smokinjay said:
Thanks for the kind words regarding our little man, SJ.
The shed cost more than it had to. $700 so far, and it still needs a gallon or two of stain and a few rough sawn planks to finish the trim. It's way overbuilt for a pole structure. I found out later that I could go 8' apart on the posts. I could easily have expanded the shed to a 8' x 16' by changing the post spacing and actually removing three of them from the plan. The extended eaves put the roof at 14' long. That required five 36" x 10' sheets of Galvalume, and three 8' long sheets, cut in half to get five useful 4 footers and one scrap piece. The ridge caps come 10' long, so there is a 6' overlap in that shed (didn't feel like cutting one and taking it to the recyclers). The fasteners are expensive and are sold by the bag. I only used a little more than half a bag. So for the cost of one 36" x 10' sheet ($22), I could have had 18' of roofing to cover a 16' wide shed instead of a 12' wide one. The only other cost would have been a couple extra rafters, longer header plates and purlins, two 1' x 10" x 10' rough sawn planks, and maybe and extra pound of nails. As you can see, the thing's almost full already, and I still have to get welding equipment, an air compressor and a small metal cutting band saw in there. An extra 4' would have been the smart way to go. Might have been about $800 for it all told. Live and learn.
I may put barn-style sliding doors on it before winter. Not sure if I can get the hardware used somewhere. Plus, there'd be a problem with the coal forge, which has the ass end sticking into the back of the shed and the front end out where the door would slide over. Right now, I love being able to just walk into it to get what I need, or more importantly, encourage Lady BK to put away her gardening tools in the right place when she's done with them. But even if she just tosses them in there, at least they're out of the rain. I'm hard on my tools, but she's downright abusive with hers.
I curious to see what the Amish might charge to built this shed. I have a friend that would probably charge $1000 over the cost of materials, but another guy said it's worth about $2500 as it sits. No wonder the landlord was so happy I built it.
Interesting thing about building these sheds, at least locally. I went into the HD near my house and they had a whole cart load of 16' 2x4s for $3 apiece. I sighted down them and, sure enough, they had some warp to them, but there were quite a few that were usable for an outbuilding. The lumber manager told me that after the contractors pick through the stuff, they always get stuck with a bunch of 2nd quality lumber that they are only too glad to sell at 1/2 price. He told me to pick out several boards that looked warped, and if he thought they were bad enough, he'd give them to me at half price. Maybe a sister shed is on the horizon? Stay tuned...
Dennis, too bad I don't live out your way. I'd have gladly helped you build a super nice shed for the wood that's sitting where you want to put it.
