How To Build A shed

How To Build a Rustic Wooden Fence

Tue, 26 Sep 2017 12:00:00 +0300

We lived with an ugly mesh-fence on our backyard for quite some time. I can't stand it anymore. We wanted wooden fence and a classic outlook so we chose a rustic design that has been very typical in the past here. Here's how a piece of this fence looks:

This is a relatively easy project but there are little pitfalls you should watch out for. So let me describe the whole process in details:

Laying Out a Concrete Foundation

Now, this is something you can live without depending on your specific conditions. Normally a concrete foundation is required to ensure an even ground under the fence and to protect the wooden boards from grass etc. Another important thing is it will prevent animals like dogs or wild animals from digging and passing through below the fence. Our backyard is quite uneven so some kind of foundation was absolutely required. Yours may differ and you can in some cases entirely avoid it, or just make a base from large wooden planks.

So, you'll need a bit of digging the ground, formwork and concrete. This is the least interesting and most boring work on the fence so we hired a neighbor to do it.

Prepare the Wood

There are many ways to make a wooden fence. Our choice was simple yet elegant and very traditional for our area design - although it's hard to find such fences nowadays. The construction is very simple:

Two horizontal boards long about 5 - 6 ft (1.6m - 1.8m). They are on equal sizes in pairs but not all are equal because the distance between the vertical iron pipes isn't exactly equal. These boards will hold the vertical boards.

Vertical boards 4 ft / 130 cm each with a triangular end at the top. I just cut the triangle at 45° because it looks good and is simple to do with a square.

So you need to do some cutting and a lot of planing and grinding. At least I had to do it because the pine material we get here is not planed.

Build it Up

Once you have the vertical pillars in place and enough boards you can prepare the pieces of your fence. Our units had 12 - 14 boards each, spaced at 1.5" / 4 cm from each other. Spacing is rarely exact the same on the different units because of the uneven length of the units themselves.

I first mounted each unit on the workbench. I strongly recommend this way of doing the things because it's much easier to evenly distribute the boards and keep straight angles while the whole thing is horizontal on the workbench. The downside is that it's a bit heavy and not that easy to attach on the pillars.

Our pillars are made from rectangular steel tubes so we used metal plates to attach the fence units to them. If you can use wooden pillars, the job can be much easier. We made a mistake by using steel, it was harder to drill, required plates, and costs more.

Nevertheless, the result at the end was quite good. If only we didn't have to make another 20 meters of fence now! :)

Is The Angle Grinder The Most Useful Tool For DIY?

Wed, 09 Aug 2017 12:00:00 +0300

When I first realized I needed an electric sander my idea was to get an orbital sander. They are easy to use, very safe, cheap, and seem to do a decent work. Don't get me wrong, it's all true. But then, having a budget for only one machine I was wondering would an angle grinder be any good too. Finally I bough both very cheap. I could not know back then I will now use the angle grinder for almost everything and the orbital sander will mostly stay and collect dust.

The angle grinder is an exceptional machine. It's a lot more than a sander: it can sand, grind, polish metal, and most important than all it can cut almost everything. The angle grinder is especially good for cutting metal, sanitary ware, granite tiles, bricks. Just about anything. It's light, affordable and not hard to work with. The only downside is that working with it is a bit dangerous and you should be serious about safety. But more about this below.

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Types of Angle Grinders

This is not some kind of scientific categorization, it's just an useful way to think about angle grinders especially if you are choosing your first one. So generally I would separate them by two criteria: by size and by power source. Yeah, one can say they also split on professional, semi-professional and hobby ones, but this is the same for almost all power tools.

By Power Source

The electric angle grinders are most popular. They have a cable and work with 100v - 220v depending on your network. They come with different power usage - from 500W to several KW. In general the larger is your grinder, the more KW it needs to work well. Avoid those with too little power, they are not good. Even the smallest grinder should be at least 700W. There are ones at 500W but they are usually too weak.

Battery powered. Of course this is again electricity, but there is no cable. It could be very useful if you have to work in places with no electricity or on a roof, etc. Downsides: they are more expensive, heavier because of the battery, and the power tends to end when you need it most. Still sometimes a battery powered angle grinder is a life savior.

There are also pneumatic grinders. They are a good alternative to battery powered tools as long as you have a tool to pump them with compressed air.

And of course you can choose a fuel powered angle grinder - typically for industrial work in the fields etc. These are generally large and professional instruments and will rarely find place in the hobby builder's workshop.

By Size

Angle grinders come in several sizes. How to choose the right one for you? Let's see:

4.5" / 115mm. This is the smallest possible size for an angle grinder. I like this size a lot because it's light and good for using with one hand. At the same time it's large enough to cut a rebar or elbow which is mostly why I ever need an angle grinder. These are cheap, and the disks for them are cheapest too.

5" / 125mm is the most universal size. It's still good for using with one hand, but a bit heavier. However these tend to be of a better quality than the smallest ones, and the slightly larger disks allow you to cut more elements.

9" / 230mm. I'll jump directly on the largest size. There are medium sizes - 7" for example - but typically you'll either need a small one or a really big one. The 9" angle grinders are heavy and dangerous and they should always be used with two hands. Think whether you need such one at all - many of hobby builders simply don't.

So, What Can You Do With Them?

Obviously the main purpose of a grinder is to grind and polish stuff. I am using my angle grinders a lot to sand wood boards and beams because we have no access to planned material here. I love doing with with my hand plane but it takes so much more time. So I am using an electric planner for the rough planning and then further polishing the wood with the angle grinder. If I really have time I may also go with an orbital sander at the end.

You can also use it to grind metal. Be careful and don't mix grinding disk with cutting disks. Also, when working with metal always wear protection gear.

However the angle grinder is used a lot more for cutting stuff rather than sanding and grinding. There are disks for cutting metal, ceramic and even wood. Using the grinder is probably the easiest way to cut metal at the home workshop. Be really careful: at the speed of 10,000 - 12,000 rpm these disks rotate really fast and cut everything. Follow all the safety recommendation and don't cut with the angle grinder when you are tired.

Safety

So, what are these safety measures we are talking about? Well, most angle grinders have specific safety instructions but here are the most common recommendations:

Wear protection gloves. Don't rely too much on them: these disks really cut. But still they can save you from light injures especially when sanding.

Wear protection glasses. I would say do this always, but especially when cutting metal.

If you are sanding wood or cutting ceramic, wear a breathing mask. These small particles are really nasty and fly everywhere.

Don't work when too tired, period. If you have a project you absolutely must finish fast, do the angle grinder cutting before other less dangerous tasks.

Use disks made for your grinder. Follow the instructions of every specific disk and never use tired disks from larger grinder on small ones - they are made for different rotating speeds!

Never work without the recommended protector on the grinder. Some grinders have different protectors for the different operations. Follow the instructions. This is not a joke.

Other Types of Sanders

While the angle grinder is the first you need to buy, there are some other types of grinders that you may want to add at some point:

The orbital sanders are good for fine-tuning your work, for taking off paint from metal, and so on. They are extremely easy to work with and very safe, but generally slow and not too powerful.

The eccentric sander is like an orbital sander on steroids. It's used with the same purpose but is more powerful workhorse that can be used for parquet flooring for example. Of course, eccentric sanders are more expensive too.

Belt sander are used more often in professional shops and typically but not always they are stationary, fixed on the table. They are used for removing metal, grinding wheels, etc.

Introduction to Welding

Mon, 29 May 2017 12:00:00 +0300

When I was starting some basic DIY stuff, mostly with wood, working with metal seemed like something too far fetched from me. It required special equipment, better tools, more safety measures and stronger hands. And one part of it looked especially scary: welding.

