How to Design & Build a Nice Storage Shed

Design a shed to suit your needs. A basic potting shed can be as small as 4-by-4-feet, a shed to store lawn tractors and other implements up to 16-by-20 feet (or even larger), while a general purpose storage shed may be 8 or 10 feet by 10 or 12 feet.

Adapt door size and flooring to the use; big machines need solid concrete floors with wide doors or even open sides or ends, while wheelbarrows and mowers can fit in single doors on wood floors. Place doors on ends or sides, whichever affords the best access. Study design manuals for ideas.

Build a solid foundation for any style. A concrete slab is best, for all sizes because it is easy to clean, sturdy enough to support any type shed and durable; it also is permanent and the most expensive to build. Use concrete blocks or piers as a foundation option, with beams or skids of pressure-treated wood to support floor joists and a plywood floor. Fill the shed area with tightly compacted gravel as a third option, with skids or beams set on the gravel

Make walls with standard framing, studs set on 16-inch centers. Fasten wall bottom plates to the slab or floor, nail walls together at corners and tie walls with cap boards which overlap the corner joints of the top plates. Build walls on the shed floor and raise them in place. Install siding if desired before erecting the walls; this works best with small sheds. You may need help to lift walls.

Use trusses for roof framing, either factory pre-fabricated or trusses you build yourself. Vary the roof style and trusses to fit the use of the shed. Gable roofs are easiest to build. Saltboxes, which are gables with one slope narrower, are popular for storing farm implements and big machines. Gambrel roofs with two slopes on each side have the most inside space; clerestory with a vertical window offset at the peak affords more light inside the shed.

Be creative with shed siding. Vinyl is a popular choice but requires wall sheathing and can be difficult to install. Wood lapboard, with boards overlapping or joined with tongue and groove, is attractive but requires painting. Exterior plywood is easiest to install, because it is in 4-by-8-feet sheets; it also requires painting or staining. Use reclaimed wood if it is available -- old barn wood or clapboards removed from another building. Put siding boards horizontal or vertical -- vertical siding with batten boards at the joints is attractive and easy to install.

Cover the roof with wood sheathing and conventional shingles or use corrugated vinyl, aluminum or galvanized steel roofing. Match conventional shingles to the house style. Get corrugated in clear vinyl, for interior light, or metal panels with a colored coating to avoid the look of shiny metal.

Finish the interior according to use. Put pegboard on inside walls if you need to hang a lot of garden tools or have a workshop. Build a workbench or potting bench on one side or end. Add overhead storage on gable sheds by covering the bottom chords or cross braces of trusses with plywood or boards to set things on. Use the truss bottoms by themselves to store spare lumber by laying boards across the trusses