Should you be looking to free up some space in the house and the garage is already so crammed with bits and bobs, gardening equipment and other stuff that’s in the way but you don’t want to actually throw it out then a storage shed may be the ideal solution.

With downloadable storage shed plans readily available from the internet it is worthwhile looking into building your own and it’s not as hard as you may think; it’s an effective way of saving money and a satisfying project to carry out.

Here are some tips to help with the project:

First do a search online for downloadable storage shed plans, don’t bother with the single sets of plans, you can get hold of whole sets of shed plans that also include other projects such as garden furniture and so forth. These plans cost a fraction of the single sets with plans working out at just a few cents each.

Next decide where you are going to put your new shed, keep in mind the position of doors and windows, also make sure that it will look good with regards to your house and not block the wife’s favorite sun bathing spot!

Garden sheds are one of those things that are are often neglected, but they require at least some minimal maintenance or you will soon be faced with a falling down garden shed that you will have to decide whether it is worth repairing or not. I would guess that a good shed should last a minimum of 10 years, maybe even double before requiring a major fix-up. Poorly built structures could start deteriorating much quicker than that.

When faced with a aged and decrepit garden shed the question is “Do I replace my shed or rebuild my old shed”. There are pros and cons to both approaches. The answer depends on your budget, your taste, and your ability to swing a hammer.

I had to answer these questions for two separate sheds this year – my own tiny falling down pine board lean to shed, and my mothers lovely large cottage style split roof design which had a severe water problem. My mothers shed was actually quite an easy decision. Her shed was quite large, so it would have been quite expensive to replace. Also, it didn’t actually look in bad shape, except for the holes in the roof and floor. As it turns out, I got away pretty lucky. I did have to entirely replace both roofs, but thankfully there was vapour barrier between the plywood floor and the joists, so I only needed to put down a new plywood floor. The cost for materials was about $550.

Organizing your garden shed might be the best thing you can do for your garden this summer. If you are met with a jam packed, cob-web filled pile of rusty tools and cracked pots every time you go out to find the rake, perhaps your garden shed is not living up to it’s full potential.

If you can’t find your tools, and have to dig through half empty bags of potting soil and broken garden ornaments, this may lead to your gardens’ worst enemy – gardening procrastination. If you think about your shed like a big closet, and the only way a closet can be useful is if it’s organized, then maybe you’ll finally decide to get a handle on your shed clutter.

But how do you go about organizing your gardening stuff? Well, it may be hard to do, but the first thing you need to do to get things orderly and organized is to totally unpack your shed. Take out the rolls of wire would only be useful for fencing in a horse and a few cows (unless you have livestock, then it’s alright), remove the 12 cans of designer stain that have long ago separated because you left them in the shed all winter and they froze. Throw out everything that can’t be used, give away anything that you haven’t used in a year.

Not all garden shed designs have the kind of information that will help make your job easy when building your own garden shed. But there are some things you should know which will help you evaluate which plans are of better quality.

You will of course need multiple plans to help you decide which type of garden shed fits your taste as well as budget. It should include a ‘deluxe shed plan’ which gives you the prints for vinyl siding and trim. It should also include the economy version which gives you the wood siding version.

If the garden shed plans are lacking in any of these areas- easy to read building plans, complete materials list, full size rafter templates, door and window framing instructions, then you may want to pass and look at other prints. And by having the full size rafter template the hardest part of building a shed just became easier. The rafter template can just be traced on to the rafters to make the cutting job much easier. This eliminates the mistakes in trying to read a framing square.