Many homeowners don’t seem to set their sights high enough when it comes to buying a garden shed. Most sheds are actually quite small and don’t accomplish much more than give you a place to store your lawnmower and a few other tools. If you want to use that shed for much more than a garage for your lawnmower, you might need to be thinking a bit bigger; you might need a large shed.
Large sheds are useful for much more than just as storage for gardening tools. The additional space can be used as a planting area, for additional storage, as a workshop or as a “mom shed” to get away from the family and have some quiet time.
Large sheds of any sort are the most cost-effective way of adding space to your home. They can be built for a fraction of the cost of adding a room, or even of adding additional space to your existing garage. That makes these big sheds a very attractive option, for those who find themselves in need of additional space in their home.
Where to Place Your Large Shed
Before even looking at any sort of large shed kit or large shed for sale, you need to think about where you are going to locate it. The location could very well end up dictating the shed’s overall size to you or at least limiting the maximum size you can fit into the available space.
Most people put their shed in the back of their property, separating it from the home by a goodly distance. This affords privacy and prevents the shed, which may not match the home’s style exactly, from detracting from the beauty of the home. But in some cases, you might want your shed to be located closer, for convenience.
There are two competing factors you’ll want to consider here. On one hand, you don’t want the shed to make your home look bad. Stepping out your back door to encounter the shed right next to the home doesn’t look all that attractive and can put a damper on any backyard barbecue or other outdoor activity. On top of that, there’s the possibility that gardening chemicals or fertilizers will provide an unpleasant odor that you wouldn’t want to expose your guests to.
On the flip side of that coin, having your shed farther away from your home reduces the security you are able to offer to whatever you have stored in the shed. At one time I had my workshop in a shed and experienced a break-in where a number of my tools were stolen. Had the shed been located closer to the home, I might have been able to protect it better.
Choosing a Large Storage Shed
Once you’ve got your location selected, you can move on to determine the large storage building or shed that you want to install in your backyard. There are a large variety of designs available, either in pre-made sheds, large shed kits or plans that you can purchase to build your own. It all depends on what you want, what you can afford, and your own level of carpentry skill.
While you may be tempted to go for a smaller shed in order to save money, I’d recommend against it. We all experience the corollary to Parkinston’s Law, which states that our possessions expand to fill the space available to us, just like activity expands to fill the time available to us. What’s worse than this though, is to have the stuff expand, without any place to put it. If you’re adding a shed in order to have more space, then you want to make sure you have the space you need.
As part of this, remember that when you are looking at what you’re going to store in the shed, you need to consider your ability to get to all of those things. I once built a small garden shed, only to find that the only way I could get to anything in my shed was to remove the lawnmower first. That made the shed extremely difficult to work with.
Buying a Large Storage Shed
You might be wondering if you can even find a large sheds for sale, to save you the trouble of having to build one. I’ve traveled a fair amount, and it seems that there are always businesses which are selling prefabricated sheds in a variety of sizes. Some of the ones I have seen are large enough to house a small office and workshop. The limiting factor is usually how big a shed they can fit on a trailer to deliver it. This limits at least one dimension to no more than 10 or 12 feet.
In addition to those fabricators, who will have their wares available in a lot on the side of the road, don’t forget to check out the larger home improvement centers. They carry lines of sheds, both as prefabricated units and kits that you can put together yourself.
Building a Big Shed for Yourself
Of course, there’s always the option of building the shed yourself. As I just mentioned, the large home improvement centers offer kits for building sheds, ranging from small, aluminum sheds to larger ones made of lumber. Some of these are large enough and attractive enough to be used as a tiny home, guest home, or home office, if you don’t want to sully it by using it for a shed or workshop.
Building a shed can be a satisfying project, as well as a great way of teaching your children basic carpentry skills. But building also offers one additional advantage, which I see as very important. It allows you to customize the design for your particular needs.
Since we’re talking about large sheds, chances are you already have an idea of what you’re planning on using it for. Most likely, you have more than one purpose in mind; like an office and workshop. If you build your own shed, either from a kit or from purchased plans, you could easily modify it to include an interior wall to separate these two functions and keep the sawdust out of your office. You could also insulate the office or the whole thing, allowing you to install heating and air conditioning for your comfort. The options are literally limitless.