Shed Talk

Sliding roof shed

2009-08-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

Another look at a sliding roof structure:

Another astronomy setup

30x48 Garage.

2009-08-18T11:02:00.000-07:00

Yes, we go BIG.

30x48 garage with Hardyplank siding

garage with manufactured home

2009-08-18T10:58:00.000-07:00

Garage with 6/12 roof pitch

and extended overhang on endwall.

Astronomy / Telescope Shed w retracting roof

2009-08-15T08:45:00.000-07:00

Here's an astronomer's backyard shed with a retractable roof!

Roof is built on rails and slides to the side

to give the telescope an unobstructed view of the sky.

Customer poured a concrete pad as the floor so vibration is minimized.

Rain Forest Cabins

2009-08-04T09:11:00.000-07:00

Here's a take on cabins from the 20's and 30's. These are also in the Olympic National Park at Crescent lake in Washington. It rains a lot here and the builders used extra overhangs on the eves to protect the walls. When it rains, they can also leave the windows open to let the cabins breathe. They also like a covered entry to shake off the raincoats and clean the mud off boots. Coffee and a book on the porch, rain on the roof.

Cabins in Olympics

2009-08-04T09:01:00.000-07:00

Sometimes all you need is a place to sleep, read, and make a cup...
These are cabins in the Olmpic National Park that we stayed
in for my daughter's wedding.

Tall Barn Garage

2009-07-25T15:18:00.000-07:00

Here's a work in progress 24x24 Tall Barn Garage.

Interior staricase to 2nd floor huge storage area.

2 4x6 dual pane windows upstairs.

2 2x4 skylights,

3 3x3 windows downstairs.

This photo shows height and scale perspective with 1100 sq ft house.

Tall Barn Garage added 1000 sq ft of floorspace.

How would you use it?

16x28 drawings

2009-07-20T08:16:00.000-07:00

Customer wanted a dual purpose backyard storage shed: combination storage shed and pool cabana.

Here's a drawing of a 16x28 with a 4x18' porch.

There would be interior walls creating closet storage in addition to the two main rooms.

16x10 attached to 12x18

Here's the same footprint without the porch by putting a 16x10 togethr with a 12x28.

Either of these sheds can be built on concrete or on on our steel beem truss system.

The galvanized steel beam foundation saves the cost of pouring a slab of concrete with footings, which would cost about $4,500.

hillside studio

2009-07-17T06:45:00.000-07:00

Slider access to Hillside studio.

Notice the broad overhangs on all roof eves.

Windows placed high and under eves.

Large window lets in plenty of light.

Double 12x12 gable vents

Concrete foundation poured in steps down hillside .

Notice crawl space door access at front corner for additional storage.

12" endwall overhang on eves

2009-07-17T06:18:00.000-07:00

12" overhang on endwall eves,

octagon gable vent

Ranch Garage 20x24

2009-07-09T10:51:00.000-07:00

20x24 Ranch Garage with extras

12" endwall overhangs

18x7 garage door

two 2x4 skylights

six 3x3 swindows

Ridge vent

30 year shingles

Extra concrete flatwork for RV parking

Customer is adding sheet-rock, plumbing, electrical, satelite TV, wood stove.

Tall Barn Pro

2009-07-03T09:11:00.000-07:00

The Tall Barn Pro is the top of the line for our sheds.

Not only is the barn a pleasure to look at,

it offers amazing useable space for the square footage under the roof.

Here the Tall Barn Pro (12x16) is side by side with a Pro Ranch.

The blue ranch wall height on the window and door wall is 6'5" floor to top of sidewall (wall with door and windows)

Tall Barn Pro has an interior wall height of 8' to the bottom of the rafters and a loft over that with headroom over 5 feet.

This shed feels huge inside... very roomy and workable space.

There is no more roomier shed in a 10x12 on the market.

This is the interior of the 12x16 Pro Tall Barn. Notice the 8 foot walls and strong rafters.

I have seen this loft configured with a pull down staircase and used as a children's play area.

The 2x4 skylights let in tons of daylight.

This shed is configured with radiant barrier metalic foil roof sheeting.

Not only does it keep the shed 10-15 degrees cooler than a shed with plywood roofing,

it also reflects light back around the shed and brightens the interior.

