New Woodshed - I need an engineer !!!

[glennm]

Hi All:

I have been reading here for quite a while and enjoying all of your posts. I have been a wood burner for the last 40 years. I just bought a new EPA stove and have a renewed interest in the woodpile. I built a poorly constructed woodshed about 25 years ago and finally got around to making a new one this past weekend. A large amount of wood that needs to be stored for a couple of years forced me to attack the job. We built the woodshed with PT lumber and didn't think about how heavy the green hardwood is. The floor is 2x6 floor joists with 5/4 decking on top -- the joists run the long way. The outside dimensions are 8 x 16. It looks great, but the floor joists are not sitting on the ground - they are lagged into 4x4 posts. After filling up one side one of the rim joists broke and dropped about 2 inches -- that prompted me to look up the weigh of green wood -- holy smokes - about 5000 lbs per cord ! We have removed the wood to repair and support the floor, one idea is to pour a footing on the ground under the joists at both ends and in the middle but I still feel it would be nice to give it more support. Another thought would be to pour the 3 footings and then fill in the rest with gravel of some sort? Any suggestions? I really don't want to rip it all apart. The 8ft 2x6 on the left side is the one that broke

Thanks in advance
Glenn

Attached i

 

[jimbom]

Take out the wood floor. Make the surface out of single size stone. Spread it level and use a wacker-packer to set the stone. Touch up the low spots and you are done.

 

[glennm]

Something like pea gravel? Are you thinking up past the bottom of the joists and the put the deck boards back on? Would you skip the footings?

 

[cptoneleg]

I have a shed same size, but just put wood in shed already seasoned to keep dry during burning season. Belive me It takes alot longer to season in there. When I built mine I just had to put some wood in it (being brand new and all) put about 1 1/2 cords in it, the wood stacked out in open seasoned alot faster.

The shed looks good>

 

[Wood Duck]

Take out the wood floor. Make the surface out of single size stone. Spread it level and use a wacker-packer to set the stone. Touch up the low spots and you are done.

Yep, once you replace the floor with gravel you take the load (weight) of the wood off of the joists (which will be removed, of course) and off of the corner posts. That leaves the corner posts to support just the shed, not the firewood, so they should be fine without footers. You probably don't want pea gravel, which is rounded and of uniform size so it never packs together very well and is loose to walk on. You want an angular gravel. I think you can use some of the joists to build a frame at ground level to hold the gravel in place underneath the shed, so that it won't spill out the sides.

 

[glennm]

Could I not lift the floor, put stone or gravel in between the joists and pack it down, then put the decking back? It sure is nice to have that level wood floor and it is already bought and paid for

 

[jimbom]

Take out the wood floor. Make the surface out of single size stone. Spread it level and use a wacker-packer to set the stone. Touch up the low spots and you are done.

Yep, once you replace the floor with gravel you take the load (weight) of the wood off of the joists (which will be removed, of course) and off of the corner posts. That leaves the corner posts to support just the shed, not the firewood, so they should be fine without footers. You probably don't want pea gravel, which is rounded and of uniform size so it never packs together very well and is loose to walk on. You want an angular gravel. I think you can use some of the joists to build a frame at ground level to hold the gravel in place underneath the shed, so that it won't spill out the sides.

Exactly. Totally agree.

 

[jimbom]

Could I not lift the floor, put stone or gravel in between the joists and pack it down, then put the decking back? It sure is nice to have that level wood floor and it is already bought and paid for

Sure you could do that. Angular single size stone well packed under the joists and floor would pick up the load.

 

[Exmasonite]

I'm in the process of building my own wood shed, looks very similar to your pic.

Only difference is that i put the 4x4 posts into the ground with concrete footings. Plan is to use pallets (or possibly saplings) as the base to hopefully encourage some airflow around the stacks.

Only other observation: How does the wind run in/around the shed? i only ask b/c you may want to consider making the "sides" a little more open to allow better airflow. Mine is open on 4 sides... i'm hoping to either use some 2x4's or possibly those green garden stakes driven into the ground to support the sides of the stacks while not stifling air movement.

