Sunday, December 6, 2009

Building Winter WonderVille













When the Parker, Colorado Museum The Wildlife Experience needed a miniature village for their interactive Winter Wonderville exhibit, they turned to the building pros at TUFF SHED. Our Denver factory constructed multiple small buildings, ranging from the very simple to fairly custom for the project. The buildings are a main attraction in the museum’s annual holiday event, and are used for such things as a general store, kid’s workshop, concession stands, post office and even Mrs. Claus’ house. Built in 2008, the exhibit makes its annual December return this weekend.












PICTURE PERFECT















Picture Perfect! This image is actually a painting of a building installed for a customer by our Seattle Factory in 2005. The customer, a prominent local artist, operated her art business out of this shed. Last year, she felt inspired by her garden and her TUFF SHED and painted the piece, which is featured as the "wall paper" on her website.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

BLIZZARD vs. SHED















Installed in 2008, the TUFF SHED building survived the storm with no damage whatsoever. Athol, Idaho received over 8 feet that day. No match for TUFF SHEDS superior workmanship.







Athol, Idaho

TUFF SHED DIFFERENCE #11 - Galvanized Steel Floor Joist System















It’s STEEL so it’s TUFF! Heavy-duty, 16-gauge steel coated with zinc galvanization resists corrosion for 40 years plus. And because it’s steel, it won’t wick moisture up from the ground to the wood subfloor. That’s not the case with typical wood skid floor joists commonly used by our competitors.

TUFF SHED Wishes You a Safe AND Happy Holiday Season













TUFF SHED Wishes You a Safe AND Happy Holiday Season

Safety is a very important part of our day-to-day operations at TUFF SHED. With that in mind, we’d like to offer some common sense safety tips for around your home during this holiday season.

Bringing Trees Inside The Home

Nothing makes the house smell quite like a real evergreen tree. If you’re planning on having a real tree this year, make sure you remember to check the water levels daily. A dry tree is a dangerous fire hazard. Also, you should avoid placing the tree near any heat source.

Glass Ornaments and Heavy Decorations
If you have small children or pets, don’t forget to place glass ornaments or heavy decorations out of their reach. These brightly colored, glittery items are designed to draw attention…don’t let that attention cause injury.

Safe Use of Electricity
Be sure to practice safety with electricity too. That means not running extension cords underneath rugs or other places that could cause tripping hazards. Don’t overload single outlets with too many lights, and make sure to turn off those inside lights when you’re leaving the home.

Outside Decorations
Take good care to avoid injury while installing your exterior decorations too. Safety tips on the outside of your home include having a spotter to steady ladders, and avoiding walking on your roof. If you absolutely need to get out on the roof, make sure it’s not icy, and that you’re not getting too close to the edge. Even better yet, consider hiring a professional to handle that portion of your exterior decoration for you.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Check This Out - Tornado vs Shed


Paul Runyon sent in this photo of an 8x12 Premier Ranch, amidst rubble from a tornado that hit the area in June. Installed in 2003, the TUFF SHED building survived the storm with only some bent drip edge. The same could not be said for the homeowner’s garage, which blew off its foundation and ended up in pieces all over the neighborhood. It’s no wonder that this customer has contacted Runyon to replace her garage with one from TUFF SHED.

CLICK ON PICTURE TO ENLARGE!

Product Spotlight - LP Radiant Barrier


Manufactured by Louisiana Pacific, this foil backed roof decking can keep your shed 30% cooler by blocking 97% of the radiant heat in the roof panel from entering the building.

For More Info go to http://www.lpcorp.com/radiantbarrier/radiantbarrier.aspx

Tuff Shed Trivia


Need to brush up on your Tuff Shed Trivia?

Click Here To See TUFF SHED's Long History.

Shed of the Month - Titans Givaway


The Tennessee Titans, TUFF SHED® and LP Building Products are teaming up to give away a special Titans Edition TUFF SHED®! This attractive, 10 ft. x 12 ft. building features Titans colors and a Titans logo. It’s constructed with high quality materials from LP Building Products, including LP Shed Floor, LP TechShield® Radiant Barrier Sheathing and LP SmartSide® Trim & Panel Siding!

To enter, simple visit the Nashville TUFF SHED® facility by 5 p.m. on September 30 to fill out an entry form, or attend the Titans home game at LP Field on Sunday, September 20 and complete and submit an entry form there.
You need not be present to win.

The Nashville TUFF SHED® facility is located at:

613 11th Avenue North
Nashville, TN 37203-3317

Protect your Shed From the Elements


Protect your building from insects and fungal decay with this special floor decking from BluWood. Our regular ¾” tongue and groove plywood material is flood coated with patented BluWood barrier, providing years of protection and turning the wood blue.

