Backyard Shed Ideas?

[er3456df]

It's time to get some shade for my lawnmower, and make room in the 2-car attached at the same time.

I am self-employed (barely) and in college, so we're living on shoestrings for the time being. I have rounded up a bit of free lumber and concrete, and am trying to find the best way to do this. City offers cheap permits for 144 sqft and under, so I'm going to shoot for 13 x 11. This way, 12ft long stuff will easily fit. I have a whole load of roofing tin from a 20x30 shop that got dismantled, so at the very least the roof is taken care of. There should be enough to side the shed in metal too, although that won't be the most attractive way to do it.

The floor was the biggest puzzle for me, but I've got a bunch of paving stones I'd like to use. I'm a big fan of ground-level flooring- no ramps, no raccoons underneath. I'll just have to put the shed on high ground so rain water won't flood the place. I'm curious if anyone else has done it this way.

Anybody have a shed they want to share? Or advice from those that have been there, done that?

 

[rodnok1]

Pavers stink for a shed floor unless you use it just to park a mower, they let too much moisture through them, they move around alot under weight of a bench. Make it sized dimensions of lumber (2 and 4 foot increments). A 13x11 is going to waste lumber. What do you have to store that is 12' long? If so make it 10x14. Paint the siding and roof after you get it up, it'll look fine from a distance. How tall are you going to make it? A hip style roof will give alot more storage and if you have shorter pieces of metal you can take advantage of them on this roof style, saving the longer for the gable walls.

 

[er3456df]

Pavers stink for a shed floor unless you use it just to park a mower, they let too much moisture through them, they move around alot under weight of a bench. Make it sized dimensions of lumber (2 and 4 foot increments). A 13x11 is going to waste lumber. What do you have to store that is 12' long? If so make it 10x14. Paint the siding and roof after you get it up, it'll look fine from a distance. How tall are you going to make it? A hip style roof will give alot more storage and if you have shorter pieces of metal you can take advantage of them on this roof style, saving the longer for the gable walls.

Lawnmower, weed wacker, chainsaw, engine stand, salvaged lumber, spare wheels, shovels, wheelbarrows, etc. The bench stays in the 2 car garage.

I live in TX, it's muggy all the time but not a lot of weather to deal with. I'd say it never snows, but we're having our twice-a-decade snowstorm as I type- Good God, there must be an inch and a half out there. I'm not leaving the house!

10x14 does make more sense. My intention was to avoid 12x12, since I don't need that kind of depth, and do occasionally need to store 12ft lumber and sheet goods. I may actually scale back to 14x8, depending on how it looks in the yard.

 

[er3456df]

Height is something I wanted some advice on. Any compelling reason to make it higher than 8'? I've got salvaged 2x4s I'd like to use to frame the roof- if I do a peaked roof, I'm thinking scissor trusses will be the simplest. I've built flat roofs before, but some loft area does appeal to me.

This is not a shed I'll be working in, no power, no lights. Just storage. I plan to sink some PT 4x4s into the ground in concrete, then run stringers top and bottom for the sheet metal to attach to. Dunno what spacing between posts to use, but I'd like to leave a wide opening on the front side. I don't think a 14ft span would be feasible, probably do one post 4 ft from the corner, and leave a 10ft opening. Does a 10ft opening call for bigger than 4x4 posts?

 

[NUTTSGT]

I think that 10 ft span will be way too much for a single stringer top and bottom.

 

[rwhite692]

Here is an 8x14 I built last summer, might give you some ideas.


http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44209

 

[er3456df]

Thanks for the replies, nice shed rwhite

The idea behind the 10 ft span on the front side is in case I decide in the future that I want a wide door on the front...... The more I think about it, the less I think I need to include that feature. I'll go ahead and put a post there.

 

[Brett K]

I would hunt Craig's list for an older but still salvageable used shed. Take it apart and re-use whatever you can. When I built my shed, I went to my local garage door supplier and puchased a misordered double insulated garage door for $150 and pretty much built the shed around it.

 

[jmschristiansen]

I built a 14' by 16' last year, with two lofts. Live in TX, and used a dirt floor, will eventually bring in more dirt to level the floor, and maybe put concrete in eventually. Built a 4' wide door (two doors that swing out) and a 6' wide window.

I did put a workbench underneath the window, this shed is near my garden, and may be used for potting, etc. Also put in a couple storage lofts. For the workbench to be stable, I tied it into two walls (a corner) and sunk a post for the 4th corner.

When I built it, I had an 8' x 12' pre-fab shed, which I sold when the big shed was done. Loading it onto a trailer (with the help of a couple early teen boys) was pretty exciting, and driving it 20 miles was nerve-wracking.

 

[babzog]

Here's my 12x16 I built last fall. I need to update the build thread a bit since it's pretty much finished now (just need to add fascia boards). There was a bit of snow blowing in through a couple of small gaps in the board & batten (rough sawn lumber is never a 100% match from board to board) but I'll probably just seal those with expanding foam on the inside.

Floor is just pitrun raised about 1.5' off the ground level. Fine for storing garden gear and wood which is raised up on pallets.

 

[Lippyp]

Heres the little monopitched roof shed I built for my firewood in France at my holiday home. http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45766 Its basically a mini pole barn roofed with corrugated cement sheet and is approx 9' x 5', floor is gravel over a permeable membrane to keep weeds down. No door as it needs air flow but easy enough in future to fit one. The window is an old one salvaged from the house when we fitted new windows, it also has solar powered led lighting and a solar panel to charge my ride-on mower battery when I'm not there..

 

[Vinko]

Good ideas here. I'm thinking of making a small one. Maybe 6 x 8.

 

[A29]

This is an 8x10 I built about 10 years ago. Made a double door in one corner. I call it my portable building as I buried a electric cord and ran it to a plug at the rear of the house. Jist unplug and carry off.