The corner of your garage is not a good place to store all your important “stuff”, like tools. But, you can’t just get rid of it. A better solution is to build a wooden shed in your backyard. And the best part – it can be easily done in a matter of only two day (assuming you already have all the materials purchased from the local supply store.) Here’s how:

Day 1 – Foundation and Framing

First things first – preparing the site. The site should be fairly level. However it is best to have a slight pitch downward towards the back for optimum water runoff. Next, get rid of any large rocks or debris. You want the foundation to be as smooth as possible. And, since this is only a 2-day project, you will have to make your shed with a wood floor, preferably skids, instead of a concrete floor. If you do want a concrete foundation, allow a few extra days to your plan to allow for drying. The advantages of building a wooden floor are its faster, cheaper, easier and more portable. Now use patio (or cinder) blocks for which to rest the frame of the floor. Make sure they are level.

Next, start working on the actual building. You need to cut the floor joists at equal lengths by using the first on as a template for the rest. For added strength, use deck screws instead of nails. Using a power drill makes construction go very quickly and is actually easier than hammering. Once you are finished framing the floor, check for square by measuring opposite diagonal corners. If square, the measurements will be the same. If they are off, push on one of the corners with the longer measurement towards the opposite corner until the measurements are equal. Now you can nail the plywood subfloor to the frame making sure to stagger them (similar to a brick pattern). This will prevent you from having four corners of four different pieces of plywood meeting in the middle of your floor causing a weak spot.

Building the walls is pretty much the same process as building the skid for the floor. If you want any windows on the shed, frame them accordingly. To cover the sides, use T1-11 plywood. T1-11 has vertical grooves cut into it to give the appearance of tongue and groove siding but since it comes in sheets, the amount of time to put on the siding is cut way down. Take one of the wall frames and place the T1-11 on top (outside facing down). Use the same method to make the walls square that you used for the floor. Now nail the siding to the frame. If possible, buy, borrow or rent a router to use to trim the siding to the studs all the way around the walls. Once you have the walls put together, you can now attach them to the floor. Use temporary braces to hold the walls up until you have them screwed together. Make sure you use a level to plumb the walls (they should be perfectly vertical). This is a good place to stop for the day.

Day 2 – Roof, Door and Trim

Today, you’ll start off by building the trusses. Assemble all the pieces of the first truss by following the plans but don’t nail it together at this time. If all the pieces are fitting together correctly, use the pieces as templates for the rest of the trusses. You can now go back and screw (or nail) all the trusses together and attach each of the trusses to the top of the shed walls. Now you can cut and attach plywood sheeting for the roof. Next comes the installation of the asphalt shingles which is done exactly as they are on a house. Start by rolling down roofing felt. Place the first row on the bottom and overlap the rows as you work up to the top. Apply a second layer across the top ridge for extra strength. When you apply the shingles, make sure to offset the seams and work your way from the bottom to the top. Now all you have left is the ridge cap which is made by cutting down single shingles. Shingles are usually made with slits on the bottom half to look like three shingles on a single sheet. Overlap these single pieces of shingles to form the ridge cap.

You should use a door on your shed that is prefabricated which will save you a huge amount of time since all you need to do is attach it with hinges. You will want to finish off the door with trim.

A few details have been omitted from this short article as it is simply intended to show you how possible and simple it is to build a wooden shed in only one weekend.

Find out more on wooden shed kits, wooden sheds and shed plans by visiting BestWoodenSheds.com. You can also download a free eBook: Getting the Most Out of Your Shed. It contains over 100 tips to help you maximize your shed’s potential.