Purpose, Planning, and Design
So much stuff, so little space. In an effort to rid everything not car restoration project related from the future resto-shop (the garage), I needed to build another outbuilding. I'll call it the 'toolshed'. I went back and forth on how big a foot print this structure would eat into our yard and due to square foot limits I wanted to reserve enough capacity for future expansion of either house or garage. I began with a single story 10'x16' design and quickly morphed it into a two story structure.
After a bit of a learning curve, I was able to design the shed using SketchUp - the same design tool I would later use to draw up the rotisserie for the car restoration project. SketchUp provided me with a decent enough rendering that I could present to the city to gain approval and permit and also provided detailed dimensions for all of the framing pieces.
A list of some of the design elements that were important to me.
Reuse of salvaged materials where possible
Classic old period look accentuated through classic door hardware and style, and 12-12 pitch gable roof. The pitch matches our house.
Possible 2nd story hoist beam both practical and stylish
8ft walls on the first story
Ability to stand in the second story. The second story walls may be less than head height but due to the steep roof pitch and open ceiling there should be no interference for my 6'1" height if I'm standing facing the long axis - shoulder to the wall. The city imposes a 20ft maximum height for outbuildings in my neighborhood, so a rough check: 8ft first story walls + ~1ft for second story floor joists + 5ft second story walls + 5ft to ridge board + few inches for roofing and ridge vent <= 20ft.
Painted exterior walls with stained cedar trim
Second story access via staircase inside on the back wall
Second story external access via Z-strapped door on the front face
Overextended eaves - I don't like the salt box house style with their short eaves
Cold roof via ridge vent and soffit vents
I preferred not to create horizontally boxed soffits as I like the cottage open eaves look, but will close them with a surface parallel to the roof line.
The Build
The floating concrete slab (below left) is 5" thick with 9" thickened sides and sits on more than a foot of compacted course gravel topped with traffic bond. The concrete is wire mesh reinforced and has sill plate anchors inserted. The front and rear wall sections are in position ready to be raised.
Salvaged dimensional 2x4s (above right) with treated lower nailing portions with a rot and insect proofing chemical. I let the ends soak in a pail for few days to let it soak in. Admittedly, I mostly performed this treatment to get some moisture back into the lumber to prevent splitting when I nailed (actually screwed) them to their mating sill plates. These 2x4's, along with some floor joists and hardwood flooring, were salvaged from Greg's demolished farmhouse.
With a little help from family and friend, we raised the walls (below) and I finished joining the sill plates at the corners. Because the 2x4s were truly 2 inches by 4 inches, I decided 24" on center spacing was all I really needed. The unfortunate side effect of trying to save on the environment by reuse of these dimensional boards was that I needed to rip down new 2x6s to match the 4" mating depth of the wall structure. This would later help create a flush surface for interior wall board.
The construction manager (my wife) poses (below) with the structure now showing the second story rim joist and 3/4" subfloor installed. Work has begun to enclose the structure with T-11 siding. I like the T-11 siding because it will serve as both triangulating wall strengthener and exterior surface. If in the future it begins to fail or we just decide we want a different look, we can always apply barrier and another siding type over it.
Framing of the second tier (below) went on with a minor deviation from the SketchUp drawing. Not having enough salvaged dimensional 2x4s I used nominal 2x4s instead and spaced them 16" on center instead of 24". Otherwise things went as planned. I planned to use salvaged 2x6s - either two or three - as both decorative and structural cross ties (joists) connecting the roof rafters 2 feet above the wall top plates. Imagine not having anything cross tying the walls and the weight of the roof plus extras like snow would tend to push the 16 foot walls outward. Ideally it's best to connect across the wall plates creating the largest triangle base for the roof rafters. However my walls are only 5 feet tall and I needed head clearance, so the joists were raised 2 feet into the roof structure. I was not worried about this slight in structural soundness for a number of reasons: 1) the steep roof pitch will shed weighty snow (hopefully), 2) the 2x6 rafters will be plenty strong to span the small distance between the joists and wall tops, and 3) I thickened the wall top plate to 3 layers vs the typical 2. It will be fine!
With borrowed scaffolding (below) and fear of heights aside, I finished the second tier siding and proceeded sheathing the roof. I ended up paying a roofer to install the barrier and shingles. I had nothing to prove there.
All cedar boards for the doors and exterior trim were cut to size, stained, and organized for their respective assemblies (below - image 1 of 5).
