top. Don’t forget to overlap these as well.

A prefabricated door should be used on your shed to save on time. Attach it to the shed with hinges. And now finish the door and window with trim.

As you can tell, there are a few details that have been omitted from this short article but the intent is to show you how possible it is to have a wooden shed built in only a couple of days.

Donald Rickerby is has been constructing and consulting on backyard wooden sheds for over 10 years. If you are looking to build your own shed, make sure to visit his informative site: BestWoodenSheds.com