Well its not a cabin. 10x8 shed.

[Micah]

Seeing as how winter is practically here  Im not able to start my cabin in NY. So instead I decided to build a very needed shed in my back yard. Thanks to the lovely zoning restrictions in my town the biggest shed I could build is 10x*. I chose 10x8. The usable part of my yard is 38x50 and set backs are 10' from prop. line and 15' from roads. Lucky me neighbor on one side and and alley on the other. Theres 25' of unbuildable area. I decided to build this similar to the Little House Plans 10x14 and use this as a learning experience.

Since this is a shed I decided to use 4 piers instead of 6. Also I thought 6 on a 10x8 shed would be over kill. I also only dug the piers 24" instead of 48". Here are a few pictures of my progress so far.

Here is a before picture.


Here is the end of day one. I got my holes dug (by hand) and my posts cemented in. Took about 4 hours total.



Here is the end of day two. I got the posts cut down to size. I know they look low to the ground but I live in a flood plan which means that my has to be lower that 12" of the ground so I can install vents at the bottom to allow water to flow in and the back out. I also have my beams leveled and nailed in to place.



I plan to go tomorrow and get the 2x4 and OSB for the floor. I have a question about windows. Im not sure what size windows I will be getting. Since Im broke Im waiting for a set of used ones to show up on craigslist. What size window opening should I frame? What is the most common window size? After chatting with my dad who has 30+ years of carpentry/fine woodworking experience I might have him just make me some windows.

Well thats all for tonight. Please criticize but be gentle this is my first time.

[Redoverfarm]

Not real sure of your building requirements with the permits but normally in a flood plan you have to build higher off the ground than normal.  Oh Well do as they say.

Regarding the windows you should make them coincide with the buildings demensions. Since the building is rather small I don't think I would go with the standard 3/0 or larger window.  Even a smaller demension would work quite nicely.  The door of course would be a normal 2/6 or 3/0 if only foot traffic is used.  Something larger for mower storage. Sometimes odd sized doors and windows can be found easier at bargin prices which are ordered wrong and have a substantial discount. 

You mentioned 2X4 and OSB. Even though it is a shed I would probably opt for 2X6 instead for floor joist. 

Irregardless of window sizes, door sizes or joist demensions you will be able to experience  the process and when the times comes you will have the basic's only having to increase the rough openings and use larger demensional lumber for your house.  Good starter project.  Keep everyone posted on your progress. 

[TexstarJim]

It looks really great and those beams look sturdy.  You're off to a good start.  I agree with red, you should probably upsize to a 2x6 floor joist and that close to the ground, I advise you use treated lumber.  Also, you might want to consider some protection from moisture to your beams.  If you can still pull them, I'd put a couple of coats of oil based paint all the way around and especially make sure the ends of the beams are sealed.

Keep us updated and good luck to you.

[speedfunk]

I just wanted to add  that I  used 2"x4"'s on my 8x8  and it worked out fine ( There is a bit of flex but nothing i would consider bad or remotely unsafe).  I'm sure 2x6 would be stiffer.  It all depends what your going to use the shed for i guess.

nice work

[MountainDon]

I built an 8x8 shed last year. I used 2x6's for the floor joists, on top of 6x6 beams. They were all PT. As well I used 3/4" PT plywood for the floor. From there up it was all WW. The PT costs more but I know they will last a lot longer. Plus it was required by code, even if there was no permit involved.  

One difference I see though is that my beams were 8 feet apart at the outside edge. Your appear to be spaced closer. However, the joist span calculator indicates that 2x4 SPF #2 joists on 16" centers will span only 5'11". That's using 40# psf load and L/360 deflection. When wood is damp as wood that close to the floor is it also becomes less stiff.

I felt safer with 2x6 as I had no idea what I might have in the shed at any time. As it turned out once there was 470 sq ft of ceramic floor tile piled up for 6 months. Before that 30 - 60# bags of Quikrete.

Are your posts PT wood. If they are PT beams and joists would be, would have been, a better choice than plain ordinary wood. If the posts are not PT, then it doesn't matter much. But WW that low to the ground could have a shorter than expected life.

A thought on the windows. It would make framing simpler if the windows fit between studs. Do the eindows have to be opening or would fixed windows be okay? If fixed is okay and you are trying to low ball this on price think about building a window in place. The simplest would be a pane of glass/acrylic sheet held in place with wood strips. If you are careful and slope the sill outwards you should be able to make them rain proof enough for a shed, especially as you may have water lowing through the lower part anyways.  

G/L on everything

[Micah]

I really wish I could go with 2x6 I already have 9 PT boards, but that would bring me WAY over the 12" mark need for the floor vents. I don't understand the flood thing either. All the flood built houses are build WAY off the ground and they dont have any vents in them.

I think im going to do what MountainDon said about the windows and just use a piece of glass since they dont need to open. I think im going to go with a big sliding barn style door. Looks like rain for the next few days so I wont be able to move forward.

[MountainDon]

I am really puzzled by that 12" thing. You're certain that they don't mean 12" above ground is the minimum height?    Especially when you state that the flood built houses are built way up off the ground. The way you describe foes not make sense to me. But that won't be the first time I fail to understand the reasons behind some code rule/decision.

[Micah]

I called yesterday to double check on the vents and he told me that the lower the vents are to the ground the better. They have to be below 12" though. I went and measured the distance from the outside of the beam to the out side of the other beam and I get 52". I should be ok with 2x4?

[TexstarJim]

I guess I don't understand?

[Micah]

MountainDon had said

the joist span calculator indicates that 2x4 SPF #2 joists on 16" centers will span only 5'11".

I was guessing he ment the distance between the beams.

[MountainDon]

I was guessing he meant the distance between the beams.

That is correct. The span is the distance between the beams as measured from one inner side to the other inner side. 

                                [beam]<------span------>[beam]