Steel Sheds - Hints for Assembly

Almost anyone, regardless of the level of their do-it-yourself skills can assemble one the many types of modern steel sheds. While some sizes of steel sheds are more than a one-person job, the process of assembly from kits makes building steel sheds a fairly simple task.

As with any DIY home improvement, a few hints or tips can go a long way towards making the project a roaring success. Building a steel shed starts just as any other building project would. Steel sheds are built from the bottom up. In this case, the bottom meaning the pad or foundation. Pouring a concrete slab is a bit too strenuous a job for most homeowners. It is recommended that you hire a masonry contractor for this part of your building endeavor. Still, there are a few things you will want to do in this phase, in order to make the actual assembly of your steel shed go more smoothly.

Steel Sheds Start From the Ground Up

First, be sure the earth beneath the steel shed's location is free of tree roots and graded fairly smoothly. Next, place several layers of visqueen plastic on the graded earth. Make sure your contractor uses a line level in building his forms. After the concrete is poured, hand your contractor lengths of eight inch threaded rod to be placed in the concrete on spots marking the corners of your new building. This will make anchoring the building far more simple than drilling through the concrete afterward.

Extra Fasteners Help with Assembly of Steel Sheds

Assuming your concrete pad has been given a week to thoroughly dry, you are now ready to begin assembly. Steel sheds arrive in prepackaged kits. Presumably with all of the hardware and cladding included. Invariably, the kits are lacking the correct number of fasteners. Further, the fasteners provided are often of inferior quality and a bit too universal in size. Visit the hardware store and purchase a wide assortment of lengths and diameters of nuts, bolts and self-tapping screws. When assembling steel sheds, often, the pre-drilled holes do not perfectly align and having a slightly longer and narrower bolt will allow you to pull components together.

When assembling large sections of steel sheds, remember to leave all of the nuts, bolts or sheet metal screws being used not fully tightened (a little loose) until all of the pieces are basically in place. This will allow you to give a wall or roof section a bit of a twist and make sure all of the screw holes properly lineup. Once aligned, you can quickly tighten the fasteners for that section.

Caulk Roof Seams on Steel Sheds While Assembling

Finally, most of the kits created for steel sheds use interlocking roof panels. These use a folded sheet metal hooking design that, in theory, is meant to prevent forced rain from leaking through. A bead of latex caulk run on the inside of the bend, before hooking the following panel will completely guarantee that no force of storm can cause your new metal roof to leak.