This forum is awesome. I just love reading about all the builds and wish I had a huge basement to do a dedicated theater in but maybe the next house.

I just bought a new house last month. One of the reasons we picked this house was because it was big enough on the first floor for "everyday living" but then had more space upstairs for "other things". These other things consist of a home office, playroom, possibly guest room, and a TV area. We have toyed around with how to do this upstairs as there is only two rooms, a "bedroom" and a bonus room to go along with a full bath and a large hall closet.

Our latest design is to have the bedroom be a playroom/guestroom and the bonus room will be our media room/home office. Here is a couple of pictures of our bonus room:

From the stairs:
http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/92250606.jpg

The dormer on the right side:
http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/92250608.jpg

Left wall:
http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/93519238.jpg

Dormer/right wall:
http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/93519241.jpg

Hallway and stairs on the "back wall":
http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/93519242.jpg

The room measures approximately 12'7" W x 30' 6" long x 8' H. The flat part of the ceiling is 7' W. The left wall tapers to a height of 67 3/4" and the right wall tapers to 69".

For now my office will be at the end of the room with an L shaped desk around the window. The TV area is going to be at the end near the stairs with the TV going on the left wall along with the fronts and a sub as well as a built-in equipment rack between the half wall and the dwarf-door leading to storage.

If I do a dedicated theater in this room my thought is to build out a false wall at the end of the room, hiding the window, use an AT screen (size TBD), possibly a stage if I have enough height, have two rows of seating with 3 chairs each or a couch/love seat arrangement. The back row will be on a riser. The room would then either have a false wall at the rear or be open as it currently stands. I would still need to leave room for an office toward the stairs.

Now my questions:

1. If I do a false wall for an AT screen how much room should be between the existing wall and the false wall?

2. Approximately what size screen do you think is "doable"?

3. How far would that put my viewing distance for each row?

4. I would need to leave room behind the last row for walking space. How much?

5. What should I do for construction? The room is above the garage with no other rooms directly adjoining, although the hallway at the back of the room leads to a full bath and bedroom. The walls are all insulated as is the floor and ceiling. I see no need to rip the drywall out, except for maybe some help in running wires for the PJ, lights, and speakers, but I can get behind the existing walls through the storage doors (which the storage will need to be retained for our extra junk and Christmas stuff, etc.) and can get on top of the ceiling through other attic access. Should I still do double drywall with GG in between?

6. I would likely do a rear soffit for the PJ if the distance worked out, but what about side soffits with the sloped walls? I was thinking I could come straght down for the edge of the flat celing with the soffit, maybe just a small one at 6" or so for crown molding and possibly some can lights.

7. What do I do with the dormer on the right? I could do an equipmetn rack there but maybe a small concession area instead and leave the equipment rack outside the room.

Are there any other obstacles to overcome with this room that you can see?

Sorry for such a long post, but thanks for any advice you could give.

Looks like a great room really...


1. The space behind your false wall is dependent on your design as in stage or no stage? Is there a sub supposed to fit behind the wall? Size / placement of front speakers, ect......

2. I'd say a 106" screen, with 1080p projectors your first row can be really close. I'm at 8' from mine. You could go a little bigger even though I am sure.

4. How many rows? I have three, my 1st row is 8'-sh, my 2nd row is 11'-ish, my thrid row is 16'-ish....

5. The room looks great, I think I'd have to throw some equipment in there and expirement some with it. That way you can gauge sound leakage and sound isolation and then formulate a better game plan. It's the type of room, that if you just get a projector / screen up, some furniture/ a riser, and a good audio system, it may meet your expectations as is.

7. Really, I think I would set it up without installing wires and such in wall and try out different ideas and things. I think this is your path to bliss with the space. I am digging installing on-wall speakers these days in existing built rooms....

I like the room as well, it has nice proportions for a theater. I am thinking you could probably fit around a 120" wide 2.35:1 screen, perhaps a little bigger. And easy way to figure it out is to put a piece of tape at the height you want the top of the screen. measure across to the two angled walls, then subtract a little for the frame and wall coverings. that gives you the width. Calc the diagonal if needed from that.

And I am with John on this one. Put some equipment in there, and see how much treatment you need to do to avoid bothering the neighbors, sleeping child, etc.

As you stated in another thread, it is fairly similar to my temporary bonus room setup. Good luck with it!

120" screen, would probably extend the distance on just how close the front row can be. You can go this big, just think about your seating when considering this large of a size is all.

Your room will be a great space to work with. I would try to decide on seating and what is comfortable in the room. Definately a false wall which will give you a nice clean look up front and block the light from the window. Screen size depends on PJ. 1080p and you could go to an 8' front row. However, with a 7ft ceiling you are going to be hard pressed with the correct height for a riser. You definate have some room though for the equipment. Either in one of the small crawl spaces or dormers.

On a 120" wide screen especially an SMX AT screen you can sit quite close and enjoy the picture. Mine is 120" by 51" 2.35 and my seats are 9.5 and 12.5 feet eyes to screen and no one has a problem with either row. Not saying you have to be that close but you could.
As for how deep your false wall should be, minimum of 24" if you can manage it more is ok. Think of what the largest speakers you could ever want to put in there are and how much breathing room they would need, for instance rear ported as opposed to sealed speakers.
I left 24" and I am running up against that problem now as I am thinking of swapping out my REVEL M22's with F 52's which are deeper by several inches.

Deffinately leave room behind the rows more is better if you are thinking of going with a 7.1 or 7.2 surround. Gives you more room for rear speakers to be most effective.

You are lucky in that you have some height there, you could do real stadium seathing with each row being decently higher than the one in front, I prefer being able to look straight at or even slightly downward in view the screen and stadium allow this rather than looking UP, though if you plan to use recliners and actually recline then UP makes more sense.

Thanks for the comments so far everyone. I will definitely try out my gear in the room and see how it performs and what kind of issues I have with sound in other areas of the house (shouldn't be much honestly unless I leave the back wall open).

whiskey alpha: The ceiling height is 8' but the flat part is 7' wide before it starts to slope on the sides.

McCall: 24" will likely work for my current gear and any of the stuff I have been looking at, although I seriously doubt I will upgrade for quite some time. The gear I have now has great value as I paid a fraction of retail price for what I own from working in the business years ago. Juding by your 12.5 feet to the second row I figured I would need ~19 feet of total depth if I build a back wall, which leaves enough room for an office. :)

Now I need to start working on some plans, saving some money and doing lots and lots of reading. :D

whiskey alpha: The ceiling height is 8' but the flat part is 7' wide before it starts to slope on the sides.
:D

Sorry,that is my bad for not reading it correctly. 8' you'll be fine with a riser. Looking forward to some pics after you start working on it.

I had some "little" access doors like that at my ould house. I just built some bookshelves with hinges on them to fill them in. It gave us great storage space and since they are hinged you can still get into them when needed.

I have spent some time working with Sketchup for the first time and I have run into a couple of problems that I would like suggestions:

I have the screen wall 2' from the back wall and the stage comes out another 16" on the ends and a total of 34" at the edge of the curve. After placing my 6.5' W x 5'D riser 3' from the back and side walls I am left with only 66" between the riser and stage for more seating (the depth of several Berkline Recliners). IS this too tight? This also places the front row with a viewing distance of 8' and the rear row approx 12.5'. One thought is to use speakers that can be placed closer to the back wall and make the screen wall closer to the original room wall. If I do that I won't have enough room for a sub or two behind the false wall (time to buld my own IB setup below the screen?).

Now the dormer also poses another problem. How would I do my right side surround in a 7.1 setup? It looks like I would need to close in the dormer area maybe.

Any other areas of concern that you can see? I thought about doing soffits but I don't think it would look right and I would lose too much headroom.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=109079&stc=1&d=1209502309

Closing the dormer looks like a good idea. Or make it your equipment room/media library space or something.

