Storage Shed Siding From Gym Bleachers

A couple of years ago I wanted to build a new storage shed to replace the one that we had for many years. The old shed was a hodgepodge of particle board and 2x4 lumber, and was basically a mess. I wanted a shed that was functional and secure, and had a nice design. Many of the standard designs were pretty boring and did not seem to leave enough room for storage. I finally found a design from Sebastiaan here on Instructables that I modified. You can see it here. It is a great design, and you can see how the tiny house phenomenon has influenced new designs like this. Anyway, one of the things I liked about this design was the Douglas Fir wood siding. I knew if I was to build a new shed, I wanted a clean modern look like this. So began my shed saga and my search for affordable Doug Fir siding. In this Instructable, I will tell you how I reclaimed old Douglas Fir gym bleachers to make tongue-and-groove siding for my shed.

1. Wooden bleachers
2. Saw horses or stands
3. Circular saw
4. Portable table saw
5. Portable thickness planer
6. Joiner
7. Portable router and bits
8. Drill and bits
9. Plug cutter bits
10. Hand plane
11. Chisels
12. Carpentry glue
13. Tung Oil
14. Brushes
15. Rags
16. Stainless Steel Foundation Nails

I sourced over 450 linear feet of 1x10" Douglas fir bleachers from a reclamation store in St. Jacobs, Ontario. These were salvaged bleachers from the gymnasium at the University of Waterloo. The first step is to sort the lumber by length and condition. Most of the pieces that I had were 16 feet long. Most were in good condition, although many had gum stuck to them. Yes chewing gum. I guess a lot of fans in the stands stuck their gum under their bleacher seats over the years! The bigger problem was that the planks had bolt holes every 4 feet, where they had been attached to metal brackets. You can see these in the photos here. I had to drill out the holes so that they were clean and so that I could plug them. To plug the holes, I cut wooden plugs from a shorter sacrificed board using a plug cutter. I glued the plugs in place and let the glue dry, before using my hand chisels to make them flush.

I used my circular saw to cut boards to length. I made sure to keep the boards a long as possible to make sure that my siding would stretch the length of my shed. For me, this meant working with 12' and 8' lengths. I used my joiner to dress one side of the planks. With one side dressed, I used a portable table saw to cut the planks to a width of 8-1/2".

With 2 sides dressed, it was time to plane the lumber. I couldn't use a joiner for the faces as they were too wide. Be careful planing reclaimed lumber, because any nail or screw or staple can dull or chip your planer knives, making them less useful. Or downright useless. You will need help at this step to run the boards through the planer. This was the most satisfying part of the project for me. Taking the old lacquered bleacher seats back into beautiful raw lumber was just awesome. The grain on Douglas Fir is beautiful. The plugged holes gave it some character too.

It was time to make the tongue and groove. This was the most challenging part of the project for me. I am not great with a router, so there was a steep learning curve for me in this step. Basically it involved clamping the planks to my work stands, and routing the length of the planks, using 2 different router bits. Well, that's what I should have done. I'll be honest here and tell you that I was using a slot cutter bit to cut both the tongues and grooves. Total rookie move I know. :) Anyway, the results were not great, but I did manage to get it done, and I was able to fit the boards together for a tight fit.

The plank siding was dressed and clean and ready to use. But I needed to apply tung oil to protect it. Tung oil is easy to work with. I liked how it brought out the grain in the wood. I used disposable brushes to apply the oil, and rags to clean up the excess. Once dry, I nailed the siding to my furring strips on the exterior shed walls. Starting at the bottom of a shed wall, I made any final cuts to length. I nailed the plank siding to the wall with stainless steel nails. You could use any fasteners you like, but I did not want to use screws or hot-dipped nails for aesthetic reasons. I had the tongues of the planks facing, so I worked my way up each wall, setting each plank groove in the tongue below it. Despite my rookie router use, I made it work and it was very satisfying to see how the planks fit tightly together. It's not to say I didn't need to have my chisels and hand planer at had to fit the pieces as I went. But overall, it worked well.

With the walls sided, I wanted to put another coat of tung oil on all the siding for extra protection. I am very happy with the final look and the way the siding has held up to the elements. I am happy that I chose to work with wood for this project, despite what the elements can do to it. So far, a couple of Canadian winters have not damaged the wood, and it still has a fresh, clean look. I know there are a lot of tools listed for this instructable. If you don't have them, I am sure you can find ways to use reclaimed lumber in your own project for something a little out of the ordinary. Good Luck and Have Fun!