Backyard Shed
(Page 2 of 12)
August/September 1993
By John Vivian
A small shed needn't be built from the brand new, kiln-dried, defect-free materials that building codes require for dwellings. Boards need only be strong, sound and uniform. (Don't build any one component—a wall, roof or floor—of mixed sizes and species.) Look at several lumberyards, building-supply recyclers, sawmills and even nearby demolition dumps (which may contain remains of torn-down buildings). All lumberyards have cut-price sales, and recyclers have surplus as well as used materials at a fraction of the price for new. Look in the Yellow Pages under "Building Materials—Used" and "Lumber—Retail." Look around, local mills may not have a phone. Whatever the source, reject boards with major knots or cracks. Look down the long side of each edge and discard any with serious warps or twists.
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Prehung exterior doors and windows are quickest to install but are expensive. Freestanding glazed sashes don't cost much and can be fixed in place or hinged from any edge. You can hang any freestanding, solid-wood door in a box of 1" boards attached flat to wall framing, but avoid the hollow doors used in new-home interiors. Their thin skins can be pierced by a good bump from a loaded garden cart and they aren't weatherproof. Cheaper is to build and hang a plank door. Then rig an old window sash or scrap plywood-shutter to slide in wood channels fastened to the outside of the wall.
Measure Lumber and Complete Plan
Go to your lumber supplier and measure the materials you plan to use (a "nominal" 2 x 4 x 8 stud is 8' long but actually only 1 1/2" thick and 3 1/2" wide). Before you buy a board, draw up a detailed "actual" measure plan, using a scale ruler or square-ruled graph paper.
The following are simplified terms, materials and orientation for framing members. Rot-resistant PT 2 x 6s are used for the floor-framing members. The sill rests atop the foundation to hold floor beams or joists, placed 24" apart. The walls and roof are framed with 2 x 4s. They're laid flat around the edge of the floor to make up the sole plate or sleeper. The sleeper supports vertical 2 x 4 wall studs, which are placed 12" apart, extending up to the plate at top. This plate supports the 12"-spaced 2 x 4 roof beams, or rafters. Two by-fours are doubled at the end rafters in order to make corner supporting beams, and also around windows and doors.
Flat boards can sag and buckle, so framing members are placed with their stronger, narrow dimension facing the sheathing they support. Floors, roof and wall sheathing are standard 4' x 8' sheets of exterior-glued plywood or oriented-strand particleboard.
Modifications
You'll note that dimensions supplied are a bit short of the standard 8' lumber and plywood lengths that are specified in conventional shed plans. This means you must trim most frame members and sheet goods, which takes a little time. But, it also gives you room to compensate for mistakes and produces a shed with a pleasing roof overhang.
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