The Too Tall Shed

I needed a new shed to store the stuff that seemed to gather in my Vardo ( https://www.instructables.com/Vardo-1/), it had become a shed on wheels and I needed to clean it out so I could finish the inside. I had a limited space to build a shed, so instead of building a wide shed, I decided to build up.

I couldn't afford a pre-built shed or use all new material, so it had to be Built on a BUDGET with materials I had on hand or could scrounge.

In case someone is wondering how big it is, I've include four units of measurements that are currently in use in North America: Imperial system, Metric system, U.S. football field for size and The Olympic size swimming pool for volume. The T T shed is 8 feet long x 8 feet high x 4 feet wide, 32 sq. feet, 256 cubic feet. Metric 2.4 m long x 2.4 m high x 1.21 m wide, 2.9 sq.meters, 6.96 cubic meters. This works out to be 1/1800th of a US football field sq. footage and 1/344th of an Olympic size swimming pool for volume.

I built the shed using the four foot method that I developed when I built the Vardo.

The four foot method stems from using four foot long boards. You will see how I went about it in this Instructable.

Measurement units are inches, unless otherwise stated

Pressure Treated and untreated lumber all in four foot lengths, ranging in size from 2 x4's to 2 x 12's and deck boards 5/4 x 5, 3/4 x 5 fence boards, some of the fence boards were longer, they came from a neighbour that tore down one of his fences. There was some various lengths of 2 x 4's that were left over from other projects, they were longer then four feet. Two 6 foot long 4 x 4 posts from my neighbours old fence.

A heavy duty 33 x 28 steel framed window.

Self adhesive window flashing.

A Cedar door with window that a bought from a neighbour for five dollars.

Lots of 1.5, 2.5, 3, and 4 inch # 8 deck screws, 2 inch metal roofing screws and Construction adhesive.

3 hinges.

A barrel bolt, lock hasp

Left over steel roofing from when I had our house roof done.

Tyvek fabric, left over from the Vardo project.

Miscellaneous pieces of scrap plywood, Two pieces of 4 foot x 8 foot Chip board.

Various pieces of hardwood flooring and laminated flooring.

Four concrete deck supports from a neighbour. Some smaller paving stones as well.

Tape measure, drill, miter saw, drill bits, screw driver bits for drill, hammer, caulking gun, ladders ...

I forgot to take pictures of the shed floor frame, but it consisted of two, 4 foot square, squares each one consisted of six 2 x 6's that were fastened with 3.5 inch wood screws and construction adhesive. I used untreated 2 x 6's for this since the frame was not touching the ground, since it was supported by deck footing blocks and other cement paving blocks.

The two 4 foot frames were fastened together with 3.5 inch screws and construction adhesive.

The frame was covered with, and assortment of 2x 6's, 8's, 10's and 12's, an assortment because that is how I made up the eight foot length, this worked out well, except It was an inch short. The floor boards were fastened with screws and construction adhesive.

I started with the back wall, It consists of six 2 x 6's, this was done to support the two side walls. It was fastened to the floor using 3.5 inch screws and construction adhesive.

The left wall was made with a seven foot 2 x 4 and six four foot 2 x 4's, fastened to the floor with screws and construction adhesive.

The right wall consists of two 4 sections and two 3 foot sections, also fastened to the floor with screws and construction adhesive.

When 4 foot sections were joined to each other or the back wall, screws and construction adhesive were used as well.

I used cross bracing on the lower wall sections and the upper wall sections, these were left in place until chip board was fastened to the lower walls. The 8 foot high frame of two side and a back wall was quite wobbly without the bracing.

The bracing was removed after the roof, most of the siding and the door frame was attached.

I don't have pictures of how I made the roof rafters. I read up on how to do it, laid out a form on the shed floor that I could fit the rafter to and assemble them, I used screws and construction adhesive to fasten the cross pieces of the rafters. Cutting the notch ( the part that fits on the top of the walls) on the rafters was tricky to figure out, but I did. I was happy when the first one actually fit.

Because I was building this by myself, the roofing plywood went up in pieces, which is just as well because the plywood I had was a lot of assorted lengths and widths.

When I was putting up the last pieces of the roof plywood, I was visited by a Stick insect, it stayed around for a bit and then just walked away, it was pretty amazing to see. You can gauge the size of it when it's beside a #8 1.5 inch long wood screw.

With the roof covering done and the Stick insect off to better things, I covered the roof with Tyvek Protec 120 stapling it in place.

Next I strapped the roof with 1 x 2's in preparation for the steel roofing.

