Building a Shed Base

Time to build a shed base! Our shed's going to be 10' x 9' and 5' high. So, our base needs to be bigger than that. After doing some rough sketch outlines and some basic math, I came to the conclusion that we need two 12' 2x4's and seven 10' 2x4's.

We went to Home Depot to pick up some lumber. Since our shed is going to be outside, we needed to make sure the lumber we purchases was pressure treated, ground contact lumbar. We also needed to use galvanized nails to prevent rust.

We checked out a bunch of guides online on how to build a pretty strong foundation that would last a long time and thus, began constructing our base. First, we laid out the frame. Two, parallel sides of 12' pieces and two, parallel sides of 10' pieces.

Then, I marked where the nails would be going. Basically 1" from the top and in on each corner. Once I finished marking all corners, Jeric and Dad Samoza worked together on pre-drilling a hole with a drill bit with a diameter that's less than that of the nails we were using. Pre-drilling prevents the wood from splitting when you hammer in the nails.

After drilling, Jeric nailed in the nails.

They finished one corner at a time, drilling and nailing. After all four corners were done, we had to make sure that the base was perfectly straight. To do that, we had to measure from corner to diagonal corner and then measure the opposite corner to diagonal corner and the measurements needed to be equal. We did read that we had lee-way of about a half of an inch.

Now, it was time to measure where the middle support beams would go. We read that you can have them every 16 - 24" and decided to have them placed every 24". So, I measured and marked and then Jeric began placing the beams in.

To finish it off, Jeric had to drill and nail the beams in place. Then, he would add the metal joists in for additional support so that the beams wouldn't sag. We were losing light so, our work for today is done!