How To Build A Wooden Shed









The shed my Dad and I are building in the backyard is almost done. Well, it is about 75% done.



The first step in the project was to figure out a design and then to order the materials from Home Depot - the order was placed on Tuesday and they delivered it last Thursday.



I printed out a large sign and taped it to the front door. It read "Thank you Home Depot for the delivery - please place in front of garage".





The delivery man scrawled an apology on the sign stating that he was only able to leave it in front of the garage and that he was sorry. That was strange.





Four cement blocks with x-shaped grooves on top were placed into the ground on a bed of quarter inch gravel.



Leveled and staked out, the floor beams were nailed into place and covered with half-inch plywood which was carefully screwed down.



The wood beams do not touch the ground, having a few inches of clearance and so do not need to be pressure treated.









Next steps were to frame the walls with two by fours, and ensure that they were level and square.



Then the somewhat elaborate process of building the A-frames for the rafters and roof began.



A birds-throat notch was cut into each two by four and toe-nailed together at the top.



Into the birds-throat notches, a horizontal beam was positioned as a guide to set the angle correctly (it was removed after each of the six frames had been positioned and nailed into place.



Finally, a collar-tie was nailed over the frame to provide more support and to create the rafter.





The 6 frames were stacked in the shed frame.



We nailed a temporary vertical stabilizer to the first of the A-frame assemblies and raised it onto the front of the shed, and nailed it in place with smooth bright nails (as opposed to the spiral galvanized heavy duty nails we were using for the main assembly).



Then, one by one, the rest of the frames were placed on the top of the frames and a temporary strip of wood supported these so that they lined up like a deck of cards.



The next step was to install purlins in the front and the back of the roof.



Purlins allow eaves to extend out from the front and back of the roof - to a large degree these are for aesthetics and to some degree for rain protection over the door.



This was a rather time-intensive part of the build - in order to rebate the wood so taht the joins were flush for the plywood roof, a 3/4 inch groove needed to be cut into the rafters and then into the purlins so that they would fit together.



The circular saw wore away the wood, and a hammer and chisel smoothed out the rebates.









(Please note that I am trying hard to remember the technical terms such as birds-throat notches - which I know are correct - but some of the terminology might not be right.)



Anyway, once the purlins were fitted together, we nailed them in place.



Next steps were to put the half-inch plywood onto the roof, and the textured and grooved plywood sheets onto the walls.



The walls aren't complete yet, and once they are, next steps will be to create the door and the shutters for the window. Instead of a glass window, I am opting for sliding shutters - I might put in coarse canvas curtains.



And then finally, using some 6 by 6 ties, create a ramp course and fill it with soil and gravel so that the lawnmower etc... can be wheeled up the ramp.



Spring kept an eye on things as she worked on the books for the house and business.





More photos as the project proceeds!





Cheers,

Mungo

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