A New Shed Is Born

It was a long time in the making, but we now have a perfectly-sized shed in the side yard of our home. And we no longer have the world's largest shed eating up half the backyard. Over the past few months, Hubby has spent many an hour in the backyard, dismantling one shed and recycling it into another. And you know what? He done good.

Laying the Foundation

The most important part of the shed-building process was making sure it was on solid ground. We wouldn't want it to wash away now, would we? Hubby buried six cinder blocks into the ground and made sure they were perfectly even with his favorite tool, a six-foot level. He sifted the dirt with his homemade rock sifter to make sure all the gravel was removed to ensure no settling later. Then he laid the floorboards on top of the blocks to make sure everything was a perfect fit. Before building the walls, Hubby installed pieces of wood to block the bottom of the shed. Even though it will be covered with gravel (eventually...still a work-in-progress), we didn't want critters thinking underneath the shed would make their perfect new home. So he blocked it off and spoiled all their dreams. Now it was time to build up the sides!

Building the Walls

After carefully measuring and re-measuring, Hubby got to work using his circular saw to make all the panels for the walls. Since he refused to buy new wood to build this thing, he ended up with several panels joined together to make each new wall. It took several days to get all of the walls up, but they helped to make the building more stable with each panel added. I helped whenever I could but just tried (and failed) to keep my mouth shut so he could do what he wanted.

Raising the Floors and Roof

Before finishing all of the walls, Hubby installed a new floor using the old floor panels from the Goliath Shed. He hand-sawed each nook for the 2x4 frame, and soon a snugly-fitting floor was in place! Next, he added cut panels to the roof to get it ready for the recycled tar paper that was stapled into place. Finally, Hubby cut the metal sheets to size and screwed them into their new home. The roof was on! We no longer needed to worry about upcoming rain storms since all of the wood was protected.

Time to Paint

I decided to surprise Hubby by painting the shed and doors while he was at work. Man, am I the romantic one! I think he was glad he didn't have to spend time painting... so he could work on the fun building stuff. And I realized that I am a messy painter. Apparently, it is asking too much of me to focus on rolling paint into a wooden surface AND keeping the paint tray level to prevent spills. I wasted a lot of paint before realizing that, yet again, I was holding the paint crooked and allowing it to drip all over. It was awesome. That being ignored, I think the paint job turned out very well.

Building Doors

We went to Snowflake to use some of Hubby's Dad's special tools to make notches in the 2x4 boards that would snugly envelope the door panels. Mick even had the 2x4 boards and loved helping us groove the notches into place. I just think all boys like playing with loud, dangerous toys! With the pieces notched, Hubby formed them around the panels (the only wood he bought for the shed) to form two strong doors. They look great and will hold up to lots of use because they are so sturdy!

Final Touches

With the doors finished, it was time to install them on the new hinges. We also added two handles and a locking device as high up as we could. We wouldn't want any future children getting into the shed to drink gasoline mow the lawn now, would we? Next, it was time to add some protection to the ventilation openings. We are all about critter prevention in this household. We wanted the shed to have some breathing room but didn't want birds and skunks to discover safety from storms inside. So we used window screen and a new staple gun to keep them out. It turned out well, and it was the last thing to finish before the shed could be considered complete!

Total cost for a brand-new (to us) shed was rather impressive. After recovering from the initial shock of spending $6 for screws, Hubby made everything else stretch.

Screws: $6

Paint: $13 (would have been less had I not kept spilling...)

Doors: $16

Hardware: $10

According to Micah Math, and you might want to check my numbers, but we got a new shed for under $50! That Hubby is pretty impressive in many ways, but his economical goals are just out of this world! A shed this size purchased from the store would have cost over $600. Believe me...I checked.

I know Hubby is glad to have it finished. And just in time for the heat to start setting in! We now have a place to store the lawn mower, wheel barrow, and yard tools. And we also now have room in the backyard to make a great lawn for playing! It really is the perfect shed. Nice job, Hubby!