I really want to expand my shop into an area inhabited by a lawn mower and other garden equipment. I'm thinking that an outdoor storage building would work well for this!
I was thinking about building one from wood, or buying a cheapo metal one that I doubt I would be happy with. How long would it take to build a nice wood one? Is a weekend enough? Or probably two weekends?
Can anyone recommend some good websites or plans?
Thanks!
Joshua
Joshua: Are you talking about a separate structure for garden and lawn storage or both shop and storage under one roof?
I recently emptied several pesky items (self-propelled push mower, string trimmer, roto-tiller, power washer, gas cans, car oil-change pan and storage cans, etc.) from my garage/shop by putting one of the Rubbermaid storage containers under my deck (floor is about 6' above grade). They come in all sizes but the one I used is about 4' tall, 4' wide and 6 or 7' deep. It has doors on the front and a slide-back roof panel. Moving in sand, assembly, and covering the remaining area with decorative gravel took an afternoon. Thought about building someting under the deck but the whole plastic-shed project only cost about $400, as I recall. The one I bought was among the smaller ones and they appear to be pretty durable.
I also built a 12'x14' storage shed at a previous home with windows, decorative trim, slab, shingles, etc. Cost about $1,000 and took several evenings and a couple of weekends.
If you are talking a whole new building to house shop and garden stuff it is a project requiring a lot of planning and $.
Umm a nice one... maybe a a few "Weeks" not weekends.
I bought a kit from a local home improvement store; came with all the parts I needed, and I think the rafters were made already. 8x10, and the price was around $500. I don't think I could have built it too much cheaper if I bought the materials separately, and I would have been making multiple trips back to the lumber yard, I'm sure. With the help of my dad, I was able to put it together in a day. Didn't bother with siding it, although that would have been nice.
Only thing I would have done different is to pick up a window and put it in. Doesn't have to be big, or trying to get a really good view. But they get dark when the door closes...
Clint
Check with the local building department first. My city does not require a permit for a shed that is less than 120 sqf. The adjacent city requires a permit for any out building.
10'x12' T1-11 with simple gable roof, one door took me, my son and son-in-law 1 day to frame,sheet and roof. Trim and painting, 2 more days. About $1200.00No plans, just did it.
Dave
No Spam wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com:
Depends on what you do for a foundation and/or floor. In my town, the shed has to be 'mobile', as in, not bolted to a foundation, and under 120 sq ft, in order to not require a permit, and/or deal with setback issues.
Mine stretches the definition of 'shed' considerably, but has received nothing but positive comments from neighbors. The city permit folks know it's here, and have indicated they like the looks. The construction and finish materials match the house. It has become a garden feature, because there is no place to hide it in my modest sized yard.
I _may_ have gone overboard. It wouldn't be the first time. There's maybe
50 hours of labor, and $1200 of materials, including a divided light fiberglass door, electricity, lights and a window. It hides the compost heap and gardening detrius from sight.There's a reason these things are known in the garden world as 'a folly'.
Patriarch
Remember that building one from wood would be more like carpentry than woodworking.
My house is new with seamless steel siding. I just assembled a vinyl shed. The vinyl shed was easier than wood to asssemble and it doesn't need painting or shingles. The shed cost $560 at Lowes for an 8x8.
I specifically didn't want anything that needed paint since nothing on my house will ever require painting. I'd rather spend the time on woodworking and other hobbies.
Brian Elfert
I built a 12 by 16 wood framed one to match my house about 2 years ago. Made my own double doors and used two windows on sunny side with full 8 foot ceiling. I think it would be big enough for a woodshop if I got all my lawn and garden equipment out.
It took about 4-5 weekends for two people and was around @2000 but there are plenty of places I could have saved money by using scrounged 2 by fours and plywood, etc. If you have a local Habitat for Humanit restore it might be a good place to look for wood and windows cheap. Also you can haunt construction sites for concrete block for piers(if doing pier and beam foundation), 2 by four scrap for block pieces in corner posts or window cripple studs. You may also find some leftover lumber being thrown out or sold for not much money if you give yourself time.
I was in a hurry and rented air gun, compressor, etc. and bought new wood so you could definitely cut some of the costs.
RonT
Well, I started mine in June and just finished last week by installing the homemade cabinets. This was a completely new experience for me; buildling concrete forms, pouring concrete, framing walls, building trusses, making doors (2 double sets), installing a window ($10 at building recycler), siding (T1-11), roofing, soffit/fascia, eavestrough, wiring, cabinets with raised panel doors, workbench. I had never done any of that before but I did it all myself with help from friends. It's 8ft X 20ft with full 8ft walls (I'm not banging my head inside this one) I probably have over $3000 into it by now. (long and narrow because it had to fill in a certain space). It wasnt' really going to be a major project but it just took off and I had a whole lotta fun and a great learning experience. One book I found helpful was " Building a Shed" by Joseph Truini. They have plans and colour photos of many different sizes and shapes. Good Luck Tony
I'm with Leon with this one but, if the question has to be asked, the multiplier goes way up.
Set aside a summer.
No really.
UA100
You might want to talk to John Moorhead or DAGS on his thread "Foundation". Great read both here and on apbw (with photos). mahalo, jo4hn
From my experience, I'd say build one out of wood... It will probably cost more, but be well worth it... several free plans on the web, too..
About 4 years ago, we needed storage space for the Daughter-in-law, so instead of building a cute shed, we went cheap and bought a 10' x 14' metal shed for about $350 at Lowes... Talked them into free delivery and when it got there, we couldn't believe how many friggin' pieces it was in!!
After 2 weekend of my neighbor and I cussin and modifying, it finally went together and was kinda done and kinda level/square... NEVER AGAIN!!
If I'm gonna use a few hundred screws, washers, nuts, etc., I'd rather build something out of wood and know it's going to stay built...
Joshua:
Family Handyman magazine has released plans for a garden shed every year for the last three. Look in their index and see if you can get the copy from your local library. I know I used to be able to do so. If not you can order back copies.
The cost of the shed is proportional to the amount of tools you already own. If you're building from a kit - see
However, building one, be prepared to spend some dough for materials, finish, tools that you don't have, etc. I spent close to $1800 on mine and I never finished but I had a lot of fun and learned a lot. You never get that experience from a kit, but if you don't need the learning experience then go for a kit.
MJ Wallace
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