The construction of the shed, part 1

If you've followed me from my old blog - you know that I build all kinds of things, mainly as a hobby - and only for our own use. It's been a while since my carpentry tools have seen action, but that's about to change. Several posts will be dedicated to this construction (maybe 6 - 8 ?), and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do showing the progress, and tutorial.


On Sunday, it's shed building time! The sub-floor was constructed over a year ago, with thoughts of sitting another metal building on top (like the one to the right). They work great for keeping seldomly used household items in, but those metal buildings don't fit my needs for tool storage and plant propagation. (Plus, I keep hitting my head on the roof of the metal building). Anyway, i'll have to construct this shed by myself - with only my handy little clamps, a hammer, circular saw, and nails. Here's the sub-floor...



I finally had time to make a decent drawing of the stud walls. The rear and sides will be constructed exactly like this....




Before the stud walls can be built, I'll have to layout the sole plate locations on the sub-floor. With a chalk line, measuring tape, and Pythagorean Theorem - the boundary lines for the walls were marked, and perfectly square. I can't stress enough how important this is. Without it, the rest of the construction will be a complete nightmare! In a right angled triangle, the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the squares of the other 2 sides. It is commonly referred to, as the "3-4-5" method (and 6-8-10 works even better, where possible)...

The front wall will be constructed like this, and it's a little bit more troublesome, as you can see from the drawing below. The rough-in for the door has to be beefed up to provide support for the weight of the door and roof, so it won't sag. Installing the header, cripple studs, and trimmer are my least favorite part of the whole construction. It's gotta be done, though.

Take care, and happy building!

EG