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Need somewhere to do your handiwork in peace? Then how about putting your DIY skills to the ultimate test by building your very own garden shed? 

Sound interesting? Then follow this simple guide to build one for yourself. 

But, before we get stuck in we will need some things first. 

The first step is to choose the location for your DIY garden shed. Once you have settled on a location, the first step is to prepare the ground. Remove things like concrete slabs, or clear away brush and turf, if present. You want to expose the bare soil as best you can. 

If required, level the ground. Next, build a wooden frame the same size as the footprint of your final shed. Then begin to pour in, and rake out some gravel. 

With that complete, grab your steel mesh and lay it over the foundation. Cut down to size with a grinder or circular saw, as needed. 

Next, mix up and start pouring out some concrete. Mix the concrete to their exact instructions. You may want to employ the use of a cement mixer to help you here. 

Deposit in small sections and then smooth out using a piece of timber. Take your time, and ensure it is perfectly level. 

Leave the concrete to cure for several days before moving on to the next step. Once the concrete is dry, remove the timber frame you previously erected. 

With the concrete foundation basically complete, you can now begin to assemble the main framing for the shed. Take more lengths of timber and build the basic footprint of the shed on top of the concrete. 

Cut shorter lengths to create cross-members/joists for the shed floor. This first frame will form the back wall of the shed. 

With up the frame on the floor, and screw the timber lengths together, as needed. Ensure all lengths are securely fixed together. 

Try to ensure the joist timbers are as evenly spaced as possible. You may want to pre-measure marks on the outside framing before committing to screwing them into place first. 

With the frame complete, you can lift the entire piece up into place to the rear of the shed. Brace as needed to keep it vertical. 

Now we can turn out attention to one of the shorter walls. Mock up the frame as before. Mark out the mainframe dimensions and add cross members, as needed. 

Then, once happy, and confident it is the same height as the back wall, screw the timbers into place. Once complete, raise the frame into place. 

Rinse and repeat the process for the other two walls. Ensure you leave gaps in the frame for windows and doors, as needed. However, remember that the "front" wall will be slightly longer than the others as this garden shed will have a mono-pitch roof. 

Next, as before, mock up the roof frame on a large enough piece of ground. As with the walls, add cross members/joists as evenly spaced as possible to the frame before committing to screwing them all into place. 

Once complete, move into place on top of the shed wall frames. 

Next built the frame for the front canopy using some lighter and darker timber. Screw it together and lift it into place to the front of the shed. 

Be careful doing this as timber is pretty heavy. You might want to consider getting a helping hand to lighten the load a bit.

For the gaps between the frame and the main roof, add some smaller angled pieces of timber to join the frames together. 

Next, grab your lengths of L-bar steel, and cut some rafter ties. No dimensions are provided, so you will need to suck it and see. Once complete, spray paint to whatever color you wish.

Next, secure the rafters to the mainframe using your rafter ties. 

With the bulk of the garden shed's frame now complete, it is now time to build up the main wall cladding. The first step here is to install, if relevant, any fixings to the wooden frame first. 

Depending on the system you have, follow the instructions as required. If needed, screw the mounting rails into place. 

Complete on all sides of the shed, as needed. With that stage complete, you can now begin to attach the cladding as needed. 

Where needed, cut and trim down the cladding to around features like windows penetrations and doorways and fit the roofline/eaves. 

Next, grab your flat wooden sheets and begin to maneuver on top of the shed. As before, you may want to get some help here. Move into place on top of the roof, and screw them into the underlying wooden frame. 

Where needed, cut the sheets down to size to complete the roof cladding -- for example the canopy section. With that complete, you can trim down some more wooden sheets, or planks, to create fascia boarding around the edge of the roof too. 

Screw into place, as before.

With that complete, take some more of your L-shaped metal and affix around the upper perimeter of the roof. Screw or nail into place as needed.

With that the main roof structure is complete. Now we need to waterproof it. 

To do this, take a section of the roofing felt, and roofing felt underlay and cut it to size. Lay in overlapping strips on top of the flat roof. 

Nail into place as needed and ensure the felt is flush with the roof e.g. no bubbles, folds, or gaps. 

Next, it is time to turn out attention to the doors and trims of the garden shed. First, cut away the lowermost parts of the frame exposed in the doorways. Then, cut lengths of wood to size, and install a door frame around the door openings. 

Next, take measurements for the door opening. Use those measurements to create a wooden frame for the door. Then cut and add the same cladding system to the outer face of the door. 

Next, maneuver your doors into place in the frame, line up, and install the door hinges. 

Also, install a locking mechanism too. 

If you also choose to install a sliding door, build the frame for that using more lengths of wood and paint to your desired color. Then install the rail for the door to the walls of the shed, and mount the door into place, as needed. 

With that complete, we can now begin to add any trimming to the garden shed walls. Cut to size, and add to the corners of the walls and around the eaves of the roof, as needed. You can use either lightweight metal or stips of wood for this. 

With that, your garden shed is basically complete. We can now add some final finishes to the shed, as needed. Install things like, for example, handles to the doors, and supporting columns to the canopy. 

This is all optional, but it will give your shed that little extra pizazz. 

For the roof, you can also add insulation and cladding/soffits inside and out, as needed. 

With that, your DIY garden shed is now complete. You can continue to add things like lighting, storage units, etc, but we'll leave that completely up to your imagination. 

Now, you'll need some stuff to put in it. How about a DIY workbench?

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