Thursday, August 13, 2009

Outdoor Shed Foundations - Home Building Tips

When looking to build your own outdoor shed the first place to start is with the shed foundation. Your storage shed needs to be built on a strong foundation. Whether it is wood or concrete your slab needs to be a firm base that your outdoor shed will be built on. If you don't have a good shed foundation then your shed will not last as long as it should.

Wondering when to use a concrete slab or wood for a shed foundation? Here are the two main reasons for choosing one or the other. A wood foundation for your outdoor shed will allow you to move it if you ever decide that your original spot is not right. If you use a concrete slap then you will not be able to move it at all.

After you figured out what type of foundation you want you need to start to assemble it. If you're going to use the wood foundation, make sure you use pressure treated wood. Any home improvement store will have it just make sure to ask for help if you're unsure of the type and size you need. Tell them you're building an outdoor shed and they will be able to point you in the right direction.

An easy way to build a nice strong shed foundation is to get a couple of skids. These can be found at just about any store and usually they are in the back and free. Lay the skids out and placing your pressure treated wood around the outside nail then together. Using 3/4" plywood for the floor will give your outdoor shed a very strong foundation. Using bricks under the skids will help level the shed floor off and also keep any moisture from getting into our wood foundation.

If you decide to use the concrete slab make sure you have picked out the correct location, as this will be a permanent structure on your property. If you need your outdoor shed to support a lot of heavy equipment then you want to use the concrete slab foundation. It will be able to hold a lot more weight than the wood foundation.

It's always best to have a plan of attack before starting any home improvement project: it can save you time and money. Think about what you plan to keep inside your outdoor shed, if its going to be heavy equipment and you know that the wood foundation is going to be raised up off the ground 5-8" you may need a ramp to get stuff in and out. A concrete foundation can be made to be ground level. Keeping all these things in mind before you start building your outdoor shed will make this go so much faster and give you less headaches.

Learn more about outdoor storage sheds & buildings

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