I’m finally getting a garden shed for potting and storage of all my gardening paraphernalia. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas for me, both for construction and fixing up the inside. Any do’s or don’ts … things you may have in your garden shed that you like or don’t like.
Any help will be much appreciated.
Thanks
Replies
Well, obviously the most important thing for a pot shed is good camouflage. Don't want to make the job too easy for the DEA spy aircraft!
(What? PottING shed?? ... Never mind.)
Funny Dan... so do you have any real suggestions????/
Sorry, no. My wife has a strict anti-shed policy.
As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place. --Rabbi Sheila Peltz, on her visit to Auschwitz
Really Dan?
My shed is my man shack. It's my workshop, office and place to do my thing.
I figure we can't bring back the meat like in old cave man days,, so my being needs to sort threw nuts and bolts and sharpen chisels and chainsaws and have time alone in my shed.
I'm posting a link in a minute!
Used a couple of old shower doors for a section of the roof for lighting, has worked out well.
Can try to take some pix tomorrow if interested in that approach.
Would love to see a picture if you can size it down. I have a dial up modem :0( so photos have to be made smaller or it takes forever to download. I was thinking of skylights, but they're fairly expensive. I never thought 'sliding door'; what a great idea.We went to our local lumber yard today to inquire about pricing, etc. and the manager, a friend of ours had two of those angled windows that fit up high in the peak just under the roof, left over from an order, or returned. I don't know what they're called. but the form a sort of triangle when you put them both together right under the roof peak and he gave them to us, so that solved my light problem. While not a skylight that I had wanted, they will let in plenty of light and that along with a window and some light bulbs should do the trick.
Second what junkhound said. I would put a large work station/bench/table under a large window so it would be flooded with light.
There's nothing like natual light to make a space pleasant.
Will Rogers
I agree about the natural light and do plan a nice workstation under the light that should come in from the window I mentioned in my reply to 'junkhound'. Thanks.
Light from above is fine but a window is better imo. With a window you can look out on a nice area."There are three kinds of men: The one that learns by reading, the few who learn by observation and the rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves."Will Rogers
I agree and I'm planning to have both. I want to have the window located so I can look out while I'm doing my potting. I'm putting the shed where I'll have a nice view of my front yard. Thanks.
Larry Haun had a nice article a few years back on building a garden shed. Might be worth a look for some ideas.
https://www.finehomebuilding.com/how-to/articles/recycled-greenhouse.aspx?nterms=62098&ac=tsra=fp
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I went to the site and they do have some good ideas and suggestions. I bookmarked it so I can check back again and view more pages. Thanks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ThOOrac-KQ
for all you guys who are a bit older than you feel.
sheds rock!
I did one 7 or 8 years ago for a customer. And she had enough design "ideas" for an army.
Mostly what she had though were not ideas, but salvage building materials.
She had a couple of sheets of that crummy corrugated polycarbonate -- enough to do most of the roof.
She had siding that had come from the family's barn -- more then enough for the shed.
She had the storm windows that had been removed from the house when they got vinyl windows installed.
And she had a storm door from the neighbor.
As she was explaining all this, I thought I'd be able to make money on the project, but wouldn't dare tell others to drive by and look.
It ended up looking fairly nice. Clear (almost) roof, lots of glass, siding that matched the other outbuildings.........
I won't be laughing at the lies when I'm gone,
And I can't question how or when or why when I'm gone;
I can't live proud enough to die when I'm gone,
So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here. (Phil Ochs)
That's great that she was able to build a shed she wanted from used material like that. Good for you for building it for her. I hope you did make money. :0)
Been doing a bunch of thinking about what my DGF needs for her potting shed.
Shelving: Deep enough for 24" pots. Bottom shelf just 1 1/4" (3/4" + 1/2") off floor and tall enough to stack 2 @ 24" pots.
Concrete counter: Full width of north wall a couple of inches taller than kitchen cabinets, maybe use 2x8s as base under kitchen cabs. Use rot resistant material or oil based paint on base cabs. Should be 30" deep.
