Step-by-step instructions for building a utility block with your own hands. How to build a frame barn

The presence of such an outbuilding as a country shed is necessary on any plot of land. This design will serve as an excellent place to store garden tools, tools, various building materials and, possibly, household supplies for the winter.

Let's try to figure out how to build a shed with your own hands, what materials to choose for construction, how to decide on the type of structure to be built and calculate its dimensions.

Deciding on a place

The outbuilding for your dacha will serve you for many years, so choosing a place for its construction must be approached with all responsibility.

The territory selected for construction must meet two criteria; it must provide:

• ease of use of the shed;
• maintaining the aesthetic appearance of the site.

In order to accurately select a place for construction, first draw up a project of all the elements of the summer cottage and a drawing of the barn for the summer house.

It is the resulting diagrams that will help you decide on the territory that has the area necessary for the construction and is as convenient as possible from the point of view of using the utility room.

You can place the barn behind a residential building, this will allow you to hide the building from prying eyes; some gardeners, on the contrary, place an outbuilding in the center of the dacha plot, decorating it in a very interesting way, resulting in not only a room for storing things, but also an original decoration for the dacha territories.

Construction materials

For self-construction of a country shed on a site, the following are most often used: Construction Materials:

• not edged board;
• brick;
• beam;
• foam blocks.

The first option is the most economical of all presented. The main advantages of building an economy class building from unedged boards are low cost and quick installation.

For such a structure it is not necessary to have a foundation; it can be placed on wide bars or pallets. The construction of this shed usually takes one to two days, but the service life of such a building will be short.

A country barn made of brick, in addition to its aesthetic appearance, is characterized by high strength and durability. When building a utility block from this material, it is necessary to install a strong strip foundation, insulate the walls, roof and floor covering.

As for financial costs, you will have to spend a decent amount on a brick barn, but as a result you will get a beautiful structure that will serve you for several decades.

In addition, such a structure can be used not only for storing country equipment, but also food, preparations, and used as a garden house or workshop.

A barn made of timber or foam blocks is the most popular and frequently encountered option, where there is an optimal price-quality ratio.

By spending a relatively small amount of money, you will get a fairly reliable and wear-resistant structure that will perform all the functions assigned to it in your dacha.

In order to decide which material to use for construction, additionally study the characteristics of this or that raw material, evaluate your financial capabilities, look at numerous photos of garden sheds made from various materials to decide which one best suits your tastes and overall design territories.

Main stages of construction

Building a country shed with your own hands, regardless of the type of materials chosen, will consist of several main stages:

Creation of a barn project with a detailed indication of all design features and dimensions.

Preparing a site for the construction of a structure, which includes not only choosing a site for construction, but also removing debris, interfering bushes, and removing the top layer of soil (at least 0.5 meters).

Foundation construction. Having poured the foundation for the construction of a shed, leave it to completely harden for 2 - 3 days, be sure to keep in mind that in hot weather the fresh foundation simply needs to be sprayed with water to prevent it from cracking.

Laying waterproofing materials on top of the finished foundation.

Direct construction of a building from selected materials, for example, if it is foam blocks or bricks, then a solution is prepared to connect the elements together and the masonry process begins. Laying foam blocks or bricks begins from the corners of the building, after which the walls are erected.

If the building material is wood, poles are dug into the corners of the future barn, the structure is tied with bars using a building level, after which the structure is sheathed with boards. Don't forget to leave openings in the walls for window and door openings.

Construction of the roof. The roof can be covered using any popular materials: metal tiles, slate, etc. Think carefully about the design of this element; whether it is a pitched or gable roof is up to you to decide.

Installation of windows and doors

Interior decoration of the room: flooring, insulation, wall cladding, if necessary, etc.

Exterior decoration of the building. This stage of work cannot be called mandatory, but to give the shed originality and aesthetics, you can use your imagination.

Building a shed on a summer cottage will not cause any difficulties, which is why summer residents so often resort to building this outbuilding on their own.

Having decided to acquire a new multifunctional room on your site, do not put it off, carefully understand the design process, prepare all the necessary materials and tools, and get to work.

