This project started with the fact that when we moved into our house, we had a Lawnmower delivered and it sat in the box, in the living room.  Not an ideal place for it. The problem was, our garage was going to be for our cars, we refuse to let it pile with crap and not allow us to put cars in it.  The garage is also not big enough for lawn care supplies, pool supplies, etc, so we need something else.

This introduces us to the Rubbermaid Roughneck Large Storage Building (its a shed, but storage building sounds so much larger!).  This shed was chosen for its size mainly, as it is about 6 and a half feet long and just over 4 and a half feet feet wide and we figured to place it had about 5 feet of width between the pool pump and the fence and 8 feet of length where it did not interfere with the fence gate.  It is made of resin which shouldn’t have a problem in the Florida heat and also has no metal exposed to the elements to rust.  Lowes does sell a larger 7ftx7ft version and a couple smaller ones as well.

Just a fair warning, this is gonna be a long post, so fair warning, if you want to read about the building and filling of this shed, and the problems we had, read on.

E and I decided to take on the task of building this shed on a Saturday afternoon after renting a truck for an hour from Lowes to bring it home.  Keeping in mind the size of the shed, the box is obviously pretty large and doesn’t fit in many vehicles.

After pulling the pieces out of the box and lugging them to the backyard, we began the assembly of this monster. The instructions were pretty good, contrary to some of the blogs I read about it, well at least the first number of instructions.  I would recommend though that you have all of the required tools, with the exception of the step ladder depending on your height, and I did not need the liquid soap.

Be sure to have this on level ground, as the instructions also say, this can cause a major headache.

The main issue I had, which is not pictured as it would not have translated, was in the instructions at Section 4.0 and step c, it is very vague.  You actually need to hold down the shed (or have someone do it for you) as you drill through the plastic without any type of pilot hole.  So, be sure that you have got it in the place you want it, because you will not be able to take a second shot at this.  I struggled in wondering if I was doing this right for a long time and was by far the most frustrating part of the install.

When all is said and done though, I had a shed that could fit everything, including the lawnmower that had sat in the hallway entering our house!

Another great thing about these sheds is that in addition to giving you added storage in what likely is (or should be) an unused part of land for the shed, it can act like a small garage.  These sheds have the ability to to hang Pegboard using the anchors supplied from Rubbermaid.  The Pegboard can be in 2 feet by 2 feet pieces or 2 feet by 4 feet pieces.  I purchased one piece of pegboard which was 8 feet wide and 4 feet long and I was able to cover four walls with pegboard when having it cut into four 2 feet by 4 feet long pieces.

Another warning I will put out there is as much as they allow pegboard and shelving, they don’t give a whole lot of info, especially on the type of shelving and they include only 3 anchors in the original purchase of the shed. Each bag of anchors allows you to cover one piece of wall (or approximately 2 feet wide piece)which can only cover three walls out of a potential eight walls that can have storage.  Make sure to follow this pdf here and call Rubbermaid at 888-895-2110 if you think you will need additional anchors to hang up more on the walls.

I ordered 5 more anchors, even though I did not think I would fill all the walls, I wanted to have the ability to.

The anchors are meant to hold a maximum of 50 pounds per wall.

Now, I had ordered anchors, I had pegboard, but I wanted a nice mix of pegboard and a few shelves, but what shelves to use?  Home Depot didn’t know, Lowes didn’t know, even Rubbermaid seemed unsure.  With some help from Rubbermaid’s 800 number, I was finally pushed towards the Configuations series of their closet systems.  I found that Amazon was the best place to order from as Home Depot sold these pieces online, but not in store (with a high amount to get free shipping) and Lowes did not sell them at all.  For my setup, I ended up ordering two of the 26″ Add-On shelving systems in titanium color and four of the 25″ Upright Extensions to actually be able to hang them off!  These went in very easily, and with some minor organization, the shed was complete!

Or so I thought.  It turns out the “leveling” I did was not very good at all.  After a few weeks of Florida elements (rain), and storing stuff, the majority being in the back of the Shed, it began to sink into the mud and become uneven.

My father had a great, pretty simple idea of building a small deck for the shed.  So, after a couple miscues, I ended up with a two 96″ long 2×4′s and seven 52″ long 2×4′s.  The miscue had to do with the fact that the Lowe’s website shows the shed as being 48″ wide, when its actually 55″ wide.  So I had to make multiple trips, since my father who is helping me from afar on this one, figured the website was right. Anyway, in addition to connecting the 2×4′s, I put some plywood on top (again, slight change of plans because it wasn’t 48″ wide) and all was well.  The 48″x96″ plywood which had already been cut to two 24″x96″ to be able to get them home, was modified more.  I cut one of the 24″x96″ plywood pieces into two 12″x96″.  Once the bottom of the deck with 2×4′s was done, I put the remaining 24″x96″ plywood smack in the middle and the two 12″x96″ pieces on the sides.  Using 2″ and 3″ wood screws, this was fairly easy to do all on my own, except for lifting it into place.  A buddy came over, and we were able to move the shed onto its new home.  One thing to note is that the 96″ length gives a lip in the front of approximately 18″ that some may not like. For me, it was just fine and for most things I put in and out of the shed, will never bother me.  I just might have to get a ramp for my lawnmower .  Anyway, its now level!
Just check out the final picture at the bottom to see… and this project…is COMPLETE!

Finally done!