Radiant heat under floor and under most of concrete counter for starts. Needs one controlled zone just for starts.
Pot hanging rod high over Starts countertop.
Roof, south side: 8 mil, triple wall polycarbonate sheets.
Soils storage: Either tilt out bins or rubbermaid type storage boxes slid under shelving.
One dechlorinating barrel and one fish barrel, both aerated and plumbed with RV type pumps.
Entry at least 3'6" wide to easily allow carts and ramped threshold.
SamT
A Pragmatic Classical Liberal, aka Libertarian.
I'm always right!
Except when I'm not.
Sam, thanks so much. That is just what I'm looking for... ideas to get me thinking about what I will need to include. I'm curious as to why you are using concrete for the counter? Would you explain about the dechlorinating barrel and fish barrel and about the aerating and why the pump?
I am planning to have gutters with a downspout so I can have a rain barrel.
I'm curious as to why you are using concrete for the counter?
To be able to use radiant heat under germinating seeds and seedlings and concrete is uber waterproof.
Her potting shed is a greenhouse and the floor is sunk below the frostline, so I have to use special drainage techniques, which means a concrete floor. Since we want radiant in the floor, it's a small step to radiant in the counter.
Would you explain about the dechlorinating barrel and fish barrel and about the aerating and why the pump?
Active aeration expels chlorine faster. She prefers to water with fish water so the aerater is already there. She has a bunch of feeder fish in a 55 gal barrel, and fills the dechlorinater with city water.
RV water pumps are off the shelf with built in pressure switches so they turn on when you open a water valve. They're 12V so they can be powered by a cheap used computer supply, a battery, or a solar cell.
One pumps from dechlorinater to fish, and the other from fish to plants.
I am planning to have gutters with a downspout so I can have a rain barrel.
Connect 2 or more together at the bottoms with 1" or bigger hose.SamTA Pragmatic Classical Liberal, aka Libertarian.
I'm always right! Except when I'm not.
WOW, talk about state of the art. That's going to be some greenhouse AND watering system.
Thanks for answering my questions. From: Barbara
A conservative, conservative. :0)
The garden shed I built for DW is only 10 x 12 for the floor area, so I tried to use every idea to make it all useable space.
Make it tall; ours is 12' to the peak of a 12/12 roof. That way you can build lofts into each end, and stand long stuff upright.
Use a ridge beam with roof joists for framing the roof, so that the entire ceiling is open, with no collar ties or truss chords in the way.
I used the "salt box" style for the roof. The peak is offset to the side so that the long slope of the roof has three 2' x 4' skylights facing south. Skylights are good not only for giving needed sunlight to young plants, but they are also better than windows along the south wall, because you want every inch of wall space for shelving, etc., that you would otherwise lose to wall windows.
The wide entry door is centered under the peak. The peak is offset to the left viewed from the gable end with the door. The space to the left of the door is about 2' wide, and this where the countertop or potting bench runs with a 2' x 3' window above. (This is north-facing.) Having the door crowded to the side with the countertop allows a wide space on the other side for storage. The walkway space is the same space used as you stand at the counter.
The 8-foot-long counter is covered in a one-piece sheet of galvanized sheetmetal that's bent to follow the backsplash and down over the front edge.
The floor is made of 8 x 16 pavers inside a perimeter of 6 x 6 pressure-treated timbers.
The wall plates are screwed to the timbers that frame the floor.
The pavers extend 4' in front of the door to form an apron at the entry. The door should swing out over this apron, not in, so that no inside space is wasted and so that the open door does not cover stuff inside.
Install large gable vents at each end with closeable covers.
Did you need to do much site prep before you laid down the perimeter of 6x6s? Were the 6x6s merely laid on top of the ground?
I over-dug the perimeter by about 8", then packed in 8" of road base gravel, which was leveled and smoothed. The top of the perimeter is only about 1 or 2 inches above the surrounding lawn and flower beds. The wall plates should also be of treated lumber, and be doubled so as to give enough height to create a space for separating the cladding, or siding, from contact with the ground.