 

[glennm]

I'm not concerned with the drying time. I have had a shed in that location for many years, there is a nice breeze and the sun hits it most of the day. I won't be using this wood for two to three years, I have another shed that is full and quite a bit piled outside. This I will use next year. I really hope I can find a good solution for the floor, I want to fill it up and get back to the splitting

 

[firefighterjake]

My own feeling is that wood -- whether green or seasoned -- is still pretty darn heavy and so I built my woodshed to be quite rugged. I put concrete blocks and/or large fieldstones every 5-6 feet to support my floor and used 2 x 8s or maybe it was 2 x 10s (rough cut) as my floor stringers. I also ran the wood the short way. Two years in and no problems.

 

[muncybob]

Every few years we order a dump truck load of 2b stone and have our lane "tailgated".....I plan to order extra this year and will use that as my base subfloor to provide drainage as our land slopes in the proposed shed site area. The planning to use pallets that I will probably reinforce for the actual floor.

Your site looks much more flat/level than ours but I agree with the stone base and then "float" your floor on the stone...should work fine?

 

[Wood Duck]

Could I not lift the floor, put stone or gravel in between the joists and pack it down, then put the decking back? It sure is nice to have that level wood floor and it is already bought and paid for

Yes, you could do that, but you want to be sure that the floor is resting on gravel, not on the posts. The best way to do this is to not attach the floor to the posts that hold up the roof, but simply rest it on the gravel. You probably think that will be a pain because the floor might settle, but settlement is exactly why you want to build this way. if your floor is attached to the frame of the shed and the gravel setles, the weight ends up being carried by the frame, not the gravel.

 

[lukem]

Could I not lift the floor, put stone or gravel in between the joists and pack it down, then put the decking back? It sure is nice to have that level wood floor and it is already bought and paid for

Yes, you could do that, but you want to be sure that the floor is resting on gravel, not on the posts. The best way to do this is to not attach the floor to the posts that hold up the roof, but simply rest it on the gravel. You probably think that will be a pain because the floor might settle, but settlement is exactly why you want to build this way. if your floor is attached to the frame of the shed and the gravel setles, the weight ends up being carried by the frame, not the gravel.

I can't tell from the picture, and haven't seen it in the posts (maybe i missed it), but are your posts anchored or burried? If you have a floating floor you no longer have a couple tons of firewood preventing your shed from blowing away in a storm. If you go with a floating floor make sure you anchor that puppy down somehow...or it could end up where do don't want it. A couple auger anchors and little cable would work fine.

 

[jimbom]

Could I not lift the floor, put stone or gravel in between the joists and pack it down, then put the decking back? It sure is nice to have that level wood floor and it is already bought and paid for

Yes, you could do that, but you want to be sure that the floor is resting on gravel, not on the posts. The best way to do this is to not attach the floor to the posts that hold up the roof, but simply rest it on the gravel. You probably think that will be a pain because the floor might settle, but settlement is exactly why you want to build this way. if your floor is attached to the frame of the shed and the gravel setles, the weight ends up being carried by the frame, not the gravel.

True. I agree.

It is a lot easier to place and level the stone if the floor and joists are out of the way. You could use a much thinner layer of stone. Saving money on stone and giving a little more vertical room in the shed. If the band joist is out of the way, a ramp from the ground would be possible.

 

[jimbom]

Could I not lift the floor, put stone or gravel in between the joists and pack it down, then put the decking back? It sure is nice to have that level wood floor and it is already bought and paid for

Yes, you could do that, but you want to be sure that the floor is resting on gravel, not on the posts. The best way to do this is to not attach the floor to the posts that hold up the roof, but simply rest it on the gravel. You probably think that will be a pain because the floor might settle, but settlement is exactly why you want to build this way. if your floor is attached to the frame of the shed and the gravel setles, the weight ends up being carried by the frame, not the gravel.

True. I agree.

It is a lot easier to place and level the stone if the floor and joists are out of the way. You could use a thinner layer of stone. Saving money on stone and giving a little more vertical room in the shed. If the band joist is out of the way, a ramp from the ground would be possible.