Backyard Shed

Image Gallery ILLUSTRATIONS BY LAURIE GRACE

Summer's getting long in the tooth; rain is scarce and leaves are beginning to show color. The family vacation is over (if not paid for) ,the garden is tending itself, the fish have quit biting and pro football hasn't yet kicked off. Weekends drag, it's time to find something to get you out of the house. What better project than building a shed to store your gear?

In just such circumstances some years back, I responded to a magazine ad for a plan set that promised a pretty shed "anyone could build." But the plan proved to be nothing but a single sheet of paper with a crude drawing, a materials list written in shorthand, and instructions that began "Anchor sole plate..." What's a sole plate? Don't ask me, the plan didn't say.

Professional Help

As luck would have it, our little country town took up recycling that year and I got to carry boards for a carpenter as he built us an open-fronted recycling shed. I still have a mind's-eye picture of him with his deliberate but steady pace, measuring twice, cutting once and then setting nails with a whack. Thus instructed, I built a scaled-down version of the recycling shed, closed in the front, and made a woodplank door and sliding window. You can use this shed to store garden tools or wood, to garage your lawn tractor and attachments, to house a few goats, sheep or chickens, or for a combination of uses. (Just be sure to put a dust-proof partition between the laying hens and your work or storage area.)

The shed is a few inches short of 16' long, 8' high and deep. It's designed for mistake-proof construction, using economical, standard-size materials. But it is made to last, with ground-facing floor beams of pressure-treated (PT) lumber to resist decay and insect damage, and a frame more closely spaced than you'll find in many new homes. The siding is T-1-11 plywood, which is weather-proofed and grooved on one side to simulate barn boards.

With careful shopping, all new materials should cost less than $600 (at 1993 prices). Finish it to match your house with prehung doors, windows, and clapboards or shingles, and the cost can more than double. But if you shop wisely, use recycled lumber, and build your own doors and windows, the cost can be less than what you spend for seed and soil conditioners each year.

You'll find these directions detailed enough to complete the shed, even if you barely know a hammer from a saw. Construction entails a lot of "tacking" (temporary fastening with fasteners sunk part way) to eliminate errors. I've even included tips on compensating for the type of amateur-builder mistakes I've made myself.

Planning

Locate the shed where it'll be most accessible for use. Mine is midway between house and garden and convenient to the driveway, as we use it to store a canoe and bicycles as well as the tiller and wheelbarrow.