# Shed and Barn Kits



## PromethusBound (Oct 16, 2016)

Anyone have experience building one of those prefab kits from Home Depot for Sheds and Barns? Tempted to use one to replace my old garage but concerned I maybe in over my head. Probably have someone help me with it but curious if its as easy as it sounds. Thanks.


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## goose25 (Oct 16, 2016)

I just got done with one about a month ago. Pretty straight forward. Just follow the directions. It also includes pictures so you can get an idea of how it's suppose to look as you go. I got the majestic 8×12 at HD when it was on sale. Take time on leveling your base and making sure the floor is square. After that it's a snap. It took me 4 afternoons (probably 20 hours) to get the stucture built. With 2 people you can get it done in a full day of work. The finishing took me another 6 hours or so. All basic tools as well. A passload or a nail gun would make it a breeze though. 
You have to buy your subfloor separate. 3 sheets of OSB (make sure you don't get tongue and groove, you'll be an inch short) and then roofing supplies and hardware. It does come with a good bit of screws. But I bought deck screws instead.


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## nealtw (Oct 16, 2016)

goose25 said:


> I just got done with one about a month ago. Pretty straight forward. Just follow the directions. It also includes pictures so you can get an idea of how it's suppose to look as you go. I got the majestic 8×12 at HD when it was on sale. Take time on leveling your base and making sure the floor is square. After that it's a snap. It took me 4 afternoons (probably 20 hours) to get the stucture built. With 2 people you can get it done in a full day of work. The finishing took me another 6 hours or so. All basic tools as well. A passload or a nail gun would make it a breeze though.
> You have to buy your subfloor separate. 3 sheets of OSB (make sure you don't get tongue and groove, you'll be an inch short) and then roofing supplies and hardware. It does come with a good bit of screws. But I bought deck screws instead.



Just a couple thought, T&G plywood is 47 1/2 wide when installed.
Advantech  floor looks like osb is 48" wide when installed here.

Regular osb would not make a good floor


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## zannej (Oct 17, 2016)

I think it depends on the kits you get. We got a couple of metal ones for sheds. The door height is pretty low so we bump our heads and they are flimsy as hell. The doors on one are all busted up because the horse leaned on them and the corner of the same shed is broken in from the cow leaning on it. When we were first buying it, the clerk asked "Have you ever put one of these together before?" and we said "No" and his response was "Good luck!" in a tone that suggested it was a pita. The assembly wasn't so bad, but the quality is lacking.


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## Mastercarpenty (Oct 17, 2016)

The metal shed kits are cheesy but cheap and easy enough to construct. Tons of screws so use a cordless drill or driver and be careful to not strip them. You'll need a stepladder to set the roof. These rust easily so at least twice a year use a mobile-home wash-and-wax liquid cleaner which you can get at any local janitorial or chemical supplier. I'm pretty well versed with these having assembled about a dozen and it takes me 6-8 hours depending on the style. Do not get the floor framing kit- it's cheesy metal too and neither fits correctly nor is it strong. Also the given dimensions for a DIY floor are not exact- the threshold goes unsupported on the outer edge. What I do is assemble the shed's base frame (steo 1) then measure it and build the floor from those numbers. If I have time, I like to put a couple coats of oil-based paint on the exposed parts of the wood floor system before building the actual shed on top of it. That seals everything better and leaves no wood unprotected anywhere and it's a whole lot easier when nothing is in the way. The foil tape they supply for ridge sealing needs extreme care when applying- gaps are easy to create and there's not enough for a re-do. That's the same peel-and-stick stuff used to seal ductwork only narrower and you can get a roll at the big-box stores if you need it. The factory paint is super-thin and won't last, but if you paint it when surface rust just begins to appear with an exterior oil-based paint (renewed as needed) these sheds can last 15+ years if undamaged. 

Now if they'd only make the doors and their hardware better I could almost like these sheds 

Phil


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## PromethusBound (Oct 17, 2016)

I looked at the metal ones at HD and could could see all the little dings and scratches all over the place and all with a little rust on them. Too cheap looking didnt look very strong. Figured a few months out on a HD parking lot is a good indicator of what this thing will look like in a year or two. I already have a 12'x18' concrete slab so I figured I could do with out the floor kit anyway, just mount into the concrete. I am a little concerned about the siding, when I tried the LP smart side I could never get the panels to line up just right. The seams never looked clean.


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## zannej (Oct 17, 2016)

I'll have to look at mine to see if there is any rust. I think mine are aluminium, but I'm not sure. We poured concrete for the floors. 

Still not happy about how flimsy they are. One of them was put around the water well (so we just poured the perimeter in concrete). It gets way too hot in summer and too cold in winter because there is no insulation and ours didn't have any sort of fan. If I had to do it over again, I would have just built a wood one or something and had it insulated. Might have been more expensive, but wouldn't suck so much.


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## Mastercarpenty (Oct 18, 2016)

If I were to do another one of these for myself I'd paint it immediately and do something better for doors. 

Since you've got the slab already this should be pretty easy. All I'd be concerned with is water entering from the exposed slab if the building doesn't cover it- caulking with silicone or Duo-Sil takes care of that. And Tapcon screws with washers will keep it there in the wind. I would suggest building it before anchoring the base plates to make it easier to line everything up. 

Watch the weather forecast- you don't want to be doing one of these on a really windy day. 

Phil


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## mrfaceit65 (Oct 18, 2016)

Dont forget to set your anchor bolts in cement before it dries


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## goose25 (Oct 19, 2016)

nealtw said:


> Just a couple thought, T&G plywood is 47 1/2 wide when installed.
> Advantech  floor looks like osb is 48" wide when installed here.
> 
> Regular osb would not make a good floor


The instructions for my build called for 5/8" OSB. So that's what I went with.


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## nealtw (Oct 19, 2016)

goose25 said:


> The instructions for my build called for 5/8" OSB. So that's what I went with.



I have never seen 5/8 osb but I have seen 3/8" swelled up to 1" with water.

All plywood thicker than 1/4" is exterior grade for the difference next time go with 5/8 plywood:


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## Mastercarpenty (Oct 19, 2016)

After all the repairs I've done through the years, the only non-plywood sheet flooring  I'll use is Advantek (or a clone product). None of the rest has been able to withstand the occasional water-related disasters which aren't supposed to happen but do. 

The engineers who design construction products think in utopian terms, and often they seem to believe that specifying conditions of usage prevents reality from happening. All floors will get wet to some degree at some point so it's best to plan for that. 

Phil


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## bud16415 (Oct 19, 2016)

For an outdoor shed where the subfloor is the only floor and the relatively small size to cover and the fact someone will be driving a 48&#8221; cut lawn tractor in there with the deck full of wet grass clippings and closing it up to bake in the sun. I would build all the framing for the floor from PT 2x and the deck I would use 3/4 &#8220; PT plywood. Might cost $100 more but I think it would be worth it. 

I know they look nice with the factory paint job when done and in two years will have surface rust and need sanded and painted. The time to paint it would be before you bolted it together with a good machinery paint let the panels sit out in the sun and bake the paint on for a couple days. 

Given all that and the flimsy doors and the cost is why I would just buy the wood and build one from scratch and cover it with T1-11 and paint it with house paint. Shingle the roof. Around here the big thing is buying these ready-made Amish sheds that come on a flat trailer and they slide them off and roll them to wherever you want them. I don&#8217;t know how they make any money at it as the cost is maybe 20% more than the materials and you can go to their lot and pick from 100 sheds already built.


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