How To Dismantle And Erect A Shed

[OffSpring]

I am going to pick up a wood 8x6 shed over the weekend, which I am planning to use as a coop for my chickens and I was wondering if anyone knows the correct procedure for dismantling and erecting a garden shed?

I have never done it before and obviously I want to cause minimal damage so that it can hopefully be reused without repair!

What tools would I need to take apart/build?
What order would I take things apart and then put back together?

Thanks for looking and I hope someone with some experience can help me out...

 

[rhetoric]

First, pray that they used screws instead of nails.
Second, pray that they didn't strip the screws putting them in!

Really, it depends on the type of shed you have. Got any pictures? Sometimes the roof is a seperate unit and can be "taken off" the walls. Then the walls are usually independent once you get the corners "disconnected. But it all depends on the kind of shed.

I'm building a gajillion dollar shed because the free one I was going to bring over here would have fallen apart w/ moving and self-destructed with dismantling.

 

[Titaniumcranium]

You might want to try and brace any sections you think will fall apart when you start cutting it up.Take some 2x4 and some screws and use them to brace it and keep it in position so it doesn't fall apart.

If I was doing it,I would take a sawsall and cut the wood at the joints of where the walls meet.Either just cutting the nails or screws.Less chance of breaking down the structure.Wear safety glasses.

I would brace the roof and then start cutting where the wall top plate and roof connect.Then remove the roof.Then I'd cut where the bottom of the wall and floor meet.Then either have someone help me hold it together or brace it so it doesn't fall apart as you're cutting it up.Start dissecting the walls one at a time to try and keep it easy to put back together.

Start at the top and work your way down.Opposite of building it.Hope this helps.

For putting it together some caulk and a couple pieces of extra trim should do the trick.Oh and good, long screws.

 

[patandchickens]

Some of them are screwed together entirely; some will have bolts. Come prepared for either

It would also be smart to pick up, from a WELL STOCKED hardware store, one of the thingamajiggies you use to remove screws after the Phillips hole has gotten rounded out. A hacksaw blade might come in handy in case of an extremely obnoxious stuck screw (take out all other screws involved, pry the joint apart slightly and cut the stuck screw - this sounds much easier than it actually is

) WD-40 is never a bad idea. A pry bar. A power drill with selection of driver bits, preferably cordless, so you don't have to undo everything by hand.

Oh, and a piece of paper for writing down how it went (BEFORE you take it all apart!), and some baggies in case you need to keep certain sets of hardware together.

When you put it back together, you may want to use new screws, not just because the holes of the old ones will be damaged but because (unless they used maximally-long ones before) you can use screws that are slightly longer than the previous ones, which will give you better 'hold'.

If any of the screw holes are really damaged and the new screw does not grab well, take a couple round wooden toothpicks, jam them in the hole and screw into that. (Some would actually glue thm into the hole and let the glue dry first. I'm not that patient myself

)

If any of the wood you're screwing into got damaged, you can often put a new screw elsewhere, into sounder wood, and this is very wise (in fact, where wood is screwed directly to wood with no metal connector plate, it is wisest to have some-to-all of your screws in new spots). If there is a metal connector plate, you can drill yourself a new hole in it with a good drill bit and some patience.

Last tip: when you are putting it back together, be extremely obsessive about getting the base (or four corners, if it is just on cinderblocks) ABSOLUTELY level. Othewise you can get a good ways into the reconstruction and then discover you have a really really aggravating problem

Have fun,

Pat

 

[rooster-red]

Sketch it out on paper and number each piece so you can put everthing back exactly as it came apart.