Why ar you putting in the "new back wall"? You might consider to leave it open all the way back to the stairs. And I would agree with Cathan, enclose the dormer and out your rack in that space.

Why ar you putting in the "new back wall"? You might consider to leave it open all the way back to the stairs. And I would agree with Cathan, enclose the dormer and out your rack in that space.

There is still a possibility of leaving it open, but the main reasons for the wall are:

1. To help keep sound in the room since the hallway to the bedroom and bathroom is open. Sound would travel directly down the hall.

2. To section off the room and still allow room for an office.

3. To help with light control.

4. To give me a place to put rear surrounds.

And I agree the dormer looks like it will have to be closed off. Keep the ideas coming though.

Hey In2, there is no reason for wasting 3 ft in the back of room if you do a step up into the room outside the room (think porch step). Then you can do a wall to wall riser at the back of the room. Also Berkline recliners need about a 6'8" deep riser.

If I went this route what would you suggest for seating? Since I have an angled roof seats will not be able to be placed against the walls if they are on a riser.

As you can see from my previous post there are a couple of reason for the back wall but I still may leave it open.

No progress on HT front, but I started construction on my shed this weekend and I know you guys like sheds. ;) I will post some pics later.

No progress on HT front, but I started construction on my shed this weekend and I know you guys like sheds. ;) I will post some pics later.
Hmmm, does this mean if I build a shed I can start a HT thread? :rolleyes:

No progress on HT front, but I started construction on my shed this weekend and I know you guys like sheds. ;) I will post some pics later.

IN2...

I can hear it now..... "Yes Dear.. I'm out here working on the SHED..."

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1018797&highlight=backyard

;)

Hmmm, does this mean if I build a shed I can start a HT thread? :rolleyes:
Thanks for the sarcasm! :rolleyes: This is precisely why I didn't want to do this, but several others here asked me to share my progress. If you notice this thread was started long before any shed and the only place I could think to share it with others here. If you have no interest in seeing it then don't look. Simple really. :rolleyes:
IN2...

I can hear it now..... "Yes Dear.. I'm out here working on the SHED..."

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1018797&highlight=backyard

;)

LOL. I wish. I'm not building any HT outside until I build one inside!

So the plan is to build a 10x12 with a double door and a single window. For the past year and a half I have been using a Rubbermaid shed to store my stuff. It sucks! Too small for anything really. Here you can see the area I am using for the shed and the one being replaced.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121012240/original.jpg

I started digging the holes for the 6 concrete piers that will provide the support for 2 4x6 skids. I started in the back corner hoping that I wouldn't fin my drainage pipe that leads to the ditch behind my fence. About 10" down I found it. :mad: I would have only needed to move the pier a few inches so I decided to dig the front one to see if the pipe was there also. I had to use a pick due to the lovely hard ground and about 6 inches down I heard a crunch. :( This is what I eventually found.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121012242/original.jpg

Now, this would normally suck! But I have been thinking about adding gutters and downspouts at some point so I decided to put a "T" in here to tie the shed into this line.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121012243/original.jpg

Once the holes were dug I cut the sonotubes to height, mixed up some concrete and set the beams in place.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121012244/original.jpg

Next up is the floor joists and plywood. Supposed to rain this weekend so it may be a while. :(

Thanks for the sarcasm! :rolleyes: This is precisely why I didn't want to do this, but several others here asked me to share my progress. If you notice this thread was started long before any shed and the only place I could think to share it with others here. If you have no interest in seeing it then don't look. Simple really. :rolleyes:

Of course I am interested, I want to build a shed too! I also want to build a HT but the shed will have to come first so I have room in the basement for my build. I'm just jealous that you started before me.

Oh, and by the way - I think I have the same Rubbermaid shed and the same problem (it isn't big enough), so I'll be building a 10x16 shed once the ground thaws out. I'll just have to find another way to post progress pictures (hmm, this thread doesn't look too busy... :D )

I'd say move the new wall back as far as you can, even all the way to the stairs.

The room really is a good one to use. I would put shelves on the walls in the dormer to store all of your media, and I would build two or three short racks into the wall where you have those crawl spaces to store your equipment, that way you can isolate their fan noise, and provide an easy ventilation through the ridge vent in the "attic" space. The dormer won't pose as large a problem as you think with your side speakers, because if you have two rows of seats, you will typically want the side channels between those two rows, pushing your sides to the wall, rather than in middle of the dormer.

Another question I had, was "Why did you make the stage so deep if you plan to hide the speakers behind the screen ?"

Of course I am interested, I want to build a shed too! I also want to build a HT but the shed will have to come first so I have room in the basement for my build. I'm just jealous that you started before me.

Oh, and by the way - I think I have the same Rubbermaid shed and the same problem (it isn't big enough), so I'll be building a 10x16 shed once the ground thaws out. I'll just have to find another way to post progress pictures (hmm, this thread doesn't look too busy... :D )
Gotcha! If I misinterpreted your first post my apologies!

The largest we can build without a permit is a 12x12. But even that extra two feet would position the shed too far out into the yard once the ramp is on. So I stuck with 10x12. My last one was 8x12 (see below) and it was big enough so this should be nice as well.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/92500139/large.jpg
I'd say move the new wall back as far as you can, even all the way to the stairs.



Thanks for your input!

I need some room for an office so I can't move it all the way to the stairs, not to mention that it would be very difficult to get any furniture up there is I did. But the plans are to have it as far back as I can get away with.

The room really is a good one to use. I would put shelves on the walls in the dormer to store all of your media, and I would build two or three short racks into the wall where you have those crawl spaces to store your equipment, that way you can isolate their fan noise, and provide an easy ventilation through the ridge vent in the "attic" space. The dormer won't pose as large a problem as you think with your side speakers, because if you have two rows of seats, you will typically want the side channels between those two rows, pushing your sides to the wall, rather than in middle of the dormer.
I will definitely use the storage space for equipment and maybe even one for an IB (the right front next to the dormer). I may drop the idea of having two rows though since our primary use will be family only (4 of us). I may do a second row bar to conserve space.


Another question I had, was "Why did you make the stage so deep if you plan to hide the speakers behind the screen ?"
My daughter is quite an entertainer so I thought it would be nice to incorporate a stage for her, but the stage will likely get scrapped or reduced in size to allow room for bean bags or temporary chairs for a larger viewing.

Gotcha! If I misinterpreted your first post my apologies!

No worries, I figured you might be a bit "touchy" on the subject but couldn't resist poking you. I'll try to offer more constructive comments in the future (pardon the pun).

BTW - do you have a picture of the plan for the shed?

No worries, I figured you might be a bit "touchy" on the subject but couldn't resist poking you. I'll try to offer more constructive comments in the future (pardon the pun).

BTW - do you have a picture of the plan for the shed?

I have my Auto CAD drawings. Basically it will have a similar look to Bigs shed, but with more of an overhang and the door and window are reversed.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=163517&d=1263394786

Just placed my order at Home Depot for all the remaining lumber, siding, door, and window. They were running 12 months same as cash so I just ordered it all for delivery. Looking at 2 weeks before the door and siding are here. It is supposed to rain this weekend and I will be out of town the following weekend so won't be able to do much anyway. I'll try to get the holes filled and the landscape fabric down before it rains.

I have a very similar room...tho you knee wall is probably 6', mine was 5' and I had no dormers, which made it very easy to run wires inside that storage space. Here is a similar theater that has your room shape http://www.electronichouse.com/slideshow/category/7561/1105/...IMO, this room shape is ideal to run wires or whatever elase you have thru the storage area and above the ceiling.

I have a very similar room...tho you knee wall is probably 6', mine was 5' and I had no dormers, which made it very easy to run wires inside that storage space. Here is a similar theater that has your room shape http://www.electronichouse.com/slideshow/category/7561/1105/...IMO, this room shape is ideal to run wires or whatever elase you have thru the storage area and above the ceiling.

