Designing and building your own shed can save you hundreds of dollars.
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While deciding how big to make the shed draw up some rough sketchs of your deign.
There are four main phases to consider while laying out your plans.
Beginning with the floor start by using 6"x 6" pressure treated post to build the floor on. This will prevent the floor from rotting and will be sturdy.
Based on the dimensions of your design and what you use for the floor joist will determine how many treated post to use.
Keep in mind the total width of the floor, add the width of the 6x6 post and floor joist plus the 3/4" plywood sheating, this would be the total width of the floor.
The ground elevation relevant to where the top of the floors elevation will be should be pre-determined.
The next step would be building the walls. For basic wall structure and design see building walls. After building the walls you will have to install temporary bracing to hold the walls straight and level while you frame the roof of the shed.
Most lumber yards carry standard prefab trusses varying in pitch, style, and length. The bottom chord length of the truss would be the over all outside to outside width dimension for the floor and walls as shown below.
The length dimension of the shed would determine how many trusses you would need. The standard roof truss layout is every 2'(22-1/2" inside). For example if the shed dimensions are 10'x14' the bottom chord of the roof truss would be 10' and you would need eight trusses to span 14'.
Although trusses are easier to install then rafters, its cheaper to cut rafters and frame the roof. Like trusses rafters should be layed out 2' on center.
The last phase to consider during planning is the exterior of the building. Using vinyl siding on the exterior walls and shingles on the roof is the most common method for finishing the sheds exterior.
