Firewood shed, my summer Project. "Woodstock"

[hamslam42]

I got tired of dealing with wood stacks and tarps and decided last fall that I was going to build a wood shed. I was inspired by many posts and designs from the "Show us yours" forum, so I thought I would also post a picture of mine and maybe someone else could get some ideas.
I didn't realize what a huge undertaking this project would be when I started. Midway through the summer I realized this monster structure needed a name, and my wife and I appropriately named it "Woodstock".
It is 26 feet wide, 6 feet deep, and about 9 feet high (I will stack to about 6 1/2 feet high). It will hold about 5 cords with room between rows for ventilation. That is about 1 cords of wood stacked in "Bay 3".
We're new to wood burning, last winter was our first with a Lopi Freedom Bay and we love it. I expect to burn about 2 cords per year, so this will give me places to store the wood to burn this year, and stack the wood to season for next year.
Here's the finished product, and a few pictures from the construction phase. I had never built anything close to this before so it was a huge learning experience from me. It's my own design based off of many other shed projects found here and other places on the internet, and I did the whole thing myself except for parts of the roof where I recruited my brother to help. I still need to decide on a weather vane for the top of the Cupola (I would love to find a Snoopy and Woodstock weather vane!).

Now I'm ready to fill it up and start burning when the weather gets cold!

 

[SawDawg]

Professional Grade.

You could live in that thing should the wife ever kick you out.

 

[ElmBurner]

Looks like it could withstand a hurricane. And the neighbors won't complain about the looks either. Very nice.

You might want to think about running your wood front to back instead of left to right in the bays. Otherwise the last wood to go in will be the first to come out (unless you plan to season it out in the open and move it to the shed when it is done?).

Any particular reason you had the ridge beam rest on the partition walls instead of being held up by the rafters?

Finally, I would put a band joist along the ends to tie your three long joists together, Should help stop them from twisting. But that might be belt-and-suspenders.

 

[hamslam42]

Looks like it could withstand a hurricane. And the neighbors won't complain about the looks either. Very nice.

You might want to think about running your wood front to back instead of left to right in the bays. Otherwise the last wood to go in will be the first to come out (unless you plan to season it out in the open and move it to the shed when it is done?).

Any particular reason you had the ridge beam rest on the partition walls instead of being held up by the rafters?

Finally, I would put a band joist along the ends to tie your three long joists together, Should help stop them from twisting. But that might be belt-and-suspenders.

Thanks for the additional thoughts. For loading, I am expecting to load an entire bay in one season, to let it season for a year so it will all be ready for the next season. that's my idea anyway. The front to back loading makes sense but unfortunately the design won't work well for that. I did the wall framing for the side to side loading, and I don't really have any supports for the front to back loading...I'd have to stack it carefully for that to work.

Regarding the ridge beam, I did make that design decision after doing research on roof framing. I decided to go the route of using a structural ridge beam instead of a non-structural one between the rafters. There were two main reasons I went this route. 1) Because of the wall framing I had already decided on doing (for creating the separate storage bays and providing lateral support for the stacked wood), I already had good support for the ridge beam. 2), Based on what I researched, if I did a non-structural ridge beam, I would have needed either collar ties or rafter ties.

For the band joist you mention, I did think about doing that mostly for looks, but decided I didn't need to (some cost cutting). I don't believe it is needed structurally, because those 3 support beams are pretty well tied together along the entire length, with the floor joists every 16", and the first floor joist is only 12" in from the end. The floor joists bear on the support beams, but I did use Hurricane ties at all the connection points as well.

 

[ElmBurner]

Thanks for the additional thoughts. For loading, I am expecting to load an entire bay in one season, to let it season for a year so it will all be ready for the next season. that's my idea anyway. The front to back loading makes sense but unfortunately the design won't work well for that. I did the wall framing for the side to side loading, and I don't really have any supports for the front to back loading...I'd have to stack it carefully for that to work.

You might find it a bit optimistic to think that wood will dry in 1 year when stored in your shed. You're storing it out of the sun and wind in essentially a large solid block. The rule of thumb around here seems to be that wood sheds are keeping wood dry, not to get it dry in the first place.

Regarding the ridge beam, I did make that design decision after doing research on roof framing. I decided to go the route of using a structural ridge beam instead of a non-structural one between the rafters. There were two main reasons I went this route. 1) Because of the wall framing I had already decided on doing (for creating the separate storage bays and providing lateral support for the stacked wood), I already had good support for the ridge beam. 2), Based on what I researched, if I did a non-structural ridge beam, I would have needed either collar ties or rafter ties.

Yep. I suppose if you have the walls there, it does no harm. I assumed you would use the top plate in your divider walls as the tie between the two sides of the roof, unless they aren't connected to work that way? It's kind hard to tell from the pictures...just making assumptions here.

