14x14 Gable Storage Shed Plan

You can buy the 14×14 gable shed plan now, or open the free 14×14 gable shed plan PDF first and see how the drawings look.

14×14 shed plans: the numbers for a site check

Measure the roof footprint, not just the walls, when you check the yard. With the eaves and rakes on it is 9 1/2″ wider and 1′ 5 1/2″ deeper than the walls.

Laying out the pad and the skids

Check size, height and setback rules first. Then call 811, the free call-before-you-dig line, a few working days ahead so the buried power, gas and water lines get marked.

Stake the corners, 14′ 0″ on every side, and move one stake until both diagonals read 19′ 9 9/16″. Strip the sod and roots over a 16′ x 16′ patch, a foot past the shed all round, so rain runs away. Digging knocks stakes about, so set them again and recheck the diagonals.

Spread 4″ of 3/4″ crushed stone, tamp it in two layers with a hand tamper, rake it level and check it with a long straight board and a level in several directions. Get the pad within 1/4″ over its length: square doors and flat floors start there. On a sloped yard, stretch a string with a line level from the high stake to each of the others and measure down. A few inches of fall gets built up with more stone on the low side, tamped every 2″. More than that, you dig the high side down or set solid concrete blocks on compacted stone under the low skids and shim them with pressure-treated shims.

Five pressure-treated 4×4 skids, each 14′ 0″ long, run left to right parallel to the front wall, 3′ 5 1/8″ on center. The outer two sit flush with the floor edges. They must be ground-contact lumber (UC4A or higher), laid crown up so the weight of the floor flattens the curve. A low skid gets more gravel or treated shims, never untreated wood.

How the 14×14 shed plans go together

The full plan runs 18 build steps, from ground prep to paint, and includes a checklist page you can print and tick off.

Floor frame and decking

The frame is two 14′ 0″ rims and twelve 13′ 9″ joists. You clamp the two rims together and mark the joist layout on both at once: one joist flush at each end, then lines at 15 1/4″, 31 1/4″, 47 1/4″ and every 16″ after that. Start the marks at the left end as you face the front, because the rafter marks start from the same end and the roof only lines up if the two agree.

Once nailed the frame weighs about 420 lb and racks out of square if you lift it, so you never carry it. You build it in place: stand each rim on edge over an outer skid, stand the joists between them on the marks, nail through the rims with three 3 1/2″ galvanized nails per joist, then push the long corner along the skids until both diagonals read 19′ 9 9/16″. Only after that do you toe-nail or screw it down at every skid crossing.

Seven sheets of 3/4″ tongue and groove plywood make the deck, glued to each joist and screwed 6″ apart on the edges and 12″ in the field. A sheet only covers about 47 1/2″ once its tongue sits in the next groove, so three full rows reach 11′ 10 1/2″ and the last row is 2′ 1 1/2″ wide. Two strips that wide don’t come out of one sheet side by side, so you rip full 8 ft strips and cut the last-row pieces end to end. That narrow row flexes at its joints, so you nail flat 2×4 blocks between the joists under the seam and screw both sheet edges down to them. Three pairs of pieces share a sheet, and if you cut them any other way you run short.

Raising the four walls

Each wall is framed flat on the deck, tipped up as a bare frame and braced plumb. The siding waits until all four stand and the corners are nailed.

The back wall goes first, while the whole deck is empty. You lay it with the bottom plate set back 3 1/2″ from the back edge (snap a chalk line), because the wall swings out to the edge as it tips up on the inside edge of that plate, and it lands flush. Before the lift you drive two or three nails part way through the bottom plate near each end so it hinges instead of sliding, and nail two 12″ stop blocks to the outside of the rim, 2″ above the deck. The lifters stand at the top plate, one near each end, take it to waist height with knees bent, then step in under it and walk their hands up the end studs.

Nobody stands on the ground in front of a wall going up, because a wall that passes plumb falls outward off the deck. Pick a calm day as well: a bare frame catches wind like a sail, and never leave a raised wall unbraced, even for a minute. The braces are 12 ft 2x4s running from both ends to 2×4 stakes about 5 ft out, so the deck stays clear for the front wall.

Before you move a framed wall, check it for square and tack a diagonal brace across the studs. The front and back walls should read 16′ 0″ corner to corner, and the side walls 15′ 5 11/16″. The two side walls are framed flat on the deck between the standing front and back walls. Their plates are 1/4″ shorter than the gap, so they tip up between them: check the front and back for plumb first, and if the side wall is tight, tap it down with a hammer against a block. They sit tight to the front, and the 1/4″ gap ends up at the two back corners. The diagonal braces stay on until just before each wall gets its siding. The plumb braces only stop a wall leaning in or out, and it is the diagonal that stops it racking along its length.

