Someone had been asking me to help them pick out an outdoor storage building for about a year. Knowing the $4000 price tag these things carry, I offered to build it myself. The catch was... because it had to replace a ramshackle old shed, I had to guarantee my work and that it would never wind up in the same condition as the old one. "Are you sure you can build it?" I can build anything - said with a confident smile knowing that Google was right behind me if I couldn't.

I started with a cinder block foundation to keep the wooden bottom out of the wet soil, then I built a box and filled it with floor joists. Next I built the floor out of 3/4 Ply. The entire bottom up to this point is pressure treated wood to withstand the elements. Next I built 2x4 studded walls and a roof complete with a ridge for strength. The exterior was something I found at Home Depot that I knew was strong and could look good if given the right treatment.

The roof is all asphalt shingles to protect from the rain and snow. It was the first time I had done roofing by myself. I took it slow and with a lot of luck, it came out flawlessly. My favorite answer to the ever emerging question of whether or not it would be water tight and the worry that it was my first time roofing: "Yea... Roofing's not too hard. You just have to be smarter than the water".