The Garden Shed, Part 2

We have a small shed next to our house which was originally intended to be the “garden shed” for tools, mower, etc. The problem is that as I took over most of the garage for my woodworking shop the bicycles took over the garden shed.

Thus, Garden Shed II was born, in concept. A few years back my wife saw a photo of an unpainted, weather beaten shed with red wooden windows and thought it would look excellent in our back yard. I agreed. Now the basic design was decided.

For many years I have wanted to build something using post and beam construction – the old fashioned method of joining beams and posts using mortise and tenon and wooden pegs. Here was my chance. The frame of the new garden shed would be post and beam.

Late in the summer of 2010 I laid out concrete pier blocks, leveled them, laid out a foundation frame of pressure treated 2 x 4s and covered it with a ¾ sheet of plywood. At 4 x 8 feet, this is the footprint of the new garden shed. It will be simple but serviceable and also add some charm to the back yard. This is the plan. Fall quickly moved to winter, I covered the floor with a tarp and some blocks for the winter and waited for the sun to return.

And waited. And waited.

Finally, in July, the sun began to return and the walls went up. I used 8 foot long 4x4s to create the beams and the posts. Tenons were fashioned and mortises cut. All together with a bit of persuasion from a mallet. Holes drilled through these joints and hard wood dowels pounded into them to fix it tight.

The plate was nailed to the floor and the posts were screwed to the plate. Other than that there is not a single nail in the frame. It is all wood surrounding wood. The roof is more conventional – stick framed with plenty of screws and nails.

In the next post I will cover the finishing plans. As this is written the roof is done, the building is now water tight, more or less. The OSB siding needs to be wrapped and then the final siding will go on. I now race against time, shorter days, threats of rain, and the onset once again of winter. The plan is to have this completely done before October 1.

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