Thanks for the link. Running wires won't be a problem. I've already had to run some and it wasn't too difficult.

Here is what I intend the shed to resemble.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=163690&d=1263505984

No major news on the shed, but I got the holes filled, the drain pipe ready, and put down some landscape fabric. Just waiting for all my supplies to come in for delivery and then I can get to work.

T- fitting for a front and rear downspout collection. I'll put the pipe on when I put the floor joists in. This should allow me to attach the pipe with some slope.
http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121245160/original.jpg

Another view:
http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121245163/original.jpg

My helpers!

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121245556/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121245165/original.jpg

And the fabric in place. I got it done with about 2 hours to spare before it rained. That would have been messy!

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121245167/original.jpg

Everything except my door has arrived so Home Depot was set to deliver yesterday morning. What a fiasco! :rolleyes: When I scheduled the delivery I told them they needed to call my cell number so that I could meet the delivery truck at my house and move my truck out of the garage. 11:15 am and no call yet so I called to make sure they put in the instructions to call my cell. They said the driver was running behind and made it seem like there was one other delivery and mine that were to be made, not sure which one first. I said OK and hung up.

3 pm rolls around and still nothing! So I called again. This time the guy tells me that my delivery is scheduled for 3:50 and the driver should be calling me soon. 5 pm rolls around, still no call. So I left work to pick up my kids figuring I was out of luck for the day. On my way I get the call. The driver is lost, but is only a mile away from my house. I asked why I didn't get a phone call. He called, my HOUSE line. :rolleyes: He said he never calls the work line which is what they had my cell number under.

So I gave him directions and told him he would have to wait until my wife or I got there. She beat me home so he started loading the stuff into the garage. I'm glad I didn't have to move it all by hand!!!

So here it is, the wood pile (just for Hanes!!!)

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121457377/original.jpg

So last night after the kids went to bed I started cutting up the wood. I have all the floor joists cut and ready to go, but I can't get to the 3/4 ply for the floor yet. So I started cutting up the studs for the walls. I got the front wall all cut too and labeled for easy assembly. The remianing walls have lots of similar cuts to make so I needed to make a jig to reduce the time to cut all the studs. Now I don't have a fancy shop like some on here (although I would certainly love one!) so I now present my ghetto jig! :D

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121457382/original.jpg

That's right, an old speaker box with a couple of scraps on top. The bottom 2x4 is clamped into my work mate and the chop saw is clamped to the workmate as well. I built a "T" that is clamped to the bottom 2x4 as a stop. The working 2x4 then rests on the saw and the "T" ready to cut.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121457384/original.jpg

Tonight I hope to cut the remaining studs for the walls as well as the top and bottom plates. This weekend looks like bad weather so I may not be able to get the floor done just yet. :(

Got the remainder of the studs cut for the walls last night.

Looks like the rain/freezing rain will be moving in tonight through tomorrow so perhaps Sunday I can set some floor joists and plywood, maybe construct a few walls. Only time will tell. If not, I'll start cutting the wood for my trusses.

Did I miss something? Get on with the theater build would ya? We want progress!! :mad:

Did I miss something? Get on with the theater build would ya? We want progress!! :mad:

No theater just yet. Other things are taking precedence. :(

But since we like sheds I thought I would document that build here.

and fine documentation it is. With helpers like that, why hire anybody?

OK, so the shed was a slight right turn from the HT, but I have a curious question - what are you taking those pictures with? That camera takes some very clear pictures.

OK, so the shed was a slight right turn from the HT, but I have a curious question - what are you taking those pictures with? That camera takes some very clear pictures.

The first pictures (the HT area) were taken with a Canon 40D. The last pictures of the shed are all from a Canon 1DMKII. Both are digital SLR cameras. The key to the indoor photos is to bounce a flash off the ceiling. All the pictures were then quickly processed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and exported to my website for hosting.

Nothing major to report just yet. Unfortunately it is dark when I get home at night and we have had rain/snow on the weekends. Tough to work outside when it is dark. :( But I have been trying to do some preliminary work by cutting as much wood as I can ahead of time so that all I have to do is assemble it.

Last night I got the rafters for the trusses cut and started ripping the plywood for the truss braces. I need to make a jig for the table saw to cut them to final size. Only problem with that is it got tucked behind the wood pile. :( So I may just use the circular saw. I can cut 3-4 at a time so it shouldn't be that bad.

Finally!!! Progress!!!

The yard was a soggy mess after all the rain and sleet we have had, but I need to get this thing done.

Saturday, my buddy Kyle came over and helped me get the floor down. We laid 2x6 joists, 16" OC over the 4x6 skids. We squared up the joists and then tacked them down. I used some straps as well as toe nailing.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121776965/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121776964/original.jpg

After the joists were down I attached my rear drainage pipe and strapped it to the inside of the joist. I made sure there was a slight slope headed toward the collector pipe, but this may need some adjusting once it is all said and done. You can see the joists have the crown up. As time goes by this will flatten out.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121776966/original.jpg

Next we threw down some roofing felt on top of the joists. I bought 3/4" T&G OSB instead of treated plywood for the floor. I prefer it for its strength, especially at the seams. I didn't want to have to place support between the joists for seams from non T&G material.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121776967/original.jpg

Next we placed the floor down and staggered the second row. My little helper making sure daddy did a good job.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121776968/original.jpg

On Sunday my dad came over to help. We were able to get all the walls up. Framing lumber sucks! That crap is so warped it drives me nuts. I don't think there was one board that we didn't have to twist, clamp or screw down to try and straighten it up at least some. Here he is taking a well deserved rest. Thanks dad!

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121776969/original.jpg

In the corners I overlapped the second of the two top plates to tie the walls together.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121776970/original.jpg

You can see my way over engineered header in this pic. Only 1/3 of this wall didn't need a header so I just decided to run it the length of the entire wall. You can also see that me sheathing extends a good bit over the floor. I built the walls as tall as I could without having to add any cripple studs to the front wall other than the one over the window. This wall was already fun enough to build without adding more lumber to the mix. This height meant that I would need to either a) cut the sheathing so it doesn't extend too far or b) leave it at the 8' length, reducing the amount of time cutting the material. I went for b! This also will allow me to run my siding lower to the ground giving the appearance that the shed isn't so high off the ground!

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121776971/original.jpg

And here is my little helper again with the finished product. She has hammered a couple of nails here and there but does a great job getting in the way! ;) She loves to help me clean up the garage after a days work though. She uses "The Dinosaur", my shop vac with an attachment on it to suck up the saw dust. :D

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121776972/original.jpg

This week I'll finish cutting up the wood for the trusses and get those built so that, weather permitting, I can get those up next weekend.

Looking good, but you put the window on the wrong side!
I really like the foundation system you went with.

Just a FYI, at this stage in my build it started to rain for 40 days last fall and by the time I got to working on the soffits the shed was a 3/8 inch longer because the shed walls swelled up a bit. Of course I had already cut my pieces so I ended up with some gaps that I'll be addressing this spring with some cosmetic fixes.

Looking good, but you put the window on the wrong side!
I really like the foundation system you went with.

Just a FYI, at this stage in my build it started to rain for 40 days last fall and by the time I got to working on the soffits the shed was a 3/8 inch longer because the shed walls swelled up a bit. Of course I had already cut my pieces so I ended up with some gaps that I'll be addressing this spring with some cosmetic fixes.

Thanks Big!

I used that same foundation on my last shed. The only change I made this time was moving the piers inside the outer perimeter a foot. I plan to put some white PVC lattice up to keep my dogs out and this time I won't have to bend it around the piers. I had one issue with a string level that left one of the piers a little short, but a shim cut from some left over material fixed that right up!

I'm hoping the weather cooperates so I can do the trusses and roof this weekend. So far they have only forecast one day of rain. I'm certainly crossing my fingers!

