Backyard Shed DIY – Part 2 (Framing)

This is part 2 of the DIY backyard shed blog… because holy cow, there were a lot of moving parts! If you missed the first blog on the foundation, click here and check it out.

Once the foundation was complete (and very sturdy, I might add), Stephen moved onto the actual framing. His plan for the four walls was for one wall to be solid, one to have an air vent, one to have a small window, and one to have double doors and an air vent. He had to really think through the sizes of the items and plan how to frame around them. That took some drawing out and measuring (and erasing!), for sure.

Again, my apologies for not having better step-by-step pictures.

Step 1: Stephen built the actual walls on the ground. He did his measurements and cut the 2×4 wood accordingly, framing out the above-stated items, and putting in enough supports. He used screws to keep the wood pieces together. It was so much easier to make this on the ground and then put them upright on the foundation!

Step 2: Once the walls were built, he had to lift the walls up and put them into place. And by he, I mean he and I. And by he and I, I really mean he and our strong neighbor- those suckers were heavy!! Pressure treated wood (wood that you need for outdoors/weather elements) is much heavier than regular wood… and then you add a bunch of wood together… man! I need to work out, apparently! 😉 Stephen used wood screws to screw each wall into the base foundation, and into each other at the corners where the walls met.

Step 3: Once the walls were up, Stephen focused on the rafters for the roof. He used what’s called the Bird Mouth technique to secure the rafters to the top plate (top beam). Here’s a picture of what that technique looks like:

He marked where these cuts needed to be made on each board, and used a roofing square for the angle. He used a jigsaw to cut out the “bird’s mouth”. Then, he put in wood screws at an angle, entering at the side of the 2×4 going into the top plate. Once the rafters were done, he used his nailgun to secure 1/2″ plywood to the rafters, which you can kind of see in a couple of pictures below. This created the roof for the shingles to go on. (More on that later!)

Step 4: The next thing Stephen did is more optional. He added on wooden extensions on the sides of the roof to prevent rainwater from running down the sides of the shed. You can see what he made on the ground in the below picture. He put these up on the window side and the solid side of the shed. I helped hold them up so he could nail them in! Sorry I don’t have a picture of these actually in place.

Step 5: Once the walls were done, if they were pushed, the whole shed would slightly move. To stabilize it, Stephen used 2x4s and ran them diagonally from the top corner to the bottom corner on each wall (except the wall with the doors). This helped to firm up the structure until we could get the siding/walls installed later. He noticed this movement especially when he was up on the roof, nailing the plywood in!

That is it for the framing! This was the most time-consuming part of the whole shed, and required the most details. Next up… adding shingles to the roof! Sneak peak…