The double door and the two windows

The door opening is 5′ 0″ wide and 6′ 4 1/2″ tall, running from 4′ 6″ to 9′ 6″ from the left corner, so it sits dead center in the front wall. A king stud and a 6′ 4 1/2″ trimmer stand on each side, and a header made of two 2x8s with a strip of 1/2″ plywood between them, 5′ 3″ long, sits on the trimmers. The bottom plate runs straight through the opening while the wall goes up, then gets cut out flush with the trimmers once the walls are sided, which leaves 6′ 6″ framed. The siding strip across the threshold is cut flush with the deck at the same time.

You build two leaves, each 2′ 5 5/8″ wide and 6′ 5 1/4″ tall, from two new sheets of T1-11, because the piece cut out of the opening is too short. Each leaf gets a 1×4 frame on the outside: two stiles and three rails, glued and screwed. Then come two Z braces per leaf, 3′ 2 3/16″ along either edge, cut on the miter saw set to 29 degrees. They rise from the hinge side toward the latch so they carry the weight into the hinges.

Only one leaf is the working door. The other stays fixed with a barrel bolt top and bottom, and a 1×2 astragal on the inside face of the fixed leaf gives the active leaf something to close against. That leaf swings out, so the astragal is on the inside; on the outside it would stop the active leaf from closing. Each leaf hangs on three T-strap hinges, and the latch goes on the active one. The plan leaves 1/4″ at the hinge side and 1/4″ between the leaves. With the 1×2 stop under the header, the clear height under it is 6′ 5 1/4″.

Each side wall has a window with a 3′ 0″ x 3′ 0″ rough opening, framed with a double 2×6 header and a 2×4 sill whose top is 3′ 1″ above the bottom plate. On the left wall the opening runs from 2′ 6 1/4″ to 5′ 6 1/4″ measured from the back end of the plate; on the right wall the same numbers are measured from the front end. The windows are prefabricated units made for a 36 x 36 inch opening, and they are usually 1/2″ smaller. Tape the opening before the window goes in: sill first, then the sides, then the head. All the openings in the siding are cut out afterwards from the inside with a reciprocating saw, running the blade along the face of the framing, because a circular saw can’t cut flush to it.

Joining the walls and siding the box

With all four walls standing, you plumb each corner both ways and nail the corners together from inside the shed, through each side wall’s end stud into the front or back wall’s end stud with 3 1/2″ nails every 12″. Keep every nail within 3/4″ of the side wall’s outside face. Only the outer 1 1/2″ of that end stud has something behind it. At the two back corners you slip a wood shim into the gap at each nail so the nails don’t pull the wall out of line.

The second top plates go on next, overlapping the corners by at least 3 1/2″, so each layer covers the joint in the other. Then the siding: 5/8″ T1-11, one wall at a time, hung from a straight 2×4 ledger screwed to the floor frame at the siding’s bottom line. Each sheet starts on a stud center, 4′ 0″ from the last, and every sheet with another after it is cut 1/8″ narrow on its joint edge, so the gap lands on a stud instead of adding up along the wall. On the front and back walls the siding stops 2 3/16″ below the top of the second plate, where the rafter tails pass over it and the soffit closes the gap. On the side walls it runs flush with the top of the plate, since the gable siding starts there. Pull each wall’s diagonal brace and move its plumb braces inside, onto cleats on the deck, just before you side it.

How the 14×14 gable roof is framed

The pitch is 6/12, six inches of rise for every twelve of run, or 26.6 degrees. The rafters rise 3′ 10″ from the top of the walls to the top of the ridge. You cut one pattern rafter from the straightest 2×6: a plumb cut at the ridge, 8′ 6″ along the top edge to the tail cut, 8′ 8 3/4″ overall. The birdsmouth has a level seat 3 1/2″ long and a plumb heel 1 3/4″ high, about 28% of the rafter’s depth, which stays under the one third the plan says never to pass. Test the pattern on both sides of the building with a ridge-thick block, then trace and cut all 24 rafters plus 4 fly rafters. Each one takes its own 10 ft board, and the fly rafters get no birdsmouth.

The ridge is a single 2×8 cut at 14′ 8″, so it runs out to the fly rafters; it comes from one 16 ft board. Mark it from the left end, the same positions as the rafters on the top plates, 4″ in from each end being the wall end. A 3′ 2 3/4″ center gable stud on each gable wall, braced plumb both ways, carries the ridge. You lift it onto the two stud tops with your helper, one at each end, toe-nail it and check it is level. It then holds itself while you set the first rafters.

Set one end pair, then the other end pair, check the ridge for level and center, and fill in the other 10 pairs. The first rafter of each pair is face-nailed through the ridge with three 3 1/2″ nails, its partner toe-nailed with two on each side, and both go to the plate with a hurricane tie and two toe-nails. That is 24 hurricane ties in all.

