i love this shed, but could be a little better
I purchased this shed in 2018 a few months after my workshop was demolished by hurricane Michael. The hurricane was a cat 4, almost cat5, and wreaked havoc on the town of panama city. I was very excited to get this shed as it looked so much better than my old pole barn. It went together very smoothly, quickly, and all the parts fit very well, I also like the hardware that came with the windows and doors. It didn't come with a subfloor, so I had to build one, and that is an extra cost. I put 8" timber-lock screws through the bottom boards into the subfloor so that should hold well. I put a metal roof on too, which looks much better than asphalt, and will hold up well, but that cost is extra too. A side note, don't use tar paper under the metal, as it gives off an odor on the inside of shed. All in all I am very pleased. The side boards have developed a few cracks, but that is to be expected with wood exposed to the elements. I have yet to put a finish on the exterior, but I think I will prime and paint it as I live in Florida, and the humidity and constant sun exposure is very harsh to even wood that is finished with a varnish or polyurethane. The only problem I have is with the thickness of the boards, and the wind straps that came with it. I think that for this size shed, it may be better to have 1 1/2" thick boards for the sides. The walls do move a little when pressed on them in the middle, not much, but thicker boards I think would alleviate this problem. Also the straps that came with the shed are not very strong. A log cabin has good structural integrity simply from the weight of the logs. But these boards don't have a lot of weight, so another means must be fashioned to hold the sides down. It came with 2x2 boards that had some metal brackets that helped, but I'm not sure they are strong enough. I will probably put a long metal strap in each corner, but being a woodworker, I know how much wood can expand and contract with the humidity, and after time, the straps will not be tight. I will probably just have to readjust the straps periodically to compensate. I'm not sure what other solution there is to this problem. But other than that it is a great shed, and I'm really looking forward to using it to do my woodworking.
