How to build a shed on skates

admin 0

Building your own shed can be a fun weekend project. But sometimes we weren’t sure how to proceed with a project when we were in an area where we didn’t have much experience. A friend of mine asked me the other day how to build a shed on skates.

Since I have been in the construction industry for some time, I explained how to do it. I thought about laying out the steps on how to build your shed on skates in case someone else who might need this information is there to read.

The article that follows will describe the process it takes to build your flooring system and attach it to your shed skids.

Step 1. Determine the type of material you are going to use for the skates. In most cases, 4×4 or 4×6 pressure treated material will be used as skates. If your shed is to be placed on the ground, piers, or concrete, it is always best to use pressure-treated lumber.

This material has been injected with chemicals that will help prevent insect infestations from occurring. It also helps prevent water rot of wood. Warning! DO NOT BURN OR LET PETS CHEW ON PRESSURE TREATED WOOD. IT IS POISONOUS.

Step 2. Place the skids on the surface where you intend to build your shed. Make sure the surface is as level as possible. Determine how far the skates will be from each other. Try not to go more than 4 ‘apart. If you do, there will likely be some buckling in the floor system once it is built on the skids. Line up the ends of the skates with a ruler or look at them as closely as possible.

Step 3. Once your shed skids are in place, you have two options to make on how to proceed. The first is to build your floor system on top of the skates as you go, or build the entire floor skeleton and then place it on your skids. If your floor is small enough that you can build it separately and then place it on the skids, this is the best way to do it.

Step 4. Build the floor with the appropriate floor joists remembering to crown each joist with the arch pointing up and then secure in place. Be sure to use screws instead of nails when attaching the floor joists to the skids. This will help keep the structure safe. Nails tend to emerge after a while.

Do not install plywood until the flooring system is bonded and secured in place.

Building your shed floor instead

If your building is in place, first attach the rim beams to the skids. These are the 2 outside joists that run perpendicular to the skids. Secure with L-brackets and wood screws. Once the two outer joists are in place, place the two end joists that run parallel to the skids. At this point you should have a box placed on top of the shed skids.

From there, you can now fill in the rest of the floor joists. Take your tape measure and on the two outside joists that were the first to go up, mark the floor joists 16 “oc from end to end.

Mark an X on the side of the joist and then cut and fill in the rest of the floor joists. Whenever a floor joist crosses over a skid, attach an L-bracket to the skid and the joist. Secure with wood screws.

Building your shed floor separately

If you are building the floor separately, make sure the floor skeleton is square and then go ahead and attach it to the skids. Use the same procedure to attach the rim and inner beams to the skates that I mentioned earlier. When all the floor joists are secure, you can go ahead and lay down the plywood. Use proper glue to secure wood to wood and finish with wood screws to hold the plywood.

So you’ve gotten to the point where your joists are attached to the skids and you’ve glued the plywood to the floor joists. That’s all there is to it if you want to build a shed on skates. Just remember to keep everything in order while you build and you will be fine.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *