Finally started the woodshed

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.
muncybob

muncybob

Minister of Fire
Apr 8, 2008
2,158
Near Williamsport, PA
Got the post holes dug out today. Took us 4 hours to stake them out and dig 8 holes apprx. 3' deep each. Rented a one man post hole unit but it took 2 of us, a shovel and a breaker bar....Pennsylvania is FULL of rock, at least around here it is. Using 4X6 pressure treated posts rated for ground contact.

The shed itself is to be 24' wide and 10' deep. Roof will be about 7'6" in the rear and 8'6" in the front with a bit of an overhang front and rear. Was planning to arrange rafters of 2X6 at 24" apart. Also planning to use 2X6 sandwiched on either side of the posts full length of front and rear. With this roof pitch am I OK considering snow load of 24"?
 

Attachments

  • Getting ready to make some holes.jpg
    Getting ready to make some holes.jpg
    84.8 KB · Views: 1,794
Nice start.
The local lumber yards should be able to help with the roof design & strength.
Lowes & HD have pros at the "contractor's desk"that may help also.
How many tons is 2 feet of wet snow on 240 sq ft (maybe 288 with the overhang) ?

Better to be to strong than not strong enough, IMO.

But if the shed is stuffed full to the rafters, no problem :) LOL

Good question, 2X6 may be fine, I'm just guessing. Maybe some one here is an engineer & can help.
 
muncybob said:
Got the post holes dug out today. Took us 4 hours to stake them out and dig 8 holes apprx. 3' deep each. Rented a one man post hole unit but it took 2 of us, a shovel and a breaker bar....Pennsylvania is FULL of rock, at least around here it is. Using 4X6 pressure treated posts rated for ground contact.

The shed itself is to be 24' wide and 10' deep. Roof will be about 7'6" in the rear and 8'6" in the front with a bit of an overhang front and rear. Was planning to arrange rafters of 2X6 at 24" apart. Also planning to use 2X6 sandwiched on either side of the posts full length of front and rear. With this roof pitch am I OK considering snow load of 24"?
Click to expand...

Handy link for you shelter builders...

http://tinyurl.com/3znvpwp

Ray
 
Looking good, we are about at the same stage of the game. Are you planning on putting sides on your shed or leaving it open?
 
It will have sides(3) eventually, may not get to them this year. Depends on how much the metal roof runs me. Just the eight 4X6 posts and a dozen 2X4's already has me over $200. Once the roof is on I figure I'm still ahead of the game compared to tarps last winter!

Based on that calculater I need 2X8 joists since they are going to span just over 10'. What I'm not sure about is the spacing....I'm told I probably will be OK at 24" but I'm thinking about only going 16". Will be more work and $$ but better safe than sorry.
 
Just a suggestion, and it may not matter in your situation, but give yourself extra overhang at the rear (or wherever your low side is) if possible.
When it rains, the dripping splashes back onto the siding on mine and the bottom of the siding gets soaked. I ended up putting a skirt board back there just under the siding boards and it seems to be keeping the splashing off the firewood. The siding is taking the hit and will need to be replaced after a few short years.
Mine is just about 7' in front and about 5' in back, which gives an approximate pitch of 3/12.......it works, but I should have gone a little steeper. I also did 2x6 at 24" o/c and they're fine.
Having said all that, I'm not an engineer or pro builder, so will defer to those guys.
Edit: The 4x6 posts may be a bit overkill also. I used those in the 30x40 pole barn. Not sure of the cost difference.
Keep the pics coming. :coolsmile:
 
Planning on rear overhang and a gutter/downspout that will empty into a rain barrel. Barrel will have overflow into a shallow ditch filled with stone that will run downhill alongside the shed.

I have to say that even though it's 24' wide it doesn't look all that big...maybe it will once it's filled with wood. I use less than 5 cords/yr and just want to store enough for an extra demand winter so I guess I should be fine.
 
muncybob said:
Got the post holes dug out today. Took us 4 hours to stake them out and dig 8 holes apprx. 3' deep each. Rented a one man post hole unit but it took 2 of us, a shovel and a breaker bar....Pennsylvania is FULL of rock, at least around here it is. Using 4X6 pressure treated posts rated for ground contact.

The shed itself is to be 24' wide and 10' deep. Roof will be about 7'6" in the rear and 8'6" in the front with a bit of an overhang front and rear. Was planning to arrange rafters of 2X6 at 24" apart. Also planning to use 2X6 sandwiched on either side of the posts full length of front and rear. With this roof pitch am I OK considering snow load of 24"?
Click to expand...


Muncybob, nice start on your woodshed. Since we plan on building I will be following this to pick up info for ours.


zap
 
muncybob said:
It will have sides(3) eventually, may not get to them this year. Depends on how much the metal roof runs me. Just the eight 4X6 posts and a dozen 2X4's already has me over $200. Once the roof is on I figure I'm still ahead of the game compared to tarps last winter!

Based on that calculater I need 2X8 joists since they are going to span just over 10'. What I'm not sure about is the spacing....I'm told I probably will be OK at 24" but I'm thinking about only going 16". Will be more work and $$ but better safe than sorry.
Click to expand...

