Making Outdoor Storage Buildings
Are you are interested in making outdoor storage buildings like a yard shed, a tool shed or a utility shed?
These are the basic buildings in any backyard, yet very few are planned properly or given much thought before assembly.
Your outdoor storage shed deserves better than that, and the result will prove to be not only useful but also a good-looking addition to your garden – not a sloppy lean-to that makes your heart sink whenever you look at it!
There are many backyard storage shed kits on the market, and most of them are well designed and put together. They all have one thing in common, however – their high price. And you still have to make the foundations, fit out the inside with shelves, light, power and so on.
Why not plan and build an outdoor storage building yourself? You will save a barrel of cash, have great fun planning it exactly the way you want it, and get the satisfaction of building it yourself.
However, unless you know exactly how to put a backyard storage shed together, it makes a lot of sense to use a good set of plans and assembly instructions to help get it all right first time and end up with the professional looking shed you will be proud to own.
Click here to check out great plans for outdoor storage buildings
We think that the diy approach is the right way to go. These sheds are simple structures that are easy to assemble. You will not need any special skills or techniques, although you will certainly pick up some during the build process and will be well on the way to becoming an expert carpenter or woodworker if that is what you want.
Making outdoor storage sheds requires only basic tools that are likely to be in everybody’s toolkit.
So, let’s take a look at what is involved in planning and making outdoor storage buildings.
Outdoor Storage Shed Materials
We prefer sheds made from wood, because it is easy to work with, can be made into pretty well anything, and is cheap to buy.
Wood is also a renewable product, which is good in this ‘green’ age.
Some sheds, of course, use other materials as well as wood, and it is possible to use combinations of wood and concrete, wood and metal and so on, but for now we will concentrate on wooden types only.
Backyard Storage Shed Site
Choose your backyard storage shed site carefully. For instance, if you want it to store your ride-on mower, there needs to be easy access between the shed and the lawn. Remember, if access seems to be a problem, you can play around with the position of doors – they do not have to be in the gable end of the shed, if a side entry would make access easier.
The shed can be a prominent feature in your backyard – do you want to make it blend into the background or do you want to make it an attractive building in its own right? Will you want an electric or water supply to the shed and, if so, how easy will this be to arrange? Are there any planning ordinances or regulations that could affect where you build the shed?
The answers to these questions will determine where you site the outdoor storage building.
Size Of Your Outdoor Storage Shed
The size of the shed is very important, and it is better to make it bigger than seems necessary at the planning stage. Once the shed has been built it will be annoying to find out that your new ride-on tractor is too wide to drive into it!
Make a list of the larger items you will store in the shed, and work out how much room they will need. Perhaps mark them out on a floor plan to check that they will be easy to get at.
We strongly suggest that, whatever size you finally think will be sufficient, you then go for one size higher. If you feel that a 10 x 12 will be enough, go for a 12 x 14. You will never regret that decision.
Shape And Design
Choose the shape of your backyard storage shed carefully. Will it have a traditional apex roof – perhaps reflecting the style of your house – or a pent-style roof that will allow greater headroom on one side? Dutch barn roofs look great but also cost more (what’s new!).
Assuming that the shed is to be made of wood, what finish will you choose for the wall panels? The cheapest is cladding or weatherboard, made from overlapping horizontal planks of softwood or cedar. These are not particularly waterproof because they tend to warp. Tongue-and-groove is better, with good long-term weatherproofing characteristics. Shiplap is best bit also the most expensive.
If you intend using heavy roofing materials such as tiles or slates, you should make sure that the roofing trusses will be strong enough. Reducing the pitch betweeen trusses by half (ie doubling the number of trusses) should be sufficient.
Any good set of plans should help you with calculations for this sort of problem.
Foundations For Outdoor Storage Buildings
Most readymade sheds are supplied with wooden floor panels, but this is not a very good design feature. Wood ply or planked flooring does not last well and is often not strong enough to support the sort of things you tend to store – heavy tools, tractors, lawnmowers, spare packs of tiles and the usual collection of ‘things that might come in handy one day’.
Wooden floors and most liquids, such as oils and paints, do not go well together either.
If you are making your own shed we recommend siting it on a proper concrete foundation or base. You will find details about how to do this elsewhere on this site – see building a shed base. This will cost a bit more but will be well worth the extra expense in the long run.
Finishing Your Outdoor Storage Shed
Don’t leave your shed unfinished, by which we mean bare wood untreated against the weather. Either use a solvent-based wood stain that will soak into the wood and leave it well protected, or an acrylic exterior paint. Prime all bare wood first if you are going to paint it, followed by two quality finish coats to ensure long term protection. Even so, you should plan to re-finish your shed every two or three years.
Summary
Making outdoor storage buildings is easy and great fun. They will add considerably to the use you make of your backyard, and the best solution is to make them yourself. That way you save a considerable amount of money and get to design the shed exactly the way you want it.
Always use good quality plans and assembly instructions, to ensure getting it right first time without wasted effort and materials.
Our own recommendation for making outdoor storage buildings is Woodworking4Home, a really professional product from experts with many years’ experience with designing and building outdoor storage sheds.
Their plans kit includes not only clear drawings and diagrams for all their huge range of sheds but also comprehensive step-by-step instructions, photos videos – the lot. It has a proper, no hassle refund guarantee which we demand for all online purchases these days. And it only costs a few dollars – great value for money, in our opinion.
So, put that creative streak to good use and start building that outdoor storage building project you have been thinking about for so long! You will enjoy not only the process but also the result.
Click here to check out plans for outdoor storage buildings