BTW, where did you get your composite shims for your door install? I checked Lowes but they didn't carry them. I plan to check HD as well, but may just order some online if I have to. My door and window is due to arrive Friday. I canceled the delivery last Friday due to rain, plus it allowed me to get some of the wood out of the garage!

BTW, where did you get your composite shims for your door install? I checked Lowes but they didn't carry them.

I got them either at L or HD. Can't remember where I found them. I was looking for shims, and they had a stack and on impulse I thought I'd give them a try.

I got them either at L or HD. Can't remember where I found them. I was looking for shims, and they had a stack and on impulse I thought I'd give them a try.

Thanks Big, I'll check HD some time this week.

Nice looking start to your shed, Mike! Great practice for framing your HT - someday? :)

Your helper is a cutie!

Nothing beats a hat and gloves in NC. Is that normal or is it just a crazy winter?

With the hopes of decent weather this weekend I need to get the remaining pieces of the trusses cut so that I can assemble them and be ready to install them. I have already cut all the 2x4s for the rafters and had done some ripping of the OSB gussets, but not all. So last night I began by ripping the OSB to 2 different size rectangles, 14x9 and the other 8x7. These will then be cut down to their final dimensions. I hate ripping OSB on my table saw. It is a smaller Delta and it just throws wood all over me. But I managed to get the pieces ripped. Here they are ready to be cut down.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121814413/original.jpg

These two piles will make up the gussets for the top and bottom of the trusses. I made the bottom ones first. They are simply triangles that will be used to attach the 2x4 rafters to some blocking that will rest on the wall. I needed to cut 36 of these so I made up a jig that allowed me to use my circular saw to cut them instead of my table saw. I cut one free hand and then setup the jig using the just made template. I started to make the jig by placing two pieces of scrap 2x4 on top of a scrap piece of OSB. I screwed these to the OSB from underneath to create a right angle. I then placed 3 pieces of OSB to be cut into the opening.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121814415/original.jpg

Only problem with this is that there is a gap underneath my straight edge that my saw might go into.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121814414/original.jpg

So I looked around to see what I had laying around to fill it. I found a piece of 1/8" ABS that worked perfectly!

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121814416/original.jpg

No more gap!

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121814417/original.jpg

With the jig now in place I could cut the rectangles down to their correct triangle dimensions. I made one cut for three pieces. This gave me 3 good pieces and 3 leftovers. The leftovers were turned around and placed into the jig, then cut to their final size as well. Here is the stack of triangles (plus a few extra, just in case).

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121814418/original.jpg

Next I needed to make the top gussets. These are shaped like a house. I made my first one freehand and then used it as a guide for the jig. I used the same 2x4 scraps from the triangles, but just adjusted my straight edge until it lined up with the template. Here is the first one.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121814422/original.jpg

Here is a pic showing how the jig looks with the template in place.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121814420/original.jpg

Again I cut three at a time. I made the first cut, then flipped the pieces over and made the second cut. Here is the pile of 18 ready for assembly.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121814424/original.jpg

Next up is to make the blocking. I'll use the same jig to make those either today or tomorrow night. I also need to rip the OSB for the roof. Then I'll start assembly of the trusses. I also need to make the gable ends that will fit between the rafters and the side walls.

Nice looking start to your shed, Mike! Great practice for framing your HT - someday? :)

Your helper is a cutie!
Thanks Bill! She gets here looks from here mommy! :D
Nothing beats a hat and gloves in NC. Is that normal or is it just a crazy winter?

Our typical winter day here would be upper 40s, lower 50s. So a small jacket would normally be enough. This year has been much colder (my gas bill will attest!). But mainly we just try to keep the kids warm. My son has had some ear infections, the last one taking 3 rounds of antibiotics to clear up, so taking all the precautions we can!

In2, very impressive shed build, I love it. If I recall correctly I found those composite shims at Lowes. Unfortunately you sometimes ask someone and they know nothing about them and I always had to search around for them because they were in the oddest place. The last time I found them they were by the shutters area. HD may have them also but I know I got them at Lowes.

BTW, you can definately do something nice with that room wether you do a dedicated room or make a multi use room. Good luck.

In2, very impressive shed build, I love it. If I recall correctly I found those composite shims at Lowes. Unfortunately you sometimes ask someone and they know nothing about them and I always had to search around for them because they were in the oddest place. The last time I found them they were by the shutters area. HD may have them also but I know I got them at Lowes.

BTW, you can definately do something nice with that room wether you do a dedicated room or make a multi use room. Good luck.

Thanks oman! I'll check out the shutter section at Lowes if I can't find them at HD.

I'm wanting to build the room so bad! The wife doesn't like the idea of a dedicated room so it may have to stay multi use. But I'm sure I won't care as long as there is a PJ and a large screen in there! ;)

Since I had volunteers to help this weekend I busted my tail each night to get as much done as I could on the trusses and remaining parts of the roof. So here's how it went.

Wednesday night I continued cutting the blocking for the trusses. Here is a pic of the truss assembly. I still needed to cut the pieces in blue.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121886816/original.jpg

So with the jig from the gussets I set it up to cut the blocks.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121886811/original.jpg

I measured over from the line and setup the straight edge.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121886812/original.jpg

All the pieces ready to go.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121886813/original.jpg

Next up was to cut the collar ties. I set up a quick jig and cut the pieces.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121886814/original.jpg

Thursday night I started on the trusses. Truss assembly begins with squirting some PL Premium on the bottom gusset.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121886818/original.jpg

Flip it onto the rafter and nail it in place.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121886819/original.jpg

Put the blocking in place and nail it as well. Flip it over, add some glue and attach the other side.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121886821/original.jpg

Continue until you have built all the rafters. Then place them so you can measure for the location of the collar ties.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121886822/original.jpg

Mark the collar ties.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121886823/original.jpg

Next lay it all out. I have a 2x4 cut to length to place between the rafters that represents the opening from the front wall to the back wall.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121886824/original.jpg

Lay the top gusset down as a spacer underneath where the rafters meet. Next put some glue at the top joint and attach the top gusset.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121886825/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121886826/original.jpg

Next put the collar tie in place and use one nail to hold one side. Then line up the other before nailing it all in place.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121886828/original.jpg

Flip the truss up and attach the back side of the upper gusset. Here is the finished truss.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121886815/original.jpg

Assemble the rest of the trusses. The trusses directly above the side walls will only have gussets on one side so I made these last. Make sure you flip the rafters the right way since you need two of each.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121886829/original.jpg

Up next, gable construction and snow! So much for good weather! :(

They need to rename this the Dedicated Shed Design & Construction forum.


Good work anyway.

BTW Thanks to Big for showing his truss build in his thread. I took his idea and ran with it.

So all week long we had no reports of bad weather. That all changed late Thursday into Friday as they starting reporting snow of 2-4" possible. I know that is nothing compared to what you guys in Virginia, DC etc got, but it was certainly going to damper my chances of getting a lot done this weekend. So I stayed home Friday and tried to get the roof on. I wanted to keep the snow out of the shed if I could, but more importantly I didn't was to lose the time of getting something done. I have a time limit of 90 days for the build from my HOA (although I doubt there would be an issue) and I want it done before spring.