Photo of a barn for a summer residence

Before you build a shed with your own hands, let's figure out why it is needed and whether it is needed at all. A barn is an outbuilding that is designed to store various things, such as construction tools, materials, small equipment, etc. At first, when a house is built, it can be used as temporary housing during the warm season. In any case, you should have at least a simple structure on your site.

What is the best way to build a shed quickly and cheaply? The simplest and fastest solution would be to erect a frame building. At the same time, you can fit into a budget of just a few hundred dollars, it all depends on the size and materials.

I decided to build a barn with my own hands as soon as I acquired a plot for building a house. This is the first building on my site. I started construction in late autumn, so the work took place in two stages.

In principle, it is not necessary to make a barn project. By and large, this structure is built from the materials that are available, and if something is missing, then simply buy more and that’s it. But if you, like me, are building a shed from scratch and don’t have any materials, then it’s better to make not even a project, but a schematic drawing. This will help you calculate the required amount of materials and purchase them at one time, while saving your time and money on transportation costs.

Since I already have some experience in designing, I made myself a simple shed project. Even having a project, during the construction process I made some design changes for one reason or another. This suggests that, even with drawings, it is impossible to foresee everything.

According to the project, I will have a barn measuring 4.5x3 m with a pitched roof. The height of the room in the lower part is 2.2 m, in the upper part it is 2.7 m. Now I would build the barn lower, for example 1.8 m at the bottom and 2.3 m at the top.

Construction of the foundation

Since the barn was planned to be made using frame technology, the foundation could be made columnar with blocks. For these purposes, I used a hollow concrete block (I just couldn’t find a solid one), the voids of which were sealed with mortar.

The first thing you need to do is decide on a location and only then start marking out the building site. To mark, I needed wooden pegs and twine (you can use fishing line or rope). I drove the pegs further than the building spot at a distance of about a meter so that they would not interfere with me when installing the blocks.

Having pulled the twine, I checked the diagonals; they should be equal. I marked out the places where the blocks would be installed and began digging holes 30–50 cm deep. It was necessary to remove the plant layer of soil under the blocks and fill them with crushed stone or sand, which is what I did. Thus, the stability of the foundation was maximized.

All blocks must be installed in one strictly horizontal plane. I did this using a level and adjusted the height with the amount of crushed stone. The crushed stone was poured in layers, each layer compacted.

At this point, my first stage of construction was completed and the foundation was left to winter.

Bottom harness and frame

After waiting for warmer days to arrive, I continued building the barn. For this I ordered a 3.5 m3 board. For the frame I took a board 100x50 mm (1.5 m3), for cladding 150x25 mm (2m3).

I made the bottom frame from a 100x50 mm board, laying it on edge along the foundation posts.

I fastened the boards together using universal 100x6 mm screws (although I tried drywall screws, but they were too fragile and often broke). You can also use nails.

Having laid the boards around the perimeter and fastened them, I immediately checked the diagonals. This must be done periodically so as not to build a crooked building.

The beams of the lower trim must be opened with an antiseptic. It is better to use an antiseptic for difficult working conditions. I used NEOMID concentrate. I opened the beams with a regular paint brush, but you can use a spray bottle, it will be faster.

I laid floor boards (150x25 mm) on top of the beams and treated them with an antiseptic. I laid the boards tightly, but since they were freshly sawn, over time, gaps of about 1 cm formed between them. For me, this is not critical, although mice can crawl into the barn through the gaps. You can additionally put sheets of plywood on the floor, which will be more practical and aesthetically pleasing.

Now the base for the walls is ready.

The frame of the walls was first assembled on the floor, then raised, leveled and secured to the foundation beams. Regarding the assembly, you can easily do this work yourself, but lifting and securing the wall yourself will be difficult, because the structure is quite heavy (due to damp wood) and keeps trying to fall. For these purposes you need an assistant.

To speed up the process of building a shed with my own hands, I used a chainsaw to cut the boards and a screwdriver to tighten the screws. You can use a jigsaw if there is already electricity in the area.

During any construction, I recommend using as many different electrical, mechanical and gasoline tools and mechanisms as possible to speed up and facilitate the work. Only then will the whole process be enjoyable.

