My favorite projectsare the ones I design and build fromscratch — making something just theway I want it. I don’t know whetherI’ll ever get to design and build myown home, but I did experience thesatisfaction of custom building on asmaller scale with this combinationshed and playhouse.

I wanted to build a shed for myselfand a playhouse for my kids, but Ididn’t want two small buildings inmy backyard, so I decided to combinethem. When the kids have outgrownthe playhouse (which I’m afraid willbe sooner than I’d like), I can removethe divider wall and have twice asmuch shed space. Or maybe I’ll leavethe wall in place and use the play-house as my personal hideout (ordoghouse, depending on who you askin my family).

Building a shed from scratch takesmore time than assembling a kit, butit allows you to practice basic con-struction techniques and try outdesign ideas and materials youhaven’t used before. Furthermore,

you can choose better materials andend up with a much higher-qualitystructure for less money than youwould spend on a comparable kit. Thecost for the materials to build myshed, including the base, was just over$2,200.

DESIGNING THIS SHEDWhile designing the shed, I kept thestyle simple and chose a single-sloperoof that would be easy to build andwould complement my ranch-stylehouse. A divider wall and separatedoors make the shed a dual-purpose,two-room structure. Although thetallest wall is typically the front of asingle-slope-roof shed, I rotated thedesign 90 degrees and made one ofthe sloped walls the front, anapproach that worked perfectly withthe adult- and kid-size doors (seephoto, opposite).

I didn’t want the shed to look iso-lated or to stand out as an obviouslynew feature in my backyard. The eas-iest way to make something look likeit’s been part of the landscape for along time is to surround it with largemature plants, but that wasn’t in mybudget. So I looked within the mostestablished areas of my backyardlandscape for a suitable location. Icleared a site that was flanked by anevergreen and a large stand of lilacs.The mass and maturity of the ever-green and lilacs give the shed agrown-in feel. I then filled in aroundthe rest of the shed with rocks,smaller plants and shrubs.

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK MACEMON

ShedDouble-DutyDesign and build a shed

that your whole familywill enjoy

B Y D A N C A R Y

This shed fits into and around the yard’sexisting landscape. It is divided into a4 x 6-ft. unfinished shed for storing toolsand a 5 x 6-ft. finished playhouse for kids.

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In addition, a few of the shed’s features help it blendinto the landscape. First, the sloped roof matches the slopeof the backyard. Second, the dark body color is a couple ofshades darker than my house trim color, and it blends withthe surrounding foliage colors. The brown-stained trim tiesin with the woody parts of the trees and shrubs. For a finalintegrating touch, I pushed an existing boulder closeenough to the shed that I had to build the front edge ofthe deck landing around it (see top photo, p. 35).

The footprint of the shed was dictated by the limitedspace available. I didn’t want it to be any taller than neces-sary, but I also didn’t want to crouch inside it. I chose to

make the short side wall 6 ft. tall; then, using a 3:12 roofpitch (the minimum recommended for the roofing mater-ial I had chosen), I calculated the height of the remainingwalls. (See Web Extras for complete framing plans.) Note:Before you start designing, check with your city inspectionsdepartment for construction and setback requirements.

BUILDING THE BASEThe foundation is relatively easy to build because smallsheds typically aren’t required to have footings. The baseshould be level and feature some type of solid perimeterthat the walls can be anchored to. If you are building on

level ground, you could construct alow deck, pour a concrete slab orsimply build a timber frame for theperimeter and fill the interior areawith pavers or compacted gravel. Ithink a low deck is the easiestapproach to a sloped site, so that’swhat I built.

The deck is supported by a row ofsolid concrete blocks under the frontand back rim joists. Each block restson a 6-in.-deep bed of compactedgravel. The ground slopes downroughly 8 in. from the back of theshed, so I dug the holes for the backblocks roughly 8 in. deeper than theholes for the front blocks. Then Iadjusted the depth of the gravel untilall of the blocks were level.

The rectangular deck, framed with

2x8s, supports the shed. I also frameda small landing that is attached to themain deck and supported by a coupleof additional concrete blocks. For theinterior floor I used pressure-treatedplywood, which is easy to clean andwill keep most unwelcome intruders,such as insects and small animals, outof the playhouse. The landing is cladwith cedar deck boards.

