My Garden Shed

Chapter 1: A Little History

We had Some Problems!

In 2016, we were dealing with a several big problems.

First, we had a dilapidated 1940s garage with a roof that had caved in for the second time. (We were pretty sure the termites were holding hands to keep it standing.)

After the first cave-in, because we couldn’t afford to do anything much, our contractor and friend, Bruce, did a budget-friendly shore-up (and gave us a two-year warranty which we thought was pretty swell). The shore-up lasted exactly two years before the roof began caving in again. (Apparently some of the termites stopped holding hands.)

Chapter 2: Envisioning Possibile Solutions

We were ready to dive in, because we had been talking about what we wanted for years. We wanted a backyard with a back building that would complete our home, and would address a number of needs we had identified.

• Since I was in business for myself, I needed dedicated office space.
• We had no storage for our tools, bikes, and seasonal stuff, so we needed a shed or shop for storage and to give us a space where we could work on projects.
• We wanted to be able to spend more time outside, but that was problematic for Michael who is a most exquisite mosquito magnet and cannot go outside without ALL the mosquitos attacking him. (I can be standing next to him and nope…they are all over him). So we needed a screened space.
• I wanted a garden, but since I was still working full time, I needed something that was manageable, i.e., a yard that could be kept looking good by a yard service so I could spend my time gardening on the weekends rather than cutting grass, raking leaves, and edging.
• I needed space to store my garden tools and pots and a bench for potting plants.

So we designed a building to hold an office for my business (which I would share with Michael) and a shop where we could do stuff. We designed a screened patio with an outdoor kitchen, and designed the backyard to have permanent plantings as well as places for me to garden.

All good.

Mike insisted that the shop had to be conditioned space. I argued. A lot. I thought that was over the top. But eventually, I relented, And I’m glad I did. It just made sense. We are in South Carolina, after all. So it’s great having conditioned space to work in.

Chapter 4: The Design and Designing the Build

To design my shed, I had several things to consider.

Site Considerations.

Size. Behind the back building is a cement slab surrounded on three sides by a gravel apron. Anything I would build would have to be sized so it didn’t impede the flow of traffic.

Sun.  The back of the shop faces south, so in the summer, that space really warms up.I decided to situate my shed against the back fence and put a shed roof on it so that when I stood at my potting bench, the structure would shade me from the sun.

Function. I didn’t have the space for (nor did I need) a building I could step into, so I designed the shed as a potting bench with closets on either end for larger tools. The footprint is 92″ wide by 32″ deep.

Ergonomics. Since the potting bench would function like a kitchen counter, I designed it with a kick-space so I could stand at the bench and have room for my toes beneath.

Look and Feel–Materials

Like everyone else (I think) who designs things, I already had something in mind that I had seen and admired.

For example, when I designed our back building, I worked from two thoughts: 1) keeping a Craftsman feel to the office/shop building so it would blend with the house, and 2) a photograph I had seen of a carriage house someone had built. Those carriage doors on the building? Straight from that picture.

So it was for my shed. I looked all over the web for pictures of sheds I liked, and kept coming back over and over to a really organic design clad in tongue and groove siding with doors hand-made out of the same stuff (see the photo at left).

That was the look I wanted.

Working with Space

After I determined the function and the look I was after, I sketched it out in my daily journal (a Moleskin notebook with graph paper) then laid out the footprint on the slab with boards so we could be sure it was correctly sized and situated.

A word about that. Maybe I am spatially challenged. but I can’t “see” 8′ unless you show me 8′. To see the outline of a garden, I lay out a hose and play with it until I get it the way I want. Then I paint the ground.

To situate the office/shop building, we laid out corner posts with string and moved them around until we got the building where we wanted it (given setback requirements).

To situate the shed and make sure I had the size right, I laid out boards to outline the whole thing with boards to divide the compartments. The picture at the left shows how I do this in 3 dimensions, drawing on a photo so I can visualize the use of space. 

Don’t skip this step, people. Even if someone else is going to do your build, make sure you are happy with the size and space before the project starts.

Oh Yes You Can!

So often, people look at a finished product (like my shed) and think or actually say, “I could never do that.” 

Yes, you can. The whole reason I have decided to journal is to help people lose the fear about trying things. Like building sheds. And fountains. And planters. And stuff. 

I am hopeful that by journaling about my own processes, you may find inspiration and the courage to tackle a project you have always dreamed about…because you can do this!