When assembling the wall frame, I made one mistake - I did not install the braces (inclined boards in the corners of the barn). Then it was quite difficult to install them. Braces give spatial rigidity to the entire structure and are vital, so don’t forget to install them.

I took the distance between the frame posts to be 70-80 cm, since I don’t plan to insulate it in the future. If the barn will be insulated, then the pitch of the racks should correspond to the width of the insulation, which is 490 or 590 mm.

Door and window openings must be provided in advance in the frame and horizontal lintels must be installed.

After the wall frame is assembled, the roof rafters can be installed. These are the same 100x50 mm boards with a pitch of about 700 mm. I secured the rafters with metal corners on one side and nails on the other. Let me remind you that if you plan to insulate, then the step must be taken in accordance with the width of the insulation.

Wall decoration

I finished the walls with a 150x25 mm board, which I attached with nails (60-70 mm) to the frame posts. In this case, you need to try not to sew up the openings of windows and doors. Here everything is very simple: attach the board - nail it and so on in a circle.

After some time, the board will dry out and cracks will form. I covered them with window beads, as a result of which the barn acquired a nice appearance.

To protect the board from impacts environment and various kinds of insects opened the barn from the outside by working off the oil. A fairly cheap, but not fire-safe way to protect wood. Spent 10 liters of waste.

Roof and roof installation

Regarding the roof, I thought through many options, but ultimately decided to make it from roofing felt. And this is another miscalculation of mine, but more on that later.

I made a continuous sheathing along the rafters from 150x25 mm boards.

It was also opened with an antiseptic, but only from the outside.

To install the roof, I bought two rolls of RPP-350 roofing felt. I cut it into pieces of 4 meters and laid it along the roof slope with an overlap of 20 cm. I secured the joints with a 40x20 mm strip.

I expected that this roof would serve me for several seasons, but I was mistaken; after two weeks the roofing material simply tore in several places. The roof had to be redone.

The reason for this turned out to be poor quality roofing material. In the future, I do not recommend making roofing material from paper-based roofing material. It is better to use euroroofing felt with a thickness of 3-4 mm, which will last for many years.

This time I made an even simpler option - a roof made of greenhouse film with ultraviolet protection. And so, over the continuous sheathing, I laid a reinforced polyethylene backing (I bought it when I was planning to make a roof from ondulin).

On top, in a continuous piece, I put a greenhouse film with a density of 150 microns. It was secured, like roofing felt, with a 40x20 mm lath. For six months there have been no problems with this roof, I’ll see how it goes.

Installation of windows and doors

I installed a used wooden door. I was changing the front door in the apartment, so it went into the barn. I made the door frame locally from boards, bought hinges and installed the door.

I made two locks - one mortise and the other padlock for extra security.

Initially I planned to install a large wooden window in the barn 1200x600 mm, but at a construction supermarket I bought an inexpensive metal-plastic window measuring 800x600 mm, and of course installed it. To do this I had to reduce the window opening a little.

The window was secured with universal self-tapping screws 100x6 mm. First I removed the glass unit and drilled 2 holes on the side of the frame. I installed the window frame in the opening and secured it level with self-tapping screws. I put back the double glazing.

From the outside, the opening was decorated with platband and a galvanized flashing was installed. I made a wooden window sill inside and filled the cracks with sealant.

Price and terms

I was able to build a shed with my own hands for about $1000, and it took about a month (2-3 hours a day).

The most expensive and basic material turned out to be boards. I also had to buy some tools.

At first glance, it seems that building a shed is simple. Choose a picture you like on the Internet or drawings of a utility unit you like - and build it for your health. Moreover, you can make a barn from timber, using frame technology, or even a stone one - from brick or aerated concrete. But behind the apparent ease lies the main pitfall. The barn in the picture is not yours, but “that guy’s.” Will it be right for you, will it be convenient to use this outbuilding, will everything that is planned fit into it? You will learn the answers to these questions, and more, from our article. Namely:

• What is a shed for?
• How to determine the optimal size of an outbuilding.
• How to turn a barn into a multi-functional building.
• What are utility blocks built from and on what foundation?

Where does the construction of a barn begin?