Wait until you price the metal roof.......There is a reason I purchased it a while ago, it was a substantial hit on the wallet
 
I may luck out on the roof. Daughter's boyfriend has some roofing in their barn...it's rusty but good condition. Will be checking it out this weekend and it may just cost me a tank of gas and a case of good beer. I plan to paint it with Rust Bullet and then perhaps topcoat it. I helped them out with a bit of labor renovating their house in the last 2 years so perhaps it's time for good karma to repay me.
 
muncybob said:
Planning on rear overhang and a gutter/downspout that will empty into a rain barrel. Barrel will have overflow into a shallow ditch filled with stone that will run downhill alongside the shed.

I have to say that even though it's 24' wide it doesn't look all that big...maybe it will once it's filled with wood. I use less than 5 cords/yr and just want to store enough for an extra demand winter so I guess I should be fine.
Click to expand...

Good idea. I may put some of that cheap box store rain gutter on mine, it'll help prevent some erosion & mud splashing on the wood.

If you have room, you can add to it easy enough if needed. I built mine in 16' segments along property line.
It's a nice barrier/fence & easy to add if I need/want to.
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/77739/
 
Dave, nice work but that's a warehouse man!

I have a feeling I'll be adding on an additional 8' section for splitter/snowblower storage. My current plan is to build the 24' length into three 8' sections designated by the 4X6 posts and fill the shed up leaving a 6' empty space at the one end for the blower/splitter storage. We'll see how that works. Like you said, adding on should not pose any problems...I think I could easily go another 16'.
 
10' x 24' x 7.5' is 14.5 cords. I think if you only burn 5 in a normal winter, you will have enough if hell freezes over. Nice! I'm jealous. Trying to figure out where I can put one in my yard where it will be handy enough to get my wood in the winter. I would also like to build in a section for wood tools as well, but that could be done later.

As for the roof strength, you could talk to your town/city inspector. I built a shed a couple of years ago and they gave me pointers on roof pitch, and how spaced out the rafters could be and how big they needed to be. It was a little easy for me since my pitch was 10/12. I used 2x4 and could have space them every 24" but spaced them every 16 so they landed on a side wall stud.

Nice job, send more pics when you get them.
 
I've used a few online tools regarding joist span and snow loads. I think I'm going with 2X8 every 16"...it's probably a bit overkill but we have had some serious ice storms here and with an unheated roof that ice will be heavy and possibly still up there when it decides to snow another foot. It's not a big difference in cost. Appears that I can probably go 2X8 @ 24" but for a few bucks more it's much easier to do this now than later! The low slope has me really concerned.
I plan to post pics but they will be slow in coming as the grass is growing again so I spend a lot of time cutting that now rather than wood!
 
The rain held off long enough yesterday to get the posts in. Thinking about when I ran our water lines out to the barn under our driveway, I bought the 4X6 posts long thinking I had to go deeper than what I really needed. Our water lines are 3'6" deep due to driveway being plowed, etc but everybody told me(after I bought the posts) 30" deep for the posts will be plenty. We took our time at this and it paid off as measurements at the end of the day show we are within 1/4" of square. Horizontal 2X4's are temp bracing.

The holes have about 6" of crushed stone in the bottom for drainage and if the rain will let up today I plan to back fill with more stone up to about 3" from ground level where I will finish off with dirt. Since the posts are so long(fronts were 14' and rear 12') I'm now considering a loft area for storage. Actual wood storage area is 10X18 and plan to stack 7' tall. Still plan to use the last 6' or so for implement storage.

This thing is tall but it still doesn't look big enough to hold close to 2 seasons of wood. I guess once I frame it out it will convince me.
 

Attachments

  • P1020020.jpg
    P1020020.jpg
    153.2 KB · Views: 1,446
Lookin' good Bob! Look forward to the progress pics! Thanx for posting..

Ray
 
muncybob, mine is 10x16x an average of about6-6.5, so can get about 7 cord in there. We also use just about 5 cord/year.
I only put 5 1/3 or so in this year, since I plan to do some mods next year, and don't want lots of extra wood in the way. If we happen to have an extremely bad winter, I can get to more wood easily by April/May to carry through.
 
muncybob,

Looks good! I would reconsider backfilling with stone around the posts. Stone will cause drainage, which will be next to your post, thus increasing freezing / frost potential. The other reason is that the stone will never completely compact (unless there are a variety of sizes), thus limiting the resistance to uplift, which with an open building is of some concern, although I've never heard of tornados in your area.

I've seen the posts backfilled both ways, and although I've built hundreds of buildings, I'm not pretending to be an engineer!

