Today Aaron and I made a shed/greenhouse! Last year, Aaron bought a little cheapo greenhouse to store his boat stuff in, which promptly collapsed under the weight of the New England snow. The original greenhouse consisted of a metal frame (which broke) and a plastic covering, which we decided to reuse.

We started with a simple CAD model. The dimensions were largely set by the plastic covering. The width was slightly under 10′, and the height was 7′. How high to make the walls was a source of debate. The original plan was to go with a low 40″ wall, but I decided to up it to 50″ to be able to fit more stuff in. The completed CAD model is shown below… not much of a model. But off we went.

We sawed up the pieces and used the tractor to bring them over to a flat (and more importantly shady) area of the driveway. It was 89 degrees out, but luckily not too humid.

The layout. We used nice big wood screws to attach the planks. Also, it is worth mentioning that all of the lumber was excavated from a gross, muddy wood trash heap. But it was free, so no complaints here. We tried to saw off the rotten ends.

The ridge beam supports were originally just a single sheet of plywood. We found this to be too floppy and strengthened the assembly by adding a 2×4 on the other side.

The frames were actually super heavy. Additionally, somehow the left half of the frame got all the heavy wet wood and the right half got all the light dry wood. So, carrying them down to the final assembly area was difficult as the frames were both ungainly and unbalanced. I’m also just weak.

Aaron is a real, grown ass man though.

Also, in this shed we had to fit a woodpile. Rather than move the exceptionally heavy woodpile, we built the shed around the woodpile. The woodpile’s existence will become important later. The original greenhouse was also built around the woodpile. In this photo, I am emptying dirt from my shoe.

Two frames up!!

We then added side planks and diagonal braces because triangles.

The third frame was added with more exceptionally moldy side planks and diagonal braces. Somehow this last frame ended up misaligned quite a bit from the others, we had to use quite a bit of force to align the ridge beam. But by simply using big force, it was made to happen.

Once the whole frame was up, the logical next step was to test it.

Miraculously, it held!!!

An excellent day!!

We installed the cover.

A good shed!!

Final notes- remember the aforementioned woodpile? Well, it was wider than expected, and also the 2x6s were considerably thicker than the original greenhouse tube frame. So, we measured the distance between the side of the woodpile and the side of the inside of the upright. The measured distance was 72.5″. Luckily, the boat on the trailer measures 72″ at the widest point, the fenders. Friction fit!