Often, a barn is the first building that is erected on a site, at the start of building a house or even before that. To hide tools, building materials, to take shelter from bad weather or to spend the night - in everything, the “shed” becomes an indispensable and universal assistant.

After the site has been inhabited, the tools and equipment necessary for caring for the garden and vegetable garden are stored in the outbuilding.

They drag in snow removal equipment, lawn mowers, and building materials that were left after the construction of the cottage. And often - everything that is a pity to throw away or is planned to be left “for later”, because a zealous owner makes everything work.

It is not surprising that over time the barn turns into a “junk pile”, filled with a mass of necessary and unnecessary things. If it is easier for the owner to go to the market and buy the wrench or hardware needed on the farm than to find them in the utility room, then something needs to be done about it. And you need to start in advance, even before the construction of the shed begins, by properly designing it and calculating the optimal dimensions.

MAX001 FORUMHOUSE Member

I have brick house for 200 sq. m and an ordinary change house measuring 6x3 meters. One day I realized that the change house, which had been in use for 3 years, had outlived its usefulness. I sold it and wondered what to do with the tool and other things pulled out of it. I decided to build a barn. At this stage, I made a fatal mistake - I consulted with my wife about the dimensions of the outbuilding. As a result of lengthy negotiations, during which my wife did not see the point in building something big, we came to a common denominator - a small utility block, approximately 2.5x3 meters + high ceilings.

We will immediately show what happened to the user.

The problem is that all the beautiful “pictures” of the correct placement of things in the shed were shattered by the reefs of harsh reality a year later. The racks and shelves were filled with various “junk”, and there was practically no free space left.

When asked what to do about it, the user found the only correct answer - to attach another one to the barn... a barn. According to MAX001, headaches can be avoided if you immediately erect an outbuilding of normal size. And so I had to buy another iron door, build walls, and so on down the list.

But now everything fits in the barn.

Although there is an opinion that the larger the shed, the more clutter it can become, there are minimum dimensions below which you should not build. Otherwise, you’ll have to throw everything up to the ceiling, filling the shed like a shopping bag. There will never be order in the utility room. The starting point for calculating the dimensions of the utility unit is the physical dimensions of the things that you are going to store there.

Ironka Member of FORUMHOUSE

My mother built a shed at the dacha measuring only 9 square meters. m. As a result: now you can only stand in the middle. Moreover, nothing large, in the form of any special equipment, is stored there. Just a bicycle, greenhouse films, hoes, axes, saws, nails and various small things. I think that building a shed less than 15-18 square meters. m not worth it. This way there will still be room left in reserve.

MAX001

My shed is about 12 square meters. m. is saved by the fact that the ceilings are high, you can put up shelving. I even use the space between the rafters - I filled the bars and store folding country furniture there, and in the summer - skis.

In addition, the user increased the functionality of the shed by mounting a shed for the firewood on the outside wall (stone), where it is now possible to store about 2 cubes of logs.

Cosolapyj FORUMHOUSE Member

I decided to build a barnhouse style because... the number of tools and various equipment exceeded all reasonable limits. It is not possible to store everything compactly, so the shed will have the appropriate dimensions - 8x18 meters, at USHP.

When constructing outbuildings, the user recommends adhering to the principle “do a little more at once than you can afford, and you won’t have to redo it for longer.”

Let's add that in the barn Cosolapyj plans to equip a workshop, make a water supply for car washing, and also (eventually) install an ATV and a garden grader.

We'll also show you the barn plans.

From left to right: a storage room and a place for a grader, in the middle is a workshop, on the left is a shed.

How to calculate the optimal dimensions of a shed and turn it into a universal utility unit

As can be seen from what is written above, by the word “shed” each developer means his own building. In one case, you need a small outbuilding for storing garden tools and various small items, and in another, the barn grows to the size of a house. But there is one nuance that unites them. This is ease of use.

The shed must be practical, which means it must be made for specific needs.

Therefore, instead of taking the dimensions of the shed from the Internet or from a neighbor, it is better to decide for yourself what you need the shed for and what you plan to store in it.

There can be many options for such planning. For example, at the initial stage of construction in the barn it is necessary to place tools, some building materials, and equip sleeping places.

In the future, the barn can be transformed from just a “storage room” on the site - into a workshop, as well as a place for storing firewood or pellets.