This shed also has a ridge vent, which allows heat to escape from the highest point in the shed.

Corner anchors

2009-07-03T08:40:00.000-07:00

The beauty of the steel beam foundation system is that it saves the cost of pouring a concrete foundation which can cost up to $12/sq ft of slab.

Sometimes building departments will require the shed corners be held down in high wind areas.
This is a photo of the above ground portion of the MR88 anchor. The below ground portion is a threaded rod driven 3' into the ground.

A bracket is attached to a strong portion of the shed frame.
The top of the rod is then held to the bracket with a hex capscrew.

ground anchor details:

2009-07-03T08:39:00.000-07:00

On some instalations ground anchors are required by building code.

Here are drawing details of the rod driven into the ground and attached to the frame structure of the building.
Grade = dirt

The rod driven into the ground is attached to the bracket secured to the side of the shed.

up go the walls

2009-07-03T08:36:00.000-07:00

The walls are manjfactured at the factory and come pre assembled.

On location, the walls are stood up on the foundation and nailed together at the corners.

We need 18" minimum on all sides for the nail guns to do their work.

Tire Shop Annex

2009-07-03T08:35:00.000-07:00

Here's the final result:

A 12x12 tire instalation annex for a repair and tune up shop!

Tire instalation machinery is bolted to the concrete slab.

A nice self contained addition to the oil change and tune up operation.

Tall barn Pro from street

2009-04-22T08:54:00.000-07:00

here's the endwall of the 14x14 tall barn pro as seen from the street.
Notice the Semi cab parked next to the shed.
This shed effectively doubles the floorspace of the standard shed.

Sacramento Factory in AM

2009-04-06T08:14:00.000-07:00

Morning At the Sacramento factory.

Final check before all the trucks roll out to build their sheds and garages.
Every building is built to the customer's specs.
If we ask some questions that may seem unnecessary, it's to keep this all running smoothly.

14x14 Tall Barn Pro Exteriors

2008-12-04T21:02:00.000-08:00

Here is an unusual shape 14x14 tall barn pro.
Nice color choice .

This barn has 8 foot interior sidewalls and is very spacious with lots of headroom.
From this profile, you can see that there is plenty of room upstairs.

These double doors open to 6 feet wide and 6'8" tall.
Daily access is through the door on the right as the left door stays pinned to headder and floor.

This fold down staricase (ladder) stores in the loft floor and folds down when required.
See blog on interior to see loft escape.

Pro Tall Barn with stairs to loft

2008-12-04T20:45:00.000-08:00

Here is a really cool 14 x 14 tall barn pro with a pull down stairway to an upstairs loft.

Upstairs is a retreat area.

Customer left a cutout area next to the stair so that large objects could be moved up and down.
The ladder folds up and retracts into the cieling when not in use.

Interior walls and shelves help organize.

2008-10-20T08:34:00.000-07:00

A small interior wall can create lots of additional wall storage space.

In this shed a 4 foot wall separates a workbench area on the left from a u shaped shelf storage system on the right.

These shelves allow easy accessability to stored boxes and items.

The window over the workbench on the left creates a comfortable workshop with light and ventilation.

Sidewall porch retreat.

2008-10-20T08:24:00.000-07:00

Sidewall porch on a permier ranch shed with Redwood Decking and rails.

This style porch is created by extending the roof truss system and the steel floor system 4 feet from the normal endwall width.

Tall Barn vs Tall Barn Pro.

2008-10-20T08:06:00.000-07:00

Tall Barn (left) next to Tall barn Pro (right).

These are some of the differences:

The tall barn interior sidewall height is 6'3".
Tall barn Pro is 8'
Door height in tall barn is 6', Tall barn pro 6'8"
Tall barn Pro has 6" roof eves on all sides.
Tall Barn pro has 30 year dimentional shingles, tall barn has 20 year.
Tall barn = 7 year warantee.
Pro = 10 year warantee.

Barn Garage with Loft living space.

2008-10-20T07:47:00.000-07:00

Tall barn Garage on Auburn lot. 2 car garage with appartment Loft
Wrap around exterior stairway to loft.
Interior view of dormers in sidewall
Sidewall with no dormers.

