B U I L D I N G SH EDS Joseph Truini B U I L D I N G SHEDS ii T iii Text © 2016 by Joseph Truini Photographs © 2016 by The Taunton Press, Inc., except where noted Illustrations © 2016 by The Taunton Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Pp The Taunton Press, Inc. 63 South Main Street PO Box 5506, Newtown, CT 06470-5506 Email: [email protected] Editor: Peter Chapman Copy editor: Seth Reichgott Indexer: Jay Kreider Jacket/Cover design: Guido Caroti Interior design: Guido Caroti Layout: Guido Caroti, Sandra Mahlstedt Illustrator: Christopher Mills All photos by Geoffrey Gross, except as noted below: pp. 3, 36-41, 42 (top left, top right), 43, 44 (top middle, top right), 45 (top right, bottom right), 46-63: courtesy Fine Homebuilding magazine © The Taunton Press, Inc. p. 8: courtesy DekBrands® p. 9 (bottom), p.14 (bottom): © Smith-Baer pp. 18 (left), 21 (left), 22 (left), 23 (top right), 26 (top right): courtesy Pine Harbor Wood Products p. 26 (bottom): courtesy DaVinci Roofscapes pp. 29 (bottom right), 44 (top left), 45 (top left, top middle), 89 (bottom right), 105 (top left, top right), 181 (bottom), 182, 184 (left), 192-93, 196 (right), 199 (right), 201 (right), 202, 206 (all, except bottom left), 208, 209 (top left, top right, bottom right): Joseph Truini The following names/manufacturers appearing in Building Sheds are trademarks: Azek®, CertainTeed®, Cor-A-Vent®, DaVinci Roofscapes®, DekBrands®, GAF®,Owens Corning®, Palram®, Sonotubes®, Stanley®, SunTuf®, TimberLOK®, TimberSIL®, T-RexTM, Tuftex®, Tytan® Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Truini, Joseph, author. Title: Building sheds / author, Joseph Truini. Description: Newtown, CT : Taunton Press, Inc., 2016. | Includes index. Identifiers: LCCN 2015045971 | ISBN 9781627107709 Subjects: LCSH: Sheds--Design and construction--Amateurs’ manuals. | Toolsheds--Design and construction--Amateurs’ manuals. Classification: LCC TH4962 .T783 2016 | DDC 690/.8922--dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015045971 Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Construction is inherently dangerous. Using hand or power tools improperly or ignoring safety practices can lead to permanent injury or even death. Don’t try to perform operations you learn about here (or elsewhere) unless you’re certain they are safe for you. If something about an operation doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. Look for another way. We want you to enjoy working on your home, so please keep safety foremost in your mind. To Marla, Kate, and Chris: Thanks for shining your light on me. Acknowledgments Thank you first of all to all the talented men and women at The Taunton Press. I’m proud to have my name on one of your books. Thanks in particular to Executive Editor Peter Chapman: This book wouldn’t have been possible without your unwavering support and constant encouragement. And my sincerest appreciation to art director Rosalind Loeb Wanke, design- er Guido Caroti, and layout coordinator Sandra Mahlstedt for creating such an attractive, thoughtful book design. Thanks, too, to production manager Lynne Phillips and administrative assistant Sharon Zagata. Your contribu- tions made my job much easier. As the author, I sweated over each and every word, but truth be told, it’s the photographs that make this book special. It was my pleasure once again to work with photographer extraordinaire Geoffrey Gross, whose keen eye and skillful approach produced the most information-rich images imaginable. It isn’t possible to write a shed book as comprehensive as this one without a lot of help. I’d like to thank Justin Fink and Rodney Diaz of Fine Home- building magazine for their assistance with the Timber-Frame Garden Shed. Many thanks to Peter Charest of Connecticut Post & Beam for allowing us to photograph the construction of the Board-and-Batten Shed and Post- and-Beam Barn. Pete and his crew, including Dennis Royer and Greg But- kus, couldn’t have been more accommodating and helpful. Thank you to contractor Doug Foulke, and his son Devon, who built the Vinyl-Sided Storage Shed. They both showed great patience and good humor over many days of construction and photography. And many thanks to Jamie McGrath of Pine Harbor Wood Products for inviting us to join his crew—Mike Anderson, Jesse Chase, and Jason Phillips—to build the Cedar-Shingle Shed, one of the most beautiful sheds to appear in any book. Finally, I’d like to express my sincerest thanks to the following people who went out of their way to provide me with information, photographs, techni- cal data, and products: Kathy Ziprik (DaVinci Roofscapes®), Penny Barrows (Better Barns), and Angelika Igoe and Chris Apolito (Pine Harbor Wood Products). CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .............................................. 2 1 SHED-BUILDING METHODS AND MATERIALS. ........ 4 Shed-Building Methods .................................................. 7 Shed-Building Materials. ...............................................20 2 TIMBER-FRAME GARDEN SHED ......................... 