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My first Construction Project - Shed

19521 Views 24 Replies 11 Participants Last post by  zadroj1
I've done a lot of little repairs and modification to my house, but this is the first major construction project I took on.

I have a very small attic, so my motivation behind the build was add some storage space, as well as upgrade from my 8' x 12' shed.

It took me about 2 months, working on it after work when it wasn't raining, and on the weekends.

The new shed is 12' x 16', and is about 14' tall in the center. The roof area is used as attic storage. It is completely decked, except for a 4' x 6' area I use for access and lifting boxes up.



Here's what I started with:




More pictures to follow
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All finished except Paint and Cleanup:






For anyone interested, the shed I was replacing is the little metal building in the front of some of the pictures.

All in all, I thought the shed came out pretty good, and I saved a ton of money building it myself instead of buying one of those Tuff Shed or Redi-Built ones.

Also, I am by no means a professional, so I welcome any comments or suggestions or anything anybody wants to point out that I might have screwed up on.
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That looks great, nice job
T-111 siding over OSB? That's extra coverage
My pool cabana only has the T-111
Looks good. The only thing I would have added are window(s) for light and ventilation.

Good idea to make use of your vertical space for storage.
That looks great, nice job
T-111 siding over OSB? That's extra coverage
My pool cabana only has the T-111
Thanks.

That's actually Sierra 8 HardiPanel. I didn't trust the HardiPanel since it tended to crumble on the edges, so I added the 7/16 OSB for stability.
Looks good. The only thing I would have added are window(s) for light and ventilation.

Good idea to make use of your vertical space for storage.
Thanks.

I had originally planned for a window or two, but decided against it since I was already overbudget on my project due to the addition of the overhangs on the front and back.

I am also running electricity to the shed for light.

I'm also in a Hurricane area, so I thought it would be better to leave them out so I wouldn't come home to broken windows.

I may add some in later.

The attic space idea stems from the fact that my attic is about 2 foot tall at it's tallest point, so I really needed to clear up some space in the house.
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They don't require the shed be secured to the ground in a hurricane area? Someone building a pergola had to go thru all sorts of things for proof of footing & attachment - they were in Florida
I put a 2x4 smoked acrylic skylight in mine, lets in lots of light
Of course I alos have double glass French doors that open, 9'x4' jalousie window....so I have lots of light :laughing:
I am looking to build a similar shed to yours. Do you by chance have the schematics of it, ie. measurments, angles, etc? This will be my first real construction project also. Any help would be helpful. Thank you!
I am looking to build a similar shed to yours. Do you by chance have the schematics of it, ie. measurments, angles, etc? This will be my first real construction project also. Any help would be helpful. Thank you!
I'm not sure if i have anything that would be too useful. I made a couple drawings, but in the end, I didn't really follow them too closely. I mostly used them just work out a few decisions I needed to make before I started building.

I made it exactly 12' x 16' to the outsides. The angles for the roof are 67.5 and 22.5 degrees. I made my lower portion of the roof a little longer than the top portion to get a little more storage room. Originally, my plan was to have them equal lengths, which I had to refresh myself on some trigonometry to figure out.

I used AutoCAD to draw the roof how I wanted it and to figure out exactly how to cut the rafters for it to have an overhang.

A word of advice from me would be to build it without the overhang on the front and back. You'll save a lot of time and material.

I'll be glad to help you any way that I can.
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Nice outbuilding. I am glad to see I am not the only one who uses autocad to draw things before I cut. It saves a world of time trying to do the math. By the way, I use autocad daily as an engineer and it has shot my math skills. I can't even hardly do basic geometry anymore without having to draw it. Go figure.
They don't require the shed be secured to the ground in a hurricane area? Someone building a pergola had to go thru all sorts of things for proof of footing & attachment - they were in Florida
I put a 2x4 smoked acrylic skylight in mine, lets in lots of light
Of course I alos have double glass French doors that open, 9'x4' jalousie window....so I have lots of light :laughing:

Do you have to secure your car to the ground?:no:
Do you have to secure your car to the ground?:no:
Don't be a :jester:
A car is not a permanent structure nor does it fall under building codes
You sure you never framed before? lol. For someone that doesn't do it at a profession I'm surprised you did the gambrel style roof. Very nice
Thanks.

That's actually Sierra 8 HardiPanel. I didn't trust the HardiPanel since it tended to crumble on the edges, so I added the 7/16 OSB for stability.
Wise decision. Looks like a great project there. You should feel good about doing it yourself:thumbup:

In about a year it will be all filled up and you'll wonder why you didn't build a bigger one:yes:

Don't ask me how I know:whistling2:
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