# diycoder's shed project



## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

Continuing from the previous post since I was limited to 10 images.

Uh oh, it seems that the plates are about 2-3" shorter than the
foundation. How did that happen? I did measure everything multiple times
and was careful in laying the foundation.










The blocks were supposed to be 1/2" inward from the joists. I figured out 
my mistake was that the plans did not call out an overall length of the
sill plates. They expected you to total up the number of 16" OC joists to
arrive at an overall length. Instead, I took the number from the
foundation length.

Anyway, I'm stuck with this this so I ended up moving the front blocks
back 4" to adjust for everything.










Next post will be installing all of the joists.


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## r0ckstarr (Jan 8, 2013)

Nice work. What is your location? (add it to your profile for future references) Those are some huge rocks you have there.


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

r0ckstarr said:


> Nice work. What is your location? (add it to your profile for future references) Those are some huge rocks you have there.


Massachusetts. I added it to my profile. Thanks for the compliment. 

Yes, I had to remove some large rocks when I was digging. A couple were too big to remove so I dug a bigger hole next to it and pushed it using a long bar into the new hole. If you look in the middle, you can see the one boulder.


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## Trucon01 (Jan 10, 2012)

I will be following this for sure!!! Just wondering why you didn't choose to pour a slab and build off that?


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

Trucon01 said:


> I will be following this for sure!!! Just wondering why you didn't choose to pour a slab and build off that?


Probably cost. I have all of these blocks from when I removed the patio that used to be next to the house so it's a good way to use some of them up. What's remaining will be offered up on Freecycle.

About 8 years ago, I had a concrete guy remove part of my garage floor (22' x 6' ??) and pour a new floor attached to the remaining old floor which was still in good shape. I think it cost me $2K in 2005. So by doing this foundation, I saved myself at least $2K through my own sweat equity. 

Believe me, I thought about renting a small Bobcat or excavator to make the work easier but no, I did it all with a shovel, pick axe, pry bar, and wheelbarrow.


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## Trucon01 (Jan 10, 2012)

Do you have a barrier (foam seal) between the concrete block and the wood? Not really sure if its needed...

Sent you a PM


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

Trucon01 said:


> Do you have a barrier (foam seal) between the concrete block and the wood? Not really sure if its needed...
> 
> Sent you a PM


That type of seal is used for a house where you want to seal the irregular gaps between the sill plate and the top of the foundation to prevent air infiltration. So for a shed, this is not needed because underneath is all exposed to the outside.

I tried responding to the PM but I don't have enough posts yet. I do java/c++/perl development.


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## Willie T (Jan 29, 2009)

Aw................ C'mon! You could have dovetailed those joist corners if you had only applied some effort. 

Nice work. :thumbsup:


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## Trucon01 (Jan 10, 2012)

Very cool... I was more concerned with moisture wicking from the block to the wood. That seal / barrier would give a break and prevent moisture from getting to the wood.


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## Amateuralex (Mar 17, 2012)

Watching this one closely, very cool.


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

Trucon01 said:


> Very cool... I was more concerned with moisture wicking from the block to the wood. That seal / barrier would give a break and prevent moisture from getting to the wood.


That's a good thought. Probably could have used my roof shingles and just put 1 on each block (since it's already leveled) so that each block has at least 1.

I ordered my plywood, studs, cedar siding and some other materials yesterday. Should be delivered tomorrow. It was $2K worth with the 1000 lf of cedar siding being the largest cost. So far, I'm in about $2300 worth of materials on this project.

Two nights ago, I put in all of the joists and will post pictures of that effort. I need to go back and remove two of the joists and rip them down since they're actually 5 3/4" wide when the rim joists are 5 1/2". The rest of the joists are 5 1/2" or 5 5/8". 5 3/4" seems to sit a bit too proud of the rest that I don't want to just cover up with plywood.

I also need to install ground anchors. So my goals for tonight and this weekend are:

1. Rip down a couple of the too wide joists
2. Install the 6 ground anchors
2. Install the 3/4" T&G ACX plywood
3. Fabricate the roof trusses and store them (the idea is that the large floor platform is a good place to assemble them)
4. Start building the walls

I still need to buy:
1. roof shingles
2. wood & hardware for shed doors
3. Azek trim boards
4. Barn sashes (windows)
5. electrical wiring, outlets, lights, and underground conduit


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## kwikfishron (Mar 11, 2010)

Looks good so far, I'm glad to hear you're going to install anchors. I would however rethink your choice of the plywood shims especially on the perimeter, they're just going to delaminate and rot out.


