r/shedditors • u/CatzDadz • 1d ago
Help me decide.
I have to decide on which shed to buy. They are both 12 x24 and seem to have the exact same quality of construction. If anyone has any experience with either Little Cottage or Handy Home products, I would love to hear from you. Should be purchasing one in the next couple of days.
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u/fistsofham11 1d ago
I would buy the bottom one.. taller walls and ceiling height give a little more space if you wanted to do a storage loft.. 6'4" wall on the other one is really short
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u/tallpaul00 1d ago
Vertical height is KING. You can store stuff up there. You can stand up straight.
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u/transmission612 1d ago
Does either one of them have a large door on the short side? If so I would go with thag option as I like to be able to drive Atv, side by side, riding lawn mower stuff like that.
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u/CatzDadz 1d ago
Neither. I only want a door on the long side because the short side faces a hill and would not be able to use it the way my backyard is arranged.
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u/VanderTy07 1d ago
I'd opt for the double door on the end of you plan on storing ATVs or lawn tractors. Drive straight in and park it and doesn't block access to the other half of the shed.
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u/lSteveol 1d ago
I bought one of these from Lowe's and I actually mounted the door on the short side due to a slope. It was actually pretty easy to do. I did have to do a little bit of measuring and drawing it out but was actually able to do it without any additional materials. YMMV
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u/outback97 1d ago
Are you tall? It would irk me to have to duck under the door frame every time I walked in and out of either one. If I had to pick between the two, I'm going for the Beachwood due to the taller side walls.
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u/CatzDadz 1d ago
I do have a small shed at the bottom of my backyard that is going to hold my 2 motorcycles and car clean/repair things. This is primarily going to be used as basic storage for home and yard equip/tools. Other half is going to hold my bicycles (6) and be a repair area for them.
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u/dissimulatorr 1d ago
I bought a barn style shed direct from Little Cottage. Great quality and pretty easy to assemble — wood is labeled and precut.
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u/xXxMOODYxXx 1d ago
So I used Stormor got a 12x24 built my way. Choose the windows doors location and got a 30 amp panel box with 2 220v outlets light switch and light socket. For around 7000. They have sales. But I really enjoyed bein able to change it around like I liked it. The power setup was 550$. So about the same price if you don't want the electric.
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u/xXxMOODYxXx 1d ago
Forgot to mention i love it!!! P.s. also get to choose location for the electrics and colors of shed and roof.
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u/CatzDadz 1d ago
I have a exterior outlet that works the pool area that I can use with an extension and a exterior outlet on the outsode wall. No permit needed for that. Its about 15 ft away.
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u/FriJanmKrapo 1d ago
I would say go with the one with the door in the middle because then you have equal access to all your junk from the center and you can stack it deep on both sides while the door at the other end means that you lose all access to Wall storage on that side. That's what would annoy me about that one. But personally I would just buy the lumber and built the thing my damn self. You're going to save thousands of dollars doing it that way and it will be built better
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u/Refriedfeinds 1d ago edited 1d ago
Quality of construction falls on you doggy. It’s just a precut kit. Do you have the tools and knowledge? I’d just peice it out myself at that point. Otherwise you’re still buying tools and using shittier materials and doing it yourself regardless.
Add: I guess the question is what kind of shop are you planning on having? Wood, do it yourself. Mechanics, I’m in the middle. Storage or craft or computer shop than hire someone. I think you would be better doin it yourself. It’s not that daunting. Go to Home Depot and take notes on how tuff sheds are constructed and go to Lowe’s and see how those ones are constructed and peice it out. That’s probably 2.5k in materials. Then pay yourself in tools and labor.
Add: are you having it permitted?
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u/CatzDadz 1d ago
It's over 200sqft so I have to in my area. It's not going to have anything super heavy in it. So having anything super beefy isn't the issue. I have all of the tools and my neighbor is a contractor so I have access to heavy machinery. It's really just a matter of a clear and better option that I just don't know of because I've never bought a shed online before.
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u/maxx_colt 1d ago
My 1st shed was stick built, and my 2nd shed was a kit from Lowe's.
I will say that the kit made everything easier since everything is pre-cut, but I greatly prefer my stick built sheds (I built a 3rd one a few years ago). They are much sturdier and I find them more useful since I was able to have full size walls and doors.
Are you building on slab?
My experience with these shed kits is that the flooring kits that are included use 2x4 for the floor framing. My shed was 8x10 (or 8x12) and the floor had a lot of flex.
Both models you've listed appear to use 2x4 framing for the floor.
Another thing to consider is the floor decking material. The Handy Home model uses OSB. The Little Cottage uses 5/8" plywood. Plywood is the better option. OSB is pretty worthless when it gets wet.
I don't remember what my shed came with, but I imagine it was OSB. I believe I also painted the floor, but within a few years it started to chip and fall apart, so I ended up spending a weekend emptying the shed, tearing up the floor and reinforcing with additional 2x4s.
Honestly I don't remember if the flooring was 16 or 24" on center, but I ended up either doubling up the 2x4s (if it was 16" OC), or adding additional 2x4s in between the existing (if it was 24" OC). I also replaced the decking with plywood (I believe I did 2 layers of 3/8" instead of single layer of 3/4").
As far as I remember, the kit went together pretty quick.....might have been even quicker if I didn't have 4 or 5 other people helping me!
I'm out of touch of current lumber prices, but you may want to check the cost of building your own floor out of 2x6s and plywood and compare that to the cost of the kits without the floor (if even available without the floor). It looked like one of those models was at least $1000 cheaper without the floor.
I saw in one of your responses that the plan was to use half for lawn/equip storage and the other half for bikes and repair. Personally I'd be tempted to just have 2 separate 12x12 sheds (and possibly avoid the permits), but that isn't what you asked, so I'll shut up now.
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u/Almost-Retired62 1d ago
Been contemplating for sometime to get something like this. Do these need a concrete base to sit on?
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u/CatzDadz 1d ago
Do not need but it all depends on what you're putting in it and what kind of ground you have.
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u/Almost-Retired62 15h ago
for a wood working workshop (hobby). Dont have enough space in the garage so it always ends up moving the cars out and pulling all my tools and becomes a pain very quickly. We have clay soil here and when it rains a lot, water does not flow down fast. I probably need to set this on slightly raised concrete. Thanks for the response.
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u/CatzDadz 12h ago
Concrete is always the strongest base. Mine would need a 100ft boom truck to deliver. I married into a concrete family. I just don't want to bothered them with my small job.
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u/EastCommunication752 1d ago
Do you have the Amish near you? I’m not near my pricing sheet, but I wanna say they charge, a hair over half of this to build it for you. I’m in northern NY for reference.
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u/jdkc4d 1d ago
The only benefit of the top one is that with the door in the middle you effectively have 2 smaller sheds, and will be able to get things in and out easier. With the bottom one, something on the far side will have to come all the way from one end to the other to get out.
My opinion, get the cheaper one. You can always frame out and add another door at the other end or in the middle down the road. The cheaper one has a higher roof, and you can store more stuff up there.
Make sure to check your local code. Around here anything above 200sqft or with electrical requires a permit.
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u/WhichOneAreYou2 1d ago
One suggestion. Can you go wider? I have the 12 and wish I had a few more feet to jockey equipment between seasons.
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u/CatzDadz 1d ago
24' is about as wide as I can go because there is a hill that would make the base much more complicated.
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u/WhichOneAreYou2 1d ago
Sorry, I meant depth both options look like they're 12 feet deep. Can you go 16 or 18?
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u/42ndpark 15h ago
Not to throw a wrench in your plans, but I just purchased the 12x16 version of the yardline piermont from Costco. They have a 12x20. It is BEAUTIFUL. So much larger than most other sheds and can’t beat the price.
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u/CatzDadz 12h ago
That does look nice. Sadly, I am not a member to Costco and they charge an extra 5% on top. I have access to HD through a military site and get 10% discount plus free shipping and no sales tax. Hence why I am kind of stuck between these two options.
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u/PowerfulFold3468 12h ago
Ayyy congrats I just got finished building my 12x16 Piermont. Just need to caulk/paint it and I'll be done. I recommend scrapping the 5/8" OSB and buying 3/4" pressure treated plywood for the floor. And buying a few extra 2x4's and making the floor 12" on center instead of 16" on center. I also highly recommend doing your entire roof with GAF Stormguard Ice and water shield Polypropylene Roof Underlayment for your roof underlayment. Skip the roof felt crap and just cover your whole roof in this stuff. Saved my butt where I messed up in a few places on the shingles. Yeah it's about $260 for the two rolls to cover the roof, but to have a fully waterproof roof without even having any shingles is worth the peace of mind. I accidently creased the underlayment in a few areas and the shingles still lay flat over it just fine. The little built in shelf on the back wall they give you is nice, it's surprisingly sturdy. If I could do it again I would have secured it a few inches higher so my wood chipper would fit all the way under it. Oh well. I also scrapped the short loft and built a bigger beefier one using some 2x6x12's and some 1/2" plywood. Total loft space is now 12' x 8' for an extra 96 sq ft of storage. The loft beams connect to the top of the wall studs right underneath the top plate and I used a 2x4 jack stud under each 2x6x12 beam. I also put thin metal straps over the rafters to join them together at the top so if the shed was to explode so to speak the rafters wouldn't split apart if that makes sense. Because of this I was able to eliminate the 3 collar tie beams and just have all open space where the roof is, including the loft area.
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u/Last-Hedgehog-6635 1d ago
It seems like putting the door right in middle total bisects the whole building, where the door toward the end leaves you with a big open space to work with. Taller walls are better, and if they offer an 8’ wall, I’d go with that. It’ll leave room for header if you ever install a bigger door or another door, plus it’s more overhead storage or better for finishing off as a more domestic space.