Do you feel the same way? You don't have to. Welding is not that complicated, not that dangerous if you take care about safety, and tools are no longer so expensive. Everyone can weld. Mastery is a different thing of course.

Why Learn To Weld

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Because it's fast and very robust way to join two pieces of metal together. Because it's professional. Because it's fun. Of course welding is not always the best solution - there are good alternatives given at the end of this article. Many people learn to weld, buy welding equipment and then start welding everything. This is of course stupid. Part of mastering welding is to know when not to weld.

If you need a robust joint between two metal pieces that will not need to be separated, then welding is probably the best choice.

Learning to weld will make you much faster in your DIY projects, will save you money, and can even allow you to make money welding on other people's projects. It's a very valuable skill.

Safety First

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Welding is dangerous compared to screwing bolts, don't you think? This shouldn't stop you from learning to do it, but you ought to know the risks:

Electric shock. Wear dry gloves and work in good conditions. Electric shock is not a joke, it's a life threatening hazard.

Metal oxide and other gases. The gases come from the welding consumables and the metal itself. This won't kill you immediately but can harm your health long term. You must ensure good ventilation and avoid over exposing yourself to dangerous gases.

Explosions and fires. Welding a full fuel tank for example is an exceptionally bad idea. Make sure there are no fire hazards around you and the welding area because the voltage and heat can detonate and put on fire a lot of stuff.

Welding injures. Usually not fatal, they are one of the most common hazards because a lot of hobby welders do not wear protection equipment. You must wear all the protection equipment all the time!. All the equipment, all the time. More about the equipment is available later in this article.

Don't let fear drive you away though. There are so many people welding as their trade and most of them are in good health - if you follow the safety prescriptions you should be fine.

Where and How to Start

Technically anywhere, but before you even think about starting, get a book on welding and get to know the main concepts. Welding For Dummies is a pretty good choice. Get and read the book: this is a no joke advice and it's not optional. If you never welded before you need a book, period.

Once you get to know the main concept, you need at the very minimum:

A welder. Cheap one is OK, see the recommendations in "Choosing equipment" below. Used is also OK.

Some consumables. You can buy those at your local hardware shop or purchase them online along with the welder (you can save money).

Personal protection equipment. A must! Used is OK, if it's in good condition.

You'll also need some metal parts to weld. My strong recommendation is not to start with a real project. Welding takes some time to practice. Get some scrap metal parts and just join them together. If you don't have much of it, you can weld together, then break apart using a hacksaw or an angle grinder, and join again and again until you gain some experience.

Then your first real projects should be something that you can weld at a comfortable place - a table or at least on the ground. NOT a metal shed roof for example, where you'll have to stay on a ladder and not comfortable.

Remember: it takes some time and practice to become a good welder.

Most Important Things to Consider

Besides safety, it's important to know that welding should be applied only when appropriate. Until you master it, if ever, you are not going to make too precise welds. Your joints will probably be visible so don't use welding for small parts that need perfect aesthetics.

Welding, when done well, is more robust than joining parts with nuts and bolts. However, unlike joining with bolts, it's a one-way process and you can't deconstruct your building. Think twice before welding projects that you are not sure you will want long-term.

Welding mistakes can be expensive. Once you join two pieces of metal by welding, the pieces are no longer usable for anything else, at least not in their eternity. If you want to reuse, you'll need to use the angle grinder to break them apart with some material loss.

Choosing Equipment

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Choosing welding equipment can be a wide topic that many DIY welders have strong feelings about. I'll stay away of going too deep or too detailed and will just give you a few basic recommendations on the most important parts of welding equipment. There are two main parts of it: the working equipment (the welder tool itself) and the personal protection equipment. So let's focus on these:

The welder. This is the main and most important tool for welding. When starting out I recommend to buy an affordable but decent welder. Don't buy the cheapest Chinese stuff because it's not going to last long. Your goal is both to buy beginner's equipment without spending too much, but also to have a perfectly usable tool for your future DIY projects when you become good enough. There's no point in buying super cheap welder to learn on it, and then another expensive one for your real work. If you want to go deep and know a lot before choosing, I recommend you this guide and that guide.

If you'd rather just get a good welder at excellent price trusting the thousands of customers who loved it, I'd recommend you Goplus MIG 130 Welder Flux Core Wire Automatic Feed Welding Machine. It's only $99 and comes with a free mask!

The personal protection equipment. A mask and gloves are absolute minimum safety equipment for welding. Don't ever weld without mask or gloves. It's also recommended to have good protection clothes, but mask and gloves are absolutely necessary. You can start with a cheap classic helmet like Neiko 53847A Industrial Grade Welding Helmet. Later, when you start doing lots of welding in your DIY projects, get a perfect helmet like this one.

Where to Learn

As I recommended earlier, it's best to buy at least one book on welding. You should then start doing some basic projects by welding few pieces together and slowly upgrading your skills. But maybe you are not a book lover. Maybe you don't want to go slow. There are of course many other options. I'll suggest a couple:

This excellent guide on Instructables. It's almost book-long but easier to read, free, and with lots of pictures.

Watch the welding for beginners video. In just 30 minutes it will give you the very basics of this trade.

Welding Alternatives

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My favorite way of joining metal parts is using bolts. Do not always go for welding, using bolts has many advantages. It doesn't require special equipment. It's easier and safer. It's cheaper. Parts joined with bolts can be separated easily. Of course, welding has advantages - it's faster and more robust. And not all shapes can be joined by bolts, while almost every piece of metal can be welded into another one.

There are other options too. Using rivets is easier and faster than using bolts. However parts joined by rivets aren't as robust as welded parts and can't be broken apart easily like those joined by bolts.

Don't forget that soldering is also an option when you don't need sturdiness. Soldering is easy and safe, and you can buy the equipment and consumables for less than $20.

Another alternative is using adhesives. They are not always applicable and have their downsides but sometimes your problem can be solved with proper adhesives much easier than welding.

Welding is not the ultimate answer to everything. However it is a very valuable skill and our world wouldn't be the same without welding. As a DIY skill it could be super useful for many projects in the household.

Building and Outdoor Wooden Sink

Mon, 27 Feb 2017 12:00:00 +0200

This is not a tutorial. It's a story of how we built our outdoor wooden sink. But I promise, there are good images and enough details so you can get an idea how you can build a similar one yourself.

Here is a bit of introduction. We were planning to build this outdoor sink at least two years ago. But other projects and health issues delayed it. When we came here first here in the country I was watering the garden using a water can. No joke. There was no water outside of the house so imagine me running with a water can 50 times every other day trying to water the raised beds with vegetables. They were dry all the time.

Next year we bought several garden hoses and started watering this way. The water was coming from the kitchen so I had to keep the door slightly open and watch for the cats not to go inside. Painful but much much better than using a water can. Finally last year I drilled a hole in the wall and put a faucet on the outside wall of the house. What a relief!

So here we go, the last year we finally decided to build an outdoor sink. I don't like concrete, and the ready made concrete sinks available here are looking horrible. Not to mention they are expensive too. And I've no idea how will they bring that heavy stuff here. So you guessed, we chose wood.

Preparing the Ground

As much as I wanted to go without any concrete, the uneven ground and having too much weeds made us decide in its favor. We called the neighbor for help and ended up with a nice area and pathway:

The total for this was about $100 for materials and $100 for work. More than the sink itself, but we had some budget so not a big deal.

Preparing The Cabinet Parts

As you'll see we did not want just a sink, but some kind of a small cabinet where to hold some buckets, tools etc stuff. We wanted it to be looking good too :) We don't have much choice of material here - just same type of rough pine boards and beams. But I wanted to keep this project rustic and affordable so the available material was good enough.

