WHAT IT TAKES
TIME: 1 weekend
SKILL LEVEL: Intermediate
Imagine this: You drive home with a carload of new plants and flowers. You open your new outdoor garden tool cabinet and grab your shovel, bulb planter, trimmer or whatever you need—and it’s all there in plain view! This scenario doesn’t have to be a dream. You can build this cabinet in one weekend and paint and organize it the next.
This cabinet is compact, but it can store all of your garden hand tools and still have room for boots, fertilizers and accessories. Most gardeners set aside a tiny spot in their garage for their tools, which often end up tangled in a corner. Now your garden tools can have a home of their own, outside the garage. The design is flexible, so you can customize the interior to suit your needs and add a lock if you wish.
Here you’ll learn how to assemble the cabinet in your garage and then wheel it out and mount it on your garage wall. And you don’t have to be a crackerjack carpenter or own special tools to build it.
Besides being good looking, this project is designed to last. The shingled roof will keep the rain out. And if moisture does get in, the slatted bottom and 4-in.-diameter vents near the top allow enough air circulation to dry everything out. This storage cabinet was mounted on the outside of a garage, but you can easily mount it to the back of your house or to a shed.
The 4-ft. by nearly 8-ft. cabinet is made from exterior plywood with pine trim. All the materials are available at home centers and lumberyards. You can find a huge variety of tool mounting clips and retainers at hardware stores for hanging rakes, shovels, clippers and everything else. Just let your imagination solve the need. So what are you waiting for? Get the materials, read the photo sequence, examine the detailed drawings and text instructions, and get started.
Exterior-grade plywood is the basic building material for this project. Unfortunately, you’ll never find absolutely flat pieces of plywood at a home center or lumberyard, but the flatter you can find them, the better this project will turn out. Choose a BC grade of plywood. This will ensure you have one good side “B” that’ll look good on the outside, and the “C” side can go inside.
Once you get the plywood home, keep it out of the sun or your flat panel will turn into a tortilla chip in no time. It’s best to cut the pieces in the shade or in your garage. A long straightedge cutting guide for your circular saw will help you get nice straight cuts if you don’t have a full-size table saw. Look at the Cutting List below and cut all the parts to size except the door stiles, rails and trim pieces, which are best cut to fit once you’ve constructed the main plywood box.
Choose the flattest sheet of 3/4-in. plywood for the door cores. As you lay out all the pieces, choose the best-looking side of the plywood for the painted parts. The sides of the cabinet form a 30-degree slope for the roof. Use a Speed square (see Photo 1) to mark the angled roof supports (H) and ends of the trim pieces that follow the roofline. It’s easier to cut accurate slopes on the larger side pieces (A) by first measuring each side, marking a diagonal line from point to point and then cutting along the mark. Assemble the main box of the cabinet as shown in Figure A and Photos 1 – 5. Drill pilot holes for all screws with a No. 8 combination countersink and pilot bit. Use 2-in. galvanized deck screws to fasten the sides to the shelf and 1-5/8-in. screws to fasten the back to the sides.
Cut the roof panel (J) and trim pieces (K and L), then glue and nail the trim to the front and side edges of the roof panel. Center the panel (Photo 5) and temporarily screw it to the roof supports so you can install the side trim (P) and the upper rail (M). Note: You’ll need to remove the roof and the doors after assembly to make the project light enough to move to your site.
Make sure to extend the front edge of each side. Set the trim (P) 3/4 in. beyond the front edge of the plywood side (Photo 6). Next cut and nail the front upper rail (M) and the lower rail (N) to the subrails. Both ends should butt tightly to the side trim.
Even though the doors are made mainly from plywood, the rail and stile trim boards glued and screwed to the front side give the doors a handsome frame-and-panel look. Be sure to lay the doors out on a flat surface and then glue and nail the rails (short horizontal pieces) and stiles (long vertical pieces) to the plywood surface. The stile on each hinge side must hang 3/4 in. past the plywood (see Photo 10 inset).
You’ll need to alter the factory T-hinge for the inset design of the doors. The hinge flap is screwed to the side trim (P) as shown in Photo 8. If you were to use the factory-supplied pan head screws, the door would bind on the screw heads. To solve this problem, taper the edges of the existing holes with a countersink bit. Remove just enough steel (Photo 7) so the head of the tapered No. 8 x 3/4-in. screw fits flush with the hinge flap surface.
Cut the small doorstops with a handsaw and then glue and nail them to the edges of the subrails. With the doorstops in place, set the doors into the opening. Make sure you leave a 1/8-in. gap at the top and bottom and a 3/16-in. gap between the doors. You may need to plane or belt-sand the door edges to get a good fit. Note: Because the flaps of the hinge that fasten to the side trim are about 7/8 in. wide instead of 3/4 in., your doors will sit about 1/8 in. proud of the side trim.
Fasten a 4-ft. 2x4 to the top flange of a 4-ft.-long piece of steel angle (Figure A). At a hardware store, you can usually find steel angle that measures 1-1/2 in. x 1-1/2 in. with holes drilled every 3 in., but any steel angle that’s 1/8 in. thick or larger will do.
Locate the exact position of your cabinet on the wall at least 3 in. above grade and then fasten the angle to the wall with 1/4-in. galvanized lag screws. It must be level. You may need to cut a course or two of siding to get the angle to lie flat. This garage slab was several inches off the ground, so holes were drilled into the side of the slab, lag shields were installed and the angle was fastened. If your slab is too close to the ground, you can fasten the angle farther up into the wood studs of the garage. The weight of your cabinet rests entirely on this steel angle. It’s not necessary to fasten the bottom of the cabinet to it.
Measure the locations of the wall studs and transfer these to the cabinet back. Locate three 1/4-in.-diameter pilot holes in the hang rail (V) and another three holes 4 in. up from the bottom at the stud locations.
Now, strap your cabinet to a furniture dolly (with the doors and roof removed to reduce the weight) and wheel it over to the steel angle. Set the bottom of the cabinet onto the steel angle, center it and temporarily brace it against the wall. Drill 5/32-in.-diameter pilot holes into the wall studs using the existing pilot holes as a guide. Drive the 3-in. lag screws (including washers) and snug the cabinet to the wall.
Lay the side trim (P) against the siding. You may need to trim it with your jigsaw to conform (Photo 12). Screw the roof panel to the cabinet. Staple a layer of 15-lb. building paper to the roof panel and shingle the panel using 7/8-in. roofing nails. Avoid driving shingle nails through the overhangs where the points might show. When you get to the last course, trim the shingles to fit and run a bead of matching caulk at the siding to seal the edge.
Rehang the doors and then mount the door handles and the catches at the top and bottom of the door. Wait to add your vents until you’ve finished painting. The vents shown here were spray-painted to match the color of the sides.
Take a trip to the hardware store and shop for a variety of fasteners, from angle screws to rake and broom holders. Once you finish organizing the cabinet, prime it and then paint it to match your siding.