Backyard shed/structure

[rwsaunders]

Well, Mrs. RW has been asking me to build a shed for a bit...20 years or so...and I've been putting it off, as our extra garage bay has been able to handle the storage duties. She recently threw a new twist at me...indoor potting bench, garden supply area, etc. So, I'm starting to get a bit more serious about the project and with this craziness going on in the world, it might be a good project to help one blow off some steam and practice some social distancing, as I can assure you that my friends and brothers in law will avoid my house like the plague, if there is work going on.

I'm initially thinking about a 12' x 16' footprint and I'm going to match the roofline and trim details of our house (9/12) and although the structure would sit about 100' or so from the house, I'm as picky as any VSalonista about details...siding, windows, paint, etc. Post some photos if you don't mind and your insight about what you would do or not do again. I built a 16' x 20' structure years ago at our old house so although I'm 20 years older, I'm ok with the technical and physical sides of the project. I just want to be smarter about the details and super efficient about the use of materials and design features. Thanks...image attached as an example.

[ides1056]

way too much detail in that house to be cost effective at that size

[mjbabcock]

Well for starters, why does that shed double door open to a 1 foot drop? I have nothing else to add...

[rowdyhillrambler]

Slab on grade or wood floor?

I’m guessing that this is a project where you aren’t necessarily wanting ‘bang for the buck?’

[Too Tall]

I get it, a place for Mrs. to contemplate worms and life. I've got very little to add wrt structure however I grew up in a house which included an attached greenhouse. My bedroom window opened into the greenhouse. Waking to the smells of blooming cataleyas, cymbidiums haunts me to this day.

Suggestions for inside: work benches designed to accommodate specific large rubbermaid containers for holding potting mixtures etc, one small growing table (basically a waffle slab thin set concrete base with redwood sides) for starts, deep utility sink, let in as much light as possible and add a few glass shelves for "pet" plants.

That's all.

[deano]

My neighbor built a "modern shed," lots of glass, sloping roof, etc. for under $1500. 10x10 flies just under the radar of building codes. It's nice. Can do yoga in it, or play guitar, or what have you. It does not look ornate like that, but it's a nice compliment to all the old cottages in the neighborhood. Lots of plans for stuff like that out there. I kinda want one. There are prefabs out there if you want to get spendy.

[72gmc]

My head tells me: find a basic prefab that you can update with desired modifications. Then you could have a shed on the ground fast, for less (reward yourself with a cocktail and the afternoon off) in which you tack up your plans (reward yourself again for being a forward thinker) and then execute your plans one mod at a time (reward each time).

Might only take 10 more years?

[jclay]

Well, Mrs. RW has been asking me to build a shed for a bit...20 years or so...and I've been putting it off, as our extra garage bay has been able to handle the storage duties. She recently threw a new twist at me...indoor potting bench, garden supply area, etc. So, I'm starting to get a bit more serious about the project and with this craziness going on in the world, it might be a good project to help one blow off some steam and practice some social distancing, as I can assure you that my friends and brothers in law will avoid my house like the plague, if there is work going on.

I'm initially thinking about a 12' x 16' footprint and I'm going to match the roofline and trim details of our house (9/12) and although the structure would sit about 100' or so from the house, I'm as picky as any VSalonista about details...siding, windows, paint, etc. Post some photos if you don't mind and your insight about what you would do or not do again. I built a 16' x 20' structure years ago at our old house so although I'm 20 years older, I'm ok with the technical and physical sides of the project. I just want to be smarter about the details and super efficient about the use of materials and design features. Thanks...image attached as an example.

Things to consider:

In plan you’re on a 4’ module and so are being efficient with sheet siding materials there. Eight foot wall height will help maintain the sheet goods efficiency. 45 degree roof pitch minimizes sheet siding goods waste.

Does a wooden floor make sense for potting duties? Might a gravel (angular, not round rock) floor contained by a CMU perimeter stem-wall make more sense? I’m not a fan of wooden ground floor structures. If it’s going to be air conditioned you’re just making a flat plate condenser out of wood, which = rot. If you do use wood I’d use PT throughout floor, including 5/4 PT floorboards (not plywood), screwed, all allowed to dry well before construction.

Freeze/know window and door rough openings against whatever is most common (on sale?) in your area.

Consider installing a couple of bona fide hard points at the peak for connection of fall protection lines for when you need to replace shingles, paint the cupola (that I'd run away from as someone else noted) or otherwise work on the roof. Easy and cheap at framing time.

And mind the flashing and other details as someone else noted.

Extra roof overhang (like a foot and a half) adds weather protection to the siding and can prevent water from being blown into the roof/show-siding gable end junction (like on the pic). It also reduces roof run-off splash on lower reaches of siding. Might not be architecturally consistent but something to consider.

Is natural light wanted from the roof?

Want a meaningful exhaust fan to scavenge pesticide/rodenticide/herbicide/other fumes?

Window boxes look like an invitation to rot. Space them away from the wall or do something so it isn't a problem for the siding.

Frame doors, windows & sill plates in PT.

Attic trusses afford an….attic floor(!) for storing the junk that you’ll just end up selling later.

Ground contact PT lumber, assuming there’s still a diff.

Let any PT columns dry thoroughly before use (order well in advance) and tar buried ends to, say, 6” above grade.

Wire for stereo?

Set elevation so sheet flow water isn’t a problem. Err high.

More deadwood installed in walls, for attaching stuff later, is better than less. The trick is guessing where.

Steps up to doors will bounce rain up and weather that area more quickly; maybe a little roof at the entry. It's also nice when you dash out there after the deluge and lightening start, because you just remembered that you forgot to unplug your nice stereo.

Round river rock paths/driveways suck to walk/drive on. Angular rock keys in to form a vastly more stable and supportive surface.

[j44ke]

I think for a potting/garden shed, you have a pretty forgiving margin of error. Windows, door, roof, water, electricity sink, table.

[rwsaunders]

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?

[Paul Jacobs]

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?

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.

[thollandpe]

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.

[rwsaunders]

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.

Product Details

[j44ke]

That’s a brush hog where I come from Mike...

Jacuzzi digger.

[rwsaunders]

Pretty nifty little buggers.

[claritycycler]

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

[ides1056]

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.

[rwsaunders]

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.

[thollandpe]

I built a simple timber-framed shed with locust for the sills, set on fieldstone.

Locust, ooooooh. Where did you get that? There was a source for locust in Deerfield, yes actually along the Detoo Artoo route, who no longer hangs a shingle. Amazing material.

The Zip System tape is excellent, but expensive.

Siga tape is more excellent, and more expensive. But holy shit if you're going to depend on something (and cover it up with hours and hours of your work), depend on this. https://sigatapes.com/

[j44ke]

Jorn...I now get to keep the spare garage bay just for the bikes, but I’m trying to think how I can sneak a 2008 Porsche (poor man’s) Cayman that a neighbor has for sale, while telling Mrs. RW that I’m just holding it for him until life settles down.

Let her drive it.