Here is the most fun part for me. I did not want to use too much hardware so decided to use purely woodworking joints with variations of mortises and tenons. Here's a bit of hand work, my pleasure:

It was quite a bit of work with the drill and the chisels:

Some of the pieces had tenons, other were connected with squared treenails.

Building the Stuff Together

The whole thing has almost no nails or screws except for the door hinges. Here are some details:

I made this rabbet with the hand saw so it's not very precise. Good enough for such kind of project. Chiseled a bit here and there but it was tiresome so finally got the angle grinder and grinded the rough places of the rabbet with it. This did the work. And here is how we started building the opening for the sink itself:

And here we go, kind of ready:

We used a hose to connect the water because pipes were too much work... well, we'll probably have to work on pipes this year because hoses can't sustain the water pressure. Anyway, the sink is functional for the moment and looks good. Or at least I think so :)

Gazebo Ideas: Building a Backyard Gazebo

Fri, 25 Nov 2016 12:00:00 +0200

Ready with your shed? Bored because you have no projects to do, your tools stay sad and clean, your workbench is screaming for work? Hold on, there is always something new to build. What about a gazebo?

Building a gazebo is excellent project to fine-tune your woodworking skills further. Yes, gazebos usually have have no sides and shelves but can often be more complicated for building than a shed. Why so? Mostly because of the multi-angular roof, the benches inside, the visual elements on the sides. A shed can be beautiful. A gazebo must be.

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So, here we go: we have collected some nice "build a gazebo" tutorials and plans for you plus several great examples for inspiration:

Here is a page with 10 Free Gazebo Plans for wooden gazebos. The second one is a very classic gazebo, number 4 is relatively simple, and number 7 is illustrated very well.

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WikiHow is usually a decent source for how-tos and this time makes no exception. Their How to Make a Gazebo guide is simple to follow although not too detailed. But the lack of too much detail is not bad because it gives you freedom to build your gazebo the way you want.

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The most complicated part of building a gazebo is building the roof. Especially when the roof is multi-angled and not just some kind of a gable roof. Gazebos typically have more complicated roofs than sheds. So here's a great guide about doing this. The same site also publishes rectangular gazebo plans which could be useful if you want to do a bit simpler project.

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A bunch of selected links to free plans is available on this page. If you are looking for a simple solution have a look at project number 4 - it has an easy to build gable roof. If you are already good and not scared of more complicated stuff, project 12 is for you.

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MotherEarthNews is as usual a lot more descriptive than visual. If you like reading more than watching pictures, their guide is quite detailed and good.

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Here's another project for those who prefer simple stuff: Build a Hip-Roof Gazebo. While the hip roof is not as simple as for example a lean-to roof, it's still not that hard either. And because this one is almost flat, it's easy to work on top without being too worried about falling down.

And let's finish with this very detailed guide with lots of pictures and drawings.

Greenhouses

Thu, 05 May 2016 12:00:00 +0300

Many of us use their backyards for more practical purposes than keeping a lawn. And what could be more practical than growing some fresh veggies on your own? Depending on where exactly you live, the growing season can be long or short. For those of us living in places with shorter season, there is still a solution to extend it - build a greenhouse.

Building a greenhouse is usually easier than building a shed and can be cheaper, or not. If you build a large greenhouse with glass, isolation and steel construction the cost can be far higher than the cost of a decent wooden or metal shed. But these greenhouses aren't the only possibility.

Types of Greenhouses

There are a lot of typizations of greenhouses. I don't want to get scientific here, this is not a textbook. Let's focus on the main types of greenhouses that interested as homeowners and mostly as DIY guys. So we'll do our own typization here.

Large Greenhouses

These are all greenhouses where you can go inside yourself to start your seeds or grow your produce. Obviously such a construction will have minimum height of about 2 meters and be at least 2-3 m long and wide. In most cases these are more useful as they can help you grow high plants like tomatoes, cucumbers and so on.

The problem with them is of course you need more space in your garden and more material to build them.

Small Greenhouses: Hoop Houses and Cold Frames

Small greenhouses are those where you can't enter inside. They are either too small generally or at least not high enough, like the short hoophouses. Such greenhouses are suitable for starting seeds or for growing vegetables that are not tall. For example many gardeners grow green onions in loophouses or cold frames during winter. You can also grow all kind of leafy vegetables like kale, spinach, lettuce, and so on.

The main advantage is that they are simple constructions and easy to make. Small hoop tunnels are often sold at hobby stores for very little money and you don't even need to make them. Cold frames can be made of scrap wood and windows.

By The Material: Wooden, Steel or Plastic

All greenhouses need some kind of supporting construction. Usually you'll find wood used on the older ones. Wood is affordable and easier to work with. It rots over time, shrinks and expands under the sun however. So it clearly has some advantages. Also, if your greenhouse is going to use glass rather than PVC sheets, the wood construction needs to be thicker.

The best solution is typically a steel frame. While steel is going to rust over time, it will outlive most wooden constructions. It's also robust enough to hold even a large greenhouse with glass or plexiglass. Steel is also affordable. The main problem is it requires welding and tools for cutting steel. If you don't have these tools and skills, using it in a DIY project is out of question.

It's also possible to construct your greenhouse using plastic or PVC pipes. This is very common solution with hoop houses - the pipes can be easily bent and form the construction quickly. But you can use PVC pipes even for a gable roof greenhouse. They are robust, very easy to work with, and quite durable. Note only that plastic loses its durability from strong sunlight and low temperatures. So PVC pipes aren't the best solution for places with harsh weather.

At the end the choice of material comes down to your skills, tools, personal preferences, and financial calculations.

Heated or Cold

One major typization of greenhouses is whether they are heated or not heated (cold). Using artifical heat can greatly extend your growing season and give you fresh produce of even heat-loving vegetables during the winter. This comes with its price: not just the fuel for heating, but also installing proper heating appliances, watching out to keep the right temperature etc. In general the hobby greenhouses are usually not heated.

Any greenhouse that does not use artifical heat is considered "cold". This includes cold frames, sun rooms, hoop houses etc. You can consider using some kind of extra solar heating (via panels, mirrors etc) for a cold greenhouse and thus get better temperature inside. But sun is not available in the night which can expose your greens to greater temperature differences between night and day. To some extent this can be avoided by using thermal mass like buckets with water, stones etc.

By Purpose: Seed Starting or Growing

Most hobby homesteaders will use the same greenhouse for both although unheated ones aren't that good for seed starting. It might be best to keep your seedlings at home and bring them to the greenhouse only after they sprout. And make sure the night temperatures won't kill them!

Cold frames and small greenhouses will often be used only for seed starting because they are not high enough to keep high plants. Large greenhouses are typically using for extending the growing season and grow stuff like cucumbers and tomatoes earlier or later in the season.

A Bunch of Greenhouse Ideas

And if you need a bit of inspiration, we have collected a bunch of ideas for you:

A straw bale cold frame which is quite cheap and does a good job with the insulation.

Making a hoop house over a raised bed is a very typical and easy choice for the hobby garden.

Since you are on a site moslty about sheds and barns, you'll love this one!

A lovely fold-down lean-to greenhouse idea is available here.

The geo-dome is a bit harder to make yourself, but it's very interesting and practical.

Why not an underground greenhouse? They clearly have their advantages, although can often require more work and the sunlight during winter might be somewhat not sufficient.

I also like this table-top greenhouse idea a lot. It's simple and good for seed starting or growing flowers and herbs.

Greenhouses are a huge topic and there are many sources of inspiration. It doesn't take much to start with a small cold frame and enjoy the benefits!

