My old storage shed finally collapsed this winter. I tore it down and cut it up into burnable pieces with a Sawzall. Then I went to HD and Lowes to shop for a new shed. What garbage! Cheapest tool shed was an 8x10' metal piece of crapola for $400, and I was told it would take all day to put it together. The wood ones were even worse, and were well over a grand. I would expect 2-3 years tops out of one of those cheap wood ones, and the better wood sheds were over two grand, and even they had flimsy 2x4 trusses and 2x3 studs. The only well made shed on the lot (i.e. had real trusses, 2x4 studs, and an actual header over the door) was $3400! I decided I'd have to build my own if I wanted to have it last.
I looked at several free plans on the Internet, but they were all too elaborate and the BOMs were $$$. I never built a pole structure before, but living in farm country, they're all over the place. Then I saw PapaDave's mini pole barn and got inspired to do the same thing at my place, but with some easy to do mods that would give more rain coverage. Seemed like a cheap and easy way to make a shed. Turns out that nothing today is cheap, and having to hand dig those 42" deep holes ain't so easy.
It took all afternoon for my son and I to lay out and dig nine holes, and our shoulders were aching at the end of the day. At about 12" deep we hit rocks on every hole. It was like the glaciers that deposited everything here had a thin schmear of rocks that got swept along as they passed. I'd say, "I think we got a clean one, Curt", then that terrible scraping sound of metal on rock. A couple of them took half an hour to pry out of the ground, but we weren't going to let a 30# boulder get in the way of two he-men. We tossed a 30# bag of Quickrete in each hole, tamped it down and let it sit for a couple days to harden with ground water. This gave me a real solid footing below the frost line without having to pay for three times as much for concrete to completely fill the holes. I would set the posts on the footings, then back fill with dirt to hold them in place.
The next week I started early in the AM one day and worked until almost dark. I used bar clamps to hold the 2x4 girts to the posts. Once they were plumb and square to each other, I used deck screws to hold everything in place. Then I figure out the pitch and marked the bottoms of the header plate locations. I used doubled 2x6s along the back (4' span between posts) and doubled 2x8s along the front (6' span). I was working alone, so I put them up one at a time with deck screws. After they were all in place and nailed together, I drill out the plates for four 6" galvanized spikes to go into each post. Even with a pilot hole, I had to use a 2# sledge to drive then in. Wouldn't want to have to do that all day.
When Lady BK got home from work, we ate a quick dinner and she came out and helped me put up the rafters. We measured and cut the bird's mouths with a sliding bevel since I never did learn how to use a framing square, then I cut them out by hand with my Japanese ryoba saw. It was faster than picking up the circ saw every time for these little cuts, and the fit was much better. We used metal rafter ties to hold them in place instead of toe-nailing them. Keeps them in place and prevents the roof from ever blowing off.
End of day 1... the framing on my 8' x 12' shed was done (minus one rafter and the side girts), and I was beat. More to come...
I looked at several free plans on the Internet, but they were all too elaborate and the BOMs were $$$. I never built a pole structure before, but living in farm country, they're all over the place. Then I saw PapaDave's mini pole barn and got inspired to do the same thing at my place, but with some easy to do mods that would give more rain coverage. Seemed like a cheap and easy way to make a shed. Turns out that nothing today is cheap, and having to hand dig those 42" deep holes ain't so easy.
It took all afternoon for my son and I to lay out and dig nine holes, and our shoulders were aching at the end of the day. At about 12" deep we hit rocks on every hole. It was like the glaciers that deposited everything here had a thin schmear of rocks that got swept along as they passed. I'd say, "I think we got a clean one, Curt", then that terrible scraping sound of metal on rock. A couple of them took half an hour to pry out of the ground, but we weren't going to let a 30# boulder get in the way of two he-men. We tossed a 30# bag of Quickrete in each hole, tamped it down and let it sit for a couple days to harden with ground water. This gave me a real solid footing below the frost line without having to pay for three times as much for concrete to completely fill the holes. I would set the posts on the footings, then back fill with dirt to hold them in place.
The next week I started early in the AM one day and worked until almost dark. I used bar clamps to hold the 2x4 girts to the posts. Once they were plumb and square to each other, I used deck screws to hold everything in place. Then I figure out the pitch and marked the bottoms of the header plate locations. I used doubled 2x6s along the back (4' span between posts) and doubled 2x8s along the front (6' span). I was working alone, so I put them up one at a time with deck screws. After they were all in place and nailed together, I drill out the plates for four 6" galvanized spikes to go into each post. Even with a pilot hole, I had to use a 2# sledge to drive then in. Wouldn't want to have to do that all day.
When Lady BK got home from work, we ate a quick dinner and she came out and helped me put up the rafters. We measured and cut the bird's mouths with a sliding bevel since I never did learn how to use a framing square, then I cut them out by hand with my Japanese ryoba saw. It was faster than picking up the circ saw every time for these little cuts, and the fit was much better. We used metal rafter ties to hold them in place instead of toe-nailing them. Keeps them in place and prevents the roof from ever blowing off.
End of day 1... the framing on my 8' x 12' shed was done (minus one rafter and the side girts), and I was beat. More to come...
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