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Splice together 2 x 4's for storage shed?
wrote:
In article ,
Rob wrote:
I am building an 8'x10' storage shed from mostly scrap materials for $$ reasons.
I need to construct side walls 7' high using 2'x4's that are 3'- 4' in length.
Is it safe? If so, how should I do it? Mending plates, kerf cuts?
Rob
If you've got _lots_ of scrap available, and can add a 'splice piece' on
*both* sides of each point where the butt joints are, I'd say "go for it".
(snip)
I've done it, exactly in this fashion. I was in college and broke, broke, broke.
(Really broke. Can't-afford-Ramen-noodles broke.) I could get all the cast off 4'
2x4s I wanted from a warehouse (used as skids for pallets and bundles of lumber) for
free.
I nailed together a pile of them, then cut them to length. The shed I made was 7x12
footprint, with a sloped (free!) corrugated metal roof. It sloped from 7 feet on one
edge to 6 feet on the other. The only place I didn't scrimp was on the roof joists,
which were solid 2x4s held in place by joist hangers. It was an ideal project for
the time, it ignored every building code and blatantly defied some, it used common
sense and the best materials I could afford, and it is still standing 10 years later.
If you have lots of lumber and nails, you can make 4x4s or thicker material built up
out of smaller pieces, with staggered joints. One warning that I have is this: DON'T
rely on this method to be really structurally safe, i.e. for a supporting beam in a
habitable building. Glu-Lam beams use finger joints and really waterproof glue, and
are glued up under controlled conditions and tested to failure to know their
weaknesses.
Be sure to use concrete blocks (or even bricks) to keep it off the ground if you
can't afford pressure treated sill plates. A word of wisdom: a storage building
under 100 sq feet, with a temp foundation of concrete blocks or gravel, may not be
subject to building codes or building inspections in most communities. (Check this
out in your community, duh, IANAL.) You may not even have to obey the standard
property setbacks for a small building.
Good luck! Keep us posted on your progress, and if you can get a pic on the 'net,
I'd love to see it when it's finished.
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