Or it can turn into a “garage” for storing various equipment - a motor cultivator, lawn mower, vibratory rammer, snow blower, etc.

Any summer resident has a basic set of tools and agricultural equipment, which he cannot do without on his plot. It is from this list that you need to start when calculating the minimum dimensions of the shed.

For example, to store a simple set of garden tools - shovels, rakes, axes, hoes, small spades, saws, brooms - you can allocate 2 square meters. m.

If you plan to actively garden and store fertilizers and greenhouse materials in the shed, increase the area to 3-4 square meters. m.

If you have electric tools: a gas trimmer, a high-pressure washer, garden pumps, hoses, sets of ordinary tools, you need even more space - 5 or more square meters.

Practice shows that the averaged and The optimal size for an outbuilding can be taken as dimensions of 3x6 meters with a height of 2.5 m.

In this case, it will be possible to place long building materials in the shed - boards and fittings. Set up a small workspace for home handyman, put up racks for storing hardware and various household items.

When building a barn, do not forget about arranging a small terrace with a canopy, where you can work outside in bad weather or just relax while sitting at your desk in the evening.

An important stage is zoning the barn. To do this, we divide the building into a number of rooms - blocks, each of which stores its own. For example, “dirty” things - a garden wheelbarrow, shovels, rakes, spades, watering hoses, etc. It is better not to drag what is needed for working with the soil into the outbuilding, but to place it on the side in a small compartment with separate doors.

This way, these tools will always be at hand and you won’t have to sweep/wipe the floor in the barn every time, cleaning out sand, black soil, fertilizers or clay.

We allocate space for a work table, shelves with carpentry and plumbing tools and places to store bolts, nuts, nails, screws, etc.

Rule: we place what is required first and most often closer to the entrance. Anything that is rarely used or used seasonally can be placed in the back of the shed against the far wall.

If you plan to store long materials in the barn, then, for ease of pulling them in, you should make the door not in the middle of the building, but on the side - on the right or left, or at the end. If you are not “greedy” at the height of the barn, then the attic can also become the optimal place to store leftover fittings, boards, plywood, and pipes.

Those. everything that is not needed often, but can be easily obtained if necessary. In addition, even before construction we think about whether the barn will be insulated. In our climatic conditions, this will allow working in outbuildings in late autumn and winter.

Household block: design options and construction features

Experienced developers know well that it is better to learn from the mistakes of others, so as not to make mistakes in their construction. To do this, it is best to study the experience of portal users who have already built sheds and cabins. Therefore, in this part of the article we have collected illustrative examples of practical utility units.

What materials can you build a shed from? The experience of our users shows: from any. It all depends on the budget and the intended design. Everything is used, they build from wooden budget outbuildings standing on, to permanent buildings made of brick or aerated concrete. In any case, you should start by developing a plan, and ideally a project. An illustrative example is a portal participant with the nickname AlexanderFJTI.

AlexanderFJTI User FORUMHOUSE

It all started when I conceived the idea of ​​building a utility complex - combining a barn, a terrace and a bathhouse under one roof. Construction began with a model. I bought slats at the store and, together with my son, built a model of a multi-shed in the winter.

Note that the barn was built using one of the most common technologies used for the construction of such objects - frame. Screw piles were used as the foundation.

AlexanderFJTI

A team of three people screwed 21 piles by hand. They worked very quickly. The piles were cut to the water level, the shaft was filled with cement-sand mortar, and the cap was welded on top and everything was painted. Next I started building the frame. And this is what happened in the end.

To save on the services of a construction team, it is better to build the barn yourself and use the experience gained when building a house.

A different approach was taken Goshapiter.

Goshapiter FORUMHOUSE Member

There was a barn on my property that my grandfather built back in 2001. The building served faithfully all these years, but it became “cramped” for all the equipment stored there. In addition, it was worn out, so I decided to build a new one from permanent polystyrene foam formwork. Dimensions from the inside - 4800x3600 mm. The roof is flexible tiles.

As a foundation, the user erected a “ribbon”, within the perimeter of which, from the inside, a slab was poured.

