…installing the outdoor storage shed – part 1 of 2…
The huge box with the storage shed arrived and we are so excited!!!
The delivery guys dropped it in the driveway outside the garage door so I could work on it in the shade (it was a hot day) and figure out how to get this thing assembled quickly. It took two strong men with a forklift on the truck to get it on the ground so there was no way we were going to move it to the backyard in the package.
the great storage shed unwrapping ceremony
I’m sorry to say that it was so exciting I completely forgot to take pictures or video of the unwrapping. I hope no one is too disappointed.
The box was really heavy and really thin – the design engineers did a great job on this shed and the package organization. It was dense. All the pieces stacked together nicely and they provided structural support for each other during shipping… no damage to anything in the box, thank goodness.
Well, once I’d torn open the box and counted up all the parts to make sure it was all there, I came back to my senses and set up the camera to document the historical moment! This was going to be a watershed event in the minimax record… buying a kit to store stuff!? Unheard of… at least unheard of in the minimax family where we do everything yourself. (not DIY, but DEY – haha)
building the storage shed kit
As a DEY-er the minimaxer had to do the two-man assembly job all by his lonesome. I’ll admit though, near the end I did ask mrs. minimax for a little assistance and she was a great help making sure the roof was secured correctly.
I was impressed with the design and manufacturing on this kit. Everything snapped together nicely. The instructions were even great! How often does that happen?? Each step was clearly described with pictures and it wasn’t too wordy or confusing either. Nicely done!
There are clear spots on the inside walls where shelves could go if you wanted to purchase them – but the minimaxer has serious doubts about how strong those shelves would be and if they could possibly hold up to the extreme storage conditions we expect to put on this shed.
loading up the storage shed shows a clear need for modification
The shed came together in a couple hours. It was pretty neat how they reinforced key areas with metal, but for the most part, this thing is big plastic box! It will keep the rain off, and provide some climate control in the winter – on sunny days.
I’ll be the first to admit the minimaxer has some pretty high standards – a close second would be mrs. minimax, who has equally high expectations for quality and durability in all things.
Two things jumped right out at me as I moved all the stuff into the shed from the staging area on the deck.
First – there was no venting in the shed. This is a feature I weighed in my purchase decision. Some of the larger models had venting in the top of the shed to allow air flow. This will be important to make sure the temperature doesn’t get too high on hot summer days. After all, this will be where we store fuel for the mower, weed whacker, and grill – so we don’t want that getting too hot.
Second – there is no serious structural support in the design for storing heavy things in the vertical space. Those built-in notices on the walls are a joke for any serious storage. Can you image trying to put a couple propane tanks on a plastic shelf that hooks into the plastic walls? Right… boom! It will all come tumbling down the first warm day – if it even lasts that long.
So now we have a couple of modifications to do on the shed to maximize it purpose… storing all the outside tools and stuff for the garden.
The second one is the easiest and we’ll tackle that right away. I can use a lot of the scrap wood stored in the garage for the shelves and I even have some 2x4s that will work for the support beams. I just need to buy one long 2×4 to supplement what I’ve got in reserve. (thank goodness because wood is like gold these days!!)
Stay tuned for the next blog post where we put a couple neat shelves into the storage shed using the minimax storage system! That’s going to be fun…