Mobile Home Park

2008-10-14T11:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a tall shed for a tight spot. Customer wanted to store his Harley next to his mobile home without a lot of space to spare.
We used a canister roll up door for security and custom sized the shed to fit between the electical service and the property line.

Customer also had small 3 'rear access door to get into the back of the shed.

can't build here

2008-10-14T11:43:00.001-07:00

Customer wanted to build small shed barn with a loft on this location.

Tuff Shed builders did not have enough room around the outside to get their nail guns to work. They need 18" on all sides minimum.
Also, there was not enough room for us to build and then slide the shed into it's final position.

This water overflow pipe was part of an abandoned irrigation system over which a housing development has been built. There was no water in the system for years. Two weeks after we decided we could not fit his building into this space, the system was charged with water and the neighborhood was flooded to a depth of a foot for the entire block!

Tall Barn Garage 22x26

2008-10-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

This is a tall barn garage, 22 x 26, on the display lot in Stockton.

Gables in the 2nd story loft ad light and space to the upstairs storage area.

Garage level interior with man door and interior stairway leading to 2nd level.

2nd level, stairway rises below window on left.
Interior dormers with windows to right
Height floor to rafters = 8'.
Floor is 3/4 Tung-n- groove CDX plywood.. (high density, low voids)

Interior view of Dormers in the 2nd level of garage.

Dormers ad light and living space.

Why Blog Sheds??

2008-10-14T08:53:00.000-07:00

Jack

My name is Jack McKeogh and I am a sales consultant at Tuff Shed in Sacramento... one of the busiest showrooms and factories in the Tuff Shed system.

I spend my days listening to people who need to solve problems of storage, workshops, home offices, spare rooms, and garages.

For most of these folks, it is the first time grasping the idea of what a shed can do.
Most of the time I am going over the same concepts again and again.
A lot of my customers are on the phone or through Emails.
In the Showroom I can walk over to one of the sheds and demonstrate a concept.
But when I have someone on the phone I am challenged to explain without a photograph or series of photos.
So it is for these people that I want to have these concepts displayed in a convenient location on the internet.

There is a lot of ground to cover and I think this could help out a lot of people who are looking at sheds or garages as a solution to their problems.
When a specific problem arrises I will post an answer here in the blogg and that should help a lot more people than just that one customer.

Some of the topics I will cover in future bloggs:

Why a shed?
What are the differences between sheds?
How are the sheds built?
What do the builders need at my location?
How do I prepare my site?
How big can I go?
What's the difference between a shed and a garage besides the concrete floor?
How does the steel beam floor work?
What are my door options?
Can I put plumbing and electric in my shed?
How do I find out what town or county will allow me to build?
Setbacks and height limits: How far from my house, fence, garage, driveway? How tall can I build?
Will I need a permit? How do I get a permit? What does not require a permit. How does this effect my property values? My tax assessment?
What does my warantee do for me?

Except for the prebuilt sheds that we sometimes sell off our lots, every customer gets a custom made shed made to their requirements and desires, no matter if it's the simplest 4 x 6, or a 30'x60' studio or garage.
My manager likes to say we can build anything!

Left to right: 20x20 Garage, Pro Ranch with porch, loafing shed with Tack Room, Garden Ranch, lean-2.

Contact:
jmckeogh@tuffshed.com

Lot Shed Delivery

2008-10-14T08:45:00.000-07:00

Many times people don't know what to expect when a shed gets delivered off our lots.
This is how we deliver lot sheds.

They are loaded onto a tilt bed trailer with a fork truck.

We secure the shingles against wind for transport over the road.

Then the shed is strapped down onto the tilt bed.

The truck will back up to the spot where the shed will be positioned.

We need to know where the owner would like the door positioned on the property.

That's the way we will load the shed door onto the truck.
We need to know that there is plenty of overhead and side clearance, that the ground will support out truck and that there is room to manouver.

Usually someone will drive by customer's house to be sure there are no unanticipated obstacles.

lot sheds

2008-10-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

Here is a sample of a Loafing shed.

Lean-2 interior

Exterior lean to

Playhouse or potting shed

2008-10-13T08:11:00.000-07:00

Children's playhouse built as a demo for homeshows.

Back view... interior space = 6' by 6'.. porch is 6 x 4'. Dutch doors and 2 small windows.