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

kwikfishron said:


> Looks good so far, I'm glad to hear you're going to install anchors. I would however rethink your choice of the plywood shims especially on the perimeter, they're just going to delaminate and rot out.


Even if they're exterior grade (PT)? They'll also be covered by the shed overhang (currently about 1" overhang which will increase once siding [plywood, and cedar] is added).


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## kwikfishron (Mar 11, 2010)

diycoder said:


> Even if they're exterior grade (PT)? They'll also be covered by the shed overhang (currently about 1" overhang which will increase once siding [plywood, and cedar] is added).


I'm referring to the picture in post #2 where it looks like you used a piece of 1/4” plywood as a shim. Water will stand on that spot.

The plywood doesn't look treated to me but even if it is you still don't want water to stand on it. Treated plywood (unlike marine ply) only uses water a resistant glue that will break down and the chemicals used for the treatment will leach out and fail over time in wet conditions. 

I know this is just a shed but plywood (treated or not) wouldn't be my choice for a shim in that spot.


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

kwikfishron said:


> I'm referring to the picture in post #2 where it looks like you used a piece of 1/4” plywood as a shim. Water will stand on that spot.
> 
> The plywood doesn't look treated to me but even if it is you still don't want water to stand on it. Treated plywood (unlike marine ply) only uses water a resistant glue that will break down and the chemicals used for the treatment will leach out and fail over time in wet conditions.
> 
> I know this is just a shed but plywood (treated or not) wouldn't be my choice for a shim in that spot.


Oh, I see. That picture was from when I did a rough layout to see how the rim joist & sill plates will layout on the foundation. That's when I discovered my first error because I read the wrong number off the plans instead of calculating the correct number.

I moved the front blocks in by 4 inches so all of the blocks/shims are under the shed by at least 1 inch, none exposed to the weather.


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

A couple of nights ago, I installed the floor joists. Some of the joists were slightly twisted
so I would fasten one end securely and then use a bar clamp to untwist the other send before
securing it to the rim joist like this picture shows:










Another issue that I encountered is that the rim joists were slightly bowed in the middle such that 
there was a significant gap. If the gap was small enough, the screws will pull the joist and rim board
together. If the gap is too big, the screw will have to be driven deeply into the wood which is not 
a good thing to do. In this picture, look at the middle screw:










Instead, I would use some washers to help prevent the screw from sinking into the wood like this
picture shows:










Once the gap is closed up, I put another screw in or two before undoing the screw with the washers.

Another approach is to use a lag bolt and washers if you need greater force. Here's a picture of 
an open joist gap:










With the lag bolt, the gap is closed enough for you to put your screws in.










One could just use lag bolts/washers to secure all of the joists but they're expensive. I think the 3 washers
and bolt cost me around $1.40 when buying them individually at the local hardware store.

After installing all of the joists, I'm now ready for the earth anchors.










I did try to install one of the arrowhead anchors with a sledge hammer but it was tough going trying to hold the 
driver bar with one hand and using the other hand with the sledge hammer. I'm going to the rental place to see 
if I can get some sort of jack hammer to make the installation easier like this one:










Oh, before I forget, a few tips:

1. Before installing the joists, check for the crown of the joist. That is, where the joist has a hump in the middle. It should be installed so that the hump is on top. You can sight down the board to see where the crown is. I find it easier to put the board (edge side) on another board (flat side) and seeing if it rocks. If it rocks, then that side has the crown and you should mark it as such. If it doesn't rock, flip the board over and check the other side.

Whatever you do, you don't want some joists to be installed crown up and some crown down. It will make for a wavy floor.

2. I used 2x6 for the floor joists and most of them were about 5 1/2" to 5 5/8" wide. There were a few boards that were 5 3/4" which made them stick too far proud of the rim joists. So I had to rip them down to 5 1/2" on the table saw.


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

I stopped by the rental store to see if I could rent a jack hammer to make it easier to drive
in the ground anchors. They didn't really have anything that would work with the 3/4" rod 
that came with the anchors.

So I went back to the sledge hammer route and with more determination this time, I was able to 
drive in all 6 anchors. 

