Shed Planning/design - would appreciate input

[lml999]

We're moving in June and I'm thinking about wood.

Location is Cape Cod. Bugs can be an issue...

I'll be building a dual purpose shed -- it will house the lawn mower and snowblower and about a cord of seasoned wood. Additional wood will be stacked on racks nearby for further seasoning. Maybe an 8x10 footprint...still working on that.

Sizing depends, in part, on where we put it on the property...

Another member uploaded the shed image below, on the "Show us your shed" thread. I'm thinking of something like this, with one side closed off for the mower & blower, etc, and the other side open for wood. I'll have a dividing wall between the two...

The rear of the shed will likely take the prevailing winds (and rain), unless it goes in "spot b", in which case the front will take the weather (and that would suggest that I'd have a door on both sides.

I'd appreciate input on siding options -- I could do tongue & groove cedar or 2x8 pressure treated...or something else. The floor and supports will all be pressure treated. Open to suggestions...

The "garage side will be watertight, with ventilation. On the wood side, I would like some airflow, but with the wind and rain coming from the rear, I'm not sure how open I want it...I can leave a gap between boards on the side, but not sure I want gaps on the back. Wood in the shed will go almost directly into the stove, so I have to keep it dry...

I'll have more roof to the rear, with a shorter downslope on the front. For my last shed, I did a traditional asphalt shingle roof; thinking about metal this time around. Pros/cons appreciated...

I expect to be using this shed for the next 25 years, so I don't mind overbuilding it.

 

[R9R]

My $.02:

Use metal, you will not be disappointed. It's all I use anymore, and 8x10 you should be able to get away with minimal cutting for the short slope on the "front." IMO, use metal for the siding as well. Goes up super fast. I would probably leave an air gap between the top of the wall and the roof if it were me to give some air flow. Just overhang the roof enough that you're not going to get water in there. Unless your "Spot B" has some awesome location advantage I would go with "Spot A" since it sounds like having the wood dry is a top priority.

Would rather over-do it once than re-do it a few times

 

[lml999]

My $.02:

Use metal, you will not be disappointed. It's all I use anymore, and 8x10 you should be able to get away with minimal cutting for the short slope on the "front." IMO, use metal for the siding as well. Goes up super fast. I would probably leave an air gap between the top of the wall and the roof if it were me to give some air flow. Just overhang the roof enough that you're not going to get water in there. Unless your "Spot B" has some awesome location advantage I would go with "Spot A" since it sounds like having the wood dry is a top priority.

Would rather over-do it once than re-do it a few times

Thanks...I've done some reading on metal roofing. Roofers use a different system than what I can find at the Big Box stores and the latter requires some maintenance once in a while -- replacing fasteners and gaskets. Might just stick with asphalt...I built a shed at our current house 25 years ago and it still has the original roof...seems that great ventilation allows the shingles to last longer (versus shingles on a house roof).

And metal siding wouldn't fit in...this will need to blend in with traditional clapboard and shingle covered houses on Cape Cod. I might even shingle the sides to match our house, if the sides show (depends on the positioning of the shed). Or clapboard the front, if it faces the same way as the house.

Lots of fun!

 

[woodhog73]

Are you inland as in Sandwich ? Or way out on the tip as in P Town ? I live in the Midwest but know your area very well. Lots of salt water spray. How about building a shed with composites ? Sure it costs more but will last a lifetime. Add a metal roof

 

[begreen]

Make it twice as large as you think you need or you may be adding on in a few years. My preference for the sides is that they be ventilated by using staggered slats, lattice, trellis, or other method that allows good air circulation through the stacked wood.

 

[lml999]

Are you inland as in Sandwich ? Or way out on the tip as in P Town ? I live in the Midwest but know your area very well. Lots of salt water spray. How about building a shed with composites ? Sure it costs more but will last a lifetime. Add a metal roof

Family had a house on Commercial Street in P-town years ago...we got plenty of salt spray there! We are moving to, you guessed it, Sandwich. I wouldn't call it inland, with the bay 2 miles north and the ocean 5 miles south...and Lawrence Pond 1500 feet away.

But no salt spray there...maybe a bit more salt in the air than in metro west Boston!

Composites? Like carbon fiber? Now that would be a cool shed!

 

[lml999]

Make it twice as large as you think you need or you may be adding on in a few years. My preference for the sides is that they be ventilated by using staggered slats, lattice, trellis, or other method that allows good air circulation through the stacked wood.

You are a wise man.

Of course, I can always put on a second floor addition.

