RE: My woodshed

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firefighterjake

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
Jul 22, 2008
19,588
Unity/Bangor, Maine
I'm pretty happy to have finished it . . . in fact I was so happy and pleased with it that I didn't even finish putting away my tools in order to snap some pics . . . since I know you guys are into the woodshed/woodpile pornography! ;) :)

The details: 12 x 20 feet in size . . . longer rather than deeper. I went with this size partly because I wanted the extra space to hold more wood than I anticipate using and partly because the footprint of the shed fits neatly over the space where our very large home-built swingset used to sit.

The base: This area tends to get wet in the Spring so we went with a raised woodshed. Cinder blocks (or stones) are located every 6 feet over a foot or so of gravel. When possible the cinderblocks on the exterior matched up to where the concrete footings for the old swingset were located. Our property is situated on a little bit of soil with ledge underneath so having the frost heave this structure (or any other structures -- such as my other two sheds) should not be a real issue. I went with cedar wood for the base frame.

The walls: Originally I was going to go with the normal 4 x 4 or 6 x 6 posts on the corners with the sloped shed roof, but then I realized I had a pretty decent source of wood with an old camp that I was intending to tear down eventually . . . so I spent some time tearing down the camp and reclaimed some good (and some not so good) rough cut 2 x 4s, a few 2 x 6s and a whole lot of boards. I was able to use these rough cut 2 x 4s to form up the majority of the back and side walls. I did end up buying some new rough cut hemlock 2 x 4s for the front. The walls were buillt in sections so that the corners are in essence 4 x 8 beams and on the back there are two 4 x 4 beams in the "middle" . . . one 4 x 4 beam in the middle of each sides and in the front "wall" there are two 4 x 8 beams in the middle. As you can see I left a gap between the beams in the back and sides to allow air flow to move through the stacks . . . enough to allow air flow but hopefully keep snow and rain off the wood.

The roof: My original plan to use the aluminum sheeting from my camp was changed when I realized I would still need to buy several more sheets of aluminum and the aluminum I had was full of nail hopes and tears which would mean a lot of chaulking. Instead I went the "cheaper" route with regular asphault shingles, but I did "cheat" a bit by also using some asphault shingles that were on the camp which were still in decent shape. The roof isn't very pretty since it's now multi-colored brown and white with black splotches from the tar used to seal the nailholes -- but frankly I don't see it so I don't really care . . . it's just a woodshed.
 

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More pics . . . pay no attention to the mess.
 

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That looks great! And it looks like it will hold a lot of freakin' wood! :coolgrin:
 
Cudos dude. That is a sweet looking wood shed. Looks to be plenty roomy for multi-year storage. Now yer talkin'
 
Jags said:
Cudos dude. That is a sweet looking wood shed. Looks to be plenty roomy for multi-year storage. Now yer talkin'
+1
 
Awesome shed! What's your thoughts on loading so you can always get to the most seasoned wood first?
 
Great looking heavy duty shed. But something that big will hold more than a few seasons supply...wouldn't stacking wood front to back (NS) aid in rotating?
 
Bathroom, Kitchen???
 
Beauty. Rick
 
Great wood shed !

I was also thinking of how to get to the most seasoned wood. Add a door to the back or stack front to back i guess.
 
Edthedawg said:
Awesome shed! What's your thoughts on loading so you can always get to the most seasoned wood first?

You better believe I've already been thinking ahead . . . Step 1 is to purchase a Magic Heater so I can burn unseasoned wood and get the most heat out of the chimney as possible. ;) :)

All kidding aside . . . back row is some wood that I had cut up last year, but didn't get around to splitting late this Spring . . . it's going in the back to get a little more seasoning time. The rest of the wood will be going north to south as Savage guessed so I can access different rows depending on what I need (i.e. softwood slabs, really well seasoned hardwood, etc.)
 
savageactor7 said:
Great looking heavy duty shed. But something that big will hold more than a few seasons supply...wouldn't stacking wood front to back (NS) aid in rotating?

Yup . . . you guessed it . . . 1) to aid in rotation and 2) to allow me to stack different seasonal needs (i.e. a stack for softwood slabs and less dense woods for shoulder season burning, a stack for the most seasoned wood, etc.)
 
Let Me Stand Next To Your Fire said:
Bathroom, Kitchen???

My wife has already caught me out in the shed just sitting there admiring my handiwork . . . and while I don't think a bathroom or kitchen is in the works I have already begun pounding in a few spikes and hooks to hold some assorted handtools relevant to working on firewood (i.e. ax, hatchet, pulp hook, etc.) . . . and I've also told my wife this will make a great place for me to spend the night if and when I'm ever in the proverbial doghouse.

Eventually I might "splurge" and wire in electricity . . . I could see this as a benefit with lighting at night since it gets dark so darned early up here in Maine during the dead of winter.
 
Let Me Stand Next To Your Fire said:
Bathroom, Kitchen???

I would assume you really mean.... cooler, recliner
 
fossil said:
Beauty. Rick

While I truly appreciate all of the "atta boys" having this come from you is a true compliment as your woodshed and LL's truly stand out as woodsheds.
 
poooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooook said:
diagonal bracing?

No need Pook . . . Besides connecting the "panelized" walls together stud to stud, I've got the top plate connecting all and the boards (minus the batting) are run on top of three 2 x 4s (top, bottom and middle) to tighten things up. In addition, there are four 2 x 4s inside that connect the front wall to the side walls (if you look closely you might be able to see them inside.) Trust me, throughout the whole project I've constantly been shaking the shed this way and that way to see how rugged this thing will stand up to a traditional Downeasta' . . . and the associated snow load. I think I should be OK.
 
Werm said:
Let Me Stand Next To Your Fire said:
Bathroom, Kitchen???

I would assume you really mean.... cooler, recliner

Well I do have a plastic lawn chair set up nearby.
 
That's awful nice. Nice lumber from a "camp," too. Is it true that what Mainers call a "camp" most of us would call a cabin?

Peace,
- Sequoia
 
firefighterjake said:
You better believe I've already been thinking ahead . . . Step 1 is to purchase a Magic Heater so I can burn unseasoned wood and get the most heat out of the chimney as possible. ;) :)
LMAO! Dude - last i checked, yer gonna need about 4700 MORE creo-chimni-EPA-pollution-ithinx posts to be allowed to make such statements. ;)

All kidding aside . . . back row is some wood that I had cut up last year, but didn't get around to splitting late this Spring . . . it's going in the back to get a little more seasoning time. The rest of the wood will be going north to south as Savage guessed so I can access different rows depending on what I need (i.e. softwood slabs, really well seasoned hardwood, etc.)
Sounds like an excellent plan. What's the total capacity of this monster gonna be??
 
Nice workmanship. I like the rustic look that the wood grain gives. Nice to reclaim wood and still get a great look. I'm jealous!!!
 
nice work!! looks awesome and will look even better when all that wood is stacked inside!
 
Nice shed. Hey do you do a "Sheds like that for Humanity " program? Do ya huh? Do ya do ya huh? I think I saw a question about diagonal bracing...would be a good sugestion to implement with such a master piece. Now back to the "Shed's for Humanity... Do ya huh? Do ya do ya huh?
 
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