Thursday night I tried to get my gable walls ready. Here is what the gable wall looks like.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121886817/original.jpg

I laid out the end truss and bottom of the gable wall as well as a temp piece of wood to hold all these pieces in place.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121886830/original.jpg

Next I measured the location of each stud and marked the bottom plate.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121886831/original.jpg

I then cut all the studs and laid them out to make sure they fit.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121886832/original.jpg

Friday morning I started assembly on the gable walls. Here is one after construction.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121902704/original.jpg

Next I needed to cut the sheathing for the gables.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121902705/original.jpg

I set the wall down on top of the plywood and lined it up so that the plywood lined up halfway on one of the studs.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121902706/original.jpg

At the other end I needed to add 3.5" to account for the front wall. I used a scrap cut from the rafters.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121902708/original.jpg

I then added another piece of plywood to the other side and traced it out for cutting.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121902709/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121902710/original.jpg

With the leftovers I traced out the cuts for the other side.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121902711/original.jpg

Next I took everything to the backyard and set the gable wall up. I'm working alone so I placed the wall up on one side, then raised it up as I went up the ladder on the other.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121902712/original.jpg

Once up I clamped it in place.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121902713/original.jpg

Then I clamped the outer truss in place as a test fit before nailing down the gable wall.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121902714/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121902715/original.jpg

Then do the other side.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121902716/original.jpg

Next I placed all the trusses upside down on the front and back walls. Then one at a time I moved them to the other end and rotated them up in place.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121902717/original.jpg

To hold the trusses I used a 4" deck screw from below and toe nailed from the top. The screw pulls the truss down to the top plate nice and tight.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121902718/original.jpg

I was using my 9.6V Makita impact to drive theses screws. Battery life is much shorter than it used to be. I can only get about 4-5 screws in on one battery ( I have the new 18V Li Ion one on my Amazon wish list for my birthday coming up!). So at one point while waiting for the batteries to charge I went ahead and put the sheathing on the gable walls. I clamped in it place to make sure everything was good and then nailed it up.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121902719/original.jpg

With the batteries now charged I went back to work on the trusses. When I got down to the last 3 I flipped them all over and leaned the remaining trusses against the gable wall. Otherwise I would not have had room to flip the trusses.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121902720/original.jpg

Here all the trusses are up.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121902721/original.jpg

Next up I needed to add some supports for my overhang. I haven't decided if I am going to cover 2x4 rafters with flashing or simply use some composite trim. I guess I need to do that soon! I cut the pieces and installed them on the trusses that go over the gables.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121902723/original.jpg

Here it is in place and attached from inside via nails.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121902724/original.jpg

Here is a view of my current "shed" and the one being built. I think I'll like the new space!

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121902725/original.jpg

At this point my buddy Kyle had gotten off work and came over to help. We got 6 of the 8 pieces of the roof sheathing cut. I goofed and am 1 sheet short of what I need to finish the roof! I made all my gussets from a new sheet rather than using scraps from other parts of the build. So we attempted to at least throw up what we could and maybe tarp the remaining openings. We got one piece up before the snow started falling. :( I needed to clean up so we quit there (no pics).

We ended up getting about 5 inches of snow. I went out this morning and played with the kids then shoveled the snow out of the shed. The majority (almost all) of the snow has already melted so we should be able to get the roof up tomorrow and maybe the shingles on. Possible snow again Monday!

They need to rename this the Dedicated Shed Design & Construction forum.


Good work anyway.

How about the general construction forum? :p

Yesterday I was able to get the remainder of the roof sheathing on and covered in felt with the help of my dad. No shingles yet. We were going to install the window but it is broken. I didn't notice it when they delivered it I was so worried about the door. :( It is also missing the grid so I am wondering if I got the wrong one anyway. I'll take it back this week and get a new one (hopefully!) Pics to follow later tonight.

So I left off with one piece of sheathing on the roof before the snow fell. Here is the shed after the snow.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121925174/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121925178/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121925181/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121925185/original.jpg

And then I shoveled the snow out of the shed.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121925188/original.jpg

By Sunday the snow had melted and the sun was shining bright so we started back on the roof. The first piece of sheathing up showed me just how warped some of these boards are. You can see that the board needs to twist so that the plywood lands somewhere close to the middle of the 2x4 rafter. The large C-clamp was used for leverage.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121994830/original.jpg

Dad pushed from below and I nailed it in place. Here is where it ended up. Not too bad.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121994831/original.jpg

All the sheathing up on the front. You can see that there is a hole in the roof. It is intentional. ;) This will allow air to escape through the ridge vent.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121994832/original.jpg

And now both sides are done.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121994834/original.jpg

At this point we put up the roofing felt and were ready to call it a day. I decided I would try to put the window in, but alas it has a broken pane so it is going back. We closed off the door and window to help keep the rain out until we can get back out there this weekend.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121994835/original.jpg

You might already know this:

Rain+roofing felt = wrinkles

It will smooth out when it dries, but I got tired of waiting and ripped off 1 side of my roof and put down fresh felt so I could get on with it.

You might already know this:

Rain+roofing felt = wrinkles

It will smooth out when it dries, but I got tired of waiting and ripped off 1 side of my roof and put down fresh felt so I could get on with it.

I'm actually more worried about wind ripping it off!

We got rain yesterday, but the forecast is clear until next week (of course they said that last week too! :rolleyes:) so I'm hoping it will be nice and dry for shingles Saturday. We'll see!

Very nice....we should start thinking about doing a shed builder of the year contest. We have some great competitors on this forum.

Keep up the good work, In2. Seeing what your doing with the shed, I know your gonna have a killer HT/Media room!

The shed's looking good there Mike! I must say you have a greater DIY spirit in building your own trusses than I had.

Very nice....we should start thinking about doing a shed builder of the year contest. We have some great competitors on this forum.

Keep up the good work, In2. Seeing what your doing with the shed, I know your gonna have a killer HT/Media room!
Thanks Oman!
The shed's looking good there Mike! I must say you have a greater DIY spirit in building your own trusses than I had.
Thanks Floyd! To be honest though, the trusses were the worst part of the build thus far. Those things are a pain in the butt! I think next time I'll go back to a ridge beam! :p

I am not sure if I misse dit but did you mention what type of Subs you went with inside the sonotube? I like the concept of connecting them directly to the foundation system, No need for Bass SHakers! :) Had to mess with you, The build of the shed is impressive, it looks sturdier then I've seen a lot of houses Built. Keep up the good work!

I am not sure if I misse dit but did you mention what type of Subs you went with inside the sonotube? I like the concept of connecting them directly to the foundation system, No need for Bass SHakers! :) Had to mess with you, The build of the shed is impressive, it looks sturdier then I've seen a lot of houses Built. Keep up the good work!

I'm using Cementech subs. They are rock solid! I'll have a massive bass that is for sure! :p

I'm using Cementech subs. They are rock solid! I'll have a massive bass that is for sure! :p

Well, I sure hope you didn't forget to loosely pack some insulation around those tubes before you backfilled. You've been around long enough to know you need some tube-to-earth isolation right?.:D

Oh and, I almost forgot...no second layer of OSB on the floor????

Well, I sure hope you didn't forget to loosely pack some insulation around those tubes before you backfilled. You've been around long enough to know you need some tube-to-earth isolation right?.:D


Nope, no insulation. I am hoping that the coupling of the earth to the subs will keep the critters away! ;)


Oh and, I almost forgot...no second layer of OSB on the floor????
Now, why spend all the time to get tactile transducers attached to the entire floor only to dampen it with more mass? :rolleyes: I did put down roofing felt to help with the squeaks though! :p

Should have known you'd have it covered :)

I got home from work Friday and there was a gift waiting for me. :D

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51RvONrs2wL._SS400_.jpg

My 9.6V stuff just doesn't cut it anymore. The wife bought me this for my birthday later this week and gave it to me early in case I needed it! Thanks babe!