I had bought the ground anchor kit from the site www.americanea.com. It
consisted of a 3 ft long drive rod, 6 4" arrowheads with 60" cable & 18 cable clamps (3 per
arrowhead). You put an arrowhead on the end of the drive rod and push it against the ground.
Then use the sledgehammer to drive it about 2 to 2.5 into the ground. Then you remove the
drive rod and in my case, I put a made a loop at the end of the cable and put one of the
clamps on. I put the drive rod through the loop so that I could grab the rod and pull up
on the cable. This will set the arrow head into a horizontal position. It's amazing that
you can feel the arrow head move a couple of inches and then it locks into the ground. 

A 4" arrow head that is buried 2.5 ft in hard soil will require 2000+ lbs of force to move
it. 

This picture shows the installation method:









Here's a picture of the arrow head anchor:









Here's a picture of one of my arrow head anchors being installed:









After pulling up to set the anchor, I drilled a small hole in the middle of the joist and pushed the arrow head cable through the hole and looped it back to the cable. I secured it with 3 cable clamps after taking all of the slack out.

Here's a photo of the installed cable with clamps:









The next day, I installed the 3/4" ACX plywood on the joists which was secured with 2" galvanized ring shanked nails, every 6" along the joist.

Here's the completed platform:









I spent the rest of the weekend building two of the walls.



















The walls are temporarily up and not in their final position. I got them up by myself and need to get some 
assistance from my wife and/or friends to put them in the final spot and to get them plumb.

Using the framing nailer really made the wall construction a lot easier. I made a modification to the 
shed plans I'm following to change the wall height from 82" to 90".<


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## dezandseth (Jul 28, 2011)

This is really cool to see. I built my own shed a few months ago using a plan I designed in SketchUp and its fun to "relive" the experience through watching your project  

Keep up the good work!

-Seth


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## no1hustler (Aug 11, 2010)

It has been 5 days, are you done yet? Moar pictures!


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

no1hustler said:


> It has been 5 days, are you done yet? Moar pictures!


Ha ha ha. I can pretty much work on it only on weekends and when I take some days off from work. This weekend is going to be tough because of Mother's day, daughter's recital, and daughter's birthday party sleepover. I will try to find some time to cut wood though! :yes:


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## no1hustler (Aug 11, 2010)

diycoder said:


> Ha ha ha. I can pretty much work on it only on weekends and when I take some days off from work. This weekend is going to be tough because of Mother's day, daughter's recital, and daughter's birthday party sleepover. I will try to find some time to cut wood though! :yes:


Okay...so you'll be down late Sunday night instead of Sunday afternoon. I can wait till Monday for updated pictures.


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

Sorry but no pictures again. Didn't get much done this weekend because of the rain. Was able to work this afternoon to build the third wall and almost finished the fourth wall. Also ripped the plywood for the roof into 34 3/8 width with the 13" width pieces to be used for the roof trusses.

Hopefully next weekend, I'll be able to make all of the roof trusses and then I will install the walls, roof trusses and start sheathing the roof.


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

Currently, I have the walls built but they're laying flat on the platform 
so that I'm able to cover them with a tarp. Once I finish the roof trusses,
I will erect the walls permanently, put up the trusses, and then start
installing the roof decking. Hopefully that will happen this coming weekend.
Here's a shot of the walls and the roof decking that has been ripped to width.










The plywood for the roof decking is 34" wide so that the roof will have 3
courses. I guess that is a bit stronger to have 3 interleaving courses than 
to have 2 non-interleaving, wider courses.

Ripping the plywood leaves a 14" strip that I use for the truss gussets. These
plywood pieces will be used to hold it together.

First I rip the strips down to 11 1/2" width. Then I cut them up into 11 1/2"
squares. To make it easier, I stack 3 strips of plywood on my saw and cut 
them into squares like this picture shows:










Now I have a stack of 36 squares.










The next step is to cut a 50deg angle on the block. To make it easier, I rigged
a stop block on the chop saw at the right position. Then I stack 3 squares 
on top of each other and cut the angle.










Here they are, all done:










Next I had to create the gusset for the top portion of the truss.










The nice thing about these gussets is that you don't have to be super precise
cutting them. This is not fine, finish carpentry.

The next thing I did was to cut the 50deg angles on all of the 2x6 uses for
the bottom chords. One thing I noticed about the 2x6 is that they were all
very straight unlike the 2x4 which tend to be bowed & twisted.










The plans call for a 50deg angle to be cut on both ends of the 12' 2x6, 1.5
inches up from the bottom. To make it easier, I use a square that is set
for 1.5" and draw a line on the 2x6. Then I eyeball the saw blade and make
sure that it cuts the angle at the right spot. 










Here's the stack of 9 bottom chords all ready to go:










The next step will be to cut all of the 2x4 top chords of the trusses which I'll
do later this week.


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

The reason I'm building a new shed is that I'm not satisfied with the 
existing 12x8 shed on the property.










The problem is that the door entrance is too low. I have bumped my head a
few times against the pointy end of the roof rafters. Secondly, it's not
mouse proof. If I leave my lawn mower in the shed over the winter, the 
mice will make a nest inside the engine cover. The third issue is that there
are no windows and the door tends to self-close thereby leaving you in the
dark.

Here's a shot of the front door:










As you can see, the front shed directly touches the ground which is not good.

Here's a picture of the back left corner of the shed:










Nice big pile of cinder blocks holding it up. There's support only under
the four corners so the floor feels a little spongy.

After I finish the new shed, I will still keep the old one because you can
never have too much storage space but I will only store stuff like garden
tools & hoses.


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

Another update on the shed. The weather forecast was showing perfect weather for the weekend so 
I took advantage of it by taking Friday off from work to have a good chunk of time to make major
progress.

I had already cut up the wood for the bottom chord of my roof trusses so the next step was to 
cut up the top chords, all 18 of them.

Again, I would gang cut, two at a time. I found it easier to keep them in alignment by using
a 3 1/2" screw to temporarily join them.










After an hour of cutting, I had a stack of top chords:










The next step was to use the floor of the shed as a platform to make a roof truss jig. This
involved laying the pieces out on the floor as it is to be built and then screwing them to 
the floor. I added a few pieces of plywood to the edges to help keep the wood in alignment.










So to assemble a truss, it was a simple matter of putting the wood pieces in place.










I would put the top gusset on the peak of the truss and quickly trace it out so that I could
see where to put the liquid nail glue. 










Then it was a matter of putting the top gusset in place and nailing it off.










Same thing for the bottom chord except that the gusset was bigger and I had to use more glue.










Then I would install the gusset and nail it off.










The truss was flipped over and I did the same thing to the other side.










It took awhile to assemble the 9 trusses. There was a lot of nailing to be done. There
was a total of 7 regular trusses and 2 gable end trusses. The gable end trusses were
different in that they had a middle chord and the gussets were on only one side.

Here is a shot of the completed trusses.


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## r0ckstarr (Jan 8, 2013)

Nice work. I've been following this thread since my last post.


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

I forgot to mention that prior to assembling the trusses, I also raised and squared up the walls. I put up some blocks
around the perimeter to make it easy to raise the walls and not have them slip off the platform.

Here's a shot of the raised walls and the one truss I put up by myself temporarily.










I needed my wife's help to install the trusses and since she wasn't around, I went ahead and installed the wall sheathing.










One mistake I made was installing the first OSB panel with the lines on the inside. I quickly learned that the lines were handy
to help you identify the location of the studs. So if you saw that the stud was about 1" away from the line,
you could put the nail gun halfway down the board, one inch from the line and be confident that you'll hit the stud.

I nailed up the sheating using a 6" nailing pattern. That is, installing nails every 6", 24" on center. It wasn't easy but I
managed to get the first course of plywood up by myself without any help. I would hold the plywood against the wall until the middle
met the layout line and then I put a nail in. Then I would level the plywood and nail it off.

The upper pieces were easier to install since I had the lower OSB boards to use as support.

My wife came back from errands and was able to help me get two of the trusses up.










I got 3/4 worth of the siding installed and two trusses before calling it quits for the day.










On the two gable trusses, I had to attach a 2x4 to the bottom chord so that the gable would stick out a couple of
inchese from the bottom wall. I used a bunch of nails to really secure it but I made a mistake. Can anyone spot
the mistake?










I put the 2x4 on the wrong side of the truss. They were supposed to go on the side with the gussets. Since I did
it on the wrong side, the gussets would be facing out. The problem with this is that if you install the wall sheathing
it would be sticking out by 1/2" for most of the truss.

