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The Garden Storage Shed, A Tale of Extreme Procrastination

by Kevin Hayes, APA Staff 

Being of sound mind and body didn’t stop me from bragging to the entire neighborhood, family and co-workers that I could build an APA handy plan in one long weekend. I chose the Garden Storage Shed, an 8x12, 96-square-foot potting shed with four walls, three windows, two roof lines and a sliding barn door. On paper this looked like a fairly easy build for a person with my skill set. I framed the exterior walls of my own home using structural insulated panels (prefabricated wall panels that join together in a mortise and tenon fashion. I’ve built decks and fences, laid roofing and tiles, run electrical and even assisted on a retail store remodel installing slot wall panels, carpeting and fixtures. My weekend warrior paraphernalia was solid: circular, chop and jig saws; framing and speed squares; framing and torpedo levels; variable speed drill; hammers, wrenches, caulk, measuring tapes, chisels. I had other reasons for overconfidence: the contractor who built my house lived across the street; the guy who built the original APA Garden Shed prototype several years ago, still worked at APA; and my brother, who is chronically short on spending money, was my hammer on-call should I need an assist. And what dad could pass on the chance to introduce his two sons to the building craft?

“GameBoy® be damned, we’re going to build the most enviable shed in the ‘hood, boys,” I told them.

Finally I had to tie my wife into the project. The shed was her belated Mother’s Day present. In our house, all Mother’s Day presents are belated. The boys and I put the finishing touches on her 2005 flagstone patio present in March 2007. And so, with all the bravado only a PR specialist can muster, the shovels broke dirt on the four-day Memorial weekend.

MAY

Kevin's sons and big Mikey (center), dig out the ground for the shed's gravel foundation.

Siting the shed

There aren’t many flat spots on my highly sloped lot.  I chose an area that abutted the property line fence to the southeast and an old 40-inch stump to the northwest. This tight location would prove nettlesome. After watching the boys chip through the Northwest glacial hardpan for an hour, I realized that we needed to get that stump out of our way. The Stump Guy could not come until Tuesday. Before a hammer was even lifted, my get-er-done-in-a-weekend-timeline was caput, finito. Whew, that was a relief. Now I could build at my own pace – glacial, just like the rock-strewn soil.

After spending $262 for the stump removal, I brought in a gravel base of 1-1/4” minus to a depth ranging from four to eight inches. I used a rented plate compactor to apply the finished grade. It was mid-June before the first lumber hit the ground.

JUNE

All the wall sections were constructed in the garage starting with the two rake walls. Kevin used a comingation of dimension lumber and LVL studs.

Floor Installation

Going with the gravel base meant I’d be using a plywood floor on treated 2x4 framing. I had the luxury of laying out all the main components in my garage. The flat surface helped telegraph any imperfections. Sure enough, one of my 12-footers had a nasty bow, which meant either halt work and roll back to the lumberyard or deal with it later. I told myself the weight of the shed will surely flatten this section down, so I moved on, paneling the floor with ¾”  square-edged plywood. Later I would learn two lessons: warped studs usually don’t flatten out by themselves and if you can’t shim, hide it with trim.

Looking northeast to the left side wall. There was about 18" of clearance between the fence and the eastern wall. It would become a problem during the paint phase.

Wall Construction

I opened my plan to page six, the right and left side walls. I cut all the panels and then laid out the studs. In hindsight I should have laid out the frames and then cut the panels to fit the frames.   The boys were very excited to get started with the chop saw. They argued over whose turn it was, so we set up the alternating cut plan. They cut the studs, I watched their fingers and our progress was slow. This was a learning experience for all of us.  The intersecting rake walls found on page 16 looked pretty straight forward. I laid the bottom plate out and cut the end studs and center stud to length and tacked them to the sole plate. I then placed infill studs 16” o.c. Using the top plate as the guide, I ran a pencil line across each of the infill studs, cut them to fit and nailed it all together. The plan called for galvanized nails as required. Once those are sunk, they are hell to get out, an exercise I repeated near daily. My builder neighbor finally brought over some vinyl coated sinkers and that sped the reconstructs up quite a bit.  The overhangs were pre-drilled and screwed together. I did not want to split the small block that formed the end.