In this option, the slab is also the finished subfloor of the barn. In addition, the problem of possible rotting of the wooden floor disappears. You can also, without fear of a “trampoline,” place heavy shelving, a table with tools, machines and vices in the barn.

The inside of the utility block was finished with OSB boards, which were secured on guides from the drywall fastening. Siding was used on the outside.

Goshapiter

Everything fit in the barn - bicycles, gardening equipment, tiles left over from the construction of the house. Construction took 1.5 months. It would have turned out faster if not for “wet” concrete work.

Another example of an unusual barn - a utility block Dmitr173, made from homemade tongue-and-groove boards.

Dmitr173 FORUMHOUSE Member

I, like any owner of a country plot, thought about building a barn. It should accommodate: a small workshop; my wife needs a corner for storing gardening supplies. Besides this, I would like to build something original - for the soul.

Having drawn up the technical specifications and gone through several options, the user decided to build a shed from tongue-and-groove boards. The foundation is a proven and relatively inexpensive MZLF (shallow strip foundation).

To maximize the use of natural light, the roof of the barn has a transparent polycarbonate insert.

In country house design, even outbuildings can be not just a shed, but a real work of art. I present to your attention interesting ideas utility sheds, houses for equipment and workshops. All these structures can be made for your dacha with your own hands and decorated to your liking.

Utility units may also have no windows to prevent easy theft of tools if your site is located in a not very quiet place.

The wall of the shed can be decorated with painted plastic plates, screwed with self-tapping screws. The northern wall of my dacha is decorated this way; I painted them myself.

Your workshop may also have a small porch where you can sit and take a break from country affairs and worries.

The classic design of a cute utility unit, decorated with hanging flowers, as well as tub and tray compositions.

The octagonal guest house can be used both as a workshop and as a utility unit.

A utility block combined with a garage. Even a shed can have a beautiful front garden with flower beds.

A stylish guest house made of foam blocks can also serve as your workshop.

Here is another beautiful idea for a utility block from a passionate summer resident. The doors, as I like, are glazed to the floor.

A wonderful idea for a utility room combined with a guest house.

The idea of ​​imitating windows with trays of flowers will liven up the plain walls of a barn.

A pleasant composition of a shed and a pergola with a resting place.

A classic barn in a country house or private yard.

Still, it’s nice that there are people who create beautiful landscape design solutions from ordinary, familiar buildings.

It would seem like a barn, but here is a porch, here are flowers - and it’s a completely different feeling! Some kind of joy...

If you paint the shed in light shades, the area will immediately become more cheerful.

Old instruments can be hung on the walls, decorated in a rural country style.

A neat guest house, covered with shingles.

A beautiful idea for a shed at the dacha - a flower bed and trays of flowers, a path made of stone slabs leading to the building.

A tall barn with a pitched roof and windows for light in the ceiling.

An original utility unit for storing equipment in the country.

The idea of ​​a workshop on a summer cottage - I can imagine that an artist creates his masterpieces here!

Natural roof in Scandinavian style - in Norway you can find turf on old houses. Well, here the designer’s idea was to plant a flowering lawn.

Some ideas are so good that they can even become the basis of a small country house, rather than a utility block.

The photo shows a completely workable option for a summer house on a plot of 6 acres.

A wenge-colored barn is a stylish color solution!

Stone utility block on an English estate - the structure is more than one century old, and there are many more centuries to come!

A simple idea for a shed for storing equipment in a summer cottage.

A beautiful frame shed covered with plywood.

A squat utility block is a design idea for your dacha.

An original solution is to imitate shutters on a window.

You can make such outbuildings with your own hands in a week, thereby giving you a place where you can store your tools. But don't turn the room into a storage room!

The idea of ​​designing an approach to outbuildings at the dacha.

It would also be nice to provide a canopy over the door so that in the rain you can open the door without standing under falling drops of water.

An unusual solution for the entrance group made it possible to create an additional door.

A solid barn built in Western style.

The idea of ​​a utility block is a square-shaped workshop.

The idea of ​​a utility room with an asymmetrical roof.

A utility unit with a beautiful front door on massive hinges.

Unusual utility block with walls made of wood cuts. I have already come across a similar solution several times, I wonder how labor-intensive and reliable it is?