I tried to take the 2x4 apart using the pry bar but boy, I really did nail it good. I decided to leave it as-is and would
pad out the truss with plywood pieces in order to have a consistent nailing surface.










I also had to add 1/2" to the roof sheathing measurements to compensate for the added thickness.

So we then started installing the rest of the trusses. Before, we were doing one at a time but then I thought it was easier to
put up all of the trusses on the top plate before installing them one by one.










For installing them, we would align the truss every 4 inches and then used two 4" screws at each end to secure it.

Now all of the trusses have been installed. Wow, it's starting to look like a real shed now.










I started laying the plywood on the roof.










Once I got the first course down, I found it helpful to nail a 2x4 along the bottom in order to stand on the roof.
Otherwise, the roof was too steep and the plywood too slippery to stay in place.

The rest of the day was spent quickly installing the rest of the roof sheathing since it started to lightly rain
and I wanted to be able to get the tarp over the roof. Finally I was able to finish and cover it with a tarp.










Earlier in the day, I had to run to Lowes to pick up some more plywood since I under estimated by 4-5 sheets. I also
picked up some PVC trim and some more 2x10 for the rake overhang. I also got some black strap hinges, gate handles, and
a latch mechanism, and some roof brackets. I spent around $600 so I'm currently up to around $4200 for the project. Ouch!

Next weekend, I plan to finish the rest of the exterior sheathing, install the tar paper on the walls, and construct/install
the rake overhang. I will also work on the door entrance.


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## TheEplumber (Jul 20, 2010)

That's looking really good :thumbsup:
Do you have any diagonal bracing in the trusses?


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## REXAMUS (Jul 20, 2011)

What has been the biggest cost? Just the lumber?


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## r0ckstarr (Jan 8, 2013)

This is going to be one nice shed. I thought it was smaller until I saw the ladder in there, and the picture of you? standing up on the roof.


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

It's been awhile since I had an update. The problem is that we had a lot of rain and there 
have been family commitments to do.

I installed 15lb tar paper on the sides of the shed. 










My wife assisted me with it by holding the paper but it was difficult for her to keep it 
straight. In retrospect, I should have snapped a chalk line on the plywood so it would have
been easier to see if the paper was going off line. Then I would also be able to use the
lines on the paper to help me keep the siding straight. Instead, I'm going to have to snap
new chalk lines. Live and learn.

When the shed project is done, I will put a lot of gravel around the foundation to prevent 
rain kicking up dirt/mud on the siding as you can see from this picture:










Another option would be to plant some sort of shade loving ground cover. Still thinking 
about which option to choose.

I also constructed rake rafters:










And made the transom window which will go above the door:










I just need to get the glass for it.  Cutting the rabbets on the 
cross pieces using a single blade table saw was a pain since I did 
not have a dado blade. I think it would have been easier if I had used
my router table.

For the gable ends, I have been thinking over and over on how I want to do the trim. I decided
that the corner boards and the rake trim would be over the siding. That is, I would not butt
the siding up to the trim but rather have it go under the trim.

So for the rake rafters, I used a 3 1/2" spacer piece of wood as you can see by this picture:










Then I would install the 5" piece of PVC trim. Problem was that I didn't have enough 1x6 PVC 
and didn't want to make another trip to the lumber yard. So I installed a 1 1/2" piece of cedar
and then the 3 1/2" PVC as you can see by this picture:










The next step is to install the rake rafter on top of this trim and then 2 more piece of PVC on
top of the rake rafters to build it out.

That's all for now..


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

Weekends continue to be very busy so it has been hard to find time
to work on my project. Plus this month being the wettest June in years 
does not help. I don't see much progress getting made for awhile since 
I will continue to be busy for a few more weeks. Still, I was able to make
a little progress during the week when it wasn't raining. It's hard to 
work for an hour when it takes a while to get your tools/equipment out
and get set up.

Here's a shot of the back of rake rafter trim completed:










I was able to attach the rake rafters using liquid nails (glue)
and 3 1/2" nails:










I still need to attach a couple of bolts to securely attach
the rafter. The problem was that the spade bit wasn't long 
enough to drill through the wood. I have to get a longer 
bit.

I also created the transom window for above the shed door:










I bought 2 pieces of 1/4" glass from a local glass shop for
about $30. I used a silicon adhesive caulk to glue the
glass to the frame.

