Because I Have Nothing Better to Do With My Time

[Loadrunner]

I needed a shed to store all the stuff I didn't want cluttering up my garage, things like the John Deere, a chipper, lawn vac, rototiller, bicycles... I wasn't happy with the ones the home improvement centers had to offer so I decided to build my own. I also made the decision to construct it using nothing but handtools (except for a cordless drill). This decision easily made it take three to four times longer than if I'd used power tools.

It measures roughly 11'x21' with 8' side walls and a roof pitch of 1:1 and it has a loft so it offers quite a bit of storage. I also built a front porch on the side that faces the house and it has an overhang above the double door I use to drive the lawn tractor in. The walls are framed with 2x4s on 24" centers with 3/8" cdx plywood. I nailed 1x2s vertically at random intervals on the outside of the walls and it looks like board and batten siding. The roof is framed with 2x6s on 24" centers with 1x4 purlins at 24" centers all covered with corrugated asphalt roof panels. The floor is concrete pavers cast to look like bluestone placed on a 1/2" sand setting bed on top of a soil/cement base.

The building is divided into four sections, two downstairs and two upstairs. Gardening and sports equipment is in one part and all the lawn care stuff is in the other end. Upstairs is a play area for the kids and storage for seasonal stuff and lumber. Each yard tool has a specific hanger and I built four cabinets for all the sports equipment.

[Dick]

Sounds very nice. Post a pic if you get around to it.

[Loadrunner]

I'll try to post some pics. It was enjoyable to build and particularly fun to show folks because of all the details incorporated into it. The doors are a story by themselves.

I've had a couple folks question my claim to building it only with hand tools and my simple reply is, "How do you think they built things before electricity?"

[Loadrunner]

I used two hand saws, a miter saw, hammers of course, a couple chisels, a draw knife, a few planes, hatchet and my cordless drill. Did you know you can rip a sheet of 3/8 plywood in less than two minutes?

The doors are made of five 2x8s glued together but the glue is basically to make them weather-tight. I took three oak 1x6s and cut these so that they tapered from 5" to 3.5" and then I beveled the edges, like a big dovetail. I layed out and cut three corresponding tapered grooves across the doors so that the oak boards could slide in and with a sharp tap on each oak board the door was held together with no other fasteners( this, before the 2x8s were glued). The oak boards were doweled to each 2x8, four to a board for a total of 60 dowels. Once everything was dry I cut an opening for a 12x14 window.