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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.
By the time I came back out with a cup of coffee, the floor decking was in place.
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:
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.
They didn't waste any time getting the walls in place:
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):
Before long, the roof deck was in place and Julio was finishing up nailing the roofing felt in place:
Oscar did the shingles and handled the ridge vent while Julio did a bit more painting:
The roof's pretty much wrapped up:
And...the finished product:
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.
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.
By the time I came back out with a cup of coffee, the floor decking was in place.
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:
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.
They didn't waste any time getting the walls in place:
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):
Before long, the roof deck was in place and Julio was finishing up nailing the roofing felt in place:
Oscar did the shingles and handled the ridge vent while Julio did a bit more painting:
The roof's pretty much wrapped up:
And...the finished product:
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.