With this, let me say goodbye to you today, see you tomorrow! Follow the updates, share ideas with your friends, get inspired and create unique beauty in your area!

It is not without reason that owners are thinking about building additional buildings at their dacha, because they need somewhere to put away tools, bags of vegetables and firewood. A toilet and shower are also required in a suburban area. That's why self-production household blocks made of wooden or metal parts are very popular among summer residents.

What is a utility block

A building that is built at a dacha for economic purposes is not intended for housing. A utility block is a small-sized room, universal or designed according to the specific needs of the owner of a suburban area.

The utility room can accommodate a toilet, shower and storage room for equipment.

Typically, a building with an economic purpose is created to solve problems such as:

• allocating a place where you can put work equipment and store collected vegetables and fruits;
• the opportunity to take a shower after weeding and watering the beds;
• the desire to place furniture for relaxation in the dacha;
• the idea to make a toilet that would not distort the overall appearance of the suburban area;
• the unwillingness of the dacha owner to build a permanent structure;
• intention to make a workshop or kitchen on a plot outside the city;
• the need to store harvested firewood at the dacha, which can become damp in the open air.

Often, owners of suburban areas prefer to construct an outbuilding from separate container blocks. This design is simple and belongs to the frame-modular type. The frame of this utility unit is created from channels or corners and sheathed with wooden sheets. A simple structure does not need a solid foundation - a concrete foundation - and is assembled quickly, without the involvement of craftsmen. On the outside, utility blocks are sheathed with galvanized corrugated sheets.

We build the economic block ourselves

List of materials

To build a utility block you will need:

• 4 pipes (for the base of the foundation);
• sand, fine gravel and cement for mixing concrete for the foundation;
• roofing felt;
• cement plaster;
• metal rods with a diameter of 10 mm;
• ondulin;
• bars different sections(15 x15, 10 x 15, 10 x 10, 5 x 10 cm);
• edged board measuring 42 x 105 x 6000 mm or lining with grooves and protrusions, if you want to quickly build walls;
• sheet plywood;
• door with frame;
• asbestos cement pipe with a diameter of 15 cm.

To create the frame of a utility block, instead of wooden beams, you can use metal profiles, which are much more reliable and durable. It is best to finish the walls on the outside with corrugated sheeting, which is lightweight, quick to install and has a special coating that protects the metal from corrosion. Corrugated sheets of different colors are available for sale.

Metal profiles - an analogue of wooden bars

If you plan to use the building in winter, then you should purchase insulation - mineral wool. It is relatively cheap and performs its task well as a material for arranging non-residential buildings.

Design of a building for economic needs

When designing a utility block, the purpose of the utility room is taken into account. If you decide to build a shower in it, then the building will have to be positioned so that there is 8 meters of free space between it and the neighboring building. In addition, a utility block with a shower stall should be at least 1 meter away from the fence of the site.

By building a utility block right next to the fence, you can quarrel with your neighbors

The area between the utility block and other buildings should not be left empty. In an unoccupied area, it is advisable to build a woodpile or a small shed. Nothing prevents you from planting shrubs on this site.

If you are thinking of setting aside a utility block for a toilet or housing for chickens or cattle, you need to make sure that the building is located at a distance of at least 12 meters from the living quarters. And from the territory where neighboring buildings are located, the utility block with a bathroom should be at least 4 meters away.

A utility room may border on a vegetable garden, but not on a house or gazebo

Typically, owners of summer cottages implement one of the following utility block projects:

1. A rectangular building equipped with doors that open only on one side. The room is divided into sectors using internal partitions, allowing you to create an outdoor shower, a toilet, and a storage room in the utility block. The same area is allocated to all sectors of the room, but the storage area is slightly smaller. Experts advise owners of small plots to implement this project. The utility unit in the shape of an elongated rectangle takes up little space.
2. A square room with doors on different sides. The back wall of this utility unit includes both a pantry and a bathroom, divided by a partition into a shower and toilet room. It turns out that the door leading to the shower and toilet is in one area of ​​the building, and the pantry door is in a completely different one. Thanks to this layout, the area of ​​the room for storing crops and work equipment increases.

