How to Build a Loafing Shed With a Metal Roof

Outline the shed base with stakes and builder's twine, in a flat area with good drainage. Rake the area free of grass, rocks and debris. Level it by dragging a long board across the area to smooth the base. Square the outline by measuring from corner stake to corner stake with a tape measure and adjusting the stakes until those dimensions are identical.

Mark locations for 4-by-4-inch posts, at each corner and at 4-foot intervals in between on the back and sides. Put one post in the center of the front wall. Make the outside wall dimensions 11 feet 10 inches, to allow for sheathing. Dig holes with a posthole digger at least 2 feet deep or below the area where the ground freezes. Set a 4-by-4-inch post in each hole, straighten it plumb with a level and secure it upright with gravel in the bottom of the hole.

Make the front posts 8 feet 8 inches high at the tops, the back and intermediate posts 7 feet 8 inches, to provide a slope on a shed roof. Secure the posts with concrete, either poured dry into the hole or mixed in a wheelbarrow, if water is handy, and poured into the hole. Let the concrete cure for at least a day.

Fasten 4-by-4-inch beams on the tops of the wall posts, horizontal on the sides to connect to the front posts at 8-feet height. Level them with a level. Toenail the beams to the posts with 16d framing nails driven diagonally with a hammer. Cut 4-by-4-inch braces angled at 45 degrees with a miter saw and nail them on each side of each post, between post and beam.

Install strip sheathing on the side and front walls, 1-by-4-inch boards nailed horizontally with 8d galvanized nails in 2-foot increments from the top to about an inch above ground level. Cover the sides and back with galvanized steel sheets, typically 26 inches wide to cover 24 inches of wall. Run the corrugations vertically, with the bottoms about an inch above the ground.

Secure sheets to sheaths with a screw gun and galvanized screws with plastic washer heads. Put the first screws in the first sheet one corrugation in from the side. Overlap sheets by one ridge and one valley. Drive screws through both panels at the overlap. Put cap strips across both ends of panels at the corners to seal them; get these from the siding manufacturer, made to fit the sheets. Screw these through the side corrugation.

Make rafters 13 feet long to go between the front and back wall beams. Taper the back ends of the rafters to fit flush on top of the back beam. Cut a 1-by-3 1/2-inch notch in the front ends of the rafters where they overlap the front beam, so the rafters will fit securely on top and overhang the beam in front. Nail rafters in place 24 inches apart with framing nails, two nails on one side, one on the other of each rafter.

Roof the shed with corrugated panels, installed basically the same way as on the walls. Use 8-foot panels for a bottom roof layer, 6-foot panels for a top layer. Install the bottom layer first, fastening to the rafters with screws about 2 feet apart up the rafters. Start at the first corrugation inside a panel. Overlap panels and fill the bottom of the roof.

Overlap top panels on the bottom row by about 8 inches or whatever it takes so the top of the panel is an inch over the end of the rafters. Put filler strips from the panel manufacturer on each side of the roof and seal the top with cap strips. Nail a 1-by-4-inch facing board on the ends of the top rafters. Leave a triangular gap above the panels on the sides, for ventilation, but seal the tops of those panels with cap strips.