For the band joist you mention, I did think about doing that mostly for looks, but decided I didn't need to (some cost cutting). I don't believe it is needed structurally, because those 3 support beams are pretty well tied together along the entire length, with the floor joists every 16", and the first floor joist is only 12" in from the end. The floor joists bear on the support beams, but I did use Hurricane ties at all the connection points as well.

Fair enough. As above...it's not easy to see how you framed the floor from the pics you included.

 

[SawDawg]

A copper cupola. Now you're just showing off.

 

[pma1123]

Yep, I have shed envy...very nice!!

 

[NordicSplitter]

How much did it run you in materials?

 

[Rossco]

How much did it run you in materials?

+1 .. Real nice shed.

Depends on the wood really. Soft wood will dry in a year in that shed. Maybe if you open the back a little.

 

[jeffesonm]

Great job.

 

[NHcpa]

You win! Dang, beautiful!
Because it is raised, I would have left some space between the floor boards, some will also include the walls...for additional drying. But tell you what, you hit it out of the park for both practicality and curb appeal.

 

[Jeffm1]

I got tired of dealing with wood stacks and tarps and decided last fall that I was going to build a wood shed. I was inspired by many posts and designs from the "Show us yours" forum, so I thought I would also post a picture of mine and maybe someone else could get some ideas.
I didn't realize what a huge undertaking this project would be when I started. Midway through the summer I realized this monster structure needed a name, and my wife and I appropriately named it "Woodstock".
It is 26 feet wide, 6 feet deep, and about 9 feet high (I will stack to about 6 1/2 feet high). It will hold about 5 cords with room between rows for ventilation. That is about 1 cords of wood stacked in "Bay 3".
We're new to wood burning, last winter was our first with a Lopi Freedom Bay and we love it. I expect to burn about 2 cords per year, so this will give me places to store the wood to burn this year, and stack the wood to season for next year.
Here's the finished product, and a few pictures from the construction phase. I had never built anything close to this before so it was a huge learning experience from me. It's my own design based off of many other shed projects found here and other places on the internet, and I did the whole thing myself except for parts of the roof where I recruited my brother to help. I still need to decide on a weather vane for the top of the Cupola (I would love to find a Snoopy and Woodstock weather vane!).

Now I'm ready to fill it up and start burning when the weather gets cold!




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Totally freakin' awesome!

I wouldn't season wood in the shed though. I would season the wood outside in the sun and wind first, then move it into the shed once it has fully seasoned a year.Your wood will dry better and faster that way. Maybe move it by early Oct or thereabouts.

 

[Shane Collins]

Very nice looking shed. A couple of questions. How are the concrete deck piers set? Just on the dirt or did you do something else under them? Also what are the cables that run from the shed to the ground?? Also any idea what the rough cost was to build it??

 

[barmstrong2]

Great job.. That's a nice looking shed.

 

[hamslam42]

You win! Dang, beautiful!
Because it is raised, I would have left some space between the floor boards, some will also include the walls...for additional drying. But tell you what, you hit it out of the park for both practicality and curb appeal.

From the research I did, I felt the most important thing for seasoning wood was ventilation, and the second objectice was keeping it dry as much as possible. In my design, I tried to allow for as much ventilation as I possibly could. I didn't want to overload people with pictures so you can't see some of the details. The decking is raised off the ground, a minimum of 12" but at the high end it is almost 28" off the ground. The deck boards are spaced to allow ventilation. There is a 1/2" to 3/4" gap between each floor board (5 1/4" wide decking). Obviously, the front is open. I used cedar beveled siding on the sides and back, but what you can't tell is that I used a louvered design....kind of like window blinds. I actually put 1/2" spacers between each siding panel, so there should be air flow and ventilation. I also have about 4" of space between stacked rows of wood. ln general I think the stacked wood will season in this shed at least as quick as what I have stacked in the back of my yard...which is kind of in the woods and doesn't get much sun. Even with my old crummy tarp-covered wood racks, I just didn't have a place in my yard that got a lot of sun. Most of my wood here by the way is ash...I have had a few taken down and at the moment I am fortunate to have neighbors who have also had ash trees taken down and they don't need the wood.

 

[hamslam42]

Very nice looking shed. A couple of questions. How are the concrete deck piers set? Just on the dirt or did you do something else under them? Also what are the cables that run from the shed to the ground?? Also any idea what the rough cost was to build it??

A lot of nice comments...thanks for all the feedback! A couple people have asked about cost. When I started, I had a rough estimate in my head that it would cost me about 2k to build it, and that really wasn't based on anything other than a wild guess and a few deck cost estimations that I did. But in those estimates I was really only considering the cost of the lumber, and I kind of forgot about how much everything else would cost (like fasteners and connectors and siding, etc.).

