Diary of a Shed - 20 May 2004

Not really much to show for the 19th, but I did manage to get the header above the door in place. To do that, I got a spade and prized apart the two 2x8 boards which had been nailed together, and lifted them into place. It soon became clear why they hadn't been able to fit into the gap - they were too big, by about 5mm. Nailing the rest of the wall together must have tightened up the space available. So I took the ends off with the mitre saw, lifted the boards up individually, and screwed them securely into place, and to each other.

The rest of the day was spent putting the front wall of the front section together, ie the main entrance to the shed. This was very fiddly because every piece had to be nailed together in the correct order, so I took my time doing it. By the time Bad Girls came on(!) I realised I wasn't going to finish, so left it until the morning of the 20th.

Next morning it was all finished off in no time at all, and the whole wall was propped up against the back section so that I could build one of the side walls. These are very simple (no windows or doors) so it was a piece of cake. With that attached, the front wall could also be attached with the help of my glamorous assistant Sarah, who I told to stand in the doorway while holding it so that it couldn't possibly fall on her - she was still worried after the bash on the head the other day!

Just one wall to go, which I could have done had I not been short of 2 lengths of wood, and the shed walls will all be finished! Plus the header over the wall again, but I know how to do that safely now! The pictures speak for themselves - I'm really pleased at how good it's looking. This is the first thing I've ever built, I have no carpentry experience whatsoever, so if I can do it so could you!

The header over the wall finishes it off nicely. You need this to support the roof because there is no other vertical support in the doorway. Without it the roof's weight would press down, the door frame would bow, and the door would probably jam. Worse than that, the whole roof might cave in!
The adjoining wall between the two sections doesn't have a window but I made sure that the header runs all the way across that wall so that I could add one at a later date if I really wanted, just by cutting out a hole - the ceiling/roof would still be supported by the full-length header.

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