backyard shed? | GTAMotorcycle.com

backyard shed?

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rashidme

Well-known member
I am planning on building a backyard shed probably 8x10. I am a handyman and would like to know if I should order a kit or buy individual parts and do the cutting etc myself. I am inclining towards wooden shed and budget is around $1200.

I have done some rough calculations and seems that either buying a precut kit or buying individual parts almost costs the same thing. I am only saving on labor as I can do it myself.

any recommendations on precut kits etc? pros/cons of precut vs individual parts? Are home depot precut kits any good?

Thanks
 
You can find a pre-cut wood shed kit for $1200 in that size? The only 2 pros/cons I can think of are the time savings on pre-cut, and custom tailoring on DIY.
 
Sounds like a no brainer, if the precut is roughly the same cost as you having to buy the material and then you have to cut it and make sure it's all correct and such, then just get the pre-cut and assemble, less work for you, and you should end up with the same product, unless of course you were doing a custom size or shape, but if your just doing a straight forward shed, then I would go with the pre-cut, I did my foundation, and purchased one of those aluminium sheds and a couple of hours latter it was up and the junk in it.....I did not want the maintenance of wood......
 
GateKeeper said:
Sounds like a no brainer, if the precut is roughly the same cost as you having to buy the material and then you have to cut it and make sure it's all correct and such, then just get the pre-cut and assemble, less work for you, and you should end up with the same product, unless of course you were doing a custom size or shape, but if your just doing a straight forward shed, then I would go with the pre-cut, I did my foundation, and purchased one of those aluminium sheds and a couple of hours latter it was up and the junk in it.....I did not want the maintenance of wood......
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where did you get the alum shed from? and for the foundation did you just use cinder blocks and some gravel?
 
shed I got from Home Depot

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Go to home depot, lowes, etc and have a look at their wooden sheds. If you build it like they do, you can easily build it cheaper than buying the kit... and the kits also don't come with a base, like the dec-blocks, pressure treated planks, plywood, and is a big portion of the money. They often do 24" centers, and the back wall and front wall are not build in a standard framing method. You'd need shingles, paint, flashing, etc, too.

If you want to build it to be strong and to last, then the material might come out to be more than the kit, but it will be a better shed. The amount of extra money it costs to do 16" centers on all four walls is not that cost prohibitive on a small shed... 2x4s are only $2.33 a piece.

I am planning to tear down the 4x8 shed I built about 3 years ago and build a shed to the maximum size bylaws allow without a permit, which is 10m^2 and 3m tall. The base I plan to make something like Gatekeeper did, however I think I will be using a lot more dek-blocks as I plan to have a lot more weight in my shed, and then a gambrel style shed on top of it. For me, the biggest cost is going to be the dek-blocks for the base, the pressure treated plywood for the floors, and the pressure treated planks also for the base... the shed itself will be cheap in comparison.
 
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With my background in construction, I wouldn't touch a flimsy home Depot shed.

Unfortunately for me, because I wouldn't accept anything less, I'd build mine like 'house' quality. $$$$$

You never know when the big bad wolf is going to come huff'n and puff'n

Sent from my Passport
 
SunnY S said:
With my background in construction, I wouldn't touch a flimsy home Depot shed.

Unfortunately for me, because I wouldn't accept anything less, I'd build mine like 'house' quality. $$$$$

You never know when the big bad wolf is going to come huff'n and puff'n

Sent from my Passport
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unfortunately even homes built to code get blown away when mother nature is pizzzzzed

my buddies HomeDepot metal shed has been in his yard now 20 years, still standing, mine is up for 3 years, still there, so I figure they can't be that bad.....

it's a shed, not a house, so I don't see the need to spend a lot of money to hold my garden tools, a lawnmower, winter tires, and some patio furniture......

but to each his own....I guess
 
For me, my shed is going to be more than just for storage.

I only have a one-car garage, so in the winter the bikes and everything else that is seasonal will be crammed in there. In the summer when it is emptied out and the bikes are back in the garage, that is when I spread out the table saw, band saw, sanders, etc, and build stuff without making either my garage or my basement workshop a mess.

A metal shed won't cut it for me as I want additional storage higher up in the gambrel, and I want to be about to have shelving on some of the walls and probably wiring too. I also want some venting, which I will cut into this shed's roof, so it is not an oven inside during the summer.
 
part time shed, part time workshop
 
SunnY S said:
With my background in construction, I wouldn't touch a flimsy home Depot shed.

Unfortunately for me, because I wouldn't accept anything less, I'd build mine like 'house' quality. $$$$$

You never know when the big bad wolf is going to come huff'n and puff'n

Sent from my Passport
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I'm with ya. I worried about snow load collapsing a cheap shed, I winter the bike out theres, so I had a Mennonite built one installed, and it's build to residential code.
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IMHO, one needs to guard against moisture-concrete pad-anything else would be uncivilized.
 
Need to compare apples with apples....the kit is most likely not 2x4 construction. I like my Royal Plastics shed, but if/when I do it again, I will build my own. Also, I like concrete pad as a base.
 
Joe Bass said:
Need to compare apples with apples....the kit is most likely not 2x4 construction. I like my Royal Plastics shed, but if/when I do it again, I will build my own. Also, I like concrete pad as a base.
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Do u just put the concrete blocks on gravel?? I like those dek blocks.
 
rashidme said:
Do u just put the concrete blocks on gravel?? I like those dek blocks.
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Not blocks, actual poured concrete slab. But that example posted earlier works well. As does 6x6 borders, one course(?) buried, interlocked at corners. Backfill with gravel, then screening. Lay cheap patio slabs on top, use as base.
 
Anytime you are going to put down deck blocks, or patio stones, or gravel, it all has to be on undisturbed ground, or you will get sinkage..you can't dig down too far and then add the dirt back to bring it to the height you want, the weight of the whole structure will make it sink to the point it hits undisturbed ground......

I could not do a concrete slab, as I needed the underneath clear for water drainage, the yard slopes, right to left, and I did not want the water to have to go around the pad, this way with the structure above the ground the natural flow was not disturbed, this is only during really heavy downpours.

If it moves or sinks I will then be doing piers, 3 feet deep at least and build the frame on top of them, I did not want to dig holes last time......
 
GateKeeper, any issues with critters getting underneath?
 
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