Designing the Build

It is one thing to come up with a concept; it is another to plan how to build it. I designed the back patio and the office shop building, but I didn’t build them. Bruce and his crew did the building, with much conferring about how to actually build what I had designed on paper.

This project was different. I would be the builder, so I had to work out the build.

I won’t go into a lot of detail here except to share a few basic things about building that you may already know:

• Walls are framed with 2″ x 4″ lumber spaced 16″ on center.
• 2 x 4s aren’t actually 2″ x 4″. They are 1.5″ x 3.5″.  1 x 4s are actually 3/4″ x 3.5″.
• Doors and windows have to be framed with headers at the top to distribute the weight of the load above (i.e., the roof).
• Roofs are not hard to build, but are a pain in the ass. And I refuse to get on them.
• There are things you can do by yourself and things you will need another person to help with. (Like the roof if you’re me.) Realize your limitations and plan accordingly! 

    Floor system framing

Back wall plan

Front wall and end wall plan. Note that my drawing doesn’t show how those pieces interlock. I have redrawn that below.

Chapter 5: Building It

But First, A Word about Tools

One of the very best things about building a new project is when you realize, “Hey, I need a new tool for that,” and you get a cool new power tool. So it was with this project. I had a circular saw and a table saw, but needed a miter saw like the big girls have. So I got this one. It is one of my very favorite tools now!

We also bought a nail gun for putting up the siding. Another cool tool. People, take every opportunity to purchase the right tools for the job!

Foundation & Framing

I followed my plan to build the foundation and exterior walls. I built the back wall, sided it and stained and sealed it, then Michael helped me lift it into place.

Next, I built the front wall, and Michael helped me lift it into place. Then I built the ends.

After that, we were ready to tackle the roof. We learned everything we needed to know from YouTube videos. We watched several videos, then found one we liked, watched it again, and then literally began watching sections of it and going and doing what they showed us.

The Roof

Building the roof involved learning how to figure out the angles and learning how to use a speed square to cut bird’s mouth notches in the rafters. These notches allow the rafters to sit flat on the top plates even though the rafters are angled.

The ends of each rafter were cut at an angle that matched the angle of the roof (calculated with slope or with an online roof slope calculator). The same angle was used to mark the birdsmouth notches.

Learning how to use a speed square is a snap. There are hundreds of videos on YouTube to show you how, but my favorite go-to guy for all things sheds is Andrew Throne The second segment of the video in the link shows how to use a speed square, pictured at left. 

Michael did the heavy lifting on the roof. After installing the rafters, we installed blocking between the rafters to fill the space between them. 

We decked it with OSB, then rolled out the underlayment, installed the drip edge along the sides and front, then roofed with asphalt shingles. 

Siding & Doors

Installing the siding was so easy and fun. Starting at the bottom of each wall, I used a nail gun to attach each piece with the tongue facing up. Each subsequent piece snapped over the tongue and was nailed to the studs.

I wish I had more pictures…I had no idea that some day I would write a journal entry about building my shed. I don’t have pictures of building the doors, which I did in the shop in the air conditioning. (A blessing in the SC summer!) I cut the pieces to length, ripped the pieces that would form the edges of each door, then snapped them in place on the floor.

Then I used 1 x 3s to frame each door panel on the front and back, and to put a diagonal brace on the back side of each door. I attached everything with glue and screws that were sized to not go all the way through the wood.

Note: diagonal braces are supposed to installed from the hinge side up. You’ll notice in some of these pictures that I installed at least one of them backward!

The Potting Station

The potting bench is made with a piece of butcher block counter top that I found in the neighborhood after someone renovated their kitchen. It was one of those things I had to have even though at the time, I had no idea what I would use it for.

To install it, I screwed a 2 x 4 support around the sides and back of the potting space, cut the counter to size with a circular saw, and just plopped it in place. 

The slat wall system on the back wall of the station is made with 1 x 2 cedar slats, installed 3/4″ apart. I am able to take pieces of 1 x 3 and put them between the slats for hanging hand tools and tubing and such. Notice that the hand tools and the tubing are hanging from pieces of wood that are just pushed into the spaces between the slats. Similarly, the shelf in the middle is made of a couple of pieces of wood just pushed into place between the slats. 

So that’s it, folks! The shed that I designed to solve a problem I didn’t know I had!