Repurposing Old Barns

Fri, 19 Feb 2016 12:00:00 +0200

Barns are slowly turning into historical buildings. This is sad for those of us who love them. There are still farms that use them, but most of the barns out there crumble and aren't going to be here soon. If this fills you with nostalgy you are not alone. But here we come: we have some ideas how to repurpose old barn or at least the wood from an old barn, and give it a new life. So if you are a happy owner of a piece of land with a barn on it, read on!

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Repurposing Into Shed or Workshop

What would you expect from a site like ours? :) Of course my first thought is to repurpose a barn into a storage shed. The advantage is that there will be a lot of space for everything, and it can probably look good. There is no lack of disadvantages however:

Such project could be quite expensive for a shed.

You probably won't be able to use all the vertical space unless you build a second floor (more money).

It may require even more money to remove insects, odors etc - again a bit too complicated for a shed.

But even with these advantages it could be tempting idea. If you need some inspiration check out this great project.

Repurposing into Home

While this is far more ambitious thing to do, it's also more popular. Typically it's worth the effort to repurpose a barn into home because the cost is still lower than building a home from scratch (well, usually). And the final result can be stunning. There is too many ways to do this so we'll just give you a bunch of links for inspiration:

Here is an amazing Pinterest collection of barns repurposed into homes. Some of these pictures will bring you the urge to start right away.

11 Amazing Old Barns Turned Into Beautiful Homes

A bunch of lovely repurposed barns is also available here.

Ideas are great but don't underestimate the effort and money such a project could take. Turning a barn info home will require custom design, project, a lot of work on insulation and installations, etc. Often it might come more complicated than building a brand new home. It's usually very rewarding however and your new barn home will be unique and probably very beautiful.

Finally, a barn can be repurposed to other building like a winery, mushroom growing place, and more. See several such projects in this article.

If you decide to go on with such project, check out this very practical post on how to repurpose old buildings by The Frugal Chicken.

Repurposing Barn Wood and Other Ideas

For good or bad most barns won't be salvaged in their whole. It's a lovely idea to turn a barn into a home or shed. This won't always work. Some barns are too ruined. Some owners won't have the money, time or desire to work on them. In such cases you can at least repurpose the wood or parts of the barns into something else. Fortunately there is no shortage of ideas for this!

Here are many repurposed barn wood ideas. They are using it on the walls, as a flooring, for doors, or even dining tables.

Nowadays it's very popular to use barn woods for various crafts. There are a lot of such ideas on this site.

Repurposed doors - this page focuses on ideas for repurposing barn doors. And they are many, just have a look!

We hope to see more salvaged and repurposed barns as they are great buildings and deserve a new life.

Choosing Saws for Shed Building: Circular Saw, Jig Saw, or Hand Saw?

Wed, 06 Jan 2016 12:00:00 +0200

Ideally you need all of them, and probably not just one hand saw. In this article we'll which ones can be skipped in a non-ideal situation (to be read "low budget") and which one is for what.

Circular Saw

The circular saw is much necessary if you are going to build a shed from scratch and will cut all the wood yourself. It's fast and makes clean straight cuts. And I am not talking about a table-mounted circular saw although they are nice. Building a shed is not that precise woodwogking job, you are not a cabinet builder here. So a hand circular saw will do the work. Do get one, it will save you a lot of efforts to cut large boards and beams by hand. It's also much easier to keep cuts straight.

Circular saws used to be quite expensive but no more. You can buy a decent one for much less than $100. If this is over your budget, buy used one at auction for less than $50. You'll thank yoruself for this purchase during the whole project, and you can use the saw for other projects in the future.

Jig Saw

Many home builders already have a small jig saw in their workshop. Jig saws are cheap, safe and easy to use by everyone. A decent jig saw can be bought for $20 so that's close to free. These saws however aren't very good for the work. First, it's hard to make a straight cut especially on a thicker board. It's impossible to cut a beam anything larger than 2" simply because the blade of these saws is not long enough. Finally, because the blade is thin and held only on one side the cuts are often vertically skewed.

In short, a jig saw can help you to cut a piece of plywood here and there and save you some time. But if you have a circular saw, use that instead. You may even prefer hand saws over to jig saw for such project. If you don't have one yet, don't buy it entirely for this project. Better save the money for something else.

Hand Saws

Don't understimate the power and comfort of using a hand saw. A project like shed will require at least one large woodworking hand saw for rough cuts. While you can replace it by using a circular saw or a jig saw (less useful), the hand saw is easier to fit in areas where the other saws won't. It doesn't need electricity and doesn't break easily. And it's much safer although also carries some risk of injury.

Besides the large hand saw for rough cuts you may want to have two other saws: a dovetail saw and a keyhole saw. The dovetail saw may come handy for a joint here and there. You probably won't be using dovetails in shed building but some details on the doors, windows and the roofs will need more precise cuts than the rough saws can do. The circular also can't replace the dovetail saw - it's not good for small cuts. Do buy at least one dovetail saw - you are going to use it for years after that as well.

The keyhole saw may not be needed at all. But when you need it, you'll need it badly! Nothing else can help you cut a small hole or a vent, or to reach a misplaced piece of wood in already joint area. A jig saw will sometimes do but only if you can reach the required piece with it.

If you are not a professional woodworker don't buy expensive saws. A high-quality dovetail saw can cost over $100. You don't need that for a shed. Each of the three hand saws can be bought for under $10 with OK quality. So even if you buy all the 3 and a circular saw your budget for the most important tools for your shed building - the saws, will be under $100. Don't forget you are going to use them on all your future projects as well.

Pros and Cons of Metal Shed Roofs

Tue, 20 Oct 2015 12:00:00 +0300

There is big difference between a house roof and a shed roof. So before talking about pros and cons of metal roofing, you have to consider the differences. Most articles online talk about house roofs. Things are different there. A leak on a house roof can cause lots of damages. A leak is unwanted on a shed roof too, but not so fatal. The aestetics is also very important on houses. Usually it matters on the shed, but again, a shed that's burried between trees in the backyard might be usable even without being super beautiful. Shed roof is also easier to fix because typically you don't need to climb too high and can repair it yourself.

Photo credit

All this leads to the conclusion that shed roof can have slightly lower quality requirements than a house roof. It's usually more important to be affordable and easy to maintain. So shed roofs are not always made of special metal roof tiles. More often it's made of pieces of galvanized steel or even just sheet metal.

Having this in mind we can talk about pros and cons:

Pros of Metal Shed Roofs

Probably the most important one is durability. Even a tin (terne) roof can outlive you unless it corrodes quickly. And corrosion can be prevented by finishing and painting it.

Depending on the material you choose, a metal shed roof can be cheap. Of course if you buy special steel roof tiles, they are expensive. But a galvanized steel? This is as affordable as it can get.

Surprisingly metal roofs weight less than the same roof made of ceramic, concrete or asphalt tiles. Especially (again) if you decide to use the affordable galvanized steel instead of the expensive steel roof tiles.

Lower roof pitch. Because metal roof tiles has lower leaking potential you can afford using lower roof pitch - this makes installation easier and again cheaper. Use our roof pitch calculator to define your pitch.

Ease of installation.

Fire resistance. Do I need to explain?

Of course it's not all roses. Metal shed roofs have their disadvantages and in some cases they can be important:

While metal roofing can be cheap it can also be bloody expensive. Should you choose high quality metal roof tiles you may end up paying 3 times more compared to shingles or asphalt roofing. I see no reason to buy such roof for a shed but some homeowners do it.

One of the major disadvantages of metal when used in any kind of construction is the expansion and contraction depending on the outside temperature. You may need to take it into account when attaching the roof to the shed.

