12 x 16 GARDEN SHED NE TN

[NavyDave]

I'm building a "Victoria Cottage in NE TN" but needed a place to put my tools to keep everything organized so we decided to build a Gambrel roofed shed which will be used as a garden shed and eventually incorporate a small 16' greenhouse addition.






Kinda hard to see but the bubble's in the middle! Time to mix some concrete.


The wife is getting a head start on the garden....planting time soon!


The end of day 2. The forms are all poured and leveled, should have the floor framed tomorrow.

[NavyDave]

My brother came out today to help me frame the floor in. I'm using 2x4 construction at 16" OC set on 4 16' 4x4's at 4 foot intervals.






Another helper of mine. This one doesn't know a hammer from a table saw but he never leaves my side!


Since it seems to be a Countryplans tradition this is my attempt at tap dancing on my new floor. Gonna use my floor to lay out the gambrel roof trusses next and then frame in the walls.

[duncanshannon]

Nicely done... 12x16 will be a great size for tools and a future greenhouse. Hmm. Makes me think twice about the 12x10 shed (based on the little house plans) later this summer....

Looks like you are well stocked on tools so far!

[Sassy]

Ah, the dance    very nice!

[NavyDave]

Thanks Duncan.....

Since the floor is the exact dimensions that the roof trusses will be I used it to build a truss jig. The jig took me a couple hours to lay out. The high pitched portion of the roof turned out to be an 18 - 12 pitch and the low pitched portion is a 4 - 12 pitch. I have it all layed out and almost have the peices for all 9 trusses cut. I just have to cut the OSB scabs for each of the 3 corner braces and the construction can begin. Shouldn't have a problem finishing up with another day's work.

[NavyDave]

All done building the trusses. Framing the walls and setting up the "truss hoist" tomorrow. I'll be using T-111 siding and it should be showing up in 2 days. I think we are going with a natural stain for it with green trim and a hunter green metal roof. Hopefully the roof will be ready to pick up in 3 days. The weather has held out for us and we are on schedule so far!

[NavyDave]

Got all 4 walls framed and raised today. The building will have 3 double doors 5 1/2 feet wide and 3 - 24 inch wide windows. Siding arrives tomorrow and I'm all ready for it!

[John Raabe]

Nice sturdy project. That gambrel roof should give you lots of interior room.

[NavyDave]

Thanks for the thumbs up John....that's a big thing coming from you. I went with the gambrel because i'm planning on putting 2 - 4 foot lofts on each end and I want to be able to get up there and move around. I may even put a door on one end to be able to gain access from the exterior. It's still  a work in progress though so who knows.

Today I built a jig on the floor to mount a 16 foot 2x4 with a pulley vertical. I braced it to the wall studs. We are using it to hoist the trusses into place. We only were able to work a half day today so we only got half the trusses raised. The pulley system took a couple hours to figure out and build but i'm pretty happy with it because my wife and I were able to raise the trusses without too much of a problem. Below are some pics of the jig for those of you that might be interested in the idea.




The "track" on the floor blocks the 16 foot 2X4 at every stud 2' OC......trusses are also 2'OC

[duncanshannon]

Good stuff! (Nice photos too!)

Might just have to change my plans to include the gambrel trusses too! you make it look easy.

[NavyDave]

Thanks for the compliment Duncan.

The gambrel roof will definitely add a lot of space to the lofts. For the most part it was fairly easy but it was a little hairy balancing those trusses until we got the first couple nails driven. A lot of time was spent in "thought experiments" thinking about how to get them up there and that hoist is what I came up with. It's actually a very simple design though.

[Danfish]

Thanks for showing the truss lifting system...simple but effective...really like the floor track.  Lots of good craftmanship and ideas in this build, keep it coming!

[AdironDoc]

That's a great idea you're using for lifting the trusses. I wonder if i can secure my extension ladder in similar fashion as a jig. Your project looks great. Thanks for sharing!

Doc

[NavyDave]

Doc,

Not sure what you mean about securing your ladder similar to the track. I'm assuming that you mean you'd fasten it to the floor in some fashion and use the rungs to support your upright? Knowing what I know now after I used this track system I'd definitely take a few minutes and construct it. You can make a track in the exact dimensions that you require very easily and not have to worry about your trusses being off when they are raised. Very effective! On a lighter note, I love your part of the world! I was raised in upstate NY in a small town between Rochester and Syracuse (Sodus Point). I'd be up there instead of TN if NYC didn't suck the life out of the rest of the state in the form of property taxes! Love Saranac lake!

OK today we got the rest of the trusses raised. We had a local Menonite come in and bush hog what used to be a pasture and now it is again! We have about 7 or 8 acres reclaimed again and he threw in tilling up a real nice garden site right next to the shed also! Life is good!


The skeleton is complete.


The garden site down the hill, then the pond. Gonna be a real serene site.


A picture of the property from a distance after the bush hogging. Just need to select cut some trees and let 'em grow.

[NM_Shooter]

Dave, I am a little spooked by your trusses... notching 2x4's really takes a lot of the strength out of them.  Please be really careful when you get up on top of that.