A utility block of three rooms: 1 - barn, 2 - toilet, 3 - shower

List of required tools

To build a utility block at your dacha, you need to arm yourself with the following tools:

• a drill with a drill 1 cm thick and 20 cm long;
• screwdriver;
• electric saw;
• disc grinder;
• hammer;
• with an axe;
• hacksaw;
• level and plumb;
• wide chisel;
• metal cutting knife;
• plane;
• corner;
• pencil with graphite lead;
• miter circular saw.

When using these tools you will need:

• self-tapping screws 4.5 x 100 mm;
• nails 5 and 9 cm long;
• Staples.

Guide to building a utility block

The utility block is constructed in stages, starting from the foundation and ending with insulation:

1. On the site marked for the foundation, 20 cm of soil is removed. The resulting hole is reduced by 10 cm by pouring sand into the bottom. Having compacted the “cushion”, at each corner of the utility block under construction, they dig grooves more than 1 meter deep, into which a thick layer of gravel is poured and the pillars are immersed. Vertical installation of pipes is checked with a plumb line. After making sure that the pillars are positioned correctly, fill them with sand to ground level.

   Work begins with digging a trench 20 cm deep

2. Cement mortar is poured inside the pipes. In this case, one third of the column should be filled with the composition. Immediately after pouring the liquid concrete, the pipe is raised, as a result of which the foundation pillars receive a reliable platform. Having completed this action, the pipe section is filled with the hardening mixture to the very edges. To strengthen the platform, reinforcement is placed in the corner pillars. Metal rods are fixed in the solution so that they protrude from the pipe by about 20 cm.

   Concrete is poured into the pipes and reinforcement is placed with a margin of 20 cm above the concrete level

3. After a few weeks, after waiting for the concrete to completely harden, roofing felt is placed on the platform. The ends of the material are folded down so that moisture does not accumulate in its folds. Then they begin to create a frame from bars coated with an antiseptic composition. Thick beams are folded into a rectangle. The corners are fastened into half a tree, and the grooves are connected using self-tapping screws. Reinforcement of the frame is carried out by means of three transverse logs, fixed at the same distance from each other. The bars used for this should be slightly thinner than those used to create the rectangle.

   The beam of the supporting frame is connected into half a tree and fixed with self-tapping screws

4. Taking bars of a smaller diameter, they construct the frame of the building. The assembly of the supporting structure of the utility unit begins from the ends, leaving openings for the windows. Racks placed in a vertical position are fixed with self-tapping screws and steel corners. Then, 1 cm holes are made in the corner beams with a drill. The holes are needed to “put” the wooden frame onto the reinforcement coming out of the foundation. To ensure that the base of the beams is securely fixed, between the first and second, as well as between the third and fourth racks, struts are fixed - thinner blocks installed diagonally.

   The frame is assembled from timber, strengthening it with diagonal struts

5. Then they move on to the construction of the facade. Medium-sized posts are attached to the frame every 180 cm. To avoid displacement of the beams when securing the remaining parts of the structure, they are connected to each other with a board, screwing self-tapping screws into the material. After this, door and window openings are decorated, and then a partition is installed. Space for the window is left between the second and third pillars of the structure. When assembling the facade, the window crossbars are installed. In this case, a gap of 0.8 meters is left from the frame to the bottom horizontal, and the next horizontals are mounted at a distance of 1 meter from each other.
6. The rear façade is constructed in a similar way to the front façade, but its assembly is easier and faster, since there is no need to leave openings for doors and windows. First, two medium-sized racks are placed, creating a free space of 180 cm between them, then the void is filled with braces. The assembly of the facade ends with the installation of the upper junction at a height of several meters. For this, bars with a cross section of 5 x 10 cm are used. The upper junction is made up of parts connected end-to-end and secured with metal corners.
7. A load-bearing structure is created for the roof. The rafters, laid at an angle of 10 degrees, are assembled on the ground. The elements of the rafter system are fastened using self-tapping screws. A sheathing is mounted on the rafter legs, the cell size of which depends on the type of roofing. Overhangs and cornices are covered with edged boards with pre-drilled holes. The finished supporting roof structure is placed on the logs behind the building, after which it is lifted using traction and placed in special slots.