How to build a garden shed: Cutting the wood

The winter months are finally behind us and we’re now able to welcome in the Spring sunshine, the warmer weather, and make use of our back gardens (hurrah).

As we’re all under government advised lockdown, it’s important we keep ourselves busy, stay proactive and make the most out of our time at home.

So, in this journal entry, we’ll be giving you a brief overview on how to build a garden shed – starting with cutting the wood. This will be perfect weekend activity and will help you manage all of those miscellaneous items you find strewn across your home and garden – tidy home, tidy mind.

So, here are the main steps you need to follow.

Step one

Initially you’ll want to cut the foundation boards to size. Cut three 2-by-8 in boards to 16 feet, and trim two 2-by-6 in boards to 16 feet. Following this, cut 15 2-by-6 in boards to fit across the centre of the floor, going from one mudslip to the other.

Step two

Now onto the walls. First, you’ll want to cut 2-by-4 in pieces to length for the walls. Cut 26 boards to your pre-determined height – so six boards for the back wall and 10 for each of the sides. Then for the front of your shed, you’ll want four boards that are 12 feet high.

For the bottom and top of the wall frames, you can use four boards that are 113 in long for the front and back walls, and four boards that are 192 in long for the side.

Step three

Next up you’ll need to make the triangular roof braces. Using plywood, measure 188.5 in on the bottom, then 72 in in a right degree angle on either side, creating a triangle – then cut this piece out and set aside.

Once complete, cut the hypotenuse at an angle on both ends, measure up four boards to go vertically in the triangle and then cut boards for the following two triangles, one for each side.

Step four

And finally (for the wood cutting element of the shed build), you need to trim the roof boards. So, cut two 2-by-8 in boards to 10 feet, one each to go on the top of the walls at the front and back. Cut 11 2-by-8 in rafters for the roof, and then measure how long you want yours to be when you get the roof up.

Get in touch

So, that was your whistle-stop tour of how to build a garden shed – beginning with cutting wood. If you want to find out how to complete the job from start to finish, just head on over here.

If you’d like to speak to a timber consultant about building your own garden shed, or want a bit more information on what we can offer you, get in touch and we’ll be able to help you out!

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