Back Yard Shed

[browntown]

Was hoping some home-owners would have some guidance regarding putting up a shed.

In a month or two I'll be moving into a house with my personal grail - a three car garage. The down side, is that it's the first house in recent memory that doesn't come with a shed. I'm scared if I dont build a shed, my third bay in the garage I've so coveted, will become my garden machine/tool hangout and negate the wonders of the mondo garage.

I'd like to stay as affordable as possible, and don't want to go over 1k$ if I can help it. My only other requirement is at least 6'x8' but bigger is better (huge yard)

Lowes and home depot sell plenty of kits with 600 screws and bolts in them for about 5-800$. They look dandy but don't come with any flooring.

Any reccomendations? Wood, corrugated sheet metal, plastic, resin covered steel?

Flooring? I know they sell some crappy floor kits, but the two floor ideas I had were:

patio concrete towers, sunk in the ground half way with pressure treated 4x4's then use 2x4 cross beams and plywood floor

or

patio paver floor, and use a ramset gun to nail down shed. I think pouring a concrete pad would be cost prohibitive.

Also, if I can save on overall price by doing some assembly myself, I'm up to it.

Thanks
-josh

[vlad]

Levent is the master of putting these sheds up, here is one of the 3 I have in my back yard, about $350

[browntown]

That looks great, downside though is this joint has a neighborhood association and the fences are only 5 feet high. I think I might catch some grief about a 10 foot high white garage. If not from the neighbors, the girly would almost certainly object.

I like the suggestion though, keep em coming.

[fannman]

this is a simple shed but it gives full detail on how to build it yourself so you can save some money.

http://www.mybackyardplans.com/gablestorageshed.php

[MasukBMW]

Build the shed yourself. This is a no-brainer, no need for a kit or anything, it is very simple framing if you have any experience at all. If no experience, find a friend who does, as putting on the rafters and ridge board is always easier with two or so people. The lumber will come in under a grand easy.

As far as foundation is concerned, no need for concrete for simple wood framing of this size. For a shed around the size you said, about 5-6 yards of 3/4" (or whats ever cheap) crushed stone put into a bed will drain fine.

Good luck, do it yourself and learn alot in the process. Any questions let me know, Ive framed several.

[browntown]

I was looking at the plans that fannman posted, and it's entirely within my comfort zone, except for the roof which i have no experience. the framing is something i can do easily though.

I like the crushed rock idea, and I can just use the skid base to the above plan with pressure treated wood on top of that. The nightmare wheelbarrowing 5 yards of rock across an acre sounds horrible though. The rear fence of the yard is against a road though, so I guess it would be easier to install a gate for easy material dropoff.

[mnstepchildrider1]

If the do it yourself thing fails

my neighbor got a pretty sweet shed kit from home depot and you make it look like your house its kinda tight and i dont think it ran him much at all :)

[MasukBMW]

Ya it is alot of stone, but you want it to be above the soil grade, to properly drain. Compact the stone before building on it, that was why I suggested the 3/4", compacts well without sinking and seperating much.

Just take a link of the fence out if possible, get a masons dump full of stone and your good to go. Pressure treated floor joists and sill plates (anything else that contacts the stone) will work fine.

Roof framing is really no big deal, learn how to use a framing square and its a breeze.

[Restoman]

Here is mine. 24'x12' on a concrete slab with electricity. The interior is 3 compartments, one for lawn equipment, one for general storage used like an attic. The main is use to keep bikes and other stuff like my extra couch and weights. Everythings is drywalled and shelved. This is the dream shed.



This is at least 50 years old. I had just finished replacing all of the soffits and eaves, plus I painted the whole thing and gave it a new door.

[e34john]

You can get a Tuff Shed from Home Depot for that much, wait till they have a sale or just open up a credit account to save the 20 percent or whatever they do now. I tried building my own from scratch and after figuring out costs you can't get get the quality for the price, even when I was getting contractor pricing. You can even insulate the Tuff Sheds and drywall them. I have this pretty nice shelving setup that I built for mine. Can take pictures if you want.

[HarryPotter]

My pops built one himself for about 900, built it with 2x4's and those already made panels for the walls. It's solid as a rock. It's about 8x8. I'll take some pics tomorrow.

[scabzzzz]

Im really glad this thread exists. Subscribed..
The underwriters are preparing my final draft for my loan currently on my first home purchase!!! Its only a 1000 sq ft house, so a shed is definitely in order and I have little to no experience building a shed. Are those pre-made sheds at Lowes/Home depot not worth bothering with? I'd love the experience but I just dont have the tools and time to fuck with it.

[e34john]

I have the premade, well the ones they come over and put together in your yard. If you have money and don't want to do it yourself, good way to go, they are built just like houses. Like I said before, it is cheap but they get you with the extras like shelving and paint and crap. The Tuff Sheds at Depot comes with like a 5 year warranty and they come out to deal with any problem. I called them a few times just to readjust the door, my fault though a tree root was cracking the slab underneath the shed.

[fannman]

the trusses are a breeze to make, all you have to do is have a miter saw and cut the angles they gave you, then just custom make some gussets and your set, when the first one is done, use that as a templet and build the other ones on top of that, i would say buying a premade one from lowes is your best bet if you dont want to build stuff like the roof and everything.

[browntown]

Might come down to that just so I have less to fuss with when I move in. Thanks guys, I think the crushed rock foundation with pressure treated 4x4's for skids will be the easy way to build the floor. Is it crazy to use patio anchors like so I don't need the crushed rock? Seems easier. Maybe sand underneath to level.