-f-

[NavyDave]

Shooter,

I shared your concern. If you look at the gussets you'll notice that there is only two places in the roof that isn't re-inforced where there's a notch. The first is where you see the purlins installed currently which is an 18 -12 pitch. The 2x4 purlin will support much of the force where the notch is in that configuration. The second is on the high side where there's a low pitch of 4 - 12, more concerning. This notch is in an area with a span of only about 22 inches. It's a fairly low span in my eyes and with a snow load of only 10 PSF I think i'll be safe. Also, for the loft floors I'll be spanning 2x4's the width of the shed 4 feet on each end and tying them to the bottom of the rafters. I believe this will add stuctural strength as well. Another point is that i'll NEVER be on top of this roof. I plan on installing my metal roofing from the loft floor. With all that said, I will never notch a 2x4 that deep again....I'd only go as deep as 1X material in the future and never in a place that isn't reinforced.

My disclaimer is that i'm no stuctural engineer and that I may be TOTALLY wrong about the strength of my design. I appreciate comments to help improve anything in my build though. Should I be concerned with my notches being too deep for this building? If so are there any ideas out there to help with re-inforcment? This site continues to be a wealth of knowledge.....great stuff out there...Thanks!

[speedfunk]

Looks great.  Being from Central NY I know what you mean and If i were to ever move it would prob be TN lol.  The land is so similar in most ways.

I would think being that your filling those voids in the 2x4 you would be fine.  Just make sure its reasonable tight.  The weak spot is the hole when you fill it in ...no weak spot.

[NM_Shooter]

I should take a picture of the trusses that I built for my shed.... I did a similar design with no notches.  I took my plans to an engineer who looked at them and told me that there was not way that they would meet the snow load requirements for my county here in NM near ABQ.  I had no notches in mine... just decked it all with OSB.

I decided to declare my shed "portable" and temporary, which removed the requirement for me to have an inspection, which meant that I didn't have to have paperwork on my trusses.  They have held up okay.  But before I got on top of the thing to sheet it, I made sure that I had my loft decked so I would not have so far to fall!

Filling that notch is better than leaving it open, but even filled it is much weaker than leaving it un-notched.  Wood has a great deal of compressive strength in parallel  with the growth direction (such as pushing down on the length of a stud).  The compressive strength in a direction perpendicular to the growth direction is much, much less.  I think I read it is a factor of 10 or so.

Filling in those notches will help a little, but if the trusses are going to fail, that notch is where it will happen.  Please be careful and consider decking the loft floor before getting up there.

Good luck!

[NavyDave]

Speedfunk,
where in central NY? I love the Fingerlakes region....Keuka is an awesome lake!

Shooter,
What's the snow load in Albuquerque? I'd like to see your trusses.

I definitely plan on sheathing my lofts before roofing the shed, in fact that's what I did today. I took it easy this weekend and put one 16' section of siding up and finished my lofts....as you can see in the pics below I have an 8' section in the middle of my building that is not lofted. I plan on building a "fake loft" between the 2 end lofts to be able to stand on while I do my roofing. while standing on the loft floor the peaks of my rafters are right about eye level so I should have no problem installing the roofing with my little 2 step stepstool.

The reason that I notched my rafters at all is because my steel roofing  comes in 36" widths and I felt that using purlins would be the best way to be able to fasten each side with my 24" OC trusses.

Tomorrow I should be done with my siding and hopefully done with installing the rest of the purlins. I have a few things to take care of around the homestead while my wife is in Atlanta for the next couple days. I want to clear a nice spot out around the pond for a hammock and finish building a patio for the RV we are living in too....the work is never done here but i'm loving it!




I snapped a chalk line and nailed a 2x4 level to be able to set my siding on while I hung it....A lot easier to side by yourself this way!


Here's a shot of my finished lofts.


Another loft shot....notice I notched the ends for my lowest purlins to feed through.

[MountainDon]

What's the snow load in Albuquerque?

I live a little to the west of Shooter, up on a high mesa.  Our local building department uses 20 psf or at least did 25 years ago. To the east and north of us it becomes a CS (case study) area.

[CjAl]

is there any reason i couldnt use that type of gambrel truss for my 20x32 story and a half? upsized of course

[MountainDon]

is there any reason i couldnt use that type of gambrel truss ....

building code

[NavyDave]

CJ,

A 20' span is a huge difference from a 12' span. I'd suggest talking to a local truss builder for design specs for your local load conditions. Also my building is just a shed, if I were living in it i'd never use my limited experience to build trusses. Maybe some other members can give you some better info?? I'd be interested in a truss design for a 20 foot span though because i'll be building a barn soon. Share your findings please

[MountainDon]

NOTE: some messages are being split off into a separate topic.That may be found in the general Forum as Building Codes: TX   Part of this one moved, two following responses copied/moved.

.......... ............ ..............
......should I post the following informational link?    As an educational service I'll point to a NDSU website that provides conceptual information. 
Main Page Here

Click on the "Construction" page link and find plan 6410. I believe that is the newest version of the Gambrel Roof plans.

Sorry for the hijack and rant. 

[NavyDave]

Don,
Hijack away! I learned a long time ago to learn from other's experience. It's kept me out of the trouble that they've encountered. That NDSU website has some GREAT info in it thank you!!

Today I worked between the raindrops and got all of my siding on with the exception of 3 sheets. I also framed the 3 windows that I got from a reclaimed builder's supply warehouse before I moved from DC. Brand new and not bad for 40 bucks a piece!

Tomorrow I'll finish the siding and cut out the doors.....roofing is next......hmmmmm interesting!




Tools are actually inside now.....still under tarps though.