new to forum hello everyone.

Welcome. The Google search mentioned is the one under the Search link at the top of the forum pages. Here's a sample of a Google search for "building a shed" within this forum: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...lding+a+shed&sitesearch=familywoodworking.org

If you want full plans, there is a selection at Plans Now: http://search.store.yahoo.net/cgi-bin/nsearch?catalog=plansnow&query=shed&.autodone=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.plansnow.com%2Fnsearch.html

Depending where you live you can buy a synthetic commercial shed for less than you can buy the materials to build and roof a wooden one: http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...d=10053&productId=100390773&categoryID=500675

But if this is for a shop, plastic is probably not what you are looking for.
 
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I live near the border to British Columbia and several businesses there sell panelized or pre-cut kits for sheds, gazebos, and playhouses. If you are looking at something that is very nice in appearance, but lack the experience or skills to stick build a shed, this might be an option. Here is a link to a website of one such company. It might be too pricey for your needs. www.gazebos-and-garden-sheds.com/ranchland-storage-shed.html

I remember a co-worker that used a company up there to provide a pre-cut playhouse and he said that he could hardly buy the lumber for the price they provided in their pre-cut kit. The company he used was probably selling their product at a much better price than the one shown in the link.
 
Welcome Joel! You have good info in the above replies to your question. There's not a whole lot to add. If you go with wood, be sure to use treated lumber below the floor and treated plywood for the floor. Some cut rate builders and kit manufacturers try to save a few $ in these materials; that may (most likely) cause problems in the future.
 
Thanks for all the help

Thanks everyone for the help. I've been working on this shed for about a month, not done with the foundation yet. I've got the site dug 4 inches (it is 10 feet four inches wide by 14 and a half feet long.) The reason it is longer than usual is because I'm buiding an art studio/addition to the shed this summer. I'm filling the site with gravel, setting two 4X4 skids on four large corner stones about the same height of the gravel. I did not realize how much gravel this would take. I'm using small stones from a nearby creek to fill the excavation. It is a lot of work. Hopefully will be done in about a week with this foundation thing.
 
Welcome aboard Joel. I've actually been debating about building a "shed" of similar dimensions myself, so I look forward to seeing your finished product. Remember that we love pics around here :D
 
Joel,
check out barnplans.com, that's where I purchased the plans for my barn and even if you didn't want a gambrel roof design, they've got a photo gallery of completed projects which show a lot of good tips on general building.

oh, and for a tutorial on how Not to build a shop....
http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?t=3093
aka the never-ending construction project...

or for a much more advanced design and execution:
http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?t=141
Marty Walsh's Shop, er Studio... where I drew lots of inpiration
 
This is too easy, like shooting fish in a barrel. :rofl:
ahem, did I say that it was 'finished'? Or that images were on their site???
oh, and for a tutorial on how Not to build a shop....
http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?t=3093
aka the never-ending construction project...
Well did I?

Joel,
just so you know my shop build is still in progress, and has taken almost 2 years, for various reasons. And my Friends here kid me about it, some of them more than others..., but it's all good. I wouldn't have been able to start building it without friends' teachings, and sure as death by taxes wouldn't be as far along without their encouragement and in two cases (thanks Mark, thanks Grizz!) I would still be visiting my tools in a storage unit. Now I get to visit them in the shop in the backyard, until spring...
 
Ned is right Joel. We do kid him and Ned is really good about taking it in the vein it is given. Were Ned gets credit is his documentation of the process. We all learn from each other on this site, each reading makes us a better woodworker. Also speaking of good woodworking, take a look at Ned's cutting boards, beautiful.
 
Ned's idea to put his shop on mini-stilts (there's probably a formal word for this) was really neat. Even though he built his shop right on top of his summertime "lawn pond" his shop doesn't take on water from the bottom because it sets up above the ground. That feature also adds a couple feet to the total height of the structure from the ground which really adds to the sense of accomplishment you get from doing any of the roof work. :rofl:

Best of luck and welcome aboard! Hope to see more of you around.
 
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