The doors were designed to never sag and to take abuse. Images 2 and 3 below show how I dowel reinforced the edges of the door that would be subject to slamming forces. Sagging would be prevented by triangulation with Z-braces, glued and screwed into place (below - images 3 - 5).
Fitting of the first door and trim work (below). One detail I carried throughout this build was that all horizontal edges for the trim work were beveled to shed water. It's hard to see in the picture, but there is an angle to the top surface (maybe 5 degrees - I do not remember exactly) of the top trim piece. Additionally the bottom edge is beveled also to provide a drip edge. This mean't the mating vertical trim boards needed to be beveled likewise to fit together properly.
One can't have enough ladders (below). With ladder jacks in place I cut, painted, and installed the covers on those exposed gable overhangs.
Things are starting to take on an acceptable appearance (below). The soffits are covered and vented, all trim is installed, and my Philadelphia style barn gate and stable strap hinges arrived finally so I could mount the doors.
Planning for windows in the gables depended entirely what we could find used. We found what we needed at Lisbon Storm, Screen & Door in Milwaukee - two salvaged vertical transom windows with thermo-pane glass (below left). I cut each of the five pane transoms into four two pane sections, with the idea that I'd place a pair in the front gable and the other pair in the back gable. I sanded them and prepped them for staining.
Next in order was to construct four window frames to contain the panes and provide an interface to the gable framing. I provided for water shedding with 5 degree sill angle and drip edge (third image below). I then weather proofed the frames and panes and let dry thoroughly as I prepared the rough framing in the gables to receive them.
With the gable windows installed, the only thing left to do was finish off the exterior with something nice to add the extra attractive touch. I decide to go with cedar shingle siding. I first made a mock layout on my roll out bench just to get an idea of the spacing I would need (below left). Once I was comfortable with the layout, I then stained both sides of the shingles and hung them to dry (below right).
The modified salvaged transoms and cedar shake siding worked out nicely to finish off the gables (below).
Once the toolshed had a roof I quickly began the transfer of stuff from the garage. Just as quickly, I realized a need to for a separate space for the yard and garden tools, so a plot was born to build a garden closet off the backend. I rented a mini skid loader to excavate for roughly a 4'x8' foundation. This foundation would be made from pressure treated lumber and pavers that would sit on a similar course gravel and traffic bond bed. I wanted the closet deep enough to be able to handle the width of my snowblower and lawnmower (~24" inside) and the foundation should extend outward about the same to serve as a platform to stand off the turf.
Since I wasn't limited by the 8ft first floor ceiling in the shed I could freely go taller which was good for hanging rakes, shovels, pole saw, etc. high up and out of the way. I framed the outer wall on my driveway (below left) and once positioned with joining framing, I used T-11 again to enclose it.
Pair of matching doors were built and hung once again on antique strap hinges. Both front and back doors were fitted with a three point rod locking mechanism that anchored both at the bottom and top. I placed one vent on each side to allow some cross air flow and debated putting vents at the bottom also, but skimped and moved on.
Closing Thoughts
Mission accomplished! Though this project took a lot longer than assembling a prefab shed would have, it was fun to do, I learned a bunch, and because of that, it was very rewarding. I learned the basics of the SketchUp CAD tool and some basic carpentry to boot. To be honest I did look fairly hard for a prefab that would fit my needs but found nothing even close.
I shouldn't call this toolshed finished - it is an evolutionary work. I would say it looks complete enough from the street so as to not annoy neighbors, and it is a functioning space that will serve to help me get started on the car restoration. There are a number of improvements I plan to make in the future. Some of these improvements might be as follows:
Windows on the sides; Double hung sets on the first floor with smaller horizontal tilt out windows on the second floor. The latter could match the front and rear transoms.
I am not ruling out expanding out the side - this will depend on my workshop needs in the future.
I've thought about adding external stair case to free up space on the interior, but that could conflict with a bump out.
I sometimes entertain the hoist beam with antique block and tackle, but that would just be fluff and I can spend my time better.
If this space ever becomes a workshop, I will then insulate, run electricity, and climate control.
Any regrets? Yes, one. I should have made the foundation 12'x16' instead of the 10'x16'. The T-11 sheathing and 3/4" sub-floor comes in units of 4'x8' sheets right? Well the 10' width caused me to have to waste some of that material that otherwise could have been used in full. Of course the extra width would have been welcome too - a better fit for diagonally parking motorcycles.
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