Tag: shed

A Bird Feeder with a Past

On By MVFlaim FurnituremakerIn Workshop2 Comments

Two years ago, our house got hit by a tornado. One of saddest part from all of the damage was the destruction of the shed I built a few years ago. I was so devastated, I never rebuilt it. As I tore down the shed, I kept some of the lumber hoping I would use the wood to rebuild a new one however, with 2x4s costing $7.00 a piece, I never rebuilt it and left the wood on top of the shed’s wooden platform.

Along with shed being destroyed, a bird feeder was also destroyed in the storm. My wife, Anita, finally wanted a new feeder in the yard so I decided to use some of the cedar from the shed to make a new bird feeder. I cleaned up the boards, removed the nails and milled up some boards from the trim I kept from the shed.

After the boards were milled, I glued some boards together and started cutting up the parts for the bird feeder. The feeder was so simple to build I believe I built one just like it in the 9th grade.

After a couple of hours of work, the bird feeder was installed back on top of the post. The birds are happy again and I gave new life to part of my destroyed shed. This summer, we’re finally planning on building a greenhouse on top of the platform.

Building a Shed Part XI

On By MVFlaim FurnituremakerIn Workshop14 Comments

We’ve been building this shed for over a year now. Between the cold of the winter and the heat of the summer, this has been the biggest project I have ever taken on. The past few weeks, we’ve been preparing the shed for paint.

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I sanded the body of the shed with 80 grit sand paper with my random orbital sander. This allowed me to take off the glaze from the mill when the wood was being processed.

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The doors and corbels were sanded to 150 grit because we were planning on staining these elements. I filled the nail holes with some outdoor wood putty as I wanted the doors to have a finished look without a bunch of nails holes in them.

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My wife, Anita, went to Ace Hardware and bought Aura paint and primer by Benjamin Moore. This paint isn’t cheap at $70 a gallon, but we wanted to make sure the shed had the best finish on it so we wouldn’t have to repaint it every other year.

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With two coats of primer on it, we let the shed sit for a few days before we applied the top coats.

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The body was painted with two coats of Galveston Gray.

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The shed was starting to look really nice. The top trim and the windows would be painted with Iron Mountain.

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We picked Cedar Bark stain from Sherwin Williams for the doors and corbels. The shed is nearly done, but I still need to make a trellis over the side window and build a small deck underneath the doors. Getting real close.

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Building a Shed Part X

On By MVFlaim FurnituremakerIn Workshop2 Comments

The same weekend it was too hot to work on the shed, was the same weekend I built the corbels. I sell to 26 Lowe’s and 14 Home Depot’s in the Cincinnati-Dayton area, and in all those stores, only one of them carried cedar 2 x 4’s. So, I’m lucky to be building these corbels out of cedar instead of douglas fir. I glued two cedar 2 x 4’s together to give me a post 3″ thick. I then cut the posts to 25″, 25″ and 46″.

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I sized the 25″ long posts to two 12″ lengths. I then built a sled for my table saw so I could cut one of the ends to a 45 degree chamfer. The stop on the sled made sure all the cuts were the same on each side.

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Flipping the post over with each cut, I quickly made the soft point for the front of the corbels.

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I made eight of these pieces. Two of the eight, I will save for a trellis that I will build over the side window.

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I then took the 46″ long pieces and cut them to 12″ long with 45 degree cuts on each end.

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I got lucky with my first post as I was able to avoid a large knot in the middle.

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The woodworking Gods were with me that day as I was able to avoid another large knot on the other post.

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I wanted a 45 degree chamfer on the bottom of the back of the corbels, so I moved the stop over on my sled and reattached it in the proper place.

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Using exterior wood glue, 3″ deck screws and 1 1/2″ long, 1/4″ crown galvanized staples, I fastened the hell out of the corbels as I built them.

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Eight corbels are all the same. I took the best two corbels and set them aside for the trellis as it will be stained and not painted.

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When it cooled down, I fitted the corbels into the soffit. I used a level to accurately scribe where I needed to cut and then used my Fein Multi-Master to cut away the wood.

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As luck would have it, the width of my level was pretty much the correct location of where I needed to cut. I attached the corbels to the trim of the shed with 1 1/2″ long 15 gauge pneumatic nails.

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After a few minutes of work, one side of the shed was done.

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The shed is getting really close to being complete. We just need to build a platform in the front for a step, build and attach the trellis over the side window, build shelving inside, paint/stain the shed, add landscaping, and possibly add electric. Shit, we’re not that close after all. HAHA.

