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Storage Shed / Closet
April 5 - 26, 2014 |
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This home has no storage space
outside in the backyard. The electric lawn
mower I use, is currently stored indoors in a room on
this level of the house. My husband placed
some shelving outside here years ago to store some
gardening supplies. Basically these shelves
look tacky and the dust storms we have, put a layer
of dust on everything stored here. I wanted to
create a storage shed here under the balcony to
store the lawn mower and other gardening supplies. |
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I first needed to measure the
space to see what size would work. I decided
on a width of 7 feet and a depth of 34" which just
leaves enough space to walk on the shallow patio.
The walls of the shed will go up to the ceiling which
will eliminate the need for a roof. The height
is around 100", after making a base for the shed,
the walls will only need to be around 96", perfect
size for an 8'- 2" x 4". Any gaps at the top will be
covered with some moulding I'll add between the shed
walls and the ceilings.
The first thing to do was to make the base of my
storage shed and the flooring. For the base I
purchased four pressure treated 2 x 4's, 8-feet
long. Why pressure treated? I wanted the base
to have a little extra wood protection in case the
water got on top of the patio, which it usually does
during a hard rain storm. I also plan on
putting some pvc trim along the bottom and sealing
it with silicone to further protect the wood.
I cut two pieces 7' long.
Six pieces 30-15/16" long.
On the 7 foot pieces, I
drilled starter holes for the nails and screws that
went into the corners. I then placed two of
the shorter pieces on the corner and used my
squaring triangle to make sure everything was square
and clamped them together. I then put two 2
1/2"screws in each corner. I then nailed the
other four shorter pieces in place with 2 1/2"
nails. |
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Completed base frame |
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I then cut a piece of 15/32"
plywood 7' x 34" and nailed it on top of the frame. |
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Flooring now in place
on the base |
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April 7, 2014 - I
completed the frame for the back wall of the storage
shed. It is not attached yet and is
just sitting on the base. I need to
put some thin plywood on the back of the
frame before I attach it to the base.
In the picture, the frame
looks bowed but it's not. I used all
2" x 4"s The height of the frame is 95-1/4".
I was going to make it an even 96" but
realized that the balcony above has a slight
slant to it, to drain water. When I
place moulding at the top of the shed, it
will cover the small gap.
The odd spacing of the cross beams is going
to be used for the shelving I will be
installing. The three pieces going across at
the top are spaced equally. The bottom
shelves allows more space for any large
heavy items.
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Back wall frame complete |
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Plywood added to wall side of back frame |
April 8, 2014 -
Added the plywood to the back of the back
frame and fastened the frame with 2 1/2"
screws to the base.
If it looks like there are different pieces
of wood nailed on the back, you are correct.
At the hardware store, I had them cut down
the two 1/4"- 4' x 8' pieces of plywood to
fit behind on the 2 x 4's.
Everything I buy, has to fit inside
my old 2001 Mitsubishi Montero. Also,
I have a heck of a time trying to rip a
piece of plywood on my table saw by myself.
I can just fit the 8' length which extends
into the head area of the SUV. Which
means I am driving hunched down and blind
except for the windshield and left side
mirror. I have found a path home from
the hardware store where I do not have to
make any lane changes to the right. |
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April 9, 2014 - I
made the side frames today and attached them
to the base and back frame.
The horizontal 2" x 4"s on the side frame
have the same placement as the back frame to
add extra support for the shelves I will be
adding.The
width of the sides is 27" wide and 92 3/16"
high.
The next step will be to cut the pieces and
assemble the frame for the front of the
shed.
April 10, 2014 - I
completed the front frame today and attached
it to the sides and base.
The front was done in three parts. The first
part was the two corner sections.
Again the horizontal 2" x 4"s mirror the
side and back frame for the shelf support.
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Side frames added |
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Front frame complete |
The second part was the
framing around the doorway. Two 2" x
4"s were nailed on the side. A third
2" x 4" on top of the two. The height of the
doorway is 76". The width is 56 3/4".
The third part was the over the doorway
framing.
The front framing was all done in parts
because I wanted to make it easier for
myself. I struggled a lot with the
weight of the back section when I moved it
into place.