When applying my pre-cut T1-11 siding to the frames, I found the fit was not picture perfect. As my brother would say many times throughout the project it was, “Good enough for the girls we go out with.” His other favorite: “We ain’t building a Swiss watch.” I embraced those phrases with great vigor as the project wore on.  By the end of that first day we had one wall sheathed and ready to stand. However, after one day of work with dad, the boys were already tired of the “shed.” Even though I was paying them by the hour, the shed had become another of their chores that devoured precious goof off time with their friends.
One of the walls called for an aluminum casement window, which I could not find so I bought vinyl sliders from the local big box. (All three windows were nailed to the exterior siding, flashed, trimmed with 1x3 whiteboard and caulked.)  

Only one month into the project and two walls are standing. The earth is warming up faster than this project is coming together.

After the two end walls were standing I tackled the rear wall. I reviewed pages 12-15 and 17-18 to get the clear picture.  There is a double top plate underneath the skylight which is also right above the outward swinging doors. The rest of the framing was single top plate with 16” o.c. studs. The actual skylight framing would come later, much later.

With three walls in place I could get an idea as to how the skylight roof lines were going to match up. They weren’t. That bowed floor stud started to bite the project. I was about 1-1/2” low on the window side. After much laughter, my neighbor the builder, brought his expertise into play. We lifted one corner of the shed with a shovel until our string line across the back was level. I wedged a piece of treated 2x4 under the floor joists and filled in around it with extra gravel. You couldn’t even see it. The floor felt solid and level. All well and good…for now.

JULY

This drop-in header was a marvel of craftsmanship. The ripple studs only vary by 1" from one side to the next.

Front wall and tracking down the barn door

The front wall is shown on pages 9, 12 and 13. I built mine in two sections and dropped in my version of a header. I screwed strap ties to the 2x6 LVL header and cripples and then nailed through the trimmer into the header on each side using 3” sinkers.  This wall could certainly be framed as one unit and stood in place. I did not know where my next help would come from so I chose smaller sections to work with. 
I changed the clerestory layout to accommodate the two 12 x 18 sliding windows. I cut and nailed the siding in place, leaving the bottom nails out so I could slip the 6” metal roof flashing underneath when the time came.  I would install the windows after the roof was on.

Sliding barn doors are expensive and not as easy to find as one might expect. Forget the local big boxes in urban settings. I knew I’d have to go out where the lettuce grows so I called several stores about 10 miles out of town and finally found one with the kit. Upon arrival, I was told they were out of rails so they sent me to another location even further out. This place only had 10-foot rails and I needed an 8-footer. I bought a metal blade for my chop saw.  The door kit, gas and saw blade came to $120.00. In the end it was well worth the time and expense.

Kevin's brother (with ladder) and the roofing pro in action, four days after their estimated completion. Nonetheless, the shed is starting to look acceptable.

Roof erection, clerestory deconstruction

The shed went into hibernation for about three weeks while I debated my next move. I had four walls standing, but I knew the roof was not going to be easy given the fact my earlier jiggering with the floor had fixed only the skylight roof line. It was about this time that my brother called wondering if I had any work around the house. I told him about the project and he mentioned his roofing partner was looking for side money.   Bring it on, I told them. The beer-drinking saviors arrived in late July. They looked over the work and declared, “We should be able to bang this out in a day or two.” Get-er-done must run in the family. We donned our tool belts and hit the ladders. The first order of business was to remove all the siding from the clerestory window section. The rafters had to tie into the studs, not the siding.  Later we could recut the panel sections to fit the revised layout.

The clerestory required some adjustments.