FRAMING THE WALLS AND ROOFYou can cut a lot of corners whenyou’re framing a building that isconsidered a temporary structure.The manufacturers of shed kitsinclude only the minimum amountof materials necessary, and thatmakes sense from a retail-sales stand-point. But the little bit of money I’d

save by leaving out a few pieces offraming and using smaller-dimensionmaterials isn’t worth the time itwould take me to determine whichpieces to leave out — and the struc-tural strength I’d sacrifice. I’d ratherstick with standard framing prac-tices, especially for a structure thatmy kids will be playing in.

It’s often easiest to frame the wallson the deck and then raise them intoplace. But I was building around a lotof established plants, so rather thanrisk destroying the landscaping, Ibuilt the walls on sawhorses set up inanother part of the yard. I framed thesides and back wall with 2x4 studsspaced 16 in. OC. Both side walls alsofeature a top plate that extends 18 in.beyond the front wall. This extra

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To see the framing plans and ashopping list and learn more aboutthe construction of this shed, go to

www.Handy10.com

DOUBLE-DUTY SHEDANATOMY

The shed walls and roof are framed with 2x4s and 2x6s spaced 16 in. OC. The exterior isclad with 3/8-in.-thick siding panels, and the roof is sheathed with 3/4-in.-thick plywood.The interior divider wall is built so that it can be easily removed later. It is framed with2x4s spaced 24 in. OC. The playhouse interior is clad with 1/4-in.-thick paneling.

Attach the top and bottom plates to the outside studs; theninstall the full-height interior studs, the horizontal framingand finally the cripple studs (the short vertical framing mem-bers that fill in above and below window and door openings).

Drill 3/8-in.-dia. starter holes in the corners of all window anddoor openings. Use a jigsaw to cut the openings. Don’t cutthrough the bottom plate — you’ll use a handsaw or recipro-cating saw to do so after the wall has been installed.

Paint the exterior of the walls. When the paint is dry, recruit ahelper and raise the walls onto the platform. Check that eachwall is plumb and square before you screw it to the otherwalls and to the deck framing. Attach the back wall first,then the side walls and finally the front wall.

Position one of the rafters over the back wall. Mark the side-wall locations and measure the distance from the top of theback wall to the top of the tall side wall to determine theheight of the bird’s-mouth notches. Cut the notches in onerafter and then use it as a template for the others.

Bird’s-mouthnotch layout

Transfermeasurementto rafter

Tall side wall

Back wall

ILLUSTRATION BY TECH ART & DESIGN

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To see more photos and learn moreabout metal-roof installation, go to

www.HandymanClub.comand click on WEB EXTRAS.

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The faces of the small door are attached to a 1x4 wood framewith exterior-rated glue and 1-in. brad nails. The outside face isthe exterior siding, and the interior face is the 1/4-in. interiorpaneling used on the playhouse walls.

Secure the window frames in the openings with 2-in. screws.Then install an acrylic panel and interior trim pieces. (If youprefer, you can install screening instead of acrylic.) Finally,attach the exterior trim boards with 2-in. galvanized finish nails.

30-poundbuilding felt

Roof panel

Closurestrip

Interiorpaneling

1x4

Sidingpanel

Eaveflashing

24" O.C.

large opening. Because the deckboards on the landing are 1/4 in.thicker than the plywood, I installedthe door on top of a piece of the sid-ing material, which raised it enoughthat it could swing freely over thedeck boards. (I accounted for this dur-ing framing by making the roughopening 1/4 in. taller.)

For the playhouse, I made a smallcustom hollow-core door using apiece of siding panel for the exteriorface, 1x4s for the core frame and apiece of interior paneling for the inte-rior face (photo 7). I was careful toposition the exterior face so that thegrooves aligned with the grooves onthe shed siding.

Next, I built the eight windowframes out of 1x cedar and pine. Tospeed up construction, I designed theshed so that seven of the windowswere the same size. I stained all of the

window frames before installation(photo 8). I installed screens in thewindows that are most protected bythe roof overhangs and acrylic panelsin the other frames.

The window, door and corner trimis made from 1x3 and 1x2 cedar. Allof the trim pieces intersect with sim-ple butt joints. To make finishing eas-ier, stain all of the trim before attach-ing it to the shed.

