The Gun Counter

I'm thinking about either building or buying some outdoor storage. I don't think that I want to do an entire shed, for a few reasons, most notably, anything over 12'x12' here requires a permit, I don't want to lose the yard space, and don't want to spend over say, $700. If it turns out I could do a 12'x12' for close to $1K, I probably would do it. It'll add value to the house, and I would like the experience in framing. Let me know if you guys have any ideas about building this on the cheap. Remember, I do live in a hurricane zone.

I would like a place to store my scrap wood that always comes in handy for projects, extra propane tanks, and some full jerry gas cans, to get them all out of the garage. Some long handled tool storage would be good, as would room for a push mower. A shed would let me store everything that I want to, and then some. I just don't know if it's worth the cost.

I've thought about something like this: http://www.woodworkersworkshop.com/stor ... f=30_90031 though I don't know if I should store flammables in it if it's next to the house. Should I just buy one of those JoBoxes to store flammables in? I thought about cutting out some "blow-out" panels and reattaching them with a some type of breakaway material. Or maybe just vent the bottom of the sides with expanded metal mesh.

Thoughts?

If you are in hurricane country and are going to build it from scratch, Simpson metal connectors are your friend. http://www.strongtie.com/

What you need to do is build a "continuous load path" http://www.safestronghome.com/protect/02.asp Basically, this means from the footings up to the roof will have positive metal connectors joining the wood.

The base is the most important part. The least expensive way would be to level the ground, put a footing at each corner (to prevent wind uplift) and make a pressure treated 4x4 frame. Tie the frame to the footings w. the metal connectors. You can use 2x4s, but most of the pressure treated framing material is non-ground contact rated these days. Most 4x4s are (check the sticker on the end).

Home Depot carries a prepainted T-1-11 type of sheathing/siding (the name escapes me at the moment). This will save you a few steps. I used it on an attached shed on my workshop. Still looks good 8 years later.

JAG2955 wrote:.........A shed would let me store everything that I want to, and then some. I just don't know if it's worth the cost.......

A friend of mine built a house with an over sized two car garage and detached shed once..Swore up and down it was all he needed. Had room for everything.

Then he built another shed..

Now he's building another shed in the form of an over sized two car garage (detached) with basement with 14' ceilings on the garage level. Got to have room for the lift dont'cha know.

You're heading down a dangerous and expensive path.

What he said - your stuff is like aquarium fish - it grows to meet the space available. If you're gonna go through the hassle of building, even with the permit, I would build something bigger.

Spend a wee bit more now and build a dutch gambrel roofed shed in a footprint you can live with (tradeoff with yard space). That way you maximize storage capacity (for your lumber etc) in the small footprint. You might come out ahead if you just spring for one of the wooden prefab's at Home Depot.

I need to reiterate that this is not my "forever" home. All I need now is just some more room to store stuff in. However, this project is going to be put on hold. Wife just got a heads up about her orders-it's the exact last thing that she wanted, and may cause her to drop papers. She might be out this summer unless we can get them changed. That won't change my plans, but would probably cause her to look for employment where we'd like to live.