Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Design for a storage shed

(Brendan)

I was hoping never to need a storage shed, but one will definitely be needed. The real reason is that it's also become clear that getting a riding lawn mower would be money well-spent (I've spent an inordinate amount of time mowing the lawn this year, and it's just too much time away from the family). Our hydroseeded lawn has grown in nicely, and with all the rain this year it's needed mowing every 4-5 days, and it takes about 2 hours to mow with a walk-behind mower. We'll likely have enough money to buy a riding lawn tractor in next Spring, and it's just not going to fit on our two-car garage. So, a storage shed will be needed. 

I'll admit, I wasn't too excited about a shed once I realized I needed one. Lots of sheds are eye-sores, and I'd want something that goes well with our house. But, after finishing the design, now I am excited about it. I think we'll end up with a shed that goes nicely with our house and will solve our storage problems in the garage. 

I'm planning to build the shed myself, and in order to do it right, minimize cost, and have a cool design, I've designed it ahead of time on Google Sketch-Up (the freely available CAD software from Google). Designing the shed in Sketch-Up allows me to actually go through the entire assembly process and solve any problems along the way. I also can figure out exactly how much lumber and siding I'll need so that when I order it, I won't order any excess.

Here's a pic of the design (click any picture to enlarge):


And here it is with some dimensions:


It's a little on the small side, but the City of Ham Lake allows sheds to be built up to 10'x12' without a permit, so that's what I went with. 


The siding and roof is galvanized corrugated steel, and the windows are corrugated translucent plastic that fits with the steel siding. I've sourced all the materials from local hardware stores. All the wood, whether board lumber or flooring or OSB, is to be treated wood. In case you are wondering, there will be a gravel path to the shed with an incline to the bottom of the door so the mower can be driven in.


I've chosen to build the shed on concrete footings, partly to give it a solid foundation, and partly to avoid having any wood touching the ground in order to prevent premature rotting. In Minnesota footings have to go down at least 48" in order to be below the frost line in winter.


Here's a view with the doors removed:


The interior:

 

And here's what the framing looks like, with the metal siding, windows, and OSB on the walls removed.


A view of the floor framing:


And here's how the wood posts interface with the concrete footings:


I think the best place for the shed is the wooded area to the southeast of the home; here a quick sketch of location:


Sketch-Up has some fun styles you can apply to your model to make it look kind of sketchy. Here's a few of my favorite styles.

14 comments:

Allison Koop Hendrickson said...

Since the shed is raised, won't you need a ramp or something similar in order to drive a riding lawn mower into the shed?

Brendan Koop said...

Yes there will be a gravel path to the shed that will ramp up to the bottom of the door.

Gabrielle said...

Hi Brendan and Molly...the kids are adorable in the previous post!! Good idea about the mower....and the shed!...can't wait for you to start the chapel! click on www.stjohnspriory.org (turn your speakers on) to see the new chapel setting! Blessings to all Gabrielle

Brendan Koop said...

Thanks Gabrielle, your chapel looks beautiful!

Gabrielle said...

Thanks Brendan! And it is just a matter of time before we will be walking with you through the glorious design process for your new chapel...I can hardly wait! Blessings and grace! Gabrielle

Storage Sheds said...

I really appreciate you for all the valuable post you share with quality pictures and detail.
Thanks and please keep sharing informative stuff.

sjaw said...

Hey Brendan,

Would you mind sharing your design files? I'd like to build something similar, and it would be agreat starting point to use the Sketchup files.

Thanks!
Shawn

Will said...

You wouldn't happen to still have a copy of the sketchup file for this project would you? It looks exactly what I would like for my back yard! A materials list would be great as well if you happened to have it handy.

Thanks and great design!

Scot Motzny said...

Very nice design and similar to what I'd like to build in my backyard, although I was thinking only 8' deep, not 10. Can you tell me A) if you have the final sketchup drawings I could use for my takeoff and B) what your final materials costs were for the project? Again, really nice. I like the industrial look of it.

Brendan Koop said...

The cost for materials was about $2500. And I've built the shed now and really like it, lots of light inside and it looks great. I don't have the sketch up files in a nice package to send however, and the assembly file is quite large.

Aryan Smith said...

Few days ago i have decided to make my Storage Sheds to store wheat there, by my own but i tried a lot but all in vain. Then i decided to hire a professional to do this work.They made shed in just two days and they also charge me less for their work service.

Klaus Larsen said...

I came across your site while looking for shjed ideas and i really like your design. I use Sketchup too and was wondering if you'd care to share your sketchup plan with me?

Thank you!

Unknown said...

Did you ever share the sketch up file?

Unknown said...

Did you ever share the sketch up file?