And I'm thinking through the staggered slats idea...I've seen a number of sheds on the shed thread with air gaps and I think this is probably the way to go on the wood storage side... I'll play around with roof overhangs to see if I can get sufficient coverage.

 

[Soundchasm]

Just a few thoughts in the "If I had it to do over again" department.
When I laid out the dimensions I was more concerned about how to make the size fit the length stuff was sold in. I have no carpentry skills, so I thought I was being safe. I kind of hosed myself a little because I didn't figure the concrete deck block bases into my equation so my skids barely fit.

I like my metal roof, but they can make a racket in the rain. Also, hand-cutting with nips is REALLY a challenge.

I backed mine up against a fence, and one of these days I'm going to have to deal with the fence and make access to the rear of the stack. It might be a while before I burn my way to the well-seasoned stuff in the back!

Finally, I put mine in the center of a shorter fence-line. Why it didn't occur to me to put it in the corner still amazes me.

Overall, I love it and I'd never go back. Good luck!

 

[Poindexter]

I really like the metal roof on my tool shed. If you can make the aesthetic work and use as many fasteners as the mfr specifies it should last a good long time. Mine is mounted to purlins at 24" OC, If I was worried about noise I would have put a layer of 1/2 plywood on the purlins under the metal to soften the noise up. Your anticipated snow load is probably not as heavy as mine. I have built for 50#/sqft of snow on 3 or 4:12 pitch with the purlins at 24" OC and no trouble after I think three years, it has had at least one pretty hard winter on it and two "other" winters.

If you are going to season outside the shed and only store dry wood in there I would skip the gaps, close it up tight and put a door(s) on it to keep airborne water in there to a minimum.

One of my biggest remaining challenges is storing dry wood through the spring melt while the stove is still running. When it is +34dF out in March and the relative humidity is 150% the wood I had at 16%MC last fall at freeze up soaks up water vapor like a dry sponge and doesn't burn so good in my stove.

Given that you are talking about burning one cord annually you could maybe bring about a face cord into your climate controlled garage in late Jan or early Feb. I generally will burn two more cords after the outdoor ambient first goes above freezing, so a non-starter idea for me.

 

[ElmBurner]

One of my biggest remaining challenges is storing dry wood through the spring melt while the stove is still running. When it is +34dF out in March and the relative humidity is 150% the wood I had at 16%MC last fall at freeze up soaks up water vapor like a dry sponge and doesn't burn so good in my stove.

Looking at the weather for Fairbanks, the relative humidity seems to range between 40 and 80% in March. You should be able to maintain wood in the 12-14% range, if it is covered/off the ground/etc according to this chart:

http://www.csgnetwork.com/emctablecalc.html

Are you sure that it isn't just reduced draft that is affecting your burning?

 

[Poindexter]

Are you sure that it isn't just reduced draft that is affecting your burning?

Honestly, I am not sure. It seems like, in my back yard, that RH varies with altitude. The first few inches above the melting snow I can take my glove off and see water droplets on my skin in seconds. 2-3 feet above the melting snow I can take my other glove off and my skin will feel damp after a minute or two.

Not sure how far above the ground official weather stations are placed.

I can demonstrate higher readings (September v- April) with my hand held moisture meter reading actual cord wood that I know was say 14% in September right before freeze up and have the same stack reading 20-22%MC a week or two after the thaw starts in April.

Gross draft is certainly a variable, I added 2.0 feet of flue height in June of 2015....

Good link, thanks for that

 

[begreen]

I put a corrugated metal roof on the wood shed. It's far enough from the house that noise is a non-issue. The key change I would have made (and need to) is making the back of the pile accessible. Too often in a year like this one we have wood left over in the shed that needs to be moved out so that the newer wood can be stacked in back, then the super dry older wood goes in front. That's nuts. Unfortunately I nailed up the lattice with ring-shank stainless nails so pulling them is going to be a bit of a chore. I will definitely switch to screws for holding back panels in.

 

[iron]

begreen: any pics of your shed?

 

[begreen]

 

[lml999]

View attachment 178867

Nice looking shed!

 

[jeffesonm]

Agree on access from both sides, and make it bigger than you think. Mine is 8x36 and I should've done 10x40. Also I skipped the siding and went with 20" overhang on all sides... rain never touches the wood, and only an occasional light dusting of snow in the winter along the bottom foot or so when it drifts. Seems well worth the ventilation.

 

[glennm]

I have access front and back. My shed also has a wall in the centre. I can take wood from font or rear and I can just empty one side. This is great to use all the older wood first.