Sheet metal and even galvanized steel is suspect to denting if a stone or large snowball falls on it. Not such a big deal on a shed because you can easily fix it.

Depending on the type it may require a specialist to install. A simple terne roof or a galvanized steel one might be easy enough for you, if you have worked with metal before. But the metal tiles will need special skills and tools.

When you weight all pros and cons it may turn that a metal roof is excellent solution for a shed. Most alternatives are too heavy and more expensive except probably onduline. And galvanized roofs are even beautiful so why not?

5 Ideas For Handling Uneven Ground

Mon, 13 Jul 2015 12:00:00 +0300

Most guides about building sheds assume that you have fairly even ground. Even we make no exception with our how to build a shed base guide. This is understandable because usually yards are flat. Usually. Come to see ours on our hilly terrain in the mountain.

So how do you deal with this? Is your only option paying for excavator to flatten your ground? What if there is a large rock? Let's see, we have some other ideas.

1. Build Your Shed on Piles

Have you seen how people in the rivers and lakes in South East Asia built their homes? If they can build whole homes on piles why not use this technique for building your shed? It can save you a lot of money and efforts to flatten the ground or building a large concrete base. Building on piles require stable shed floor and of course well planned piles to support the construction. Using stakes with different length you can achieve horizontal position of the shed without doing any work on the uneven ground.

2. Piles on One Side

You don't have to build the whole shed on piles. Sometimes this would mean to raise it uncomfortably high. If your terrain is sloped, you can slightly dig one side of the foundation while the other is supported by screw piles. Here you need to find the balance between digging too much and raising the piles too high. There is no universal formula, but I would aim for something in the middle.

3. Dig to Even Ground

Of course, let's not forget the most popular solution - to dig the ground until you flatten it. Depending on the ground structure and how sloped your terrain is this might be done by hand or you may need an excavator. The advantage of going this route is that you can then apply the standard techniques for building concrete slab or deck piers foundations. The web is full of such guides and any local builder will also know how to build such (in case you decide to use help).

4. Burrying Part of the Shed in the Ground

This idea follows the concept of the earthship homes and is similar to idea 2. But instead of supporting half of the shed on pliers, you flatten the lower side of the slopped terrain and dig into the higher. This technique is suitable if the terran has lower and flatter part and is not a rock. The advantage of such solution is the great shed insulation and stability you achieve. Be careful with moisture as it can cause a lot of troubles however. I recommend you to read some of the sites that talk about earthip homes. You won't need all that information to build a shed, but they are good place to get to know about the possible downsides and problems.

5. Two Floor Shed

This idea extends on the above one. If you have a slopped terrain you can build your shed on two floors. The bottom one can be dug into the ground and used as root cellar. Its floor will be flat and used for a base for the second floor - the real shed.

Think about it: you don't even need flat base for the root cellar. You can build small terraces inside it, using the terrain specifics and store your food there. This is total win provided that you can spend more time and money on the whole building.

We'd love to hear about your solutions for building sheds on uneven ground. Please share!

11 Useful Chicken Coop Tutorials

Fri, 27 Mar 2015 12:00:00 +0200

If you are looking to build your own chicken coop you can get some inspiration from this article. But after inspiration you'll need some practical how-to. This is what we have collected here: 11 great guides from Instructables. Enjoy and share your progress!

1. Simple Wooden Chicken Coop

This here is one of the most typical designs of a chicken coop. It's built on supports above the ground to protect the chickens. This guide isn't too detailed and assumes you already have woodworking skills and know how to do cuts, joints, etc.

2. Chicken Coop from a Playhouse

If you have an old playhouse (from a swingset for example), this will be a great idea for you: chicken coop from a playhouse. As the author says it should be used more as an inspiration rather than step-by-step tutorial because it's unlikely that you'll have exactly the same playhouse. That's why he does not go into too much details. But it's still a quite useful instructable.

3. Chicken Coop with Automation

This is a more advanced project for people who can play with some electronics. It uses Arduino to report the temperature in the coop, the water usage, and to automatically close the door at night. This instructable is really good: it covers both the woodworking process and attaching the elctronics. Have a look if you are not afraid to get into some automation.

4. Large Tractor Coop

The idea of tractor coops is to let you move them around in the garden, feeding the chicken with fresh grass and at the same time fertilizing the soil in your garden, and cleaning it up from insects. This instructable shows how to build a tractor coop large enough to store 14 chickens (and maybe even some more of course). 12 steps, lots of pictures and excellent explanation. Congratulations to the author!

5. Reclaimed, Reused, Recycled Hen Habitat and Coop

The main focus of this project is frugality. The author has used mostly reclaimed materials but the result looks almost as good as something newly built. If you are short on cash, this might be very useful for you.

6. Chicken Barrow

Look at this, isn't it cute? It's also quite economical on materials and not hard to build. The author has circular saw, but if you have only hand tools, don't worry - it's simple enough.

7. Chicken Coop Made of Pallets

What if you have some old wood pallets lying around? Here's the answer, you can make a really good chicken coop. You'll need also some particle board / OSB but almost all other materials come from the pallets. No power tools required although a circular saw would come handy.

8.Chicken Coop Temp. Regulator

This project is more specific. It's not about building the chicken coop itself but about using Arduino to build a temperature regulator. Keeping optimal temperature is important for the chickens especially in winter. This project requires skills in electronics and coding so it's not for everyone of course.

9. Chicken Tractor

This is a beautiful and very simple chicken tractor with a barn-style roof. The instructable is short but has enough good pictures so a handy man would have no problems to build something similar.

10. Cable Spool Duck House

A duck house from an old cable spool? Now that's an interesting and frugal project! It looks pretty good too and doesn't require too many power tools. Ideally you'll need a circular saw and a jig saw but if I can do this with hand tools, you can do it too.

11. Homemade Chicken Coop

This instructable shows a bit more complicated and large classic chicken coop. If you have the skillful hands, tools, and materials, I recommend you to build something like this. It's a well done chicken coop.

Building a Metal Shed - Is It a Good DYI Project?

Thu, 11 Dec 2014 12:00:00 +0200

One of the reasons we talk so much about wooden sheds here is simply that I like wood. Easier to work with, nice material, affordable. But metal sheds have their advantages. They can be easier and cheaper to build and can last longer. Not always, but a well built one that doesn't rush will probably last longer than a wooden one. Consider also the price of steel metal and you may end up with cheaper construction than a similar in size wooden shed.

There is one thing that troubles me with building a steel shed. Welding. I don't like it and have no experience with it. If you are good with welding you won't have problems at all. If you are not, you can consider alterntives. The iron profiles and set squares can be joint together using bolts. Some of the prefab metal shed kits come this way and require no welding. If you plan to go entirely DYI this might be harder - punching lots of holes and making sure joints are robust enough could be a challenge.

The Building Process

Every shed building process starts with plans. The metal sheds make no exception. You can of course find ready plans but you can also make them yourself. Just look around for some pictures and you'll get pretty good ideas. For example see this. If you are handy with math and drawing it shouldn't take you much to replicate similar plans. This one may also help for the frame. Looking at a inside photo of a ready shed can make things even easier. As you see, the construction is not a rocket science. If you want to build a bigger shed check out this construction.

If you aren't that good in drawing and calculating parts yourself you may want to download ready shed plans. Unfortunately most sites sell or give only plans for wooden sheds. Sometimes you can use them but it's much better to find plans made for metal construction. Here is a simple but good and free one (PDF).

The Materials

Steel profiles for the frame. Ideally use square profiles (set square).

Welded connectors with machine reduced ends. This is very important part unless you want to make them yourself. The welded connectors will let you make your construction without welding yourself. And it will be possible to deconstruct it. Please check the PDF guide again, it gives very good explanation why such connectors give you great advantage.