30 Timber-Frame Foundation .............................................33 Timber-Frame Walls......................................................38 Timber-Frame Roof .......................................................44 Roofing ........................................................................51 Windows and Door .......................................................56 Siding and Trim ............................................................58 3 BOARD-AND-BATTEN SHED .............................. 66 Foundation and Floor Frame ..........................................69 Build Roof Trusses ........................................................73 Wall Framing ................................................................79 Roof Framing ................................................................86 Roofing ........................................................................89 Cross-Buck Batten Door ................................................98 Door Overhang. .......................................................... 103 4 VINYL-SIDED STORAGE SHED ..........................108 Foundation and Floor Frame ........................................ 111 Roof Trusses ............................................................... 114 vi Wall Framing .............................................................. 116 Roof Framing .............................................................. 119 Roofing ...................................................................... 122 Vinyl Siding ............................................................... 126 Door Construction ...................................................... 135 Entry Steps. ................................................................ 138 5 CEDAR-SHINGLE SHED ...................................142 Foundation and Floor Frame ........................................ 145 Wall Framing .............................................................. 150 Roof Framing .............................................................. 154 Cedar-Shingle Siding ................................................. 162 Cedar Roofing ............................................................ 163 Frame-and-Panel Doors .............................................. 166 6 POST-AND-BEAM BARN ..................................172 Skid-Frame Foundation ............................................... 175 Post-and-Beam Frame ................................................. 180 Roof Framing .............................................................. 190 Roofing ...................................................................... 194 Vertical-Board Siding .................................................. 198 Doors and Windows .................................................... 203 Finish Up the Barn ...................................................... 210 RESOURCES. ................................................214 INDEX .......................................................216 1 Introduction I’ve been writing about home-improvement projects for more than 30 years. And although remodeling trends come and go, and then come again, there has always been one constant topic of interest: storage sheds. Why? Because no one has ever said, “We love our home, but there’s just way too much storage space.” For 20 consecutive years I wrote at least one shed-building article per year for magazines such as Popular Mechanics, Handy, and Today’s Homeowner. And in each year, those articles were highly ranked as the most popular amongst the readers. Now I would like to believe that such high praise was due to my wonderful prose, but in truth it was because of an undeniable fact: Every homeowner needs a storage shed. Even homeowners who already have a shed are often interested in building a new one because their existing shed is too small or dilapidated and ready to collapse. So when the fine folks at The Taunton Press asked me to write this book, I called upon all my shed-building skills and experiences to provide you with the inspiration and information to build your own backyard storage shed. And unlike most other shed books, which show lots of pretty pictures of sheds but don’t actually show how to build a shed, I took a decidedly more hands-on approach. The first chapter takes an in-depth look at all the various construction methods and building materials you’ll need to build a shed. Then, in each of the next five chapters, I’ll show how to build a shed from scratch. And these aren’t your typi- cal plywood-box shacks. These are beautiful, perfectly proportioned structures that would be an asset—not an eyesore—to any yard in any neighborhood. They include an 8-ft. by 10-ft. Timber-Frame Garden Shed that combines a potting shed with a mini-greenhouse; a 10-ft. by 10-ft. Board-and-Batten Shed that has a realistic-looking faux-slate roof; a 10-ft. by 16-ft. Vinyl-Sided Stor- age Shed that features a maintenance-free exterior; a beautiful 12-ft. by 16-ft. Cedar-Shingle Shed, which has wood shingle walls and roof; and a massive 14-ft. by 20-ft. Post-and-Beam Barn that resembles a traditional timber- frame building but was built using time-saving modern construction methods. For each shed, there are dozens of step-by-step photos, detailed tech- nical drawings, and helpful hints to guide you through each phase of con- struction. I hope you enjoying reading this book as much as I did writing it. Happy building! 2 Introduction 3