Then I temporarily installed the window above the door.










I might need to move it slightly once the door and
door trim is installed. Looks good.

I noticed the plywood for the gable ends were slightly separated by 
1/4" or so. To pull the two pieces of plywood in alignment, I used
a small 1x3 piece of wood and screws.










I also made the window sills from 5/4" x 6" piece of PVC. It wasn't 
easy to make the bevel edge with my contractor saw. I had to do a lot 
of sanding to get the saw marks out.










Tomorrow, I'm having a local sand/gravel company deliver a yard of gravel.
I will spread this around the shed perimeter to prevent the rain fall from
kicking up dirt/mud on the siding.

Hopefully this weekend, I will be able to do some work on trimming out the
soffit and the rake rafters.


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

Happy Father's Day to all of the Dads in the forum. My dear wife gave me a
thoughtful present...home alone with the kids for the weekend while she went
away for the weekend. Ha ha.

So I couldn't get much done but I was able to get some work in today. The
first thing I did was to put up a 2x3 along the side to start making the
soffit. Then I attached short 2x4 pieces to the rafter tails and the 2x3
rail as you can see by this picture.










I also installed a few corner boards. These are 1x4 attached to a 1x5 PVC trim.
They sit on top of an interior corner board made up of 1x3. The idea is that
when it comes time to install the cedard siding, it will tuck under the 
corner boards instead of butting up against it.










Part of my problem up until now was figuring out exactly how to do the soffit
and what to do with the rake extension trim. In other words, how will it
all tie together. I decided that the soffit will be a separate detail
from the rake trim. It's kind of hard to explain but I will show pictures
later when I start putting it together.

First thing I needed to do was to pad out with some scrap pieces of plywood
& roof shingles so that the end of the soffit trim will have a flat piece
to butt against. 










I started working on the soffit vent. It's a 1x4 piece of PVC trim that
is spaced away from the siding by 1/2". The idea is the the last row of
cedar siding will tuck behind it. If it's a small gap, I'll just caulk 
it. Otherwise, I'll use a small piece of trim.

Next to the 1x4 is the trim vent. This will provide the ventilation 
into the soffit. They come in 8' pieces that go for about $4 at
the local lumber yard. I think it will look nice having a continuous
soffit vent.










Here's the end of the soffit vent.










On the other side of the soffit vent, I'll have a 1x5 ripped down to 4".
I didn't have any and will need to go back to the lumber yard to get 
more trim. So that's all for today.

I am eager to get the soffit complete and then do the rest of the rake
trim. Once those two things are done, I can start the roofing work. 
It would be nice to not have the tarps on the shed anymore.


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## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

Nice progress.


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

It has been slow progress because my weekends have been busy with family activities and vacation. I was able to finish the soffit on the other side of the shed last weekend. With the soffits complete, I started shingling the roof as you can see here:










As you can see from the above picture, I got the window trim and windows installed.
I also did a little bit of siding in the front:










My goal this weekend is to finish shingling the roof. It was slow going the first couple of rows but I now have a good rhythm going where I do 4 courses at a time. That is, work in one area and do 4 rows before moving over and continuing the 4 rows. I have used the standard 3 tab shingles before so this is my first time with architectural shingles which have a slightly different installation method. So far, it's looking good.


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## kwikfishron (Mar 11, 2010)

Nice job...like the window trim. :thumbsup:


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## handyman_20772 (Jun 28, 2006)

Very nice project..!!


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## oldhouseguy (Sep 7, 2011)

great looking shed, almost too nice to call a shed.


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

$&#^# I had a lot typed up in this window and lost it when the website wanted me to login. I need to remember to type it up in a separate document and then paste it into the window to prevent my work from getting lost.

Anyway, I finished up the one side over the weekend as you can see here:









For the other side, I installed the drip edges, and tar paper. I'll resume shingling the other side this weekend as it was too hot and humid for me to put much time into the project.


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## Ralph Coolong (Jun 19, 2013)

Looks great man. Nice rook pitch


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

It's been awhile since I posted. Have been too busy enjoying the summer.
Finished the roof a few weeks ago and have now started the siding.










So I installed the next course of siding noticed that I goofed
so that I'm not able to put the next course of siding so 
that the bottom lines up with the bottom trim of the window.