Concrete slab pier bases for attaching your shed to the foundation.

Sheet metal. I recommend using galvanized sheet metal for roofs but any robust sheet metal will do the work.

You may also need a bunch of bolts and nuts.

Prepare the Ground

As with any shed building you need even ground. If you shoose to build on concrete deck piers you may raise your shed on legs above the ground. If you plan to do concrete foundation you will need to dig to hard ground and make sure it's flat. Either way, don't forget to plan this part of the work. It costs time and money.

Making the Construction.

This is of course the most important part. Start with constructing the frame. If you can weld that's OK, but I prefer using connectors. After the frame is ready you can attach the sheet metal to it. Check the "Tutorials and Links" section below to get to a couple of more detailed pages.

Finishing, adding shelves etc.

Once the main construction is ready you may want to paint it or at least finish in some way. Most probably you will need shelves. A good metal construction makes adding shelves easy because there are many places where you can attach them. There are many ready units like the ones shown here. Or you can build them yourself from scrap metal (especially if you have leftovers from the shed constructions) or scrap wood.

Tutorials and Links

The Cheap Metal Storage Shed - 'Engineered' To Within An Inch Of It's Life. I strongly recommend you read this although it's not exactly a tutorial. It will give you cost saving ideas and warnings for the traps when buying ready steel shed.

Metal Building Construction in 2 Days (Video). Have a look at this video, it illustrates the whole process and shows it's not that scary.

Building a shed - metal roofing. Woodgears.ca has a good guide on adding metal roof to a wooden shed.

Intro to materials and details - this is an excellent page that goes quite into details.

Cool Birdhouse Ideas

Wed, 01 Oct 2014 12:00:00 +0300

Building a birdhouse is one of those projects that you can approach with endless creativity. There are almost no rules. Make the entrance good for the birds you want to host, put the house 2 - 4 m above the ground and keep away from cats. See a table of appropriate hole sizes here.

Once you take care for these things, there are literally thousands of different designs you can use.

This is a house for several birds made of wood with wooden tiles:

Birdhouses can also be vertical and hanged on a tree branch. Just don't forget the cats.

Some birdhouse builders make whole residential hotels of different houses.

Nothing stops you to make the houses really beautiful and colorful. This guy here made them look like people's homes.

And not all birdhouses have to be made of wood. This pottery one not only works, but looks pretty funny.

Why not build a whole fence of birdhouses like this guy did here:

Here is another bird hotel. This one seems to have sheet iron roofs:

Have old tree in the backyard? Don't remove it or prune it too harsh. It can do a great work for this:

Here's yet another whole suburb built on a pylon:

You can also follow entirely non-standard design for your birdhouses, like this:

Even if you don't have any scrap wood boards lying around, you can still build a birdhouse. Just use branches:

Or mini-logs:

You can also make bird feeders and open-plan homes for birds:

Ever dreamt to start bed and breakfast business? Start with one for birds:

No joke, people really take birdhouses seriously in South Korea:

And for a final, enjoy this one:

Building Over Utility Lines

Thu, 31 Jul 2014 12:00:00 +0300

If a landline - phone, electricity, gas, or water, crosses your property you will most probably not be able to build a house over the line. Homes require stable and deep foundations and the authorities will not allow you to build.

But what about a shed? Can you build a shed over utility lines? It depends.

Photo credit

The first thing I would do is to see if there is really no way to build the shed aside from the utility lines. It's better to choose less convenient location rather than having to deal with the lines. If not, here's what to do:

Check Your Zoning Laws and Authorities

I wouldn't advice you to build without first asking if it is allowed. You can end up being fined and having your shed destroyed. Ask at the local zoning department and make it clear that you want to build a shed and not a massive building. If they don't forbid, you can take the risk. But the best solution would be to get a permit.

The Foundation

In case you have not received clear parameters what you are allowed to build, you should build your shed with a deck pier foundation. This ensures minimum drilling in the ground and not too deep holes. Typically the electricity lines are burried at 18" or so. Water would be deeper. Cable TV or internet might be on different depth however. You have to drill carefully and slow, on hand. If you know where exactly the lines are, make sure there is no hole exactly over the line. It's best to call the local utility locator service to come and spray the lines for you.

Then build the foundation frame and you can build on top without further issues.

More Information

Here are few articles discussing similar problems. Have a look for more information:

Power line/Building code/NESC- boat shed

Building a Patio Over Buried Utility Lines

Can I build over the main gas line coming into my house?

Building over electric/telephone/cable utilities

Here are few extra tips:

If possible, move the utility lines. It might be a hassle, but will let you build your shed without any hassles.

If you decide to keep the lines, think about the slim chance that repair will be needed right under your shed. You must have a plan to avoid destroying the shed.

Once all is considered, go ahead and build it!

DIY Plywood Boxes: Ikea Expedit Hack

Mon, 30 Jun 2014 12:00:00 +0300

This is a small project we built last winter. We've got two Ikea Expedit units a couple years ago. They are robust and cheap but not as practical for storing books as we initially imagined. The unit is too deep for one row of books, but not good for two. So we had to come with a solution.

The idea was to something like drawers. The front part will be used for books while the back will form a box for small stuff which is not used often - like backup light bulbs, Christmas tree toys etc. We made a Sketchup drawing before starting the project (get it here from our Bulgarian blog):

This must be made from thin and robust material so plywood sounded a good choice. We bough 8mm / 1/3" thick plywood and started work.

First we made a cardboard model to test the concept:

Making a model is always good idea because cardboard is cheap or free, and much easier to build a rough prototype. Following the model, here are the different parts of the box, already cut from plywood:

All parts are cut out on hand, with a hand saw. The mortises and tennons are made with a coping saw and chisel. We don't have laser cutter. It was time consuming but I enjoy this hand work far more than just throwing it all to a machine. You can however save a lot of time if you use jigsaw with a metal cutting blade (I discovered this near the end of thr work). Don't cut plywood with rough blade for hardwood.

We tried a few different versions with more tennons but then the part aren't easy to fit when cut on hand. So finally the version with only a few tennons worked best. Here is a downloadable drawing (17KB) with sizes in mm.

The next step is putting it all together with some glue. You'll need some long clamps to do make it stick. What to do if you have no such clamps? See below:

Our small clamps also did some work with the help of beer bottles:

We also sanded the edges on hand using sand paper. When cutting on hand there is some tear on the edges of the plywoord so sanding is very important. Finally the ready box looks like this:

When the glue dried we sanded with smaller sandpaper again and painted. Here is the box inside the Expedit unit:

We have two Expedit units and wanted to apply this hack to all the for top shelves. But after the third box was ready another idea came to mind - we decided to make a wine stand for the fourth shelf. So here we go - the wine stand parts are cut out and ready for assembling:

Same techique used - hand saw, chisel, sandpaper.

And now it's all done, arranged with wine and books :)

9 Woodworking Business Ideas

Tue, 01 Apr 2014 12:00:00 +0300

It's hard time for woodworkers. I mean those who want to make living out of their craft. Cheap factory-made furniture is everywhere, easy to purchase online, delivered within days, and sometimes it's even good. How can a small woodworker business survive in this situation? We'll give you some ideas here. Not all of them are the typical woodworker shop ideas, and some might even sound extravagant. But read on, maybe you'll start your small business with some of them.

This article is intended both for professional woodworkers and hobbyists who want to earn side-income. Or why not to replace their full income at some point?

Photo credit

1. Building Furniture Per Customer Requirements

This is what a large number of independent woodworkers do. Customers give you their specifications and you create your craft to match them. This type of business doesn't require too much creativity but it does require that you can do your craft well:

You must be able to deliver on time.

