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Posts Tagged ‘wooden shed’

1. How To Choose The Right Location for Your Shed

Take careful consideration about the placement of your wooden sheds. Give yourself enough room around the shed so you have the space you need to build it. Your shed should blend in with its surroundings and not look like it was just plopped in its place. Locate your wooden shed according to its intended purpose. For example, next to the pool if it’s to be a used as a pool cabana or near the garden if you are going to use it to store garden supplies and equipment. If you build your shed directly under a tree, it can get messy with falling debris and bird droppings.

2. How To Pick The Right Plans

A good set of plans should have it all. Your plans should contain plenty of photos of the wooden shed in the progress of being built. It should also have step-by-step instructions. Another helpful item is to have exploded diagrams along with a detailed materials list to make the trip to the supply store much easier.

3. How To Decide if You Should Buy a Shed Kit

Cost, time and skill level are the three main factors that help you determine if you should purchase a wooden shed kit. It should take approximately one weekend to build your wooden shed once it arrives. Your skill level of using tools is one you should be honest and comfortable with. Another consideration you will have is how much this will cost. Wooden shed kits tend to cost more but the time you will save is the big payoff.

4. How To Choose The Right Kind of Shed

The roof determines the style of shed. There are four basic types of wooden sheds. A lean-to shares or leans against an existing wall and is good for storing smaller items. Saltboxes have an uneven roof with more headroom towards the front end of the shed. Gambrels look similar to a barn with their two pitched roofs. The advantage of this is that they allow for more room overhead. The most popular style is the gable roof shed. The roof has two equal sides and is very simple to build.

5. How To Choose The Right Materials for Building

Cedar is the best material for wooden sheds. Not only does it have an unmistakable aroma and natural beauty, but it also repels insects and resists molds that rot wood.

6. How To Properly Prepare The Shed’s Site

The first thing you’ll want to do is remove any large rocks, debris and plants. Make the ground flat by using a rake and shovel. If you slope the site slightly down from front to back, this will produce the best runoff for water.

7. How To Stake Out The Site for Your Shed

Put a temporary stake in the ground where the first corner will go. Now, drive a stake into the ground a little ways past this stake. Measure the length of where the front wall will go and drive the next stake just past that mark. Run a piece of string between these two stakes. Now, stake in the second wall taking your best guess. This is only temporary. To make the next line of your rectangle perpendicular to the first, measure out from the corner (where the two strings cross). On one side measure three units (feet). On the other string measure four units (feet). From these two points, the measurement should be five units. If it isn’t, make adjustments until it measures this exact amount. This means it’s perfectly square. Continue around the other sides until finished.

8. How To Square The Walls And Floor

Once your wall or floor is framed, the easiest way to make it square is to measure the opposing corners diagonally. So, you would measure the bottom right and top left corners. Then measure the bottom left and top right. If both measurements are the same, the wall is square.

9. How To Take Advantage of The Small Spaces

The spaces between the studs are one of the most overlooked spaces in wooden sheds. Add 1×4 or 2×4 boards as shelves as these spaces are perfect for them. To make the shelves adjustable, use slotted tracks that accept shelving clips up the sides of the studs. You can find them at most hardware supply stores.

10. How To Make Your Shed Last A Lifetime

If your shed is made from the right materials and you take care of it properly, it is sure to last a long time. Use a high quality water sealant on all exposed wood and try to keep the roof clear of debris. It will make all the difference if your shed is made out of hardwood such as redwood or cedar.

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