Good luck with the project,

Bill
 
Too late Bill, back fill is done except for the top 3" or so which will be soil. Hopefully my buddy that talked me into this knows what he's on about!
Dave, I guess my wood storage area will be about the same as yours. I'm hoping to stack about 7' tall. We use about 5 1/2 cords per year.
If Lowes is open this afternoon and the rain holds off, I think I'll be able to get the bottom 2X4's(PT) in and then can start on the rest of the non treated 2X4's. That will probably be all I can get done this week...then Sunday it's off to Long Beach Island, NJ! If we all concentrate real hard we can steer the storms out away from the coast!
 
muncybob said:
The rain held off long enough yesterday to get the posts in. Thinking about when I ran our water lines out to the barn under our driveway, I bought the 4X6 posts long thinking I had to go deeper than what I really needed. Our water lines are 3'6" deep due to driveway being plowed, etc but everybody told me(after I bought the posts) 30" deep for the posts will be plenty. We took our time at this and it paid off as measurements at the end of the day show we are within 1/4" of square. Horizontal 2X4's are temp bracing.

The holes have about 6" of crushed stone in the bottom for drainage and if the rain will let up today I plan to back fill with more stone up to about 3" from ground level where I will finish off with dirt. Since the posts are so long(fronts were 14' and rear 12') I'm now considering a loft area for storage. Actual wood storage area is 10X18 and plan to stack 7' tall. Still plan to use the last 6' or so for implement storage.

This thing is tall but it still doesn't look big enough to hold close to 2 seasons of wood. I guess once I frame it out it will convince me.
Click to expand...

Looks good muncybob, since you did a great job on the holes I'm thinking you should come up next year when we start building and lend a helping hand. Who did you rent the post hole machine (digger) from?


zap
 
muncybob said:
Got the post holes dug out today. Took us 4 hours to stake them out and dig 8 holes apprx. 3' deep each. Rented a one man post hole unit but it took 2 of us, a shovel and a breaker bar....Pennsylvania is FULL of rock, at least around here it is. Using 4X6 pressure treated posts rated for ground contact.

The shed itself is to be 24' wide and 10' deep. Roof will be about 7'6" in the rear and 8'6" in the front with a bit of an overhang front and rear. Was planning to arrange rafters of 2X6 at 24" apart. Also planning to use 2X6 sandwiched on either side of the posts full length of front and rear. With this roof pitch am I OK considering snow load of 24"?
Click to expand...


Use this to calculate how much snow you get normally and how much you think your roof should support.



Code: 
Density Information
                             Light/Dry Snow    Heavy/Wet Snow    Ice           Water
Snow Density (lb/cu ft)       3.12                     20.81          57.25         62.43
% of water                     5%                       33%            92%          100%

Snow Load Based on Accumulation Depth
Snow Depth (feet)    “Dry Snow†(lbs/sq ft)    “In between Snow† (lbs/sq ft)    “Wet Snow†(lbs/sq ft)
1                                         3                                    12                                        21
2                                        6.5                                  24                                          42
3                                        9.5                                  36                                          62
4                                       12.5                                  48                                          83
5                                       15.5                                  60                                         104

So if your shed was 24 x 10 your looking at 240 square feet, If you had 2 feet of wet snow = 10080 Ponds of snow.
 
Looking great.
Loft for storage is a great idea. Will need a ladder but dry storage is always useful to store "Stuff" in.
I never have enough dry storage for "stuff" :)
 
Zap, rented that thing from a local rental place. Never saw a "1 man" machine before...it took 2 anyways with all the rock we have around here! That's one part of this job I'm in no hurry to do again!

Yea, I need more space for stuff too! Can't believe the Mrs said...."just what you need, more junk"! I plan to keep a ladder in the woodshed for access. My helper likes to kayak and I'm looking for one...perfect winter storage for it.
 
I'm in the Northeast and all they required for my pole barn was 2x4 trusses 48" OC. The poles were dropped onto two bags of concrete and backfilled with dirt.
And it was the rainy season.... doesn't it always rain when you start a project like this?
I don't mean to take over your thread with my pictures but there might be something in them that might help you.

11.jpg


40.jpg


30.jpg


0019.jpg


Unfortunately a tree fell on it right after it was done...

0002.jpg


And insurance money turned it into a real garage...
Those are 2x10 trusses 24" OC (bottoms)

0028.jpg


0032.jpg
 
Man, that must have pissed you off when the tree fell on it!! Your trusses look similar to our barn ones. The woodshed will not have much of a pitch to it. The rain did not co-operate yesterday so nothing else was done outdoors, spent the afternoon in the garage with the saw and tractor maintenance...always somthing to do!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

vbu
vbu wood shed build
Replies
12
Views
2K
The Wood Shed
vbu
vbu
J
Removing FMI 42GC zero clearance and alcove build for Hearthstone Mansfield 8012
Replies
28
Views
3K
HearthStone
jesse72
J
G
gthomas785 Massive Wood Shed Build (progress thread)
Replies
35
Views
7K
The Wood Shed
SJT
S
jwoair23
10 Cord Wood Shed Finished!
Replies
55
Views
13K
The Wood Shed
kennyp2339
kennyp2339
J
Xtrordinair 44 Elite experience
Replies
0
Views
2K
Travis Industries: Lopi, Avalon, FPX
jnewman67
J
Top Bottom
Back