How a new wood shed can help you increase your summer fun.

June 8, 2011 - PRLog -- Portsmouth NH May 25— It’s summer! Thoughts turn to the outdoors. It’s time for barbecues, relaxing on the patio and spending time in the garden and the garage. But summers only come once a year.  Spending that valuable time washing the winter off a dirty barbecue grill, tracking down your gardening tools or cleaning and repairing your outdoor furniture is time you could be spending enjoying all the benefits that summer has to offer.

You can get back a good deal of your summer by doing one simple thing: buy a shed.  Buying and installing a shed on your property allows you to keep the tools and toys of summer in one handy location, clean year round and out of the garage or underfoot.

The Why, Which, What, Where of Sheds

Just a few years ago, if you wanted a shed you only had a few choices. Buy a metal or plastic shed and put it together, build a wooden shed yourself from plans or your own design, or hire a professional to build one.  Thankfully, you can now order high-quality wood sheds (and even garages and barns) online or from home centers. The sheds are then professionally assembled on site from panels and components that are precision crafted at a factory. The components are delivered to your home and quickly assembled on site.

The only questions you have to answer are: What siding material? Which shed? What size? And where to put it?

Wood is Good

People have made sheds from just about everything.  But in the end, wood is the best choice. Why wood?  There are many reasons. Steel rusts while plastic looks cheap.  And frankly, anything but a wood shed looks out of place near your home, since it’s not made the same.  Going with wood construction that’s built in the same manner as your home allows for styling and finishes that will complement and add value to your home. Wood sheds also allow for many different types of siding and styles. From low-maintenance vinyl and engineered plywood, to tongue and groove pine and cedar sides, which can be painted or stained.

Which Shed?

The next question is which kind of shed is right for your purposes? Will you use the shed primarily for storage? For gardening/potting? As a shop? Will you use it to store your lawn tractor?  What level of security do you require?  If your shed will be used to store large items such as a motorcycle, lawnmower, or snowmobile, a shed with a large door at one or both ends is ideal.  Sheds with a standard colonial style roof might be most appropriate for your home. Sheds with a Dutch Colonial (barn) style roof provides more headroom.  Of course windows let in light and add beauty while no windows increase security.   Sheds are also ideal for taking on
single-purpose tasks such as gardening or potting, wherein one side of the shed serves as a green house with part of the roof and one wall covered in semi-opaque plastic windows to serve as a green house, while the other side serves as a potting shed.  Keep in mind that the choice of shed designs are only limited by your imagination.  Adding electricity or water can allow a typical shed to become a craft center, painting studio or workshop.  

Size Matters
Of course, the vast majority of sheds do double, or even triple duty—acting as storage, gardening and shop sheds all at once.  For that reason, it pays to think bigger when ordering a shed.  When planning, make a scale drawing (where ¼” equals 1 foot) showing the floor plan of the shed you think will be the ideal size Measure large items like lawn mowers, snow mobiles trash cans or an air compressor and then draw to-scale boxes and circles to see how much room they’ll take up on your floor plan. And don’t forget to add room to get around easily inside.  You can do the same for items you’ll hang on walls or place on shelves.  Once you’ve determined the correct size, it pays to add more space, since people rarely accumulate less stuff to store over time.

Where it goes
The requirements for placing and assembling a shed on site are minimal. The ground slope should be no more than six inches in any direction. There should also be about three feet of clearance around the site to allow for construction. The extra room will also help reduce mold and allow the outside of the shed to dry and drain.
Keep in mind that many towns and municipalities require building permits prior to erecting a shed. It’s the home owners responsibility to obtain required permits.

Other considerations for shed placement include locating it for easy access. If you’re storing valuables, the shed should be visible and well lit at night. If you are storing gardening or pool items it only makes sense to site the shed as close as possible to where you’re doing the work.  If you’ll be loading and unloading shed items from your pickup or SUV, you’ll need to make you’re shed is vehicle accessible.

About Sheds USA
Since 1993, Sheds USA has been building high-quality sheds by precision crafting factory built components and panels. The components are then transported and assembled on site by trained personnel.  The result is consistent quality, quick assembly and exceptional value.  For more information, visit http://www.shedsusa.com

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Since 1993, Sheds USA has been building high-quality sheds by precision crafting factory built components and panels. The components are then transported and assembled on site by trained personnel. The result is consistent quality, quick assembly and exceptional value. For more information, visit http://www.shedsusa.com