I have made the door wide so it will be
easier for the lawn mower to be placed
inside without collapsing the handles every
time.
There will be two doors that swing out.
The next step is to attach the plywood on
the sides and front. Before I do this,
I will be painting
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the plywood first. I had
wanted to get a more durable material for the
outside like the siding that is a composite with
cement. I even found some 5" snap together PVC
strips. The hardware store does not cut the
composite siding (so I would not be able to get it
home) and the PVC strips were too expensive. So I
settled on the same 15/32" plywood I used on the
floor. The plan is to paint it properly
including the edges. I will be using an oil
based primer and then a durable latex outdoor paint.
While these will be drying, I will start painting
the inside of the shed also.
I did however splurge on the PVC trim I will be
using along the base, corners, and top. If you
are ever shopping for PVC moulding, it is not with
the wood moulding. At the Lowes I visited, the
PVC moulding was in the window section. |
April 14, 2014 -
All of the wood was painted a coat of oil based
primer. The walls of the shed were nailed
on.
The PVC base trim boards were placed on first,
before I nailed on the walls. The reason
for this was the warped plywood. It is
almost impossible to find a straight piece of
wood at the big box warehouse stores.
I first nailed the trim in place, then set
the walls on top of the trim, then I used
clamps to hold the warped plywood against
the 2" x 4"s of the frame and nailed the
plywood on. As I moved around each
piece of wood, I adjusted the clamps.
April 15, 2014 -
My computer hard drive crashed. Still
looking for a replacement drive or a fix. HP
was not very helpful regarding where to buy
a replacement drive. They could not
get me off the phone fast enough. |
Walls on, base trim added, primer added |
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Curious is the fact that the hard
drive crashed exactly 5 years to the day I bought
the computer. As if there was a timer inside
saying CRASH! CRASH! ....so she will buy a new
one. Not from HP, I'm not!!
Fortunately all of my document, images, and web
files are on external drives. So while I
attempt to repair the HP, my old trusty Dell
Inspiron 700m still works on the now unsupported
Windows XP format. So I can at least update
this web page. Sigh.... |
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Moulding in place and sealed with silicone |
April 16, 2014 -
Today I added the moulding to the top underneath
the ceiling. the corners and wall where
the sides meet the brick. The goal was to
cover all of the gaps where water could get it.
All of the trim is PVC except for the trim on
top, which is pine moulding.
All of the nails were
countersunk and the holes were filled.
Silicone sealant was added to every edge of the
moulding.
When the base trim was added, a lot of clear
silicone went on the bottom also.
For the door frame, I bought some 1" x 4" white
boards that still need to be primed and painted.
I will place them on after the shed is painted
the color you can see on the base trim.
Next step is to paint the shed 2 coats of paint,
make the shelves, and doors. |
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April 23, 2014 -
The last few days were spent cutting the
shelves, making the door frame, and getting
everything painted.
The shelves that were made, are custom fit for this
shed. They are not rectangular. The
problem was, the front part of the shed was narrow. |
Close-up of moulding that was added at top and
sides |
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If I had just made rectangular
shelves that fit between the 2" x 4"s, the shelves
would have been very narrow. Not much can be
stored on skinny shelves.
I first made a shelf template out of some cardboard
from a box. I then fit the template in place,
tweaking the size as needed. The template was
then placed on the wood and the outline traced.
I then made the cuts using my table saw. The
photograph below shows two of the shelves after
being painted. |
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Two of
the shelves drying |
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Completed shed
minus the doors. |
A total of 8 shelves were made. I added a
3/4" strip of moulding to the front of each
shelf. While this was not necessary, it
gives the shelves a neater look. Each of the
shelves were nailed into place with 2" nails
right into the 2" x 4"s.
The photo on the left shows the storage shed
completed minus the doors. The doors are
made but I am waiting for the hinges, which were
ordered online.
All of the shelves were installed and I have
added hardware for the gardening tools that will
hang.
The door was framed with 1" x 4" white boards
and painted a darker color. |
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The decorative ends at the top of
the door frame was an attempt to match the detail of
the wood beams that were used on this house.