The roofing pro and my brother started measuring the rafters on the skylight side and that’s when their pace went glacial on them. They had different cuts from one side to the other. My neighbor had forewarned me that if you are out of whack on the floor you’re going to chase it all the way to the top.  The chase cost a couple hundred bucks and a half-rack of beer, but the saviors were able to sheath both roof lines and shingle the front section before I left on vacation in August. Another plan difference was my use of composite roofing instead of cedar shakes. I wanted to match the roof on my house.   

AUGUST

Vacation. I still had the whole month of September to install the clerestory windows, shingle the rear, install the homemade skylights, trim out the walls, install the doors and hardware, build my countertops and storage bin and paint the thing. Piece o’cake. 

SEPTEMBER

Did I mention that we usually get nice long Indian summers and the rains don’t really start pouring until late October? September was not a total waste. My football teams stink to high heaven this year so rather than watch their disgusting play, I installed the barn door and studied for my upcoming skylight exam.

OCTOBER

Kevin installs folded composite shingles opposite the wind direction to finish the front shed roof.

Now it was go time. The Indian summer lasted about 36 hours. I called for my brother, the hammer, and he came in for a $150 stretch of labor that saw us install the clerestory windows, roofing and most of the siding and trim. We got the skylights framed in. For the window flashing I used a peel and stick rubberized aluminum roll flashing. I cut the 6” material in half and pressed it into place all around the flanges.  Though not a typical window flashing material, I liked the adhesion to both wood and plastic. (We’ve already had several wind-driven monsoons and the windows are not leaking yet.) Bro and I were on a roll. He left late Sunday night after we had planned out the final week of action. It would be the last time I saw him.

Without going into the whole story, he would be hamstrung with legal and municipal matters for a little while. It was not a good time for either of us. I had failed the skylight exam. The 1/8” Plexiglas panels sit in a 3/4" x 1/8" channel that runs along the perimeter of the skylight framing. The top header is a 2x6 notched at the ends and in the center where it slides over the center rafter. Along the sides are 2x2s each with the same 3/4" x 1/8" channel. They are nailed to the roof sheathing and line up with the ends of the top header. The middle stud is a flatwise 2x4 channeled with the grooves running down each side. A 1/2" filler strip is nailed beneath the center stud so that all the channels are at the same height along the perimeter. My heights were perfect, the openings were surprisingly square and one dry fit showed the grooves were deep enough. I caulked the groove with a urethane sealant and set the windows. Crap, too long. They stuck out about 2” beyond the rafter tails. Then it hit me. I forgot the bottom of the window frame.

The oldest son had to step up and he did. He helped remove the gummed up windows. We cut 2” off the Plexiglas using my circular saw with a fine tooth blade running backwards. The saw slowly melted the plastic. The technique worked better than I expected. I nailed a 4’ piece of 1x4 trim to the ends of the rafters and reseated the windows. I then cut and beveled four pieces of 1x2 trim. These were glued and nailed above and below each window for stabilization. Finally, I installed the trim and caulked all the joints. Another ugly win was in the books.

Kevin and sons enjoy calm before the paint storm.

Home stretch

I started on the interior storage and countertops working through the long rainy weekend. The punch list was down to about 14 items. The shed appeared to be nearing the end. The rest of the family, including my wife and one of my son’s friends, pitched in to paint the exterior walls and trim, while I banged away at the punch list. The DIY Gods had given us three consecutive days of 50° temperatures. Our paint would adhere just fine.

Miraculously, the weekend project was finally over. (Okay I have about three tiny items to finish.) It had consumed an entire summer and half the fall. It provided comic relief for the neighbors, friends and co-workers. Eleven people had a hand in the construction including my wife who rarely complained. In the final review, this plan is written for an advanced DIYer. A person with framing and roof construction experience should have no problem building this project.

I, on the other hand spent far more than I should have, nearly $3000 dollars. I had built a Swiss watch. And it was good enough for the gal I married. Happy Mother’s Day!