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Building a Shed Part IX

On By MVFlaim FurnituremakerIn Workshop2 Comments

I’ve been as motivated to work while it’s 100 degrees as I was when it was 30 degrees, so the shed has been sitting the past few weeks acclimating to the sun. The good news is that it has given me time to work in my nice cool basement workshop building the doors and corbels. I bought ten more 8′ long 8″ wide siding and slid five of them together to figure out how much to cut off the end boards to make a nice centered door.

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After figuring how much to trim off the end boards, I clamped them together and stapled 4″ cedar trim across the top and bottom. I used 1/4″ crown galvanized staples 1 1/2″ long.

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I attached the sides and center rail the same way. I used a liberal amount of Titebond III exterior glue to help hold everything together.

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I flipped the door over and did the same thing on the other side. I left the door over hang the inside trim about 2″ so that the bottom of the door would be flush with the bottom of the siding. I attached one board on the back at the diagonal to strengthen the door.

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I built the other door exactly the same way with the only difference being the diagonal board was going the other way.

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After the weather cooled down a bit, I took the doors out to the shed to see how they fit. In a perfect world they would fit perfectly, however I don’t live in a perfect world and I’ve never built anything perfectly. So, I had to trim the doors down to size about 1/4″ and shave down one end about 1/8″ less than the top.

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After fiddling around with the doors, they fit well enough for me to be happy. I used large hand screw clamps and clamped the inside of the doors to the frame opening. I then attached three hinges per door while they were clamped.

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After they were hung, they stuck a little bit at the top. I grabbed my block plane and shaved away the tops of the doors so that they would open and close freely.

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Installing the locking handle was a breeze. A simple hole drilled through the door allowed the stem to pass through. I then attached the inside handle with a set screw.

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I needed the left door to stay put while the right door was locked, so I drilled a 5/8″ hole through the floor and used two-part epoxy to glue a small piece of 1/2″ copper pipe inside the hole.

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I then attached the door hardware to the left door so that the bar would fit nicely in the hole.

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I did the same thing for the top of the door except I used a 1/4″ copper coupler instead of a 1/2″ pipe.

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I trimmed out the inside of the door the same way I did with the windows. I took a 2 x 6 and ripped into three pieces that were 3/8″ thick by 2″ wide and attached them with finish nails.

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I’m happy with the way the doors turned out. Now on to the corbels.

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Building a Shed Part VIII

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Moving forward with the shed, I installed the large fifteen pane window on the right side of the shed. Being so big and heavy, I screwed some scrap siding boards to the corners so I could lay the window in the frame and shim around the window until it was plum and square.

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With the window secure, I used scrap siding for the inside of the window frame and nailed it to the 2 x 4 framing.

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I then started to build the window trim by taking away one piece of the scrap wood and replacing it with 4″ wide cedar. I nailed it to the siding with 15 gauge galvanized finish nails. The bottom and top of the trim over hang the sides by 1″ on each side, with the top angled at 10 degrees. I then nailed a piece of cedar to the top for a little added detail.

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Putting up the trim was one of the easiest parts of building the shed so far. The cuts were simple and straight forward. Home Depot even had 3 1/4″ wide cedar boards so that I didn’t have to rip  4″ boards down to wrap the corners properly.

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I nailed the trim around the two front windows very much the same way as the side window.

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The only difference is that I had to cut a notch on the side trim boards to fit around the window sill. I had a follower tell me on my last post that I need to add a drip edge to the bottom of the sill to prevent water from going inside the shed wall. I’ll do that soon by either cutting a shallow groove or a gluing bead of wood underneath the bottom.

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Here’s a quick shot of the side finished with the trim. It’s starting to really look like a shed now. I just have to install three  corbels around the roof line and a cedar trellis above the window. Stay tuned.

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I wanted to work on the door frame, so I took two of the 2 x 6’s that I used to make the scaffolding and ripped them on the table saw.

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I cut almost half way through the wood on the table saw and then finished up the cut on the band saw.

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After they were ripped, I planed them down to 3/8″ on the planer. I only need one of the shorter boards so the other one will provide heat to make S’mores.

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I attached the boards to the inside of the front door frame. The boards did two things. First, it cleaned up the edges with a full piece of wood, especially on the top. The second is it kept the top trim of the door level with the top trim of the windows because I used 3/8″ wood to make the window frames as well.

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The trim has been installed around the door frame with a similar top detail in the middle. Now it’s on to make the two front doors.

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Building a Shed Part VII

On By MVFlaim FurnituremakerIn Workshop4 Comments

My wife and I bought two old ten pane French windows a couple of years ago at a flea market. We knew as soon as we saw them that they would be perfect for the front of the shed.  Even though they were in good shape, I had to trim off the edges a little bit so I could work with them.

