Build A Wooden Shed In One Weekend

Friday, September 4th, 2009 at 3:05 pm  
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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


How To Build A Wooden Shed In Just One Weekend

Monday, August 31st, 2009 at 8:07 am  
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Super-Shed-Free-Plans
Super-Shed-Free-Plans

If you have a lot of important “stuff” piling up in the corner of your garage, wouldn’t it be great to have a better place to store it? The solution – a wooden shed. And, the good news is it only takes two days to get it done (that’s assuming you have the materials purchased already from the local supply store.) Here is a quick overview:

Day 1 – A Solid Foundation and Framework

Site preparation is the first item on the list. Its OK if the site isn’t perfectly level as a slight downward pitch towards the back of the shed is optimum for water runoff. Make sure you now remove all large rocks and debris from the site where the shed will rest. Since this is only a one weekend project, instead of pouring a concrete floor, you will need to make a wood floor. If you really want or need a concrete foundation, allow a couple extra days for drying. Not only is a wood floor faster to build, it requires less skill, is less expensive and even portable. For this shed, rest the frame of the floor on cinder (or patio) blocks – making sure they are level.

Now, lets get started on the actual building. Once you have the first floor joist cut, use it as a template for the rest ” its way easier and faster. Here’s another tip, for strength, use deck screws instead of nails. A power drill makes screwing boards together very quick work. Once the frame of the floor is finished, make sure its square by measuring two corners diagonally, then the other two. The measurements should be the same. If not, take one of the corners with the longer measurement and adjust it by pushing in towards the opposing corner. Make small adjustments at a time. Nail on the plywood subfloor by staggering the boards (much like bricks). You don’t want four corners of four different pieces of plywood to end up in the middle of your shed.

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, Windows and Trim

Today, you’ll start off by building the trusses. Assemble all the pieces of the first truss by following the plans but don’t nail it together at this time. If all the pieces are fitting together correctly, use the pieces as templates for the rest of the trusses. You can now go back and screw (or nail) all the trusses together and attach each of the trusses to the top of the shed walls. Now you can cut and attach plywood sheeting for the roof. Next comes the installation of the asphalt shingles which is done exactly as they are on a house. Start by rolling down roofing felt. Place the first row on the bottom and overlap the rows as you work up to the top. Apply a second layer across the top ridge for extra strength. When you apply the shingles, make sure to offset the seams and work your way from the bottom to the top. Now all you have left is the ridge cap which is made by cutting down single shingles. Shingles are usually made with slits on the bottom half to look like three shingles on a single sheet. Overlap these single pieces of shingles to form the ridge cap.

You should use a door on your shed that is prefabricated which will save you a huge amount of time since all you need to do is attach it with hinges. You will want to finish off the door with trim.

There are a few details that have been passed over in this short article but the intent is to show you how possible and simple it is to build a wooden shed in the matter of only a couple of days.

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