At first, my thought was that it was just a shed and to live
with it. I started by cutting a piece of siding to fit as you
can see here:










Notice how skinny the piece is? I then had a change of mind and
decided to do it the right way. I removed the 3 courses of siding
and then rehung them but with a 1/4" added to the exposure so
that they line up directly with the window trim.

As you can see, I'm almost done with one side for the siding:










Here is a picture of the jigs I made to help me with
the siding installation. The one on the bottom helped me 
put the siding up with the right exposure. The other
one is a simple guide block to help me be consistent with
the nailing pattern.










That's all for now.


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

Slowly chipping away at the siding. I have about 1/3 remaining to do. The back side with the window and a 
little less than half of the back gable end. Here's a picture of the front side:










A picture of the back gable end:










A picture of the completed front side:










I really like how I furred out the corner boards. It makes the siding installation a lot easier and it still
looks great.

Hope to get more of the back gable end done later today.


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

Made some more progress this weekend. Finished the other side and also the bottom half of the back side. Just need to do the upper gable end and then I'm done with the siding.


















After the siding is done, then I still have to do the following:

- build set of double doors
- build ramp to door
- finish installing a few pieces of missing trim in the soffit area
- dig around and remove stump near back right corner of shed
- get some more gravel and spread it around the shed


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

I finished all of the siding last weekend and started making the double doors.
Today, I finished the doors and have installed them. 










The latch is between the two handles. Not ideal but who cares, it's a shed. Tomorrow, I'll see if I can finish up the trim. I will probably wait until spring to build the ramp and to dig a trench for the electrical line. Ditto for painting the shed.

This will be the last update from me until Spring 2014. I will start another thread to document the basement remodeling project that I will start soon.


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## CoconutPete (Jan 22, 2010)

Wow! Very nice.


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

The snow is almost all gone and it's time to get back to work on the shed. I've been 
working on it the past couple of weeks to put some up shelving and to install some
lights and outlets. Here are some pictures of my progress.










An exterior shot showing the doors against the sides of the shed. You can't see the hooks
holding the doors open. Without them, the doors will swing open & shut whenever the wind
blows which can be frequent in the spring/fall. I have a couple of saw horses setup to
hold my chop saw & table saw. 










Looking inside to the right, you can see some shelving installed. For the right side, I
used the Rubbermaid heavy duty open wire shelving. You can also see a couple of 
utility lights installed on the ceiling. I have already moved some stuff that was stored
in my garage onto the shelves freeing up space in the house.










On the left side, I have one shelf that is using these heavy duty brackets that I got
from Lowes. The shelf boards are these wide pine planks that used to be the flooring
in my family room and I had salvaged the wood to be used for another purpose. Finally
got around to using them. I had renovated my family room 5 years ago, ripping out the 
dark pine flooring and replacing it with oak.

You'll also notice some small pieces of wood attached to the studs. This is to provide
enough surface area for the shelf brackets to be attached.










On the back wall, I made some a sort of work platform out of 2x4 & plywood. It's mounted
on a ledger board and also supported by some diagonal bracing. Above it, I have another
shelf. I used these shelf brackets that you can get from Lowes/Home Depot for around
$1 each. The upper part of the bracket is a little wider than a 2x4 stud thereby the
need for additional blocking.

I have my bench grinder finally mounted. I also have these speakers that I will mount
somewhere in the shed. They were bought almost 30 years ago as part of my first stereo
purchase. The woofers need to be replaced because the paper part of the cone has
disintegrated.









On the front right side, you can see a couple of light switches being installed and a
power disconnect switch near the bottom.










On the front left side, you can see one of my Little Giant ladders being hung on a bracket.
Near the front of the picture, is one of my favorite tools - a Dewalt impact driver. It
does a great job with screws and can apply extra torque with the impact action.









Looking at the top of the shed, you can see I'm utilizing the attic area of the shed by storing 
wood that was previously in my basement. Nice to free up space in the house.

My plan for today is to finish up the wiring and the shelving. I still need to also do the following:
paint the shed, dig a trench from the house to the shed for power/internet, build a ramp, remove a
stump near the back corner of the shed, and spread some more gravel. 

It's good that spring is here. It was a long winter in New England.


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

Since the last update, have been making some progress. 

First item is cutting out a section of the trim above the
doors to install an exterior light fixture on top of a block.
If I had done better planning, I would have installed the 
block before installing the siding. Fortunately, it's an easy
task with the Fein Multimaster.









