shed door placement

[John Dirks Jr]

Hi everyone.  As always I like the experience and opinions I get here.

I'm building an 8x8 storage shed mostly out of scrap materials and whatever else I can find to re-purpose.  It will have one door on one side.  It's a salvaged 36x80 exterior storm door and a fairly hefty one.  It's what I have so it gets the job.

What's your opinion on placement with consideration for utilizing the most of the interior space?   Should I put it dead center of the wall or butt the hinge up to the corner?

[Bill Kibbel]

I don't know what's going in it.  Wide stuff or skinny stuff against the walls?

I'm usually a double door on the skinny end kinda guy.

[Jim Katen]

I'd vote for the middle and, of course, swinging outward. That way you can put shelves to either side of the entryway to store lots of stuff for easy access without having to walk all the way into the shed. 

[Marc]

If it's only 8' wide, put the hinge side 4" from a corner, measured from an inside corner. That will avoid dividing a considerable square footage into two smaller areas. Don't butt it on the corner - doorknob will keep it from becoming fully opened.

[John Dirks Jr]

I think I'll go closer to the corner, and swinging outward.

Another decision is the construction of the walls.  I have a bunch of 5/8 x 5 1/2 cedar fence pickets I plan to use for the walls.   I'm trying to decide on orientation of the pickets.  Vertical, just like you would when building a fence, (small vertical gaps are acceptable), or, a horizontal clapboard design.  Any input on these?

[Marc]

If you're going to use an out-swinging door, place it in the center of the wall like Jim said, and use security hinges if any valuables are to be kept inside.

Horizontal pickets w/gaps between the courses, fastened to framing through vertical furring strips over a rain-screen.

 

Edited June 7, 2022 by Marc

[John Dirks Jr]

Out swinging centered it is on the door.   

Rain-screen huh?   Maybe that's in the budget.  I'm sure vertical tobacco barn style is cost friendly 

[John Dirks Jr]

I like the idea shown at this video.  She spaced the first run 3" then covered the gaps board batten style.   I see no need for rain screen because I'll have a decent eave overhang and the walls are not backed by anything on the inside so any seepage of water can easily dry out.

 

Edited June 8, 2022 by John Dirks Jr

[John Kogel]

I would buy a bundle of cedar lath and nail to one inner side of each wide plank with short galvanized nails. The first plank gets two strips of lath. I think I used finishing nails and bent them so they wouldn't poke thru the plank.

You get a shiplap appearance and costs less than lapping fullsize planks. The air space behind the planks keeps the wall dry, that's a rainscreen. Should have a bugscreen strip along the bottom edge.

This house we  have now has 3 smallish bedrooms, and the door is in a corner in every room. However, these doors swing inward. A door that swings outward can go anywhere you want, but I agree with Mycroft, leave room on the narrow side for shelves or a narrow workbench. That's where the gloves and hand tools go.

[John Kogel]

The planks are spaced about an inch apart for 2" cedar strips.

[Tom Raymond]

I built one with my daughter over lockdown. It's 8x8 because someone tossed 2 sheets of pressure treated plywood on the scrap pile of a house I was building and I brought them home. The platform is a ridiculously overbuilt pallet for 18' azek beadboard split in half, then married back together with PT 2x4s through them. 

6' sidewalls and a 6/12 roof make it 8' tall. A ridge beam eliminates wall ties so I can stand up in it. I kicked the end rafters to the outside of the walls and tied the tails the same, sub-fascia and soffit in one go.  Walls and rafters are new 2x4s. Walls are angle braced without sheathing, roof deck is OSB leftover from pallet racking I sold years ago. Shingles are leftovers from the house. I had to buy a bundle of hip and ridge.

Siding and trim is all dog ear treated fence pickets. Siding is lapped and face nailed to capture both planks. Corners will overlap siding and tuck behind fascias. It's not finished because boards were out of stock for almost a year, and of course, I ran out. 

The doors are roughed in for a pair of 32" slabs. If I find something I like they'll go in as is. If not, they'll be cambered so the trim doesn't look nippy where it meets the fascia, and be simple tongue and groove pine, maybe with little windows if I have the ambition.

It's on this year's to do list, but so are about a million other things.

[Marc]

10 hours ago, John Dirks Jr said:

I like the idea shown at this video.  She spaced the first run 3" then covered the gaps board batten style.   I see no need for rain screen because I'll have a decent eave overhang and the walls are not backed by anything on the inside so any seepage of water can easily dry out.

 

No need for rain-screen on board/batten, or batten/board, just when horizontal gaps are left open. Board/batten just needs moisture retarder. Considerable commercial in my area is done with rain-screen as primary defense against moisture intrusion.

[John Dirks Jr]

It's starting to look like something.  I have no plan really.  I'm just making it up piece by piece as I go along.  Kinda like we did when we were kids making forts out of stuff from the scrap pile.   Although, I'm not pulling nails out of old lumber and hammering them straight on the pavement for reuse.  Everything is screwed together.  That lets me take it back apart when an idea turns out bad.  

 

[Les]

I like it!  

[Marc]

That is cool!

[John Dirks Jr]

Cedar for all the cladding, all structure framing is pressure treated.  Brick floor and galvanized roof.  It will be tight enough to keep mice out unless the chew their way in. 

[hausdok]

👍

[Jim Baird]

Looks great.  Maybe enough of those brick for a landing outside the door?

[John Dirks Jr]

On 6/24/2022 at 11:40 AM, Jim Baird said:

Looks great.  Maybe enough of those brick for a landing outside the door?

I've got plenty more bricks.  I need to set a row in under the door threshold to make a tight seal against the door sweep.  The 6x6 posts I have running horizontally at the base of the walls need some fill at the outer side because of grade variance.  I plan to fit bricks tightly under the 6x6's around the outer perimeter.