After setting the timbers in place, I filled in around their sides with sand.
I also drilled pairs of 5/8" holes thru the timbers at opposing angles and drove 3' pieces of 1/2 rebar thru and on into the ground to help prevent any movement.
The corners, or joints of the timbers were joined with those long lag screws from HD that are sold for joining landscape timbers. (5 years ago, and the entire floor is still solidly in place.)
The pavers should be dry-fit and the joints filled with a broomed-in mixture of sand and cement (about 5 parts sand to 1 part cement). The floor will be permeable this way to absorb spilled water that's inevitable in a potting shed.
For the base below the pavers, I over-dug by about 4" and laid in sand which can be screeded smooth under the pavers.
Methinks that Pictures are in order!
WOW... that is great stuff. Thanks so much for taking the time to send it. I've copied the whole post and will print it out and show to my dh who will be building our shed. We are planning on 10 x 12 and we were told at the lumber yard about making the roof high and open as you said with a ridge beam and we're going to do that. We were going to have skylights but lucked out at the lumber yard where we were given free two of those windows that fit under the peak of the roof. They look like a large triangle when you put both together so we've decided to go with that instead. There were apparently just taking up space and returned from a long ago order. They're fairly large and will give me plenty of natural light and I will just use grow lights for my seedlings. How could I pass up Free?I like the idea of the galvanized sheet metal for the potting bench too. Again thanks for the great ideas. Would love to see pictures if you can post them in a smaller format, we still have DIal Up. :0(
DW likes the copper topped oak potting table that I built for her -
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That is a beautiful piece of furniture, very nicely done. I won't be able to use copper but I like the idea of the hole in the top to brush soil into.. great idea. I told my dh about the different ideas I found here and he said he was considering checking about using a formica type countertop with the rolled over edge. If we could find a long enough piece, maybe even a leftover or something, that would work good. Thanks.
Thanks. A roofer charged us $300 to cover in copper ... when copper was cheaper.
There's a can under the hole. If the hole bothers you (I've done this at request in a kitchen or two) you take a cutting board and add a circular wood plug to the bottom - the board sits there covering the hole most of the time.
Jeff
I don't think the hole will bother me if I'm able to have one. It depends on what we end up using for my potting bench but that's a good idea to cover it.
Thanks Again.
As others have stated, the natural light is a big plus.
I know you mentioned the gable end windows. You might also want to consider putting in translucent roof vents. Let the hot air exhaust and let in quite a bit of light. I bought some at Menards and put them in a shed a few years back - the customer just loves them. Lots of light and much cooler than an unvented roof.
Can't rember the brand of the ones I bought, but here are some examples.
http://www.supershedsworld.com/Super_Sheds.Utah.Skylights.htm
http://www.californiacustomsheds.com/skylite.htm
Ventalation makes for a much more comfortable work space, and might as well get the extra light. Inexpensive as well.
I checked out the links you sent. Thanks, I knew about sky lights but I didn't know there was such a thing as translucent roof vents. Where we live in the mountains of WV, Zone 5, I'm more concerned about it being too cold in the shed than too warm. I know we will need good ventilation though so we have planned for two regular vents and I'm hoping they will keep it cool enough. ALso, because our property is on a large wooded lot, the shed will be mostly shaded except for the front which will face south east so I don't think it will get too hot inside with the two regular vents. I am also planning to have a window I can open which will also help. I enjoyed looking at the web sites you sent and got an idea for a door looking at one of their sheds. We had planned a Dutch door for the front so I could open the top for more light but I really liked the shed with the all glass door with window panes in it. I'm going to show it to my dh and see what he thinks. I can't get over all the great ideas everyone has been sending me... keep em coming.
DW's been happy with this one - I built it over Christmas a few years ago -
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Forrest
Edited 9/4/2009 8:58 pm ET by McDesign
Fronte-er view -
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Forrest
Edited 9/4/2009 9:01 pm ET by McDesign
You are such an overachiever. LOLYou got a thread on building this? Or an interior shot?Happy Labor Day weekend to you all.'Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt man doing it' ~ Chinese proverb
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Thanks - I did come up with some interesting techniques when I built it. I'll take some detail pix and do a little essay tonight - I've got a huge "honey-do' list this long weekend, in exchange for particular, specific favors.
