Backyard Shed: Part 2

With the blocks done, I began construction of the shed itself.  The first step was to create the notches in the vertical posts to receive the horizontal frame members.  I started with the four back posts.  I made the notches using a technique I've seen many times.  The first step is to cut a series of kerfs in the post with a skilsaw.  The depth of these cuts is the same as the target depth for the eventual notch.

Then I just take a hammer and knock out the waste.  If you've never tried this technique, you'll likely be surprised at how well it works.  The resulting notch only requires minimal cleanup with a chisel.

Here are some finished notches cut into full length posts.  The next step is to figure out how long the posts need to be.

 First, I need to set the four blocks for the back wall.  I dig just a couple inches to get below most of the turf and roots.

Then I run a level string at the height I want the posts to to be.  I measure from the bottom of the post socket to the string to get my total post length.  Then I just measure from the top (above the top notch) to the length required, mark, and cut the posts.

 

With the posts cut to length, I take a few quick passes over all four sides with a hand plane to ensure they don't fit too tightly into the post sockets.

I set the posts in place, and drill through the post using the cast-in hole in the blocks as a drill guide.

Then I place a pin all the way through the block and the post.  I made these pins out of 1/2 inch rebar.  I formed a head on one end by heating it in the forge and peening it over.

The other side of the post is secured with a smaller pin through a hole in the rebar pin.  These smaller pins I made by bending some pieces of the leftover remesh from when I cast the concrete blocks.

With the back posts in place, I start putting the horizontal members in place.  

This requires constant checking with the level.

The horizontal members are attached with 3 inch deck screws.

 Once the rear wall is assembled, it's time to plumb it.  The fence itself isn't necessarily plumb, so on one side of the wall I place a 2x4 block halfway down the wall to lean the wall out from the fence...

And on the other side I have to use scab boards to lean the fence back so I can lean the wall towards the fence further than where the fence originally was.

Once the wall is plumb, it's time to determine the location for the front corners.  I do this by measuring out from the back corners, then measuring the diagonals and tweaking until I reach square.  This is tedious and it sometimes seems like  you're not making progress for a bit, but you have to stick with it and get it right before you move on.  I dig oversize areas for the front corner blocks to give myself a little room to move them around.

I place some cutoffs in the sockets to give me something to hook the measuring tape on while measuring the diagonals.

Once the locations for the front posts are determined and everything is as square as it's going to get, I begin working on determining the length for one corner post. To do this, I get the post in place and use scabs to get it plumb.  Then I attach a temporary board to the back wall and level it with a level.

This board is level with the top of the topmost horizontal frame member on the back wall which will function like a plate for the rafters to sit on.  Once it is level, I make a mark on the front post, which you can see already has the notch cut in near the top for the front header/plate.

Then I can take this board down, and the post down, and use my mark to determine how much of the post to cut off the bottom.  I know I want the roof to have one foot of elevation change from the front to the back, so I measure from the mark I made with the temporary board to the top of the notch.  This difference should be one foot to give me the elevation change I want, so the amount I need to cut off is the measurement from the line to the top of the notch minus the one foot.

The top of the post is cut off to match the slope of the roof, just to make it look nice.

I do the same procedure on the other side, and run all 3 horizontal frame members around the sides.

Next I set to work on the two middle posts in the front wall.  Here I hit a not altogether unexpected, but still very unpleasant giant ball of roots while digging the first middle post hole.  It's the hole you can see in the center of this picture.  I didn't take any pictures while digging the actual hole, but all the light colored things you can see in the foreground are wood chunks from the roots.

 

Here is a top down picture of the same hole.  You can see all the roots I hit in the top right of the hole.  In the process of chopping out the roots, the hole got a little deeper than I wanted it to be, so I put a paver in the bottom to counteract some of the depth.  The block just sits on top of this paver.

 Once the holes for the middle posts are dug, I set the blocks in place and determined the post lengths using a level string stretched between the corner posts, cut them to length, and set them in place.

You can see the front header/plate is also put into place in the notches of the front posts and attached with deck screws.

At this point, I was tired from fighting tree roots and time was running short, so I didn't do a good job documenting with pictures.

I ran the 2 remaining horizontal framing members between the middle two front posts, and then began attaching rafters.  The rafters are cut from 2 x 4s, and attached with 1 5/8 deck screws and these little plates that I think are called hurricane ties.

The last rafter on each end is attached to the side of the posts with screws, and then the strapping 1x4s are attached to the top of the rafters with screws.

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 At this point the framing is complete, and it's time to attach the metal roofing and siding.  Here again, I did not do a good job taking enough pictures.

The metal roof begins with attaching the back trim.

 

And then the side trim.
 

 

Then the roofing panels are attached.

And then the front trim is attached.

 

 

The metal I'm using for siding is also sold as metal roofing.  I attached it only to the two small sides and the area in between the two middle front posts.  The back wall of the shed is enclosed by the fence.

All in all, I think this was a fairly inexpensive shed build while being very structurally strong.  I spent right about $700 dollars on concrete, fasteners, metal roofing and siding, and wood.  The shed is 5' x 16', for a total enclosed area of about 70 sqft or about $10 per square foot.  You can buy premade sheds at Lowes or Home Depot cheaper, but they are nowhere near as strong structurally.  Also, if you had the room, you could expand the 5 foot dimension of this shed out to 8 feet without much cost increase. Besides casting the blocks in place like I described in the conclusion of my previous post, I don't think I'd really change anything else about the construction of the shed if I had it to do over again.  I all really went great and turned out very much like I'd hoped.