I think for a potting/garden shed, you have a pretty forgiving margin of error. Windows, door, roof, water, electricity sink, table.
Folks, thanks for all of the insightful responses...all very interesting. Paul, I have not seen the auger type anchors used in such an application, but I sure have dug a few post holes. What did they use to drive the anchors and how did they keep them centered and plumb?
rw saunders
hey, how lucky can one man get.
The anchors used for our building were made by STOPDIGGING. They have a USA site Ground screw for solid foundations – Stop Digging
They were installed by the company that built the garden room rather than by STOPDIGGING but the method was as shown in the videos below. A long pilot drill was used first in each hole but I think this was more to check they did not hit bedrock rather than to guide the steel anchor. There is a level indicator on the drill but it is not that critical that they are absolutely vertical as long as the head arrives at the correct point above the ground.
In the second video the anchors were set to the exact height and then tops were added. With the one piece anchors with U shaped metal tops the height can only be adjusted to the nearest half turn so, for our building, small pieces of packing were placed in the base of each U to even up the heights then the frame was placed in the U supports and fixed with a large screw through the side of each U into the wood. Paul.
Another way to skin this cat is with cross-drive anchors. On those you drive a series of pins with a jackhammer. I'd consider these if I was building a bridge in the woods (and having to hump the material in), filling a field with solar panels (and having a conservation commission averse to filling that field with lumps of concrete), or trying to minimize the embodied carbon of a project (which requires running actual numbers).
I suspect if you run the financial numbers on any of these anchors vs. four sonotubes and bags of quikrete, you'll be buying those yellow cardboard tubes and debating whether it's easier to make batches in a wheelbarrow or rent a mixer.
Regardless of what you end up sticking into the ground, be sure to call Dig Safe.
Trod Harland, Pickle Expediter
Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. — James Baldwin
It looks like I’m headed in this direction...10’ x 16’ to stay under the limit of a major building permit and I’ll install it on a series of wood posts and joists...a lightweight deck if you will, as the area slopes. I’m going to rent a tow-behind auger from Home Depot for a day to drill holes for the posts and take it from there. Progress photos will be posted of course, as Jorn has established a pretty solid benchmark for reporting.
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rw saunders
hey, how lucky can one man get.
Department of massive overkill suggests using *concrete tubes to pour your footers. Makes it easy to create a level base and invites envious looks from the neighbors who wish they were building a cool shed like you.
*This also gives you the excuse to buy that laser level.
Last edited by Too Tall; 08-14-2020 at 07:57 AM.
Josh Simonds
www.nixfrixshun.com
www.facebook.com/NFSspeedshop
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Vsalon Fromage De Tęte
F9E39CEA-0240-4924-BE31-C367722DD5AA.jpg
Will this work? I know where to get one.
Mike
Mike Noble
Mike he is building a REAL shed not a toy box. Geeze.
Josh Simonds
www.nixfrixshun.com
www.facebook.com/NFSspeedshop
www.bicycle-coach.com
Vsalon Fromage De Tęte
My new house comes with a tall Tuff Shed that is about 200 square feet. I can put all the non-bike related stuff in that to free up room in the garage. It has 110 and 220 so I can have window unit.
Retired Sailor, Marine dad, semi-professional cyclist, fly fisherman, and Indian School STEM teacher.
Assistant Operating Officer at Farm Soap homemade soaps. www.farmsoap.com
I built a 15x8' shed earlier in the pandemic when my boys' school ended early. Pressure treated 4x4 and 2x4 floor frame that is attached to stainless brackets at existing 4x4 fence (cemented) posts, with small cement pads at midpoints. At one corner and at the midpoint of long side the 4x4 floor joists are on a 16" concrete pad. Basic tongue in groove floor sheathing, 2x4 framing 8 feet high on the front side, 6.5 feet on the back, a simple sloped asphalt-shingled roof with a gutter and rain barrels, 2 windows, and pre-primed exterior siding panels. All in it was under $1k until I added a sliding barn door with brush-sweep seals, which brought it to about $1100. Only one screw holds it to a bracket at one corner, so if I ever need to, I can remove the screw and move it. We don't freeze and there has never been standing water there, so I'm hoping there will be no issues.
Smart.
I would not make a permanent foundation for a shed.
I built a simple timber-framed shed with locust for the sills, set on fieldstone. Instead of mortise and tenon joinery I used rebar. The braces are nailed. The rafters and metal roof were store-bought, the rest rough-sawn lumber from our land. A sliding barn door.
It's not really weather tight, and we get winter, but the place is square and straight still, keeps my bikes and tools out of the weather, and serves the purpose well.
Jay Dwight
Mine. From Reed's Ferry, 6' x 10'. Sitting on crushed stone in a lumber box. Drainage matters:
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I wish I'd gone a little bigger - it turns out that once you've got a shed, you want to put stuff in it. Three bikes and a lot of yard tools in there right now.
But it's pretty great.
GO!
Pretty nifty little buggers.
rw saunders
hey, how lucky can one man get.
After subbing out stamped concrete work in the past, our hardscape has a couple more under our belt. I plan a hybrid stamped concrete/Belgard paver/flagstone patio upgrade with natural boulder & stone fire ring. Pergola over fire area will get sonotube piers for my 8x8 cedar posts. Those four bitches will cost me as much as rest of project almost. Maybe I'll document the transformation to give me a bit of accountability and motivation to actually get it done!
One way to build, lots of shed vids on utube, overkill for a typical "garden shed" but very nice.
Also look at Zip System siding, thats what they're using in the vid.
https://www.huberwood.com/zip-system/wall-sheathing
The older I get the faster I was Brian Clare
I am not a fan of any wood-chip and glue panel. Heavy, expensive, and only as good as the glue.
Plywood and Tyvek. The Zip System tape is excellent, but expensive.
Jay Dwight
I encountered some “unforeseen conditions” along the way, but we are ready for the she-shed panels to arrive. FWIW, I don’t recommend using the Groundhog HD99 when flying solo...especially with roots in the area. An old fashioned digging bar and post hole digger eventually saved my bacon.
rw saunders
hey, how lucky can one man get.
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