Shed Conversion

Greetings from coastal Maine. So far its been a nice winter in my opinion, a little cold, a bit of snow, some wind and a short January thaw. A snowy February and early March would just make it all dandy. Well, a bit more activity in the home improvement and remodeling sector would help too, but I'm not complaining.

Lately we've been keeping relatively busy with insulation retrofit and weatherization work in cahoots with Sustainable Structures, but there's always time in the schedule for small jobs that make a big difference for the client. That's what this little job was all about. One of my snow-removal clients asked me if I could convert about 1/3 of a 14'x20' uninsulated shed into an insulated workspace. They also specified that the job would be on a tight budget and finished in phases. It seems like everyone is on a tight budget these days, but many homes still need work.

To get achieve the client's desired outcome, we proposed building a stud wall with an exterior grade pre-hung metal door to divide the space, then insulating the floor (with 1" foil-faced polystyrene foamboard), the walls (with R-11 Kraft-faced fiberglass) and the ceiling (with R19 Kraft-face fiberglass). Over the floor insulation we recommended installing a layer of 7/16" OSB to protect the foamboard and to create a nailing surface for a finish floor in the future. Normally I would recommend a blown-in cellulose or a polyurethane foam insulation, but since price was a concern, we went with fiber-glass as it is the least expensive option available. For the cold side of the new partition wall, we recommended installing some kind of wall covering, to protect the fiberglass insulation, to stop airflow through the insulation, and to add security to the space.

On building day, we arrived earlier than our materials delivery and started by prepping the space. We added blocking in the middle of the existing shed walls to create a nailing surface for the existing shiplap sheathing/siding, some of which had buckled because it was only nailed at the top and the bottom. The materials arrived from NC Hunt Lumber mid morning and we got to work building the wall and the insulated floor. By midday it was pouring rain (in mid January!) and we moved all our cutting operations inside. After getting the wall up, hanging the door and insulating, we found we overestimated on materials and had a whole sheet of foamboard and a whole roll of fiberglass left (good news for the client, a savings of $50).


















New insulated partition wall in 14'x20' shed.





















Interior of insulated workspace. In a future phase of construction, we will install some type of wall covering, either drywall, paneling or boarding, and maybe even a window.

























Metal exterior door installed and air-sealed around the rough opening.





















Cold-side of new partition wall with OSB installed. Ready for use.

In the future, the client would like some kind of wall covering installed in the space (drywall, paneling, or boarding) and possibly a window installed.

Upcoming projects include some more porch restoration work and installing a wide-pine-board floor in a Dresden farmhouse

---CGW---