Comments on: Building a Shed under a Deck

By: Alan Lilly

Alan Lilly — Wed, 16 May 2012 02:01:21 +0000

I can’t honestly say. It’s been a while since I built it. If I were to take a guess … I’d say, I spent more to build the small deck above it and that was about $1700. Having the concrete pad poured for the shed was the most expensive. There isn’t much to the shed as you can see… just some 2×4′s, plywood, a cheap window, vincyl siding (second most expensive), some cedar for the doors and a bunch of nails, screws and misc.

By: jeffrey

jeffrey — Wed, 16 May 2012 01:31:57 +0000

how much did the shed cost you to build????

By: Alan Lilly

Alan Lilly — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 01:29:34 +0000

@George Chancellor My walls are completely unattached to the deck. I did bolt the walls to the concrete slab. I built the shed with 4 walls, not just 3 and put strong 3/4 plywood sheathing on the outside. The walls feel very very strong and stable without sway or movement. We've had 70 mph winds and the shed is rock solid. In the last picture you can see I wrapped the deck floor with a skirt board which hides the gap very effectively and completely prevents driving rain, snow and wind from causing trouble. I cut oversized strips of quality seat foam (from Joann craft store) and filled the gap between the shed walls and the deck. Anyone that looks a the shed (inside or out) doesnt even notice the gap. The shed appears completely solid and sealed. When I get time I plan on shooting some detailed video, inside and outside so that everyone can clearly see its construction. Good Luck! Be sure to send pictures of your deck shed!

By: George Chancellor

George Chancellor — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 23:51:40 +0000

I stumbled across your webpage. Love the deck. I have been planning a similar design since we built the house. I too live in colder area (MN), I did my deck in 06, and the patio (shed floor) in 08. My question is did you attach the (or brace) the shed walls to the deck at all? I was looking at placing 1/2″ bolts coming down from the deck to keep the walls from moving since they do not have a roof for support. My thought is that if I do not support the walls with the deck then a nice wind storm may damage the walls. We get a nice wind tunnel effect in the back yard, since it is all open (new subdivision)
Yes when I attach the walls to the deck there will be 3/4 -1″ space between the wall and deck for heaving. How did you handle this and have you had any problems with the walls swaying? Also my deck is 22 x 16.

By: Alan Lilly

Alan Lilly — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 15:07:20 +0000

@Jane Klembarsky My deck has 2 massive posts (4 glued 2x6s) that are nearly 6 feet deep... that is way below the frost layer. I put concrete at the bottom of my post holes with a couple roof shingles on top of the concrete. Then when I set my posts, as I added dirt, I packed the dirt really hard. By the time the post was set in the hole and the dirt was packed, it felt very very solid and immovable. My posts have never moved since. Since the concrete shed pad was poured around the posts (with relief shims), I can clearly see and measure the amount my concrete heaves in the winter and subsides in the summer, relative to my posts. It is very important that an attached deck NOT heave every winter. Because your deck will weaken and FALL off your house unexpectedly. An un-attached deck should work, but you need to leave a couple inch drop from your door so that the deck surface will not rise above your door threshold in the winter. Otherwise, melting snow and ice will want to come inside.

By: Jane Klembarsky

Jane Klembarsky — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 14:29:11 +0000

Thanks for already doing what we were trying to create! We, too, live in very clay-packed soil west of Mpls, MN. My husband and I were wondering – since your shed can rise and fall with the winter frost heave, how did you manage to build your DECK so that IT doesn’t twist and heave? Our neighbors’ decks (built on the north sides of their homes) all heave up in the winter and they have 5′ deep posts on top of foam and they have issues…our deck will be built on the south side of our home, if that matters. Those with decks on the south side don’t seem to have as severe an issue with heaving. We were thinking of just putting the deck right on top of the shed but not attaching it to the house. OR, we were weighing using the Oz Deck post system. Your thoughts on all these issues? THANK YOU so very much!

By: Slagood

Slagood — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 19:38:49 +0000

While I do respect the nice job you did on this…

Maybe you should have considered moving to a warmer climate where you can sleep outside when the wife kicks you out?

By: Candace

Candace — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 02:25:15 +0000

Thank you so so much! We are getting ready to close on a house and have a different issue with storage. The house we are buying has a deep sloped yard in the back. We are thinking of building a “pier” deck over the slope and I wanted to maximize the space underneath for storage.

Your shed is inspiring!

By: Alan Lilly

Alan Lilly — Tue, 31 May 2011 21:48:28 +0000

@Todd You can download the sketchup model above to see the exact dimensions of my door. I dimensioned the cedar boards in my woodshop, assembled, and coated with 4-5 coats of epifanes varnish. The tricky part was the fact that my concrete pad sloped downhill, so I had to shape the bottom of both doors to match the ground contour. My doors are hobbit doors and I have to duck my head like Gandalf, but once I'm inside the shed I can stand up without hitting my head.

By: Todd

Todd — Tue, 31 May 2011 21:33:21 +0000

Alan, sorry for all the questions here, but im wondering if you could tell me how did your door for you shed, i dont think ill have enough head room for an overhead or walkthrough door and i like how you did yours?

Thanks for all your help