So this past weekend the weather was amazing. Low to mid 60s with plenty of sunshine, way better than snow and rain!!! Too bad I needed to put the roof on! :(

My parents came over and helped again this weekend. I finally decided how I was going to tackle the trim so we started off by adding the end rafters for a nice nailing edge for the trim.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/122193594/original.jpg

Then we added the trim. This is the Rot Free PVC stuff. We used the smooth edge out as the "wood grain" was not quite the same as the rest of the siding.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/122193595/original.jpg

We next added the front trim. Same stuff only wider. We ripped it to size and added the roof angle so it lined up under the OSB.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/122193597/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/122193596/original.jpg

After that we installed the drip edge.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/122193599/original.jpg

Next we started laying some shingles.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/122193600/original.jpg

At this point it was tough trying to reach any further up the roof so we moved to the back and did a couple rows before it was too difficult to reach any higher as well.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/122193598/original.jpg

We decided to call it a day and I went to Lowes to get some brackets for the roof. Picked up 3 of these

http://images.lowes.com/product/converted/051751/051751073485lg.jpg

and used a 12' board to get up on the roof which made the rest of the job "easier" I say "easier" because frankly roofing sucks!!! Sorry no pics of the brackets on the roof but these things work great! You nail them in place but leave the nail slightly above the bracket so you can remove it later. Once you remove the bracket you lift the shingle, hammer the nails into the roof, and lay the shingle back down.

Sunday we wrapped up the shingles and the 8' or ridge vent. The birds have already signed off on the roof. :rolleyes:

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/122193601/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/122193602/original.jpg

Time for an update on the shed. Haven't had as much time to work on it the past couple of weeks as we have had other things to do, but there is progress.

With the roof on it was time to install the door and window. My dad went out of town, but my wife helped me get the door in place until I could attach some supports to hold it while I lined everything up. I didn't take as many pics since I was short on time. I made the door rough opening exactly the size the manufacturer specified. For some reason there was a 1" gap at the top! :mad: So I used a piece of 1x to fill the void rather than shims. You can also see the stops in place here.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/122463741/original.jpg

You can also see that my 4 year old decided to paint the shed. :D She thought it was "a little blah" so she added her touch.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/122463738/original.jpg

Her flying unicorn! I think it looks pretty good actually! The HOA may not agree! ;)

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/122463740/original.jpg

Here they are all in place.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/122463744/original.jpg

Trim went up on it the next day, but I didn't take pics.

Here is where I had to take a detour. My neighbor came across some trees and had two extra that he offered me. I can't pass up free trees, especially nice big ones! :D So I spent last Thursday and Friday night building my shelves. Then Saturday morning my dad helped me move everything from the old shed into the new one. Here are the shelves and the associated junk. We still need to clean out and throw away some stuff.

Window side. I left room near the window for my wheelbarrow. Not that one on the shelf! ;)

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/122595117/original.jpg

And the door side. These shelves go right up to the door opening for an 18" shelf.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/122595118/original.jpg

Now it came time to put in the free trees! I have a friend that owns a landscaping company. I called him up to borrow a wheel cart for the trees. He offered up some real tools instead! A Toro Dingo with bucket and 36" auger bit! :cool:

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/122595119/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/122595120/original.jpg

Everyone got in on the action.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/122595109/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/122595111/original.jpg

Tree number one it its place.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/122595115/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/122595114/original.jpg

And tree number 2.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/122595116/original.jpg

I have one more tree that we are considering, but it isn't free. I saw this one when I picked up the Dingo at the shop. This one will likely require a skid steer and a much bigger hole! :eek:

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/122595121/original.jpg

That Dingo looks like a lot of fun:D

That Dingo looks like a lot of fun:D

It is!

I spent an entire day digging the 6, 12" wide, by 18" deep footings for the shed. It took 10 minutes to dig 2, 36" wide holes, 22" and 17" deep! :cool:

Now it came time to put in the free trees! I have a friend that owns a landscaping company. I called him up to borrow a wheel cart for the trees. He offered up some real tools instead! A Toro Dingo with bucket and 36" auger bit! :cool:

Where can I get friends like that? :p

The shed it looking good, but how are you going to preserve the unicorn when it's time to put on siding? :D

Where can I get friends like that? :p

The shed it looking good, but how are you going to preserve the unicorn when it's time to put on siding? :D

I'm thinking some shellac and then a removable panel or some sort of window. :p

Take a picture, work a little photo-shop magic to make the surrounding wood disappear then print it out on a Large format color printer. Hang it in her room and she might forget that you covered it with siding.

Take a picture, work a little photo-shop magic to make the surrounding wood disappear then print it out on a Large format color printer. Hang it in her room and she might forget that you covered it with siding.

We have several pictures of it. I don't think she realizes that it is going to get covered yet. :( I just might have to print it out for her. Nice suggestion Big!

Congrats on the progress.. I am jealous of the shed!!!

I have a basement that will need some paint soon, and my wife loves butterflies, you think your daughter would be willing to do some more custom work? :)

Congrats on the progress.. I am jealous of the shed!!!

I have a basement that will need some paint soon, and my wife loves butterflies, you think your daughter would be willing to do some more custom work? :)
Haha, thanks! Yes I'm sure she would love to paint some butterflies. I can't guarantee what else she might paint though. :D You might end up with some dinosaurs too! :p

Shed update time!

Last weekend I spent a little time putting up the lattice around the bottom of the foundation as well as starting the ramp. The lattice turned out really well, the ramp, not so much! The wood that I got from HD has dried out so much and is warped. I made due with what I had, but was one board short. I've since picked up the last board and will finishing that up sometime this week. Here is what it looked like after last weeks work. You may notice that my daughter has painted some more. ;)

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/123082660/original.jpg

This week it is time to tackle the siding. This is my first attempt at doing vinyl (and it may be my last! :eek:). I'm very happy with how it turned out, but it didn't start out so well. We had a heck of a time getting the starter strips level. :rolleyes: I ordered 2 squares for the shed. We used every piece! I have some scraps, but it was the perfect amount! I still have to caulk the trim, do something with the soffets (a bird decided to build a nest in the shed), finish up the ramp and dirt work around it, as well as decide about gutters. I also need to organize the inside a little, put up my tool hooks and such. But at least I am to the point where the HOA should be satisfied that I met my 90 days for the project.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/123082661/original.jpg

Another view.
http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/123082662/original.jpg

I've also been helping my folks tear out their kitchen countertops and prep them for granite next week. Will be spending the day at their house tomorrow.

BTW, that rock you see in the photos came out from the right side of the shed when we were putting in the lattice! :rolleyes:

Great looking shed, Mike. Looking forward to watching your HT build, whenever you decide to take the plunge. :)

Great looking shed, Mike. Looking forward to watching your HT build, whenever you decide to take the plunge. :)

Thanks Bill! If it were all up to me I would have started the theater a LONG time ago. Unfortunately the "boss" does not see eye to eye just yet! :rolleyes::mad:

That shed needs a 60" Kuro :D

That shed needs a 60" Kuro :D

Fine by me! You supply the Kuro and I'll supply the mount! :p

I still have to caulk the trim, do something with the soffets (a bird decided to build a nest in the shed), finish up the ramp and dirt work around it, as well as decide about gutters.

Looks like a "to do" list. How's that going???

Did you come up with anything for the soffits yet. With the ridge vent, I am assuming you are going to do some type of vented soffit???

I still have to caulk the trim, do something with the soffets (a bird decided to build a nest in the shed), finish up the ramp and dirt work around it, as well as decide about gutters.

Looks like a "to do" list. How's that going???

Did you come up with anything for the soffits yet. With the ridge vent, I am assuming you are going to do some type of vented soffit???

I haven't started on it yet. :o

The ramp should get completed tomorrow.

As for the soffits I should have done them like I the house. My last shed I left open underneath just like I planned to do with this one. I had no problems at my last house, but I've already had one bird's nest and some wasps so I have to do something.

My plan is to find some perforated metal and bend it to fit for the front and back. The sides will get solid flashing then. I saw some stuff that would work for the vented area on a house down the street from me, but I have no idea where to get it.:(

My biggest fear of this shed thing it that it will be another project that gets 95% done.

My biggest fear of this shed thing it that it will be another project that gets 95% done.

Mine will definitely get done! I had to help my parents with their kitchen and I needed to spend some time with my wife and kids before they started looking for a replacement. ;) I'll wrap it up here soon, by the end of April is my goal.

Oh... no need to explain. I am sure you will finish. It is me that has 15 projects at 95%. If I was smart I wouldn't even start this and use the week to finish the other stuff.

I ordered 2 squares for the shed.

Looks great.
Just for the other novice shed builders reading along don't you mean 4 squares?, it comes two squares to the box. One square (100 sq ft) would barely cover a side.

With all the shed talk, I figured I post about my shed issue. I asked my contractor how much to build this shed in a 12x15:

http://www.uncoverthenet.com/shawn/theater/shed.jpg

and he said it would be $7500 and it would not have the transom window and the light would be solar (no running electric). Does that seem high? I was planning/thinking more like $5k.

Looks like $3500 to 4000 in materials for the shed in the picture without the transom. I also notice the slab foundation and concrete ramp in the picture and I don't have a feel for the cost to do that part. Building the cupola would be a time consuming PIA as far as I'm concerned. If he is using composite rot proof lumber that is also pricey.

I have about $2575 invested in my 10x12 vinyl sided shed using composite lumber on the outside. The equivalent shed sitting on display at Lowe's is in the low 4s.

Thanks Big. I'm not sure about the concrete foundation or ramp. He mentioned having to get a truckload of gravel and renting a machine for it, but nothing about concrete. I guess it's not too far off then if you add in labor.

Shawn,

For that shed I would expect the hefty price tag. Those look like some expensive doors! You like expensive doors don't you? :D I too have about $2800 in my shed, materials only, so that quote doesn't seem too far fetched. I would ask for details though on how he intends to do the foundation.

Looks great.
Just for the other novice shed builders reading along don't you mean 4 squares?, it comes two squares to the box. One square (100 sq ft) would barely cover a side.

Thanks! And yes, 4 squares, each box was two. Oops!

Shawn, If you haven't discussed it with your contractor there is a wide variation in the quality of Doors, Hardware, Locks, Windows, siding, Rot free trim and shingles. If you use the cheapest of everything you can probably save $1500 of total material expenses.

From the picture it is hard to tell if those are factory pre-hung doors or a cheaper built on site and stained variety.

http://www.pbase.com/madawson/image/121886832/original.jpg

Ok, I am all for over-building, but what what the rational for overbuilding the gable trusses? Beefy is one thing but these things could hold 4 times the load of the rest of the roof.

Ok, I am all for over-building, but what what the rational for overbuilding the gable trusses? Beefy is one thing but these things could hold 4 times the load of the rest of the roof.

Pick 2! :p

- I wanted to make sure I had plenty of wood to attach the OSB.
- I wanted to make sure I had plenty of wood to attach the siding.
- I was worried about the OSB rattling.
- I had extra wood.
- I had extra nails.
- I had extra time.
- I was bored.
- Why not?
- Because that is what I do.
- It looks cool to see the gable studs directly over the wall studs.


Do you see a trend yet? That's right, no logical rational whatsoever! ;)

Well I got the ramp finished up. Ended up redoing all the decking on it, turning a few boards over. I was not happy with how it turned out before but it is much better now!

I think I have figured out a way to do my soffits, but it may be a while before I can get to it. My daughter's b-day is coming up, I'm heading to the Quail Hollow Championship for a day, we are hoping to go to an air show, Mother's day and I have to do some traveling for work. At least I'm going to be busy! :rolleyes:

Well, I had hoped to have some soffits up on the shed by now, but there is another bird nest ( I think some sort of wren) in the shed and I don't have the heart to kick momma out a second time, especially this far into spring. We already have 5 Bluebird babies in the chimney of my daughter's playset. Once the wren moves out I'm closing those things up. I've figured out a way to do it, but am still looking at other options just in case I find something better.

I did get the inside partially organized. All the tools are now hanging on the back wall instead of sitting in one of the corners. Spreader is hung out of the way. I also installed some gate latches to the ramp to hold the doors open.

In other news I have started building an unRAID server! I'm using an older PC that started life as a photo PC, then got moved to a HTPC and is now a server. I'm starting out small, using the free license to get my feet wet. In case anyone is interested the specs are:

MSI K8NGM2-FID mobo
2GB DDR400 RAM
AMD Athlon 3000+ (single core, 1.8GHz)
WD 1.5TB for Parity
WD 1.5TB for DATA
WD 500GB for DATA

Array is building as we speak! :D

Sweet!!! More shed talk...

Maybe some photos will inspire me...:D Not of the crazy birds but the organization. Very kind of you to let the birds live.:) I have two nests under my deck right now as well.

As for the server thingy... just went way over my head.

Sweet!!! More shed talk...

Maybe some photos will inspire me...:D Not of the crazy birds but the organization. Very kind of you to let the birds live.:) I have two nests under my deck right now as well.

As for the server thingy... just went way over my head.

I'll see what I can do about some photos.

OK, So I have started working on this unRAID server and I've got some questions after doing some reading. I think I needed to ask all these BEFORE starting. Ugh! :(

1. Was it a bad idea to setup the parity drive before I moved everything over to the data drives? It seems like there is a performance issue with the parity drive setup when transferring large amounts of data to the server. I've got probably 1TB of stuff to move.
2. Are shares like "Libraries" in Win 7? In essence do I need to setup a "Movie" share, "Pictures" share, etc?
3. Should I be running the pre-clear script on new drives?
4. Anything else I should know as a noob? :o

OK, So I have started working on this unRAID server and I've got some questions after doing some reading. I think I needed to ask all these BEFORE starting. Ugh! :(

From what I've read up:

1. Was it a bad idea to setup the parity drive before I moved everything over to the data drives? It seems like there is a performance issue with the parity drive setup when transferring large amounts of data to the server. I've got probably 1TB of stuff to move.

Probably. But I think this is less of an issue with newer versions of unRaid (like 4.5.3). In the newer versions write with parity on is much faster. I think there's a way to copy by turning off the parity drive.

2. Are shares like "Libraries" in Win 7? In essence do I need to setup a "Movie" share, "Pictures" share, etc?

I guess that's a way to look at it. I look at shares as logical groupings of data that span multiple hard drives. Here's how LimeTech describes shares (http://www.lime-technology.com/technology/usershares).

3. Should I be running the pre-clear script on new drives?

I think so, but only as a testing mechanism I believe.

4. Anything else I should know as a noob? :o

You're farther than me, so I can't answer this one.

From what I've read up:



Probably. But I think this is less of an issue with newer versions of unRaid (like 4.5.3). In the newer versions write with parity on is much faster. I think there's a way to copy by turning off the parity drive.


That would be nice! I have 4.5.4 so I'll try it as is and see how things go.

I guess that's a way to look at it. I look at shares as logical groupings of data that span multiple hard drives. Here's how LimeTech describes shares (http://www.lime-technology.com/technology/usershares).


Why couldn't I find that earlier? There documentation leaves a little to be desired!
Anyway, OK that makes sense. So I don't have to create the shares, unRAID does it automatically based on the top level folder. But that means I have to copy files directly to a certain disc, right? Not a big deal since I only have the one data drive in there now, but if I want the data to span multiple drives I need to set up the share before moving the data or can I change the share settings after it is created and any new data will be stored across multiple drives?


I think so, but only as a testing mechanism I believe.

One of the drives came out of a PC and was working fine, the other is brand new. Guess I'll do that for any new drives that get used.


You're farther than me, so I can't answer this one.
Thanks for the help Ed!

Why couldn't I find that earlier? There documentation leaves a little to be desired!
Anyway, OK that makes sense. So I don't have to create the shares, unRAID does it automatically based on the top level folder. But that means I have to copy files directly to a certain disc, right? Not a big deal since I only have the one data drive in there now, but if I want the data to span multiple drives I need to set up the share before moving the data or can I change the share settings after it is created and any new data will be stored across multiple drives?

You don't have to copy to a specific disk (although you can). You just copy to the share name and unRaid will decide what disk it writes to (based on user settings).