So the current total tally of materials is about 4k. That includes the cupola, which I did not build by the way. I looked into it but it was beyond my tools and my skills for that detail work. So the cupola alone was $375...but after spending the whole summer putting this thing together I decided I just had to have one (yes my wife thinks I'm crazy).

All of the lumber ended up running about 2200. That includes the support beams, 4x4 support posts, floor joists, rim joists, wall framing (75 2x4s for the wall framing!), and roof framing. Most of it is CedarTone pressure treated lumber from Menards (pressure treated lumber that also already has a treatment to make it look more like cedar and also to help repel water), and I was able to get a lot of it on clearance because they were changing manufacturers. Believe it or not, connectors and fasteners cost another 1000. I used nails for most of the framing, but for some connections I used structural screws (like attaching the front/side rim/band joists to the floor joists). The various connectors were the surprise cost for me. I mostly used Simpson Strong-tie products. That gets expensive but in most cases I really felt it helped make things more structurally sound. 4x4 post supports to support beams, hurricane clips for joist to support beam connections and roof rafters to wall plates, and roof rafters to ridge boards. Roof parts (1/2" OSB, underlayment, drip edge, shingles) ran about $400, and the rest is for other various foundation materials. I have some paver base and gravel that I still want to put down near the front to make a path for my firewood towing cart, but I still need to figure out a few things before I do that. The one thing this shed doesn't have yet is some access stairs and/or a ramp...which would have been good to figure out in my original design but I just didn't know exactly what I want...and still don't. I'll take that on next summer.

For the foundation, I decided to use the pier blocks because I did not want to dig holes for concrete footers. I ended up needing more than I initially thought because 5 cords of wood is pretty heavy and I had to spread the load. Underneath each pier block, I put down about 4 to 6" of compacted gravel.

The cables you see are shed anchors. Because the 4x4 posts just sit in the pier blocks, I wanted to try and prevent uplift. This was mainly a concern for once the roof was finished but the shed wasn't loaded yet with wood. Uplift shouldn't be a problem once wood is loaded into it, but when it was empty a friend at work said I might need something to help with that since the roof would be like a big sail if there was a good wind. So there's 4 of those anchors that run front to back over the 3 support beams (which are double 2x6).

By the way, where I live, I didn't need a building permit if it was under 200 sq ft, and I didn't need a zoning permit if it was under 169 sq ft, so that was one of the factors in coming up with the dimensions of the shed (6ft x 26ft).

 

[MaintenanceMan]

Absolutely love it! Great job!

 

[Rossco]

Worth the extra $$$$ IMO.

Now it's a feature and will probably last 10 times as long as a build that cost 10% of the price.

 

[Poindexter]

I really like this shed. I have paged through the show us yours sticky more than twice myself ;-)

I hope it works out well for you. I read you have done rather a lot to maximize airflow, and I don't live in a climate anywhere near like yours, but I share the reservations expressed above about getting wood to season in there quickly. Since you got so much space, I wonder if it might be worth stacking a cord or two in one of the empty bays criss cross like a Pilgrim to see how long that takes to dry compared to the wood in the bay right of center that's packed in there pretty tight. Just for the reference point if you know what I mean.

If you get tired of that thing just toss it on your trailer and drag it over to my place, I'll give it a good home.

 

[Typ0]

I want to build a shed too ... but nothing so costly I hope. I just am not liking the idea of stacking the wood one place them moving it to another place then bringing it in the house. Too much moving wood around I am with you on cutting it and stacking it and being done with it!

 

[Oldman47]

I really like your design concept. My only question is whether that cupola is functional with a hole in the roof under it. If you are drying inside that shed it would be a place to vent off hot moist air.

 

[hamslam42]

My only question is whether that cupola is functional with a hole in the roof under it. If you are drying inside that shed it would be a place to vent off hot moist air.

The cupola is functional. It is louvered for ventilation, and when I built the roof I left a hole in it for the cupola for that purpose. When I started building, I really wasn't planning on it but part way through I just knew I had to have one. I'm really not sure I need it for ventilation because there is a lot of ventilation already with the open front and louvered siding...but hopefully it helps. It's been doing great for me this winter for storing the wood I'm burning this year...so much better than the tarp-covered stacks I had last year. Whether or not the wood I'm stacking in there for future years will season will in there is still to be determined. I will have to see how the split ash I put in there this fall looks next year!

 

[webby3650]

Awesome looking shed! Nice job!

When I did mine most people on here busted my chops about the wood framed floor system. Mine looks to be the same design as yours, I could park a truck in mine! I repurposed as much of the materials as I could. Ended up with less than $500 in it.

 

[neverbilly]

OP, wonderful build! That should last your lifetime.