Building my shed

I wanted to construct the 'roof trusses' before the walls, so that they were ready and waiting just to pop on the walls once built.  They are constructed out of 38 x 63 CLS timber.  Strengthening triangles (don't know what they are called) at the apex are cut from 18mm OSB flooring offcuts. Stacked and ready. The ends of the joists are already cut for attaching the fascia and soffits.  (I can never saw horizontally once fixed, for the soffit fixing!)

The frame is using 4x2, probably overkill again, but should keep it nice and solid, since each joint is sitting on the gravel, rather than just suspended.  Sheeting is 18mm OSB3.  I know this is not weatherproof, but I think I can keep the weather out, and the shed is not going to get daily use, like a business workshop, so I think the OSB should be fine rather than the expense of ply. Then when you least expect them, the Building Inspector arrives!

Although frowned on by some 'official' shed build sites, my last shed lasted for 30 years (and it was only a cheap and cheerful off-the-shelf shed) on a level gravel base. I'm doing the same for this shed.  4x2 framework on level ground, filled to a depth of about 2" 50mm with 20mm gravel.  4x2 framework is probably overkill, but not easy to get pressure treated 4x1 carcassing. This is easy to level, almost self-leveling after the floor is laid, as the gravel will move to the lower spots if there are any, and is well draining so no chance of damp rising up to the floor structure. After killing off all the weeds and levelling the site, I marked out the shed size, and made the frame for the base 50mm bigger all round, so any rainwater off the walls falls onto the gravel, and drains away.   Cleared, levelled, and pegged out to shed dimensions.   Frame prepared 50mm outside shed footprint.   Gravel going in.  Last frame ti...

I've made a start at long last! When I retired in 2016 first on my list of things to do was to build a new shed.  Two reasons, first that our 30 year old shed was almost falling down, and too small, and second that our garage was so full of bits and pieces that we can no longer get a car in there! Now in 2020, partly down to the self-isolation forced on us by the Coronavirus, I have had time to make a start. During March I started detailed plans using Sketchup (used to be Google Sketchup, but now owned by Trimble.  There is still a free PC version, a free web version, and various 'Pro' versions).  Simple to use, and quite powerful to do detailed measurements etc. I should explain the reasoning behind my rather strange measurements!    In the UK timber sizes roughly correspond to inches - e.g. 50 x 100mm (4 x 2 inches), and timber is sold in metric lengths roughly corresponding to feet - e.g. 2.4m (8 feet), 3.0m (10 feet), 3.6m (12 feet) etc. However, she...