I've got a couple of books ( Ted Benson and Jack Sobin) and in the design stage of a woodshed/storage building.
My biggest lingering question is what size beams. My building will be 14 by 16 feet made up of three bents. The end wall bent will span 13 feet unless I put a post in the middle of it. Would 6x6 Hemlock be adequate? I'll be doing most of this myself and don't really have a good feeling for just how maneuverable a stack of fresh wet 7x7 or 8x8 beams will be. 6x6 seems manageable. Can one man move an 8x8 14 foot beam? I'll have a couple of other guys help when raising the bents.
The 13 foot span on the end walls would be acting more as a connecting girt I guess..less strength ok? I'm planning on a traditional roof, so as I see it the weight will be distributed to purlins to principal rafters to posts? So the top of the bent is really just a connecting girt and not a top plate where many rafters sit?
Am I even close on any of this???
One book by Sibin has a basic plan for a garden shed and he specs out 8x8 posts and beams for max spans 12 feet. This seems a little structurally excessive to me? But then his design has many rafters sitting on a top plate.
For my sill, I'm planning on making a "sand box" out of pressure treated wood, and filling it with small stone. The PT wood will be the sill. Since this will primarily be a wood shed, I'm only going to put a wall of vertical boards on the back side, and leave the other sides open. No floor. Sound like this will work well?
