I'd been tossing around the idea of building a firewood shed and this seemed the perfect time to do it. Also, our fire pit area was kind of large and needed something to define it a little better and give it a focus point.
As with all my projects, one of the major goals is to use available materials as much as possible and spend as little as possible. For this project, the items I needed to purchase were nails, cement for the post holes, and 2x4's.
 |
| From 2014-06-15 |
After carefully looking at all the angles, and potential locations. I found a spot that looked nice but also had enough soil for me to get at least 18" down on the post holes before hitting rock. There's nothing more frustrating than getting 3 posts in then hitting impenetrable rock on the last one.
To kick things off, I went out to the log pile and found some good posts that were fairly close in size and had about a 4" diameter.
 |
| From 2014-06-15 |
I was able to get all the post holes at least 18" inches deep and in some cases 20" or more before I hit solid rock. I then back filled with cement and let them dry for a few days.
I learned the hard way, through previous projects, that most construction materials are designed around the 8x2x4. If you build something on a different measurment than that standard, then everything that follows will be off and require special cutting and be a general pain in the rear.
With that being said, I placed the cedar posts so that the ends of the outer beam 2x4's would extend evenly with the outer edge of the post, so an endcap 2x4 could be nailed on.
 |
| From 2014-06-15 |
I lag bolted the 2x4's to the posts so it would be sturdier and less likely to crack than if I'd used nails. I then started cutting off the tops of the posts flush with the upper beam 2x4's.
 |
| From 2014-06-15 |
It was now time to build the rafters. I'd never done a peaked roof before so I was a little nervous about how well it would actually work. Ideally, I probably should've gone with a shallower pitch, but my only angle tool was a 45 degree so that's what I ended up going with. At least I won't have to worry about snow piling up and caving it in.
 |
| From 2014-06-15 |
In order to securely tie the rafters to the beams, I did a horizontal 2x4 that went under the beams on each end. That should be enough to keep the lid on in any weather.
 |
| From 2014-06-15 |
Originally I was going to do the horizontal piece on all 4 rafters, but after I put the two ends on, it seemed like overkill so I just toe-nailed them in.
 |
| From 2014-06-15 |
I had a couple 1x6's laying around that I used to tie all the rafters together. The were a little thicker than I'd ideally like, but a guiding principle of this project is going cheap, so I went with them.
 |
| From 2014-06-15 |
The two major artistic elements to this project are the cedar poles and the rusted tin roof pieces we salvaged from the old house. As I fitted the tin sheets, I was glad to see that following my "8ft" rule worked, they lined up perfectly. I had about an inch of overhang on each end, which was ideal for bending down to protect the corners.
 |
| From 2014-06-15 |
The finished shed. It took about 10 hours of work and $50 dollars in materials. Not too bad for a nice looking centerpiece to our firepit area.
 |
| From 2014-06-15 |
Now that I finished that, I guess I'm going to have to tuck in to the big log pile.
 |
| From 2014-06-15 |
