Bