How Big Of An Outdoor
Storage Shed Do You Need To Build
If you are looking at building an
outdoor storage shed
the first thing you need to consider is how big of a
shed you need and want.
You also need to consider
how much room you have for your shed in your
backyard. I think it is always a good idea to build
a storage shed a bit larger than you think you will
need.
Once I started filling up the space I realized
there is a lot more stuff I can put in there than I
originally didn’t consider. Especially, during the
winter months if you want to store your garden
furniture and other things you don’t need outside
during the cold months.
What
Size of Shed?
The first
step is to determine what you want to store in your
storage shed. Here is a list of items that I store
in my shed:
You will probably want to store some of the items
from my list above and also additional items based
your stuff. It’s a good idea to write down a list of
what you are planning on storing in your garden
shed. Once you have your list you can move onto the
next step, determine the required space.
If you have
all of the items, especially the larger things, you
can lay them out on your lawn and see how they will
fit. If you have less time you can do a quick sketch
on a piece of paper. This will give you an
approximate size. I recommend you add a bit of space
for the extras you haven’t listed or you will be
purchasing in the future.
Plan
Your Space
Next you
need to consider how you will be storing and getting
everything in an out. My first storage shed was
cedar shed kit and it was 8x10. It was the perfect
size for all of my garden and lawn stuff, except for
the winter when I stored all of my lawn furniture
inside. I was able to get everything inside, but it
was really tough to get any thing out that was
stored in the back. The next year I planned things
out better, so that anything I thought I might need
during the winter was near the front.
The other thing that was a bit tricky was getting
the lawn mower and wheel barrow in and out. These
two items can take up a lot of space and they can be
hard to wheel around other items. This is a good
time to look at where you locate the door, because
it can impact your storage space. If you are using
storage shed plans you can move the door to location
you want. If you are going to purchase a shed kit or
have a custom shed built you should have the option
of where you want to locate the door.
On an 8x10 shed you can have the door on the
narrow side (8 foot) or on the long side (10 foot).
You can have the door to one side or in the middle.
The location of the door will depend on what works
best your lawn and garden equipment and how you want
to store things and get them in and out. Another
factor is your available space for your shed. I went
with the door on the 8 foot section because I
thought this would work best and also with the door
on this side it fit nicely in the space we set had
in our backyard.
