Wanted to build simple lean to style shed for wood next to my pole barn. Would like to build it a bit bigger around my current stacks and plan on trying to start over Christmas week when I am off. I originally assumed I should set treated 4x4 in concrete 36” deep. (Indiana) but reading some stuff and trying to find plans it seems several people are using the concrete bases for 4x4 or just pouring a bit of concrete for the post and filling with gravel. I will say this area is not the greatest and it can hold water when it gets lots of rain but everywhere around my property has had issue so not a lot of great options. So some feedback.... bury in concrete, place cement blocks, bury in gravel or dirt like a fence post..or some other ways I don’t know about yet???... or drink a beer and look at it and start next year..??? General thought from various plans is posts every 10 feet. Large Firewood Shed Plans | MyOutdoorPlans | Free Woodworking Plans and Projects, DIY Shed, Wooden Playhouse, Pergola, Bbq
Somethinf like this but other plan suggestions welcome... just using pallets up on blocks for the floor and not connecting them to the structure.
Been burying large and small sign poles for a long time. If you want something that "probably won't move"... go with a concrete base below frost line. I say "probably won't move" because frost is used to having it's own way most of the time. With smaller 4x4 stuff, I usually just dig a hole 2-3 x the diameter of the post or pole, below frost line... add a flat concrete / pressure treated 1-1/2" pad (hole size), at the base of the hole... drive the post down in (battering ram the pad with the post, to tamp it down)... then, using a 6' long 2x4, I'll tamp coarse gravel hard, around the post, every 6"-8", as I fill up the hole... (checking the post to set it plumb) Then, it's a piece of cake to adjust (compared to concrete) if frost does move it a little. My 2 cents...
I've set more posts in Indiana that I care to remember, but this is how we've always done it and never had a problem with one moving around. We don't get a lot of frost heave around here. You could do direct burial at 36" just fine on an unfinished building (pole barn, lean-to, etc). If you want some extra insurance, dig down to 42" and pour a 8" thick pad and set the post on top of that. If you pour concrete make sure it has a very slight convex shape on the top so your post isn't sitting in a bowl to soak up water. Paint the ends of the posts with used motor oil and backfill with plain old dirt.
If you have concerns about tornadoes in your area, I'd avoid the concrete blocks as they provide no protection from updrafts. .02
This is my larger woodshed. Black locust poles set 48" into the ground, backfilled with native soil. I expect they will outlive me and probably my kids too.
Great info lukem thank you!! This is something similar to what I'd like to build this spring. I'd like to store my lawn tractor & possibly a splitter in one and wood in the other two. For a setup below what would you recommend for setting posts? We get pretty mild winters in NJ and not much frost as well. Some say set the posts in concrete some say not too.
Concrete holds moisture. Whenever concrete is laying on the ground it is wet. Thus any post in concrete will rot. Some will rot in the ground also. Bottom of hole with gravel is better, a concrete footer with a U bracket and bolt the post to it above ground level is best. With all that said, I use a minimum of a 4x6, 4x4's twist and bend under loads under time so easily. Good luck on the lean to, have a few of them on my buildings on my small farm.
Why not just put the posts every 8feet apart approx 10 feet from the building and make a simple slope roof easy as pie since you already have one wall in place.If you can find them use a steel post as it seems these days more than 10 years and even a 6x6 is half rotted through..I will guess a 2x8 rafter every 16- 24"apart and tin roof will take care of your wood storage needs.
That is an interesting thought. I think I originally wasn’t thinking that because I thought it would get better sun exposure and wind flow if it was away from the barn and I wanted enough space to mow between. I still need posts on barn side unless I attached to barn and that might be over my carpentry ability..... I tend to make things worse often....
If you're worried about Frost, you can always sleeve you're concrete. Dig the hole 2 ft deeper than frost line. Figure out what size concrete footing you need, and put a piece of PVC culvert slightly bigger than the cardboard for concrete in the hole. Then add 12 pictures of gravel on top of that, then put your concrete in cardboard tube. Leave 3 inches above ground level and put your metal bracket in the concrete. frost will work on the Culvert and not your concrete. Same principle as a plastic sleeved pole. Trick an old Builder taught me as Frost here sometimes gets deep. Town above me lost a water line that was eight and a half feet deep
For those worried about rot they sell post protectors- not they cheapest things but provide protection from microbial rot that occurs usually in the first few inches of soil and termites.
I built one in a conventional pole barn style. The thread is in my signature I think. Many pole structures up here are 40yr + before rot issues with decent PT wood and proper techniques. There are precautions to get more time, but everything is temporary. My dad has Morton building built in 1981. Still sound, just showing minor post problems. Ask your building inspector what they like to see for holes. Yes, I had to get a permit.
Na just nail and bolt a 2x8 on the barn wall and if your worried double it,then cut the rafters with a slope and done.just be sure to ether cut into the tin on the wall or go up as close as you can work under the eve.The reason for the cut is to put in a flashing to avoid rain coming in on the joint.I would go as high as you can under the eve that will then make it real hard to water to enter.
Stand back and drink beer! Being from Indiana a 30 pack of Busch Light should help in solving your problems!!!