You must be able to deliver good quality.

You must be able to meet the agreed price.

This is hard enough, but the hardest part is not here. It's in the marketing. Now, when there is so much cheap furniture in the big stores, it's not easy to find cients for building custom furniture. Once you have some happy customers things will get easier because word of mouth spreads quickly. But before that you'll need to go out and search for these customers - by face-to-face marketing, brochures, maybe an ad in local newspaper, web forum (local), or a facebook group for your town or city.

2. Building Sheds and Similar Stuff

This puts you closer to the category of builders than of carpenters. Still, a nice wooden shed or other wooden outdoor constructions like chicken coop require a lot of carpentry work. And later you can have these customers for finer work if this is what you want - shed shelves, doors and windows, or maybe furniture for their houses.

There is advantage in approaching this market. It's less saturated and allows you to position yourself exactly as a shed builder. This will help you to distinguish yourself against the competition.

3. Building Your Own Custom Furniture

This is the dream work of many woodworkers: to curve your own award-winning custom furniture and sell each piece for thousands. OK, it doesn't need to be award-winning. Although this helps. It's unlikely to sell it for many thousands dollars. Although it would be nice. But the idea is to design and build your own furniture and then sell it "out of the box".

While this is a dream, it has two real hurdles: you have to be very good at woodworking, and very good at marketing. I'll help you with some marketing ideas:

Do not forget ebay, Craiglist, and similar sites in your local area. It's very hard to sell custom furniture in a small local shop, but exposing your stuff online can help a lot.

Use the social networks like Facebook - if your stuff is really original, it can spread the word quickly.

Send pictures your best things to Fine Woodworking and similar magazines.

Use the picture sharing sites to showcase your stuff - Pinterest, Flickr, and so on.

Record videos of your work and upload on Youtube.

4. Build Crafty Stuff and Toys

This kind of products can be sold again on eBay but especially on Etsy and similar sites. There are a lot of people there without good working skills selling things rather expensive. If you are good carpenter you can make decent money on Etsy.

5. Build Your Own Sawmill Business

This idea probably comes quite weird in the company of the other ideas. But I told you some ideas will be extraordinary. If you have the resources to buy a forest or a plot where to grow trees (see fast growing trees like Paulownia), you can start your sawmill business. Remote areas often lack good sources of lumber, and homesteaders need a lot of it. Think about this opportunity although it might not be the kind of woodwork you most like to do.

6. Make and Sell Eco-Friendly Furniture

Original furniture made of trunks, logs, tree branches, and even roots is getting popular. This is interesting niche you can explore for your carpenting business. It requires a bit of art-sense as well.

7. Teach Others

For good or bad many woodworkers nowadays make more money of their woodworking websites than from carpenting work. If you are really good you can build a site with woodworking tutorials and earn from ads. You can also have premium paid courses, earn from videos on Youtube, and so on.

8. Repair / Recover Old Furniture

Most woodworkers like this work but they wait a customer to approach them asking to repair some antique furniture. This rarely happens. The proper approach is not to wait but to take some risk. Buy old antique furniture from Ebay, Craiglist, and local garage sales. Then repair and refinish it and sell. This way you can make good money.

9. Work With Home Builders

A great way to find a lot of customers and projects is to work together with home builders. They often don't have in-house carpenters for the fine work (and sometimes for the rough work too), so they gladly outsource these requests to other professionals. And often working on custom woodwork on someone's home leads to contacts for further custom furniture projects.

Finally, if you are serious about starting carpentry business don't stop with reading this guide. Here is an excellent book to help you turn your plans to action: Woodworking Business: Start Quickly and Operate Successfully: An Expert Woodworker Reveals The Keys To Succeeding In The Woodworking Business

Workbench Ideas

Thu, 27 Feb 2014 12:00:00 +0200

Do you have a workbench in your workshop? I don't mean just a big table but a real carpenter's workbench with vises and bench dogs. Such benches were available in almost every rural home in the past. Today you'll often meet hobbyists who don't even know what a workbench really means.

Why Do You Need a Workbench?

If you have one you probably don't need further explanation. A real woodworker's workbench greatly improves your productivity and reduces the effort in performing most tasks. The different vises and bench dogs allow securing parts of any size and shapes in comfortable way that lets your two hands to be free for work. The stable top allows you perform heavy operations without worries.

Most carpenter benches also have a tool storage space both under the bench and on the top which lets you keep all you tools at a just hand distance. The final result is really easy and pleasant work with good results.

Classic Workbench

This is how a classic workbench looks. It has a side vise and a front vise plus a wisely distributed set of bench dogs. This allows you to secure nearly any workpiece in a comfortable position.

Once small disadvantage of the classic workbench is that it doesn't have top tools storage. But as you can see from the photo, sometimes the bench dogs can be used to keep a chisel or screw handy.

Roubo Style

This is a workbench design built by a French cabinetmaker called Andre Roubo. Many carpenters and hobby woodworkers believe this design is better than the classic workbench. Here is a very good guide on building such workbench, along with pictures.

The front vise of the Roubo bench is larger which allows securing larger workpieces. The design is generally more eye-catching but other than this I don't see huge difference between the Roubo-style and the classic workbenches.

There are also various hybrid styles which use elements from both designs, and from other designs, and combine them in various ways.

Modern Small Workbenches

In the recent years many hobby woodworkes work in small basements or garages and don't have real workshops. These craftsmen still want a comfortable workbench but have no space for a real one. This is probably the reason for the emerging trend of small workbenches like this one:

These benches look good and are fully functional but by no means they are as good as the real workbenches. So if you have the place and money it's better to buy or build real woodworking bench. If not, I recommend the Black & Decker Workmate - excellent small workbench at affordable price.

Another great advantage of these workbenches is that you can get them in the car and bring them somewhere.

Poor Man Workbench Ideas

Not every woodworker can afford or wants to spend money even on a bench like the small ones above. In the past they were not available anyway. So many hobbyists came up with ideas how to improve old kitchen table or a desk to serve to some extent as a workbench. Here are some quick ideas:

A square hole in one of the edges (near the table leg) can be very useful for securing parts vertically (using a woodworking clamp)

Nothing stops you to drill bench dogs in the kitchen table so you can use them for securing workpieces. Or if you don't want to drill the table top you can build a second top with dogs.

A very old and comfortable solution is to attach a wooden plate with a triangle cut in it on the table top which will help you attach stuff there. Just put a board in the empty triangle, press it from the other side and you are all set.

You can of course just attach one of the ready woodworking vises that are created for use on workbenches. I mean something like this.

By attaching vises, top with bench dogs, and other stuff you can easily turn any good table into a workbench designed exactly for your needs. So don't worry if you don't have a real workbench. DIY solutions work great. I am using an old school bench and planning to attach a top with holes and furrow for tools on it.

Attaching Wooden Boards to a Steel Guardrail

Wed, 19 Feb 2014 12:00:00 +0200

A couple of years ago we had builders made steel railings for our second floor terrace. At that time we didn't have exact idea how the finished guardrail should look so we left it that way. It was looking like this:

Not too safe I think. It was so-so OK for us, not at all safe for kids, and scary when you had to clean the antenna from snow. This year when we finished the terrace paving it was time to finish the guardrail too.

Steel vs Wood

Initially we were thinking about welding metal profiles to create some kind of grid. Not having electrocautery on hand and with zero experience in welding this meant we had to find someone to do it. This is not the best idea here because each dealing with craftsmen means huge dragging in time and plenty of trash to clean up after that. Yes, most builders here are like this. So wood won for several reasons:

The final cost will be lower because we'll do it ourselves

Wood looks better for us

Unlike welding, fixing the wooden boards is not permanent and will allow us to remove them when needed.

