How To Build a Shed the Easy Way

Vaughn McMillan

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Ever since we moved into this house a couple of years ago, we've needed more storage space. This weekend we added some in the form of an 8' x 10' shed.

I briefly considered building a shed myself, but honestly, I'm not up to it physically. I could enlist in the help of family and friends, but I still had no desire to design and source materials for a project like this. (And none of the build-it-yourself sheds from the big box stores seemed much easier labor-wise.) Plus, I didn't want to spend a whole weekend (or longer) building it. (Visions of Ned's shed project haunted me.) So for not much more than the materials would have cost me, we bought a Tuff Shed and had it delivered and assembled Saturday. Tuff Shed makes three levels of sheds...we went with the best one, which has a 10-year warranty and a lifetime warranty on the shingles. It's also a bit beefier construction and a steeper roof pitch. The only options we got were a couple of wall vents and a full-length ridge vent.

The only place where we had workable room for a shed was on the lower part of our terraced back yard. The lower terrace (about 6' to 8' lower than the lawn by the house) is where our planting beds and fruit trees are. The only labor I had to do was level out a spot for the building pad (and I had about 3 weeks to get it done). The Tuff Shed salesman told me the site had to be within 4" of level on a 10' wall. Anything under that they could shim if necessary with cinder blocks and wedges, and anything over that would cost extra for the site leveling. I didn't get any pics of the building pad, but I didn't have to move a whole lot of dirt. I had about 4" to 8" of cut on one end and about the same depth of fill on the opposite end. I got it leveled out one evening after work, then after a couple of good soakings with a sprinkler, compacted with a tamping plate a few nights later. I watered it some more Friday morning, and then gave it a final pass with the tamping plate Friday evening. Our native soil here is largely decomposed granite, with just enough silt to act as a binder if the soil is compacted at the right moisture content. I spent a fair amount of time in the soil testing and preparation business years ago, and it was fun getting to do a little dirt work again. The end result was pretty much dead level, and I'm confident it's not going to settle or shift in my lifetime.

The crew was scheduled to arrive between 8:00 and 9:00. I was awakened by a phone call at 7:00 AM, but I suspect I hung up on it as I was groggily grabbing my phone...there was nobody on the other end. Then at 7:15 it rang again, and I managed to answer it without hitting the red button. Turns out it was the crew foreman, and they were parked out front. LOML and I got dressed in a flash, and I went out and met the crew -- the lead guy Oscar, and his helper Julio. Oscar explained that they were hoping to start early to beat the heat. He also told me Saturday was a light day for him and Julio, since they only had one shed to assemble.

Once I showed Oscar where the building pad was, they got busy. Almost immediately, Oscar was assembling the floor joists while Julio unloaded the truck and carried everything from the driveway, through two gates, and down the steps into the lower yard. You could tell they'd done this drill before. I went into the house for a minute to replace my slippers with real shoes, and in the length of time it took me, Oscar had the joists assembled.

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By the time I came back out with a cup of coffee, the floor decking was in place.

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Julio was a skinny little guy, but he was a beast. I didn't get pics of him carrying two 4x8 sheets of roof decking at a time, but here's a shot of him carrying a pre-assembled gable:

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The only things Julio didn't carry by himself were the walls. By the time the floor deck was in place, that's about all that was left to bring from the truck.

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They didn't waste any time getting the walls in place:

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I went inside the house for about 20 or 30 minutes, and came back out to this. The walls and trusses were up and Julio was applying a second coat of paint. (Everything came primed and had a single coat of paint from the factory. They applied the second cost of paint on-site):

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Before long, the roof deck was in place and Julio was finishing up nailing the roofing felt in place:

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Oscar did the shingles and handled the ridge vent while Julio did a bit more painting:

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The roof's pretty much wrapped up:

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And...the finished product:

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Oscar and Julio were done (including cleanup and packing their tools) and left before 11:30. I would have still been wandering the aisles of Lowe's looking for the right materials had I been doing it myself. I'm planning to install some quick and dirty shelves on one or two of the walls, and I'll probably build a step/landing in front of the door. Then the chore of moving stuff from the garage into the shed begins. After I've created some space, I'll do some electrical work (with the help of an electrician friend) and run some air lines in the garage. After that, I can move my tools into the garage and start calling it a shop. :D
 
As a bonafide expert in shed building (anyone can be an expert online right?) who has done a

1) Complete Custom Wood Shed
2) Wooden Kit Shed
3) Plastic Shed

I think you did it the bestest mostest fastests easiest way! :rofl:
 
I still need to build 2 more sheds. There is NO possibility I can hire the job out. Wish I could. I do enjoy doing it, and it takes me 3-6 months to do it now.

Nice shed Vaughn - glad to see it happen for you.
 
Visions of NEDs shop would have had me hire it out in a flash. I full y agree with having it outsourced. Save the energy and inclination for something you enjoy like getting your shop going again. Good looking quality job they did though. Well worth the coin. Did not even cost you a day in being on site to check on things.
 
Are those metal floor joists?...

Yes, 6" high galvanized. Not sure of the gauge, but they're pretty heavy. I'm pretty sure they'll outlast me.

...Are you going to put any insulation in it?

No, didn't really see the need, since we're not going to be really spending time in there, and anything that can't freeze or bake will stay in the house. The siding and roof deck have a foil lining which should help keep it a bit cooler in the summer, but it's still likely to get pretty hot in there.
 
Push some of that gravel up close to the foundation to break up the rain running off the roof. If you put a step landing in front, put a short section of gutter with no end caps above it to keep the rain from splashing on the step. Your building and step will last longer this way. You will be able to get into and out of the shed without the roof runoff hitting you in the rain too.

A great looking shed. Those two are very good at doing this to be complete so quickly. Now the hard part, carrying everything down there to fill it.

Charley
 
Smart to farm some of this kind of stuff out. Our electrical and then the tree trimming was well worth it for those of us who would take foreer to get the same thing done on our own time (I was going to pick a tree a day (70+ trees on the property) to attack and low and behold they had it done in two days). Looks good :thumb:
 
Push some of that gravel up close to the foundation to break up the rain running off the roof. If you put a step landing in front, put a short section of gutter with no end caps above it to keep the rain from splashing on the step. Your building and step will last longer this way. You will be able to get into and out of the shed without the roof runoff hitting you in the rain too...

I'd already been thinking the same idea with the gravel, but hadn't thought of the rain gutter idea. Great suggestion. :thumb: I also need to do a bit of grading and gravel on the back side to drain water away from the foundation. We don't get rain very often, but when we do, it can be a real frog choker.
 
Smart to farm some of this kind of stuff out. Our electrical and then the tree trimming was well worth it for those of us who would take foreer to get the same thing done on our own time (I was going to pick a tree a day (70+ trees on the property) to attack and low and behold they had it done in two days). Looks good :thumb:

Turns out the contractor that assembles these sheds for Tuff Shed also does brush and tree removal. I have that crew coming out Tuesday to remove some brush piles and a pair of pyracantha bushes that I hate. (I don't call them pyracantha bushes, but the CoC prohibits me from sharing the name I've given them, lol.)
 
Something like the way I got my sheds, but it was my son and a friend who came and assembled them. For the second one I assembled the floor frame myself, but all the heavy lifting was done by the kid. Makes having children worthwhile.
 
After four years of "absolutely gonna do that next" I am fixing up my back yard landscaping the same way. Kudos on you good choices.
 
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