Forrest
Thanks. No rush.But seeing your photos did get me to wondering...why is there often a greater sense of artistry displayed in the design of potting sheds than regular ol' sheds? Maybe gardening tends to be more artful than mowing the lawn.'Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt man doing it' ~ Chinese proverb
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Is that just a potting shed or does it also serve as a greenhouse? The reason I ask is there is ALOT of glass which would be great for a greenhouse. But there are alos sizeable overhangs which would defeat the purpose.I assume size of the overhangs is intentional. Can you elaborate?
Here's DW helping just now - note the great arm development and general shape for mid-forties - yum!
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Forrest
Edited 9/5/2009 12:34 pm ET by McDesign
Almost all of this was leftovers and yard-sale stuff. Water is to a frost-proof outside hydrant, with a washer hose going to the shed water system, which is pitched to run downhill and drain.
So - I leveled (6) DekBlox on packed earth, then shot their various levels, and made short posts and braces, with the highest block having no post at all. Dbl. 2X10 sills on long sides; 2x8@16" OC joists in stirrups - End joist is a 2x8 sistered with a 2x10. AdvanTech floor.
Framing spacing was designed around the window sashes - dad replaced his windows with vinyl and I got these. - they're piano hinged at the top to swing out; close against weatherstripping - wanted it wasp-tight.
2x6 studs, notched at the top to receive a 14' 2x10 on edge - that is the top plate.
Rafters are 8' 2x6; only cut was to bevel against the ridge board. No bird's mouths - rafter ties only Purlins are 16' 2x4; spaced more closely than needed for visual effect.
Roofing is 5-V Ag galvanized sheet.
Siding is vertical Hardi-plank on blocking between the studs - the batten are strips ripped from un-treated 2x pine.
There is a 4x8' section of the roof, facing south, that swings up for sun to come in; we-ve never actually lifted it.
Ramp and stairs are leftover composite deck stuff.
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Forrest
Edited 9/5/2009 1:16 pm ET by McDesign
Guess this should be addressed to you!
Forrest
Thanks so much for sending all the pictures. I dragged them all off to my desktop to show my dh later to see if he can use any of your ideas. I love the single door with windowpanes and was talking to him today about maybe using one of those instead of the Dutch style door we were going to make. Did you get your doors at yard sales too or somewhere else. I'd really like to find out where to get one like it. I guess I can do a web search or check with our lumber yard; they can probably find one for me. I would never get lucky enough to find one at a yard sale. I copied all your building ideas too to show him.
Thanks again.
It was fun to build - I finished it a day or so before Christmas that year, and gave it the four coats of red in freezing weather - seems okay so far . . .
I had lain stuff aside for a few months in preparation, and the design kind of evolved from what I had. I think the only thing I bought new was the roofing.
That big dual-drainboard sink cost me $7 - I saw it in a yard out in the country, stopped and showed the guy who answered the door that it was all I had in my wallet. Rusty old truck has its advantages!
Forrest
We love to pick up stuff at yard sales too. Just yesterday we found a like new glass shower door set that we picked up for 7.00. We're going to use the doors to make two cold frame beds, once at our barn where the vegetable garden is and one at the house near the new garden shed. I was LOL ... showing your wallet... only 7.00 and the old truck to boot.
Pine Harbor Wood Products has a nice site for ideas:
http://www.pineharbor.com
I built one last year for a woman who loved a shed she saw in a magazine or book. Concrete pad, Hardie panel, cedar batten, Miratec trim, etc.
http://www.moritzcarpentry.com/potting_shed.html
That is one NICE retirement gift she gave herself. I'm getting mine because my dh is tired of all my stuff taking up room in his garage. Thanks for the web link; I'll show it to my husband and see if he can get any ideas from it.