Summer Project: Shed

Fall is by far my favorite season, and this year I get to spend some time this season reflecting on what I got accomplished this summer. Here it is:

My wife thought I was nuts. Or at least going way overboard in terms of how I built it, given its uses. To her a shed shouldn't be a massive structure occupying the backyard (of course I don't think it's really that big -- it's definitely taller than most sheds, but that's by design to make use of the vertical height for storage.) Also, and here she is quite justified, I spent way more on this then it would cost to purchase a pre-fab shed and throw it up in the back yard. But all of those that I looked at were pretty flimsy, and not worth the cost.

It's an 8'x8' structure, built on a frame of large pressure treated timbers that are elavated on 4' concrete piers set in the ground at the corners. I nailed 5/8ths t'n'g plywood overtop of the timbers for a floor and framed it with conventional 2x4's sheathed with 5/8ths t'n'g plywood. Basically I built it just like a house -- I don't think I'm ever going to get to build a house on my own, so this little project let me play carpenter one last time.

The exterior is Hardi board siding and PVC trim, painted a nice gray with Sico exterior paint. This makes the whole thing rot, mold and insect resistant, and it should look essentially the same for the next 25 years.


I framed up the floating panel doors out of scraps left over from construction and built the ramp out of pressure treated lumber and painted it with exterior floor paint.

I wrapped the pressure treated timber foundation with more PVC trim and painted that with the exterior paint, so I can push dirt, gravel or mulch up against it and not worry about rot or insects.

Inside, there is plenty of storage and I laid 16 inch square rubber tiles to keep the plywood floor clean and dry. They are much nicer to look at than dirty plywood.

Under the timber foundation I left a good air space for ventilation, and covered the area with half inch gravel and weed barrier to keep anything from growing down there. I also banged on about 8 inches of chicken wire to the bottom of the timbers around the perimeter, and buried the wire mesh to keep most critters from making a home under the shed (I didn't want anything crawling under and dying).

It took me most of the summer to get this done. I started the second week of July, and spent the better part of most weekends until Labour Day working on it. My 12 year old son helped on a few things (raising the walls, holding the plywood sheathing, putting on the house wrap, banging on the fascia, and any time I needed another set of hands.)

I am very pleased with the results and it has made a huge difference to the storage in our garage: I now have all the winter tires in the shed, all the garden tools, lawn mower, wheel barrow and space left over for the patio furniture (which used to stay outdoors all winter). I rationalize the cost (both financial, time and opportunity) knowing that this will be here for a generation.

I also get the satisfaction of knowing that I built something with care and attention, while trying to balance all the other demands on my time. This project though made me appreciate how quickly the summer can pass, and how much time with the family I sacrificed in order to build it. I've committed myself to the idea that I won't undertake any project now that will take more than one weekend to complete during the summer -- I want to focus on the family, and I think if I put as much effort into that, as I did into building this shed then we'll be pretty happy.