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After I took all the hardware off,  I covered all the screw holes and areas with damage with two-part wood putty. The stuff did the trick as it was hard as a rock the next day.

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These windows were very well made with through tenons. They appeared to be made from old growth white pine.

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Because we wanted the windows to actually function, I had to build a window frame for each window. I took a 2 x 8, sliced it on my band saw, and milled the lumber down to 3/8″ thick on my planer. I then started to make the bottom sill with a slight chamfer to allow rain water to run off.

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I built a frame to fit inside the window opening and sized the window to work inside the frame. I did a whole bunch of test fitting taking it back and forth from the shed. It took all day to make just one of the frames.

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Once the window fit, I attached boards inside the frame so that the window would have a nice place to sit when closed.

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I bought 2 1/2″ wide hinges with removable pins and laid out the mortises. I cut the mortises with a chisel and a router plane to make the depth of the mortise the same throughout its length.

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I then test fitted the window in the frame before I went out to the shed to attach it.

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Being very patient, I fitted the window frame to the opening with wood shims and tested the window. It took nearly two hours to fit this window so that it would operate to my liking.

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Once the window fit well on the outside, I attached the frame to the opening with 15 gauge galvanized finish nails.

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The next day, I built and installed the other window. They both came out really well and open and close with ease.

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A simple scrap of cedar with a screw in the center acts as a latch for each window.

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Building a Shed Part VI

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Getting the roof done, it was back to working with wood, which is what I like. I had already started a little bit of the siding trying to shore up the shed so I could get up on the roof without being nervous with all the rocking and rolling going on up there. All the siding I bought was 8″ wide, 10′ long tongue and groove pine board. I scarfed joint the back row pieces so that I could nail them together at a 2×4.

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By far the easiest part to side was the left side. We did that one week day after work before I started the roof. Since the shed is 10 feet wide, I simply nailed them to the frame with 2 1/2″ 15 gauge galvanized finishing nails.

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Fast forward a few days and after I shingled the roof, the majority of the siding was up. I originally started to use short pieces between the windows in order to use up some of the scraps. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that if I continued to do it this way, by the time I got down to the bottom of the window opening, with my luck, my bottom board wouldn’t line up with boards directly on top. Instead, I opted to cover up the window opening and later cut out where the window went. I did the side window the same way, but didn’t snap a photo of the before shot.

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I took my jig saw and ran down the opening cutting away the wood leaving about 1/4″ from the 2 x 4’s.

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Then, being a woodworker, I ran a flush trim bit on my router and routed the siding flush to the 2 x 4’s.

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Siding was nearly complete except for the small bottom piece to cover up the 2 x 8 flooring. Now it’s on to the windows.

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Building a Shed Part V

On By MVFlaim FurnituremakerIn Workshop4 Comments

After building my scaffolding off the front of the shed, I went back to applying the roof tarp. This time it went much easier. I bought a slap hammer and slapped staples all over the place once I hammered down some button caps at the top and bottom of the roll.

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Once the one side of the shed was tarped, I moved the scaffolding over to the other side. It took me all day to get the shed tarped, but I did it safely which is all that matters.

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I went to Home Depot and bought seven packs of dimensional shingles and one pack of old style flat shingles. I used the flat shingles and laid the first row upside down and also up both sides of the roof with a 1/2″ hanging off the edge. I started on the back side of the shed because that is where the scaffolding was at the time, plus the fact that if I screwed up, it would be on the back.

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Laying the shingles was pretty straight forward. I started at the bottom laying over my upside down course. I hammered four 1 1/4″ roofing nails in each shingle making sure my shingles were staggered so that the seams of the second level didn’t run in line with the seam of the first.

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Every  few rows I would snap a chalk line to make sure my shingles were running straight.

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It took all day, but I finished shingling the roof. All I needed to do was the ridge vent.

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By this time I was so tired, I stayed focused on getting the job done and didn’t bother going inside, grabbing my cell phone to snap some pictures of laying the ridge vent. I finished up the roof by cutting through the top of the shingles with a utility knife, laying down the ridge vent, and shingling over top of it.

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This is the ridge vent from inside the shed. This will allow all the hot air inside the shed to  escape.

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The final shingle on the ridge vent was hammered down with 2″ roof nails and covered with roof cement.

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The next day, I went up the ladder to cut off the excess roofing shingles on the right side of the shed with my utility knife. Because I laid down my starter course first with the ordinary flat shingles that over hung 1/2″, it was easy to trim up the dimensional shingles flush to them.

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It’s all fun and games until the roof leaks. A few days later it started to rain. I went out to see how everything was holding up. Thankfully, there were no leaks and the water shed from the roof quite nice.