Ten 2×4 rafter ties, 14′ 0″ long, sit on both top plates beside the interior pairs and keep the walls from spreading, four nails at each end. The plan is plain that they are not a storage loft: 2x4s across that span bend under heavy boxes, so keep anything you set on them light, a few boards laid across for long items. Five collar ties go on every other interior pair to hold the pairs together at the ridge in wind. Each is 6′ 4 7/8″ along its bottom edge, 5′ 2 7/8″ along the top, with both ends cut along the roof slope, and its top edge sits 2′ 6 11/16″ above the plates. The plan shows how to mark the angled end, and says to cut it with a circular saw, because the 63.4 degree miter is past most miter saws.

Gable ends, vents and the rake

Each gable gets ten studs, cut to a different length with the top angled to fit tight under the end rafter, from 2 5/8″ up to 3′ 2 5/8″, plus the center stud. They are laid out from the back corner on the left gable and the front corner on the right, so they sit over the wall studs and the gable siding joints land on them.

Z-flashing goes along the top edge of the wall siding on both gable walls, tucked behind the gable siding so water running down the gable gets kicked out over the wall siding. Three sheets of T1-11 close both gables. Each triangle is 13′ 5″ wide along the flashing and 3′ 4 1/4″ high at the center, cut in vertical strips with joints 48″ from the corner so they line up with the grooves below. The strip at the peak is notched so the ridge board passes over it.

Air gets in through the frieze blocks over both eave walls: 2×6 blocks ripped 5 1/8″ tall with the top beveled to 4 3/8″ so the sheathing lies flat, each drilled with three 1″ holes and screened with insect screen on the inside. It leaves through a louvered 8 x 12 inch vent in each gable, over an 8″ x 1′ 0″ opening centered between gable studs #4 and #5, framed with a flat 2×4 sill and header.

The rake overhang is 4″. Twenty 2 1/2″ lookout blocks in all go on the outside of the end rafters, the first 6″ from the eave and the rest every 1′ 10 1/2″, and the fly rafter is nailed to the blocks and to the ridge end. Check the ridge for level and the end rafters for plumb before the sheathing goes on, because after that you can’t adjust.

Sheathing, fascia, felt and shingles

Nine sheets of 7/16″ OSB cover the roof. Each side is 14′ 8″ long and 8′ 6″ from the fascia line to the ridge. You start at the eave with a 6′ 11 7/8″ piece, long side across the rafters, and start both roof sides at the building’s left end as seen from the front. On the back slope that is your right hand as you face it. Starting the back from its own left end would put the end joints between rafters. Every piece starts on a rafter center and is cut 1/8″ short of the next one, so the gap sits on the rafter, and the second row starts with a different length so the joints don’t line up.

The eave fascia is two 1×8 boards at 14′ 8″. The rake fascia is four 1×8 boards, each cut plumb at both ends at 26.6 degrees: 8′ 7 11/16″ along either edge, 8′ 11 5/16″ tip to tip. Soffit strips are ripped from one sheet of 1/2″ plywood, 7 15/16″ wide, nailed to the underside of the tails with a 1/4″ vent gap left at the siding.

Drip edge goes along both eaves first, tight to the fascia line. Then the 15 lb felt, rolled out from the eave up, each course overlapping the one below by 2″, end laps 4″, and the top course wrapping 6″ over the ridge. The rake drip edge goes on top of the felt, so each layer sheds water onto the one below.

The shingles start with a starter strip of 3-tab shingles with the tabs cut off, overhanging the drip edge about 1/2″. Each course shows 5″ and is offset 6″, so no slot lines up with the one below, and each shingle takes 4 roofing nails above the slots (6 in high-wind areas). Each side takes 21 courses of about 5 shingles. The ridge cap is 37 pieces cut from 13 shingles. The total is about 251 shingles, which is 10 bundles including the starter and the cap. Snap a chalk line every 3 or 4 courses so the rows stay straight.

Anchoring the shed

Do this after the roof is on and before you fill the shed. Empty and sitting on loose skids, the shed slides at about 13 psf of wind and tips at about 28 psf, by the plan’s figures. So it uses 6 screw-in auger ground anchors, 30″ or longer and galvanized, each with a galvanized steel strap: 3 along each of the two outside skids, one about 12″ in from each end and the rest evenly spaced, no more than 8 ft apart.

You screw each anchor in tight against the outside face of the skid until its eye is about 1″ above the ground. Firm, undisturbed soil holds best; in sand or loose fill the plan says use longer anchors. The strap runs from the eye straight up the skid’s outside face and onto the rim joist, below the siding, and is fastened with 1 1/2″ structural screws, 4 into the skid and 2 into the rim. That strap on the rim also ties the floor frame to the skid.

What is on the 14×14 materials list

The shopping list is split by stage, so each stage has its own parts. Each lumber line names the board length that wastes the least, and it suggests 2 or 3 spare studs for bad boards. There are no prices in the plan.