The last reason led to the solution shown below.

The Solution: Attach Flexible Wooden Boards

We didn't want to drill vents in the steel parts of the guardrails because it's not easy and will reduce the strength. So we decided to create wooden plates and attach them from the inside with cart bolts. Here is how they look from inside:

We used scrap pieces of a beam for the wooden plates which means they couldn't be large than this size. This required carefully drilling the holes on the exact positions. We had to re-drill some of them so the bolts can fit. After that however the work was easy - just tighten the bolts and you are all set.

Before this all the boards and plates were finished and painted black so here is the final look of the guardrail:

And from outside:

Few Things to Note

If you plan to do something like this, there are few things to have in mind:

Use well dried material. Otherwise there is risk of cracking the wood as it dries on the guardrail. We had no choice so now we are waiting to see if the sun will do any damage in the summer. So far everything is fine.

If possible, drill a bit larger holes for the bolts which will allow some flexibility. It's really hard to make them match perfectly if you use only hand tools so larger holes will help. We used bolts number 5 in which case a drill number 6 will make the perfect holes.

If you decide to use parts of boards for the wooden plates (instead of a sliced beam), make sure the wooden fibers go vertically when attaching the plates. This will greatly reduce the risk of cracking. This is of course when your steel parts are horizontal like ours. If you are using this idea to attach on vertical metal parts, the wood fibers should go horizontally. The idea is that the force caused by the tightened bolts won't crack the wooden plates.

You can of course use metal plates or whole boards on the inside. Or maybe a horizontal board that will connect the verticals. This way of joining gives many options.

Finally one of the big advantages of this solution is that it allows removing the boards for fixing, replacing, or doing any other work on the guardrail.

The Top 11 Shed Improvements from Instructables

Thu, 19 Dec 2013 12:00:00 +0200

This is a collection of interesting and useful guides for improving your shed. From the electricity to shelving, these guides will give you tons of ideas and step by step instructions. Have a look:

1. Add window to a shed

URL: http://www.instructables.com/id/Add-Window-to-Shed/

This great and very detailed guide will show you how to add a cheap window to your shed. The author's budget is $100 and although he doesn't follow building codes and does not aim for good insulation, his window looks really professional.

2. How to wire a shed for electricity

URL: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-wire-a-shed-for-electricity/

Most sheds are built as additions to the house and are not planned from the beginning. Because of this most sheds aren't wired to the home electricity system. But having electricity in the shed is important for lighting and for powering power tools in the workshop. This guide will show you how to wire your shed like a pro.

3. Building a shed elevator

URL: http://www.instructables.com/id/An-Elevator-For-My-10x12-Storage-Shed/

If you have a narrow and high shed like the author, the solution from this guide will come handy. It will give you a lot more usable space. I would even consider something like this when building or purchasing new shed because it could save valuable garden acreage.

4. Installing magnetic shed tools organizer kit

URL: http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-guide-for-installing-a-magnetic-shedworkshop-/

This is something all of us, shed owners want. A way to organize the growing number of tools in a better way. This organized is good enough to store screwdrivers, hammers, saws, and so on.

5. Multi-row hanger for gardening tools

URL: http://www.instructables.com/id/Multi-row-hanger-for-gardening-tools/

This simple and elegant solution will work with all tools that have T - handle. I can't use it because most of the tools sold here don't have such handles. But maybe it will be good for you.

6. Storing garden tools with style (aka Zombiewall)

URL: http://www.instructables.com/id/Storing-garden-tools-with-style-aka-Zombiewall/

This is a very simple and neat solution. It's more fun than practical unless you leave in a very safe area where no one would steal your garden tools. A great idea for sure.

7. Make a cheap fold-down workbench

URL: http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-fold-down-workbench/

With the limited space in each garden shed solutions are this are always wanted. This workbench uses almost no space when folded and is good enough when stand up. Well done.

8. Garden tool rack

URL: http://www.instructables.com/id/Garden-Tool-Rack/

Garden tools are within the things that occupy most space in the shed. At the same time they are used pretty often so you can't put them in a hard to reach place. So no surprise we are selecting here a third guide on building garden tools storage.

9. Overhead Bookcase

URL: http://www.instructables.com/id/Overhead-Bookcase/

This is a truly great idea for using the unusable under-the-roof space that most sheds have. I wouldn't probably put my most valuable books this way due to the risk of leaks. But for any books that are not so important (but you can't throw them away), this is a great solution.

10. Make sliding barn doors using skateboard wheels

URL: http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-sliding-barn-doors-using-skateboard-wheels/

Last year we decided in favour of regular shed door vs sliding door exactly due to the lack of good wheels. Had I seen this guide back then who knows, we might have decided elsewhere. A really good solution!

11. Modular wood storage

URL: http://www.instructables.com/id/Modular-Wood-Crate-Playroom-Storage/

You can apply this in your shed too. Store cold-hardy crops, jars, or any kind of stuff in boxes using this kind of storage shelves. Simple and cheap.

Pole Shed: What Is It and How Can You Build One?

Thu, 24 Oct 2013 12:00:00 +0300

Pole sheds are simpler and cheaper than your typical sheds. This is the main reason why people often prefer them. Most pole sheds have no foundation other than the concrete deck piers that support the vertical beams. The floor itself is typically just the compacted ground. Of course, if you decide to build a pole shed you can later put some gravel or even concrete on the floor.

In the past this type of constructions was mostly used for barns to keep livestock and hay inside. Nowadays, due to their advantages, pole sheds are often built to store tools, food etc - anything that you would normally store in a garden shed.

A rule of thumb is that a pole shed costs 50% of the price of a "regular" shed, and can be built in half of the time. Now I guess you are being heated on the idea, no? :) If you want to learn more about the basics of building such shed, here is a page that provides short schematic information for a start.

Possible Disadvantages?

It's all good, eh? Well, there are some disadvantages of pole sheds. One is that without a stable floor the shed could become a bit unstable over the time. This is less of a concern in practice than the weeds that will grow out from the floor. Rats, moles, etc can also find their way to the shed through the ground. All this doesn't happen too often, but can happen. There are quite easy ways to handle it though. Pouring some concrete or gravel was already mentioned. I like also to just drop some paving without sticking it to the ground with concrete. This is enough to stop weeds and moles.

How To Build a Pole Shed - Guides and Plans

OK, let's get to action. I'll give you links to several decent guides and pages with plans that can get you started right away.

This one here is a basic introduction. Don't expect to learn tips and tricks there. It will help you to understand the building process you are going to go through.

Dan's sheds offers "Amish-quality" pole barns. I am not advertising it here (I have not tried their products), but giving you the page because of the nice drawing and the useful FAQ under it. It can help you greatly with building. And if you decide to just buy ready shed, why not.

A fairly detailed and not bad guide on building a pole shed is available at HowStuffWorks. It covers the choice of materials, the building process, the insulation, and using kits.

A Squidoo lens with some drawings is available here. The pictures are small however. Looks like the author is mostly hoping that you'll buy his guide, which no longer exists.

Much better than that is the Wikihow guide. With a lot of pictures and attention to the details it will answer some of the most important questions you may have.

I love also the MotherEarthNews guide - How to Build an Inexpensive Pole Barn. It's a very good read from 1995.

If you are more into personal stories, read how one man built his pole barn house. Actually, just don't miss this read. It's very detailed and will give you a lot of ideas and knowledge if you want to build a pole shed or barn.

And finally, if you prefer a book, check this one: Practical Pole Building Construction: With Plans for Barns, Cabins, & Outbuildings