DO IT YOURSELF Sheds Part II

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When sawing into walls, use cheap throwaway blades (no loss if ruined on a nail). A reciprocating saw is made for rough cutting, but its narrow, easily deflected blade can leave a ragged edge. To guide it, tack (fasten temporarily with a partly sunk nail) a straight board with one edge that's half the width of the saw's foot plate from the cut line. Drill holes in corners of the cutout to admit the blade.

Set a circular saw to cut 1/2" deeper than the sheathing's thickness. Get a secure footing and a firm grip on the saw. To start the cut, tip the saw up on the front edge of the foot plate and, moving forward slowly, lever the blade down and into the wood. Cut slowly, pressing hard against sheathing. Saw carefully and salvage what old wood you can; I've paneled den walls and built picture frames from weathered barn board. Planks come off framing with a judiciously used pry bar, but nailed-on partide board or plywood is hard to remove intact. Don't bother trying to salvage interior sheathing of gypsum wallboard or plaster (although bone-dry wood lath that holds plaster in older buildings makes great kindling for the wood stove).

With sheathing off, mark level cut lines on exposed faces of studs and saw slowly to leave a flat and level cut surface (a handsaw works best). For a door, pry studs off the sleeper (the horizontal board along the floor that supports the studs). If sleeper juts above floor, use the handsaw to cut out the section of sleeper in the doorway.

The Door

Being alternately opened and closed, rain soaked and sun baked, and swung on by kids, doors lead a rough life. To last, they must be sturdily built. Nominal 6"wide (actually 5 1/2") boards are best. Narrower boards can slip, canting (tilting) the door, and wider boards can warp.

Don't use that silky smooth, but soft and thin, pine shelving available at buildingsupply centers. A good choice is outsidestored 5/4" x 6" (actually 1" x 5 1/2") decking made of rot-resistant cedar or pressuretreated (PT) lumber—fir or yellow pine treated with CCA preservative. Better yet is 5/4" tongue-and-groove hard pine, in which a 1/2" spline (wood strip) is milled into the edge of one board so it fits into a groove in the next. A 30" door can be made from six 4/5" x 6" x 8' T&G (tongue and groove) planks for under $20. T&G locks along the edges to make a solid, weather-tight door, but it should be painted or soaked with deck preservative against wet rot.

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