Craftsman’s First Shed

No yard is complete without a shed, but these days not many homes come with one. People store most of their yard tools in their garage, or worse, in their driveway, or even worse – just laying in the yard! Regardless, your tools for yard work, gardening, and crafts are all better off when stored in a shed. A shed can be kept organized and clean, whereas other storage options often lead to disorganized messes. You have several options when it comes to solving your shed problem.

You could have one built for you, or even have a prefab shed manufactured and delivered ready to go. However, if you’re a carpentry enthusiast, then you may want to try your hand at building your shed yourself. It’s actually very simple, and building a shed is a great way to learn and practice certain design and construction principles that are essential to any future projects.


Getting Started 

There are several ways to build a shed, but the beginning is almost certainly the same no matter how you decide to build your shed: preparing the space that the shed will be built upon. First, you should select a space that will be able to accommodate the size of the shed you are planning. Having done so, you must level the land.

Building on un-level land is very difficult and not advised. You will have a much easier time building your shed on level land; furthermore, your final product will not have to account for changes in elevation from one end of the shed to the other.

Having prepared your spot, you must lay the foundation. You can use evenly spaced posts for this, or you could use plywood sheets that have been treated for contact with the ground. Alternatively, you can also use concrete blocks.

Support beams should then be set across the posts, plywood, or foundation. These beams should be secured using metal straps or another appropriate means of securing the beams, depending on how you are laying the foundation.

Getting in on the Ground Floor 

Rim joists and floor joists should be laid across the support beams; you are now constructing what will be the floor of your shed. Blocking should be installed to support the inner portion of the floor.

With your floor’s frame sufficiently laid out, you can hammer in the plywood that will be your floor. Make sure it lines up with the rim joists you put in; if you are too short, you will have problems installing the walls, and if you are too far over, damage can be done to your floor.

Just Another Shed with a Wall 

Next come the walls of your shed. Begin with a frame, with the top and bottom beams the same length as the floor. Space the vertical studs the same as the spacing between the shed’s floor joists; this is just simpler, and will be easy for you to remember should you ever need to do any work on the shed in the future.

It’s best to do two opposing sides at once; begin with the back wall, and then do the front. The front wall will obviously need a door frame, and it will also need to be slightly taller than the back wall, as the roof will slant upwards to send falling water behind your shed.

The sidewalls come next. You will have to cut the tops of the vertical students to account for the slant on the roof.

The Roof, the Roof, the Roof of your Shed 

Next you will need to construct the roof of the shed. Place rafters across the roof, and separate them using blocking. Make sure that your rafters overhang your walls so that they are protected from inclement weather. Ideally, you should keep your measurements simple by spacing your rafters as you spaced your floor joists.

Just as you did with your floor, nail plywood to the roof. You’ll need more plywood for the roof than you used for your floor if you built the roof with an overhang.

by nikkidavis.

Finishing Touches 

Attach siding to the walls to finish them. You can use whatever material you like, but some kind of textured siding or plywood will give your shed a professional look. For the roof, use rolls of tarpaper. Try starting at the lower end of the roof’s slope and work to the higher end. Make sure that each roll of paper slightly overlaps the one below it to keep rain from flowing into the cracks. Alternatively, you can use shingles or another roofing material, but those are considerably more difficult to use.

This is just one way you can build a shed, however. If this is your first time undertaking shed building, it’s a good idea to use a kit like the kind available from Stoltzfus Structures. It will make your work simpler, easier, and you can try being more original and unique your next time around.