FINISHING TOUCHESThe divider wall inside the shed isn’tstructural; it simply separates the twospaces. I framed it with 2x4s andattached 1/4-in. paneling to the play-house side. I used the same panelingon the rest of the playhouse walls. Ialso built a couple of 2 x 4-ft. plat-forms for the kids to sit on and under.(Rather than do too much inside, Iwanted to let the kids decorate it as

they like.) On the shed side, I left thestuds exposed and simply installed afew hangers for garden tools.

You can find plans online (seeWeb Extras) for the shed that I built.However, I encourage you to use theinformation only as a starting point.Modify the plans to suit your needs,or create a new design that’s perfectfor your yard. Don’t be afraid to add afew custom features that you enjoy.This is your opportunity to build astructure exactly the way you want it.Maybe one day you’ll get to build thehome of your dreams, but in themeantime, have fun building yourdream shed. u

To find plans for more sheds, go towww.HandymanClub.com

and click on WEB EXTRAS.

Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for installing themetal roof panels, flashing components and weather strip-ping. The panels are fastened to the roof with 1-in. screwsthat feature rubber gaskets under the heads. The paneloverlaps are secured with self-tapping metal stitch screws.

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Installing the shed’s metal roof taught me ahard lesson about the importance of position-ing the panels so that the rake (angled roofedge) flashings connect correctly. The rake orgable flashing is designed to contact and fas-ten to a specific section of the roof panel(either on a ridge or on a flat section betweenthe ridges). If you simply attach the roof panelsand cut the overhanging excess off of the lastpanel, the rake flashing may not fit correctly. Inthat case, you’ll either have to order a differentstyle of flashing (which can take a couple ofweeks to arrive) or do what I did: remove all ofthe screws, shift the panels and trim the oppo-site overhanging edge so that both rake flash-ings fit (not a fun process).

To avoid this mistake, lay the panels out onthe ground, check how the flashing is designedto fit and then determine how much to trim off.You might be able to cut the excess off of onepanel, or you might have to split the differenceand cut some off of both rake-edge panels. — DC

LESSON LEARNED

length supports the fly rafter and roofoverhang on the front of the shed.

Building the front wall wasn’t aseasy because it contained the rough-opening framing for three windowsand two doors (photo 1, p. 37).I added vertical framing members at48 in. OC where the siding panelseams would be located.

Rather than raise the walls andfight gravity, I attached the siding,cut out the window and door open-ings (photo 2) and painted thesiding before I raised the walls. I usedLouisiana Pacific SmartSide panels,which serve as both the sheathingand siding.

You’ll need a helper to raise thewalls. Secure each wall to the deckframing and the adjoining walls(photo 3). Check each wall to be surethat it is plumb and square to theadjoining wall.

The roof is framed with rafters thatrest on the side walls. A bird’s-mouthnotch is cut in each rafter where itrests on the side walls (photo 4).Attach the rafters to the top of theside-wall top plates (photo 5, above),and attach blocking between rafters.

INSTALLING THE METAL ROOFAny roof material that is used on ahouse can be used on a shed. I chosemetal panels (roughly double the costof asphalt shingles) because they havea commercial appearance that workswith the shed’s style. I was also inter-ested in learning more about thisproduct, which has become increas-ingly popular in residential structures.

Exposed-fastener metal roofing isrelatively simple to install (see photo6 and Web Extras), but figuring out allof the seals, screws and flashing com-ponents you need can be a little con-

fusing. Most home centers sell thistype of roofing and should be able tohelp you determine what you need.

The panels and flashing compo-nents are made from 24- to 30-gaugesteel. The panels are typically 3 ft. wideand are bundled and shipped in stacksthat are very heavy and awkward tohandle, so it’s worth the money tohave them delivered to your house.Once you remove the strapping, a sin-gle panel can be lifted into place bytwo people. Most metal roof systemsinclude instructions on how to handleand install the components. (See“Lesson Learned,” above, for a tip youwon’t find in the manual.) It only tookan afternoon for me to install the roof.

BUILDING WINDOWS AND DOORSWith the roof in place, I moved on tothe windows and doors. I installed aprehung out-swing steel door in the

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Toenail the rafters to the topplates, starting with the backrafter, which should be flushwith the back siding, andspacing them 16 in. OC.Attach the blocking boardsbetween each pair of rafters.

Rakeflashing