To Learn More about this product visit http://www.tuffshed.com

The TUFF SHED Difference #28























Click on Picture to Enlarge

DuratempTM Plywood Siding comes standard on all Premier Series Buildings. The siding is real plywood with a hardboard surface that is warranted not to split or crack for 30 years. Compare this robust ½” thick material to the typical 3/8” OSB siding used by most of our competitors. “KICK IT” and feel the TUFF SHED difference.

Factory Tour - How a TUFF SHED is Made

New-Cabinets and Flooring by TUFF SHED


Tuff Shed is excited to inform you about some new product offerings which can make your storage building and/or garage more organized, beautiful and functional. High quality, great looking modular cabinetry and protective flooring is now available through the building pros at TUFF SHED.

The perfect complement for your storage building or garage, the Ulti-MATE and Ulti-MATE Garage PRO lines of cabinetry are designed to maximize your storage space with a variety of components to mix and match. Complete the professional look with our SportCourt flooring which is easily retrofitted over existing floors and available in multiple styles and colors.

Plenty of us at TUFF SHED are wishing our own garages and sheds included the cabinetry and flooring that is now available at www.tuffshed.com

Just think of how great it would be to make your shed or garage into a better organized, tidier, and more finished looking space.

Reclaim Your Garage














For many American homeowners, the garage and the basement represent the final frontier for on-property storage of tools, sporting goods, bulky, seasonal items or the large plastic objects (my husband Frank calls them LPOs) that come with small children. The problem is, many homes don’t have basements, and the garage is often overloaded with vehicles and lacks adequate organization.

Adding a garage where there isn’t one is an obvious choice for the homeowner wanting to provide a permanent place for vehicles, bikes, tools, garden equipment and other household goods. But a surprising number of homeowners with existing garages find that their garage space is overcrowded…often to the point where one of more of their vehicles are parked in the driveway or out in the street.

The first three homes that my husband and I owned were classic examples of this trend. The first had a tiny basement, just big enough for the washer/dryer, furnace and hot water heater. The garage for that house was big enough, but it also got filled with junk. Frank’s tools, our bikes, the lawnmower and a 14-foot sailboat from my childhood meant that there was room only for one of our two cars. Our second home had no basement and the detached garage had been badly remodeled into an art studio. We lived in that house for almost two years, and the “garage” never got organized, never housed a car (or the sailboat) and was got so jammed with junk that we rarely ventured inside it. Our third house was a turn of the century (1900s) home with a tiny garage, built to accommodate a single Model-A Ford I’m guessing. Once again we had dysfunctional space, with barely enough room for the yard tools, a couple bikes, and some LPOs, but certainly no cars.

What I know now is that there are plenty of good options to help homeowners create a more functional, organized garage space.

Declutter – Too often, items that make it to the garage for storage should be recycled, sold or even thrown away. There’s a reason the term “garage sale” is part of our American vernacular. And while I’ve gotten rid of the LPOs that my kids have outgrown, even more cathartic for me was the act of finally getting rid of the large, rarely used sailboat.

Organize – Make better use of your existing space with shelving, cabinets, pegboard, hooks, etc. There are plenty of do-it-yourself options available like off-the-shelf kits at your local Home Depot or you can build your own shelving with designs and instructions featured in many handyman magazines. Frank built some heavy duty shelves high up on the wall that holds our seasonal holiday decorations. There are also companies that have garage solutions that they will install for you. My husband and I recently bought a shed from Tuff Shed and noticed that they have several lines of garage cabinetry and flooring they offer on their buildings in addition to options like workbenches, lofts and pegboard.

Add Space with a Storage Building – For many people, a separate space for the lawnmower, wheel barrow, garden tools, bicycles, LPOs, etc. is the best answer to the problem of an overcrowded garage. Just like with garage organization, there are plenty of options from the do-it-yourself variety to the installed for you version. Not wanting to live through a fourth home with a dysfunctional garage, I convinced my husband to find someone to build a shed for us. Fortunately, Frank swallowed his do-it-yourselfer pride and called Tuff Shed, who built the perfect storage building in our backyard in a single afternoon (it would have taken Frank three weekends by his estimate). The result was a two-car garage that actually fit both of our cars and even the LPOs, plus a separate home for the lawn stuff, camping gear (in an overhead loft), bikes, and even a workbench that Frank and I can both use.

To achieve garage nirvana, I pursued all three of these options. Based on your situation (and level of garage disfunctionality), you may be able to get by with smaller steps. But rest assured, any steps you take to reclaim your garage will leave you feeling better, more organized, and confident you’ll have a spot inside to actually park your car.