Next was to cover it with leftover steel roofing, since I only had small pieces of roofing to work with. I laid out a space on the lawn the same size of the roof to be covered. I fitted this together like a puzzle so I could get the roof covered, some parts of the roof are covered with just steel sheeting, ( the kind used for flashing and valleys). Before the roofing I fitted the roofing, I installed the roof cap, the type that the steel roofing fits into.

My next-door neighbour Peter was a very great help installing the steel roofing. Thanks Peter for your help.

The cedar door I got for the shed had been stored outside for years and the edges were quite rough and weathered. So I decided to trim the edges. I took an inch off the top, an inch and a half off the bottom and an inch off each side.The edges I removed from the door, were perfect stops around the inside of the door frame. With the door trimmed down, I had to figure out the opening needed it for it to fit and work.

I measured the width of the now trimmed door, added 3/4 inches to the sides, 3/4 inches to the top and an inch and a half to the door's measurements to get the size opening that I would need for the door frame.

On either side of the walls I used one of the 6 foot 4x 4 posts, these were glued and screwed to the walls, then on the left hand side I attached a 7 foot 2 x 10 (actually 4 foot and 3 foot long pieces) and on the right hand side a 7 foot 2 x 8 (actually 4 foot and 3 foot long pieces).

The Head Jamb consists of two 2 x 6's. The back one is sitting on the two 4x 4 posts the front one is attached to the rear one with construction adhesive and screws.

I prepared the door by brushing the trimmed edges with Linseed oil. I let that dry for a day or two.

Then I spaced the hinges out, the two heavy duty hinges went at the top and bottom, the fancy gate hinge went jut below the window.

To hold the door in place when installing it, I put a piece of wood matching the height that the door should be at when hung, on the sides I used shims so that the door would fit properly in the frame so that it wouldn't bind.

I put a 2 x4 on the inside so that the door would not fall in when I brought the door over, on the outside I prepared a 2 x 6 with screws, ready to brace the door when I put it in place. With the door in place I then fastened the brace and did some minor adjustments in preparation of attaching the hinges to the frame, I used 3. 5 inch #8 wood screws to attach the hinges. I tried the door and it opened and closed properly.

I then attached the door Knob, without the latching part. On the outside I attached a barrel bolt and lock hasp.

I needed something to cover the top of the door frame, so I extended a couple of boards out from the top of the door header, fastened a piece of 1 x 4 to join these boards, and attached a piece of corrugated aluminum that I've had for years, just waiting for a project to come along.

I don't having any pictures of the siding installation, since I built the shed by myself, except for some great help from my neighbour Peter with the roofing installation.

Before installing the siding, I covered the whole outside with the Tyvek Protec 120 and stapled it in place.

The siding consists of fence boards from my other neighbour, four foot long 5/4 rounded edge deck boards and 3/4 inch fence boards. They were fastened with deck screws to the studs of the shed. Having an unfinished inside, I could check if I had missed the stud and go back and relocate the screw into the stud.

Again no installation pics, sorry. When I was doing the rear wall framing, I made an opening for the window that I had on hand, I've had the window for almost 30 years, and it was sitting in another shed. The window came from when I worked for the pipeline, It came from a metal building, it's frame is steel and the glass in it is quite heavy, the window weighs at least 65 pounds which is quite heavy for a 33 x 28 inch window, It's a slider with four sheets of glass. I prepared the window opening with the self adhesive window flashing, that is about 4 inches wide and protects the wood from moisture where a window is mounted.

I put two boards across the outside of the window opening so that the window would not fall through when I was installing it in the hole. The window was fastened with 3.5 inch wood screws after I drilled holes through the steel frame.

After the window was installed, I caulked around the outside of the window.

I had some various flooring that I decided to cover the floor with so that things could move along the floor more easily.

The floor covering is a three foot wide of 3/4 inch x 2 inch wide oak flooring at the back. The rest of the flooring is covered with laminated flooring, the kind that interlocks together.

I estimate the shed cost less than $500 in material, which is far less than if I had bought all new material.

The first four pictures show what individual boards would cost. The next pictures shows my lumber pile storage rack, the last picture shows a load that I paid $100 for, about half of it is Pressure treated of various widths, the year before I bought a load of all Pressure treated for $75. The lumber store I bought it at doesn't sell in assorted pallets anymore, I guess they've figured out that they can make more money selling boards individually.

I've priced out a cedar door like I got and they're around $400.

A similar window would cost around $200, I paid $25 for three of them from where I used to work.