BUILD-YOUR-OWN

Indoor shelter for your outdoor toools

A GARDEN SHED.Everyone needs a garden shed. If you've no more space on your garage wall for that new leaf rake, if you can't find your potting trowel because it fell behind the kids' bikes, and if your car has that forlorn, neglected look since the brand-new snowthrower moved in last fall, it's time to face the undeniable truth—your outdoor tools need a home of their own.

The design of your garden shed can take any form, from a simple lean-to to a large free-standing building. 8-ft. area—enough for a variety of tools, but not so large that it dominates a backyard landscape. The straightforward design is easy to expand—up to about 8 x 12 ft.—to suit your storage needs. Before you begin work, contact your local building codes office and find out about necessary permits or other requirements for this type of building.

Solid framing, plywood sheathing and cedar siding make this a shed to stand the test of time. Our 6 x 8-ft. design is expandable to 8 x 12 ft.

In most cases, a shed of this size will not require an elaborate foundation—it's fine to simply rest the structure on four corner blocks that sit on the ground. Some excavation is inevitable to provide a level and firm base, but there's really no need to dig below the frost line. If the building settles unevenly, simply jack up a low corner and place cedar shims between the corner block and floor framing. We used 7-1/2 x 12 x 16-in. solid concrete blocks at the corners.