I would think you can change share names and such at any time. Although it might be slower than having them up front.

You don't have to copy to a specific disk (although you can). You just copy to the share name and unRaid will decide what disk it writes to (based on user settings).

I would think you can change share names and such at any time. Although it might be slower than having them up front.

Right, so I do need to set them up prior to copying data to the drives. That makes more sense. I'll try it out tonight with just a few files and see how it goes before trying the whole enchilada! :D

Got the server home and hooked up. Added a share called "Test" just to throw some files to it. Sent about 9GB of stuff that seems to be moving at 7-8 MB/sec. How is that for speed? Both the server and the PC have gigabit LAN, but they are connected via a 10/100 router. I'm not too concerned with speed, as long as that speed is enough to stream files to my Media Portal HTPC I'm good, but if I need to I guess I'll start looking at some gigabit stuff.

OK, tried a transfer from the HTPC to the server and I'm getting about 1MB/sec. Ugh! This is through 2 routers, both 10/100s. That won't cut it! Any ideas on what to check to speed this up?

Got the server home and hooked up. Added a share called "Test" just to throw some files to it. Sent about 9GB of stuff that seems to be moving at 7-8 MB/sec. How is that for speed? Both the server and the PC have gigabit LAN, but they are connected via a 10/100 router. I'm not too concerned with speed, as long as that speed is enough to stream files to my Media Portal HTPC I'm good, but if I need to I guess I'll start looking at some gigabit stuff.

OK, tried a transfer from the HTPC to the server and I'm getting about 1MB/sec. Ugh! This is through 2 routers, both 10/100s. That won't cut it! Any ideas on what to check to speed this up?

How are you copying the files? Using Windows copy can be slow. There are other programs out there for copying (like FileZilla and Shawn had another).

Also, even if the server and PC have gigabit adaptors, if you're connecting them through a 10/100 device your stuck at that speed. A gigabit switch between the two would make the connection faster.

At some point you may want to ask questions at the LimeTech forums or even in the UnRaid (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=573986) thread here on AVS (because I'm no expert! :) )

How are you copying the files? Using Windows copy can be slow. There are other programs out there for copying (like FileZilla and Shawn had another).


Just copy and paste. I rebooted the HTPC and my speed went back up to around 10MB/sec. I can live with that for now!

Also, even if the server and PC have gigabit adaptors, if you're connecting them through a 10/100 device your stuck at that speed. A gigabit switch between the two would make the connection faster.


Of course! You are always limited by your slowest device. I have to replace two routers, so I'll do that at some point, but for now it looks like things might be OK.


At some point you may want to ask questions at the LimeTech forums or even in the UnRaid (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=573986) thread here on AVS (because I'm no expert! :) )
I get so lost over there! Those guys are so much more advanced. I always thought I was pretty technologically savvy, but they make me feel otherwise! :cool: If I get stumped though I will definitely ask!

Yesterday I finished transferring the data off of my second 1.5TB drive that was in my HTPC so last night I took it out of the HTPC and put it in the server. Then I realized that I don't have enough SATA power cables on the PSU. It only has 2 and I need at least 3. So I happened to find some 4 pin molex to 15 pin SATA power adapters and was wondering if there is any problems using these? Do you retain all functions, like SMART and temp readings? I plan on buying a new PSU at some point anyway, but if I could do this for now that would be great.

Also, how much PSU do you really need for an unRAID server? I would say that I can see myself using the plus license and up to 6 drives for quite some time before needing the pro and 20ish drives. I have a Corsair 650TX in my i7 machine that I am thinking about moving over to the server and buying a new modular unit for my i7 machine.

Got the additional 1.5TB drive hooked up last night with a molex to sata power adapter. Worked great so I can keep saving for a new PSU and case. Booted back up and couldn't connect through FF. IP changed! DOH! So I found the new IP, connected to it, then set a static IP. ;) UnRAID wanted to clear the new drive, so I let that run last night. This morning I started the formatting process. Hope to have stuff moved to it later tonight.

In other news, my wife and I booked a 5 night cruise to Bermuda in a couple weeks! :D

Got the additional 1.5TB drive hooked up last night with a molex to sata power adapter.

oooooooo... awwwwwww....

Oh what the #@$% am I talking about. I your might as well be speaking greek.:D (though that may be the Captain talkin... Captain and diet that is)


In other news, my wife and I booked a 5 night cruise to Bermuda in a couple weeks! :D

Now there you go... Sounds like fun. I have a trip scheduled to Key West in October but it all may be an oil slick by then anyway.

<tapping on desk> still waiting on those shed pics... :D

oooooooo... awwwwwww....

Oh what the #@$% am I talking about. I your might as well be speaking greek.:D (though that may be the Captain talkin... Captain and diet that is)


LOL!


Now there you go... Sounds like fun. I have a trip scheduled to Key West in October but it all may be an oil slick by then anyway.


That is one of the reasons we decided to not head to Florida. It is been 8 year since our last cruise and just seemed like a good time to go again!


<tapping on desk> still waiting on those shed pics... :D
Didn't have time for pics this weekend. Spent Saturday with the kids so my wife could clean house and start getting stuff ready for our trip. Sunday I put up a retractable screen door on the back door and then went over to the in-laws for some BBQ and swimming.

love the thread. full of photos that does extremely help when trying to explain something. I posted some in my thread. If you get a moment please review then advise.

Thanks Mike

Chuck

Sunday I put up a retractable screen door on the back door and then went over to the in-laws for some BBQ and swimming.

You done swimming yet or what?????? Pics!

Hey all, long time no see!

Got an unRAID question for you guys. I have 3 disks, 2 1.5TB and one 500GB. So one 1.5TB for parity and the other two for storage. For some reason unRAID will not write to the 1.5TB drive anymore. It has about 900GB of free space and the 500GB drive is now full. Any ideas?

Hey all, long time no see!

Got an unRAID question for you guys. I have 3 disks, 2 1.5TB and one 500GB. So one 1.5TB for parity and the other two for storage. For some reason unRAID will not write to the 1.5TB drive anymore. It has about 900GB of free space and the 500GB drive is now full. Any ideas?

Ya I got some ideas:

1. Take some pictures of the shed.
2. Post some pictures of the shed.
3. Opps... I'm out... someone else going to have to help out with the server thingy.:D

Ya I got some ideas:

1. Take some pictures of the shed.
2. Post some pictures of the shed.
3. Opps... I'm out... someone else going to have to help out with the server thingy.:D

Honestly, the shed looks the same. I've done nothing with the soffets yet, and the inside is still messy as I haven't gone through it. Now that cooler weather is here I plan to try and get them done soon, but money is really tight right now.

On a HT note I am borrowing an Emotiva Ultra Sub 12 from my FIL. He bought one while waiting for his Velodyne to get repaired. He prefers the Velodyne to the Emotiva, but the Emotiva flat out smokes my Eosone RSP-10. It was like going from no sub to having a great sub.

Hey all, long time no see!

Got an unRAID question for you guys. I have 3 disks, 2 1.5TB and one 500GB. So one 1.5TB for parity and the other two for storage. For some reason unRAID will not write to the 1.5TB drive anymore. It has about 900GB of free space and the 500GB drive is now full. Any ideas?

I am not familiar with unRAID, but if it works like other RAID products I know you shouldn't mix different sized disks in a single RAID set. The reason is that the RAID info gets spread evenly over the drives, which means that all the drives in your RAID set will be treated as if they were the smallest drive.

That would be my thought. With most RAID schemes, it will default to the smallest drive in the array and treat all of them like that. If you want to use the full 1.5TB, you'll need another drive that size instead of a 500GB drive.

Bryan

This is where unRaid is different. It is similar to JBOD so you can mix and match sizes of drives. Thanks for taking a stab at it though!

My problem is that I need to set a "minimum free" setting on each share so that it will not try to write to that drive unless it has so much space available.