• Foundation and floor: five 4×4 x 14 ft pressure-treated skids, fourteen 2×6 x 14 ft pressure-treated boards (2 rims and 12 joists), and 7 sheets of 3/4″ tongue and groove plywood.
• Walls: 2×4 plates in 14 ft lengths, 2×4 x 8 ft studs (13 for the front wall, 14 for the back, 14 each for the sides), a 2×8 x 12 ft board for the door header, 2×6 x 8 ft boards for the window headers, 14 sheets of T1-11 and 3 pieces of Z-flashing. A 1/2″ plywood sheet does two jobs: strips for the header fillers first, then the soffit.
• Roof: 28 2×6 x 10 ft boards for the rafters and fly rafters, a 2×8 x 16 ft ridge board, ten 2×4 x 16 ft rafter ties, 5 2×6 x 8 ft boards for the frieze blocks, 9 sheets of OSB, one roll of felt, 10 bundles of shingles and 8 pieces of drip edge.
• Fascia, gables and door: 1×8 fascia (two 16 footers and four 10 footers), 3 sheets of T1-11 for the gables and 2 more for the door leaves, 6 T-strap hinges, 2 barrel bolts, a handle and latch, 2 prefabricated windows and 2 louvered gable vents.
• Hardware: 38 lb of 16d framing nails, 17 lb of siding nails, 24 hurricane ties, 12 temporary 2×4 x 12 ft braces to reuse, 9 tubes of construction adhesive, 6 ground anchors with 36 structural screws, and 5 gallons of exterior paint and primer in one for two coats.

The cut list gives every part with its lumber and exact length, and the cutting plan says which board each part comes from, with the offcut, so you can mark all the cuts on a board before sawing.

What fits in a 14×14 shed

The door is centered, with 4′ 6″ of front wall on each side of it. Each side wall has a window with its sill 3′ 1″ above the bottom plate. The front and back walls each get two corner backer studs that leave a nailing face inside the corners for lining or shelf cleats later. Keep anything heavy off the rafter ties.

If you plan to roll a mower or a wheelbarrow in, note that the deck sits 9 3/4″ above grade and the plan has no ramp. One leaf is bolted fixed, and the 1×2 astragal sticks out 3/4″ behind it, so measure the active leaf’s opening, not the 5 ft.

Tools, ladders and safety the plan lists

Beyond the usual saw, drill and hammer, the tool list calls for a miter saw for the door braces, a reciprocating saw for the flush cuts in the door and window openings, a 3 lb sledge for the brace stakes and a hand tamper for the pad.

Two 8 ft step ladders reach the ridge, and a 16 ft extension ladder covers roof work from the eave, about 8′ 8″ up. Set the ladder 1 ft out at the foot for every 4 ft up, tie the top to a rafter or the fascia, and let it reach 3 ft or more past the edge. Keep yourself, the ladder and the sheets at least 10 ft from any overhead power line. On the roof, screw a 2×4 down a foot above the eave as a foot stop, and nobody works up there alone. Don’t climb with a sheet in both hands: hand OSB up on its long edge to a helper on a step ladder. Shingle bundles weigh about 60 to 80 lb, so carry half a bundle at a time or ask the supplier if they’ll deliver them onto the roof.

Free 14×14 shed plan PDF vs the full plan

The free PDF is 7 pages. It walks the five stages (site, floor, walls, roof, trim) with 3D views of the same model, so you can see the drawing style and the finished shed before you pay. The full 43-page plan adds the shopping list, the cut list, every wall drawn stud by stud with a position table, the rafter and ridge details, piece maps for the deck, siding and roof sheathing, and pro tips on most steps. Every number comes from one 3D model that passed 93 automatic checks, such as plates plus studs adding up to the wall height.

Before you build a 14×14 gable shed

Rules for sheds come from your town, and from your HOA if you have one. Size, height, distance to the property line and whether you need a permit at all vary, so check your local permit office before you spend money on lumber. Ask the same office about snow and wind: the plan uses common small-shed framing, and heavy snow or high wind may need closer or larger rafters. It is not an engineered design, and the disclaimer on page 2 says so.

Keep 6″ or more between the siding and the soil or mulch, and keep gutters or drip edges clear. Each spring, look for lifted shingles, re-caulk the trim joints, touch up the paint, and check that the skids are still level and dry. Prime and paint every exposed piece of wood, including the cut edges of the T1-11 and the bottom edge of the siding.

Related plans

• Same footprint with a single-slope roof: the 14×14 lean-to shed plan.
• Same 14 ft width, 2 ft shallower: the 12×14 gable shed plan. 4 ft shallower: the 10×14 gable shed plan.
• 10 ft longer on the same 14 ft depth: the 14×24 gable shed plan.
• Every gable shed plan in one place.