For a close-up of the beams
go
here... |
The photo on the right shows the shelving in a
little more detail. The shelving is cut
around and placed on top of the 2" x 4" on three
of the shelf ends.
The next step will be to install the doors.
The frame of the doors is made out of 1" x 4" white
board. 15/32" plywood will be added to the
door frame.
The door frame and body
will be painted separately and then nailed
together. The reason for this is two fold.
First, I want to hang the two door frames on the
hinges without the full weight of the door with
plywood. Hanging a door is always
preferably a two person job. Not easy to
do by yourself. The lighter the door, the
better chance I have of getting the door hung
right by myself.
Second, the paint job is much neater looking
when each section is painted separately.
Also, the plywood under the frame will be
painted and protected in case water works its
way in the cracks. |
Close-up of shed shelving |
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Completed shed doors |
April 25 - 26, 2014
- My hinges arrived late in the day on the 25th.
I really wanted to get the doors up by the afternoon
on the 26th, because El Paso was expecting another
very dusty windy day.
As planned, I first attached the hinges to the frame
and marked the door frames for the hinges. I
drilled starter holes for the screws and hung the
two door frames in place. After I was
satisfied with how the door frames were hung, I
removed the door frames.
I then nailed the plywood on to the two door frames
and re-hung the doors.
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About the Southwest
detail of the door frame. I cut these on
my table saw. I used the scrap pieces of
the 1" x 4"s and cut the little "step" shape.
For both doors, I needed to make 16. There
was some filling in off the cracks because a
table saw will cut the wood more underneath than
on top
Cutting with a jigsaw or band saw would
eliminate these extra under cuts because the
blade cuts straight up and down. The table saw
for me, was just faster.
The whole door frame was just glued together
with wood glue on a flat surface. With the
Southwest detail wood blocks further holding the
frame together. When the glue was dried, I
added some finishing nails through the bottom
step of the design. See graphic at right.
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View of the completed shed on the right side |
I then filled the cracks
with wood dough, sanded and then painted.
I added a slide bolt to the inside top of the
left door to lock the door in place. A
latch and handles were added to the outside.
In addition, I added some weather stripping to
both sides of the door from an extra weather
stripping kit I had used on the other
outside doors in the house.
See the weather stripping project for more
information.
The idea is to make this shed as airtight as
possible to keep the dust out. I will have
to order another kit for a piece long enough for
the top of the doors.
The view of the shed at the left shows the right
side of the shed. I added a decorative
thermometer to the wall here.
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While I was waiting for
the hinges to arrive, I started repairing the
area around the shed. I also finished
painting the ceiling of the patio area and
surrounding cross beams.
For the dog eaten columns, I will be covering
them with PVC sheeting.
Please refer to the column wrap page for this
project.
The photo on the right shows the storage shed on
the left side.
Remember this shed is free standing. The only
thing that attaches it to the wall and ceiling
is the caulk used between the moulding and
surfaces. The paint gives it a more
uniform look. Am I worried about the shed
moving? Heck no, it is just too heavy.
For the paint I got on the concrete, I did not
worry about it too much. I have bought an
anti-slip concrete paint to cover the concrete
around the shed. The concrete here is
dangerously slippery when wet. I will be
painting the concrete after I finish all of the
repairs and painting. |
View
of the completed shed on the left side |
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Lawn mower and gardening tools in new home |
So how does
the shed look with stuff inside? See for
yourself in the photo on the left. I still
have to move more gardening items in here from
throughout the house and the garage... after I
find them all. So it will be pretty full when I
am done.
The total cost of this project, not counting my
labor, was just under $500 dollars. Three
trips to the hardware store and one trip to a
paint store. A little more than what I would of
spent ordering a pre-made storage shed.
With this shed I have the exact size and color I
wanted. No unnecessary roof. And my shed looks
like it is part of the house. And... I can
proudly say....I built it all by myself!!!
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What was my next project? As mentioned
above, the dog chewed columns. As of May
6, 2014, I finished the columns. See photo below. To
see how I repaired these columns, please go to
this page... |
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Shed
with repaired columns. Decorative metal art added to
top of doors. |
