Building a little wood shed

[dwasifar]

This is going on the deck near the back door to hold the winter supply for the fireplace. It should hold about half a cord. Here's the frame:


This was taken during a break, waiting for my wife to come home from work with a couple more cedar pickets to finish out the far end. It's nice to have your spouse working for Lowe's.

I took the time to rip the roof skirt and miter the post tops to the proper angle for the pitch:



The posts are dirty because they're reclaimed pieces of a couple of racks I took down a few weeks ago. In the background you can see the new Makita saw I was talking about in that other thread.

After I finished the pickets, I put in a couple more roof supports and a piece of 1/2" ply for the roof. I have a bundle of shingles lying around that match the house, so tomorrow I'll shingle it up and then maybe build a cedar overhang over the front edge.

 

[IyaMan]

Nice. Is that a Diablo ripping blade?

 

[unclemoustache]

Wow - that's pretty heavy duty. That'll do the trick!

 

[dwasifar]

Nice. Is that a Diablo ripping blade?

It's a Diablo 24 tooth framing blade. I bought Diablo on the advice of a lot of guys who posted in the Circular Saw Recommendations thread, and because I have a Diablo on my 12" miter saw and it's awesome. I took the stock Makita blade off before I used the saw for the first time. I did not use the Makita to rip the roof skirt members; I did that on a table saw.

 

[dwasifar]

Wow - that's pretty heavy duty. That'll do the trick!

I have a habit of overengineering everything.

Edit: Are you talking about that grid-over-crossmember design for the bottom? There's actually a very good reason for doing it that way instead of just letting the long pieces rest on the deck. It's for load distribution across the deck joists underneath the decking. Without the crossmembers underneath, the weight across the span would be supported only by the decking and not by the joists, and everything would start to sag over time. Plastic decking has a lot of advantages but it wouldn't stand up to that.

 

[dwasifar]

Finished.



I put a little piece of drip edge on the front corner as a cap for now. Eventually I'll probably do something nicer but this was handy:


I hope we get a couple more warm days to let those shingles lay down before it gets cold.

 

[IyaMan]

Any thoughts on rain runoff affecting the railing in back? Also, rain may end up splashing against that railing and get the back row of firewood wet. Try it out with a garden hose.

You may want either a gutter, a roof extension, or some kind of splash guard eventually. Otherwise, looks good. Fits and lines up nice with the railing.

 

[svk]

Looks great. You are welcome to come build a few at my place!

 

[dwasifar]

Any thoughts on rain runoff affecting the railing in back? Also, rain may end up splashing against that railing and get the back row of firewood wet. Try it out with a garden hose. You may want either a gutter, a roof extension, or some kind of splash guard eventually.

The railing is made of the same composite material as the deck; the rain won't hurt it. But the splash, you raise a good point. Thanks for thinking of that. Totally did not occur to me. If it turns out to be an issue, moving it an inch or two away from the railing might be enough, otherwise I'll add a gutter.

Otherwise, looks good. Fits and lines up nice with the railing.

Thanks. My wife chose the width dimensions, so I'll pass along the compliment. "How wide do you want it to be?" "It should stop just before the post." "Aaaas youuu wiissshhhhh!!''

It was nice to be able to use some materials I had lying around instead of buying absolutely everything. You can tell that the posts are used. Some of those cedar pickets were lying around waiting for a project too, and I had a bundle of shingles in my garage from when I had my skylights replaced last year. On the down side, I broke my rafter square cutting the shingles. Serves me right for cheaping out with a plastic one instead of metal.

 

[IyaMan]

If its composite, the the rail will be fine. Pulling it out a couple inches may also do the trick.

It was nice to be able to use some materials I had lying around instead of buying absolutely everything.

I'm a big fan of re-using stuff. Kudos!
And coat of stain will help make all the wood match.

 

[dwasifar]

And coat of stain will help make all the wood match.

So will a winter out in the weather.

 

[Babaganoosh]

This is exactly what I'm planning to build. Did you use plans or just make it up on the fly?

 

[dwasifar]

This is exactly what I'm planning to build. Did you use plans or just make it up on the fly?

I planned it out in my head, with a quick back-of-the-envelope sketch to help me visualize the roof pitch.

It's not difficult, though. Here's an early construction photo:



In this picture the three trapezoids are assembled and standing up on their own, and the rails are just laid in and not attached, with the end plates lying on the floor at the sides:



From here the sequence is to attach the outer rails to the posts, add the end plates, and attach the inner rails to the end plates. Then brace with 2x4s at the top front and rear, tack up some cedar pickets inside the ends to keep the stacks contained, and put on your plywood roof. I added a couple of extra roof braces because I cheaped out and used 1/2" ply.

Here are some dimensions, if you're really interested:

Depth, including the posts, is 36". Roof framing adds 3", making the total depth at the roofline 39". End plates and supporting crossmembers underneath are 36". Roof is 40" wide plywood, with about a 14 degree pitch. Entire unit is 48" high at the rear and about 56" or so at the front. (I didn't actually measure front height for construction; it was determined by the pitch, which came from the width of the plywood, and the height of the stock I had to work with for the rear post.) If you're using an 8' sheet of ply, your rails are gonna be 93".

 

[Babaganoosh]

Awesome. Might just copy it or make it a little taller since I'm 6 foot 6 and don't want to smack my head.

 

[dwasifar]

Awesome. Might just copy it or make it a little taller since I'm 6 foot 6 and don't want to smack my head.

I'm flattered. PM me if you want more details.

 

[dwasifar]

Loaded up:



Got a little more room in there than I thought. I'll move a little more wood in there from another location to fill it to the top this weekend.