Loading up is lookin’ gooder Horkn Maybe I missed some posts, but do you have a reason to crib the ends vs. using the built in bookends that your shed offers?
I cribbed the ends to reduce flexing of the dividing boards. Even with the 2 by X thick boards there's deflection. The cribbing reduces the extra deflection. Trust me, I didn't want to crib the ends. I mean it's fun and all, but it definitely takes more time.
I am just about to start my wood shed build. Looking at about 16 ft length, 8 ft depth with the front being 7 ft down to 5 ft in the back. Looking for advice from those of you who have done it before. The plan is to use treated 4x4's with an additional wood preservative and bury them down. I have read different ideas, some saying concrete and others saying just gravel. What are your thoughts on that? I would like to use just gravel, that way if posts eventually need replaced then I'm not breaking concrete. The question is will that be sturdy enough. The posts themselves will be buried about 5 ft. Sorry if this was previously discussed but..... im the new guy.
I definitely wouldn't use concrete around the posts. Use a small stone that compacts well, that can still drain. I'd also make the short wall as tall as you can stack to. You'll wish it was bigger when your done. Make it big enough for 3 years of wood if possible, with dividers between the three sections. I think long narrow woodsheds of 2-3 rows dries better than cube shaped sheds of many rows. The middle rows never get much air/wind or sun to facilitate good drying.
First off, Welcome T. Harris ! Nice to have you with us! My wood shed is close to your specs, 16'L x 7'D x 7'H. I'll dig out some pics and post them for you. I made a simple truss for the roof and it went real easy.
Thanks for the advice. This particular shed, if my numbers are right, would hold close to 5 cords. Granted, math has never been my strong suit haha. How many cords does yours hold dave? The info about more narrow is great sirbuildalot but the specs we have fit the space really well and its right by our wood hutch that we load into for burner use. We are going to be building another one as we plan on selling firewood so I will keep that in mind for it.
It was faster to just snap a couple pics. It's been there since Apr. 2014 Here's mine and packed "correctly" it'll hold just at 4 cord. It's normally what I'll burn a winter. It doubles as a clothes line also! I have to 4x4's with a little table 25ft out from it. Because I'm in a sandy soil area, my posts are down 3ft, packed in 12" diameter of cement and a 4" footer, I am in a direct hurricane area also! It's already withstood several gust's at 90+mph and 1 at 104mph. The rest is self explanitory. I season my wood 3 years "uncovered" because the summers can be scorching after 2 years, I put the seasoned wood in the shed for the winter.
Thats nice. I'm in a clay heavy soil area so I won't have to deal with the sand soil. I also won't have to worry about the hurricane winds.. Unfortunately, this also means it rains, a lot, in the spring time. This makes it hard to leave it uncovered for extended periods of time. I also noticed you had plastic pallets. Is that your entire floor? Because we are doing the same thing. With using those, how worried were you with making the ground Level?
Yes, I have about 70 Plastic pallets all together I keep all my wood on. Here, Termites will eat a wood pallet out in a year! I've had stacks fall over in the past because termites ate them and they collapsed. As far as getting the ground level; I did the best I could with a shovel and a rake, But I wasn't building the (space shuttle) so I wasn't overly concerned. The building is nice and square and level. I think all the birds enjoy it better than we do, I get all kinds of nests from a variety of birds in there. The other thing I find once the wood is in the shed is Black Widow nests in the wood piles. I've been bit a few times moving wood, Got a good one last fall.
Oh ours will be a chipmunk haven. We currently have three different wood stacks and they are all over them. I wouldn't want to mess with the black widow nests though. We were able to get the pallets for free and have used them as a sturdy base for another build so we jumped on the chance to get more.
Welcome to FHC. Your the first build of the season. We are also building a pole barn. 24'x40'. Ours will be for wood and equipment storage. We are going to go with cement floor as Chaz needs a place to safely work on vehicles. We are having the Amish build it. A friend of ours is bringing his dozer up to grade it for us. We are probably a couple week away from the actual start but when we do I will be starting a thread. I think there is about 3 or 4 others that will be building also. T.Jeff Veal is a good one to check out.
Thanks for the welcome. This is the first time my wife and I have built anything like this. We have done quite a few indoor DIY projects but decided to give this a shot. We will be looking to build another one as long as this goes well.
Welcome to the club. Lots of great folks here sharing knowledge and humor. We have built several styles of sheds, using wood pallets, just keep them off the ground.
Pallets are "Awesome" and sadly I have unlimited access to "wood" pallets if I wanted, our local military base usually destroys about 1000 a year because the suppliers don't come back for them. I can't use wood on our ground here. Those little B@$tards called Termites have some SERIOUS appetites ... You have some great sheds there T!
Do you sell those sheds or throw them up for fun T Jeff lol. Thats a shame on the termites with that supply of pallets so close. Has anyone ever built a solar kiln? I don't know if we have the right spot for it but seemed like an interesting concept.
Welcome T, be sure to get "ground contact" or better, "direct bury" for your posts. When I do this type of pole building I prefer to laminate (nail/screw together) 2x4 . The treatment is fully through a 2x and not so much with a 4x4 and especially a 6x6. 2 boards are actually a big stronger if fastened properly and will surely be and stay straighter too. I think you'll be fine with just gravel but throwing a bigger "foot" (a brick or even a short (pt) 2x4 or 2x6) for your post to sit on is a cheap and easy extra little measure that is a good precaution.
Good to know on the combining 2x's together because I was going to go with 4x's for it. Just curious because I am brand new to this, whats the advantage of "throwing a foot"?
When you do, post up a thread. Welcome to FHC. I'll be filling this left bay soon. The arborist cage out today to get an estimate and time to drop my 2 last ash on the property. The 32" dbh big boy will fall right in front of the shed. So I'll need to make sure the ariens GT is all good to go. Battery, charge and oil check. I'll be assisting the arborist, driving the tractor to pull the tree where we want it to go. I'll need to get the splitter here too. Plus my buddy had some ash branches dropped at his gf's house. I'll get any firewood worthy wood from that too. I'll
More square inches of load bearing. I'll tell you this, if you think a certain dimension is enough, upsize wherever you can. Although it sounds like you'll stack on gravel/ pallets and not the floor of the shed like I did.
Thanks, Dave. We have termites too. The smaller ones in the ground and then we get some hollow logs that have the bigger ones in it. I have sprayed the ground under the bigger sheds, also use solid block and treated 4x4 to place pallets on. Haven't had a problem yet. I have been known to give them a little drink of gas too. They like that kool-aid....