Inside the shed, you can see that I finished the overhead lights
and the outlets on the back wall.










On the left side wall, the shelves are done and the same goes
for the outlets. You can also see the exterior light fixture
I will be using on the left next to the orange Multimaster.










Until my electrical trench is done, I have temporary power by
attaching a male plug to an electrical box. Longer term, this
box will be the disconnect to decouple power to the whole shed
if work needs to be done on it.










In the back right corner, that was a big tree stump that I finally
was able to pop out.










It was a lot of digging & cutting roots but it's finally done.

Here's another shot of it from a different angle.










I also spent some time clearing more dirt away from the shed.










You can see the trench is wider. I should have done it before
I started shed construction but sometimes you get fed up with
shoveling and antsy to start real construction. It's more fun
to build things then to dig dirt.

Here's a shot of the back side where the trench was made wider.










While making the trench wider, I had to pop out another large
boulder. I'm guessing that it's at least 300 pounds.


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

Now that I cleared more space around the shed, I'm ready to
put back some of the gravel. Called the local gravel
company and got 2 tons of 3/4 in stone delivered.










Here's a shot of the side of the shed with the new gravel.










And the back side with more gravel.










If you don't have gravel on the ground and you get a heavy
rainstorm, you'll have dirt splashed up on the siding
like this.










So it's a good idea to put down gravel or grass around
the shed or use some sort of gutter system to minimize
dirt splashup.

That's all for now. I'll move the rest of the gravel into
a pile for future use near the shed. I'll also start 
digging the electrical trench.


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

Started digging the trench to get power from the house to the shed. I will 
be using conduit so it has to be a minimum of 18" deep. Here's a shot of 
the trench by the house.










This shows the trench running all the way to the shed. 










First, I dug out the topsoil layer in order to keep this soil separate from 
the rest. Then I started digging down to 19+ inches. I still have another
30ft worth of digging before the trench is ready for the wire and conduit.
Hopefully I'll be able to finish it this weekend. I have to say that I'm tired
of digging dirt.

In this picture, you're looking at my depth gauge that helps me confirm that
the trench is deep enough.


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

Time for another update.

I was able to finish digging the trench. As I got closer to the shed, about 4-6 feet away, I
encountered a lot of rocks. Uggh. Seems that the original builder must have dumped the 
rocks in this area. I eventually was able to clear them out and have the trench ready for 
conduit.

I put in sand in the trench and then laid 3/4" pvc in it as you can see from these photos:











In this photo, you can see one of the rocks that was too big for me to move so I had to
go around it slightly.










I connected up the PVC pipe and pulled 3 12gauge individual strands of wire (black, white, green).
through the conduit. I covered the pipe with more sand before backfilling with dirt. Once it was
filled in, I planted some grass seed.



















I started construction of the shed ramp. First, I had to dig the footing because there is a large
slope. I put 3/4" gravel with some pavers on top to support the ramp. I also went to the paint 
store and selected the paints: Benjamin Moore Heritage Red for the siding and Brilliant white for
the trim. Here you can see the beginnings of the ramp and a splash of color on the exterior.


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

Here is a closeup of the ledger board that is used to support the ramp.










I used 5/4, 6" wide pressure treated southern yellow pine as the treads 
for the ramp.










Did some more painting of the side. Here's a photo showing the progress
that has been made:










Hopefully I'll be able to get more painting done this weekend.


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## diycoder (Sep 16, 2012)

Just realized that I never posted the final pictures. Here it is:


















I will be starting another shed project later this year. This will be a salt box
from Better Barns.


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## Drachenfire (Jun 6, 2017)

Nice project. I too built my own shed from scratch. It is 10'x12' and 8' at the walls. It sits on 30 pier blocks which in turn sits on a gravel (3 tons which I moved myself) pad.

It constructed of 2x4 framing held together with (hand driven) screw shank nails. The roof trusses are secured to the top plate with hurricane bracing. The siding is T-111 painted to match my house. The shingles also match the house. Inside, I constructed a loft for extra storage. This leaves plenty of floor space for the bigger items.

Working in IT, I designed the whole thing in Microsoft Visio. This helped me calculate precisely how much lumber I needed. It worked out so well, when the project was completed, aside from the cut-offs I only had the 1 extra 2x4 I bought left over.


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