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Building a Shed Part IV

On By MVFlaim FurnituremakerIn Workshop2 Comments

The day after we got the framing up, I was excited to get going on the roof. I knew I needed to put drip edge on the roof sheathing before the tar paper, but my wife, Anita, told me that I need to put the fascia boards on first.

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So, we went to Home Depot and picked up some 6″ wide cedar boards 10′ long and cut it to proper length. Since the roof was 16′ long, I had to scarf joint the boards in front with a 45 degree angle in case the boards shrink a little bit over time.

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I cut the side fascia at the same angle of the roof rafters and carefully fitted them together with tight joint at the top.

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After a few hours the fascia was up, so I started installing the drip edge. I watched a couple of YouTube videos to make sure I cut the drip edge properly so I could bend it at a 90 degree angle.

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The drip edge went up with ease. Now it was time for the tar paper. I grabbed the ladder and laid down the first row. I hammered down button caps about every foot on the bottom and about every three feet on the top.

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The first row was up and I started on the second row overlapping the first row about 4″. This is where the hell started. Because we built the rafters based on a 3, 4, 5 Pythagorean Theorem, the roof was at a 9 / 12 pitch. I couldn’t stand up on the roof because it was too steep nor could I manage to work on the second row off the ladder safely because of the slope of the yard. With all the trouble, I couldn’t tack down the second row without the tar paper getting ripples in it.

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Completely pissed that I couldn’t do it, I removed all the tar paper from the roof. We decided to shore up the shed framing by putting up part of the siding. This way when I’m on the roof, the shed wouldn’t be rocking and rolling back and forth.

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Since my shed wasn’t going to have a soffit, I cut notches in the first row of the siding to slide past the rafters.

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It took a bit of time, but I was happy with the outcome. Any gap would be filled in with caulk. I ended the weekend getting a lot done, but felt completely defeated by not being able to tar paper the roof. I spent the night in a bad mood because I had no idea how I was going to do it.

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The next morning I went to work, and while walking through a Lowes, I spotted a book in the magazine section called “Building Sheds” by the Taunton Press. I skimmed through the book when I saw a picture of a couple of guys installing a roof on a shed. When I saw how they were doing it I thought to myself “of course”! The guys built wooden scaffolding platform on one side of the shed framing. I rushed down to the lumber aisle and figured out how much it would cost for two 2 x 12’s, four 2 x 6’s and a couple of 2 x 4’s. It ended costing $45.00 for all the lumber and $20 for the book. I got home that day and immediately started to build the scaffolding.

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I shored up the platform with a couple of 2 x 4’s cut at a 45 degree angle on one end. I screwed 2 1/2″ and 3″ screws throughout the scaffolding so I could stand on it without fear of it caving in. Once I was done building it, I climbed up the ladder and stood on it. It was perfect! Now I could lay the tar paper on one side of the roof, break down the scaffolding, and build it again on the other side of the shed to do the other side of the roof. I was so happy I figured out how to do it safely.

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Building the Shed Part III

On By MVFlaim FurnituremakerIn WorkshopLeave a comment

Remember this thing? Probably not. I started building this 10′ x 14′ shed late last year. I waited nearly two months for the deck boards to come in from Home Depot, but by the time they came in, it started to get cold for the year.

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Fast forward six months, I decided to get off my duff and start building the shed again. I went back to Home Depot and bought a bunch of 2 x 4’s and a few 2 x 6’s and framed out the walls.

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My wife bought a nice old sixteen pane window for the shed a couple of years ago and we decided to place it on the side of the shed. I measured it and framed it out making sure there was a little gap on all sides so it would be easy to install.

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The front of the shed will have two more old windows with big double doors in the middle. I laid the window in the frame to see where I wanted the header. We decided that all the windows and the tops of the doors will be placed at the same height.

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My buddy Dave came over in the morning one Saturday so that we could raise the walls and build the rafters for the roof. The four walls went up with ease and everything was plum and square. Good measuring on my part I guess.

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After we installed the top plate to the wall, we played around with angles for the roof until decided to use the 3′, 4′, 5′ Pythagorean theorem method. We cut a test rafter to see how it looked and cut out the birds mouth so that the rafter would fit on the walls nicely. I wanted the rafters to hang over the walls about one foot.

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Cutting the angles for the rafters was easy since there was a 31.62 degree measurement on my sliding compound miter saw. We cut all the wood and made seven rafters in about an hour.

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Since the the total length of the roof was 16′ long, we ended up making another rafter that sat in the middle of the shed so that the OSB plywood would have something to nail to at the end.

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I trimmed the OSB plywood to the proper size on the second row so that I would have about a 2″ gap at the top for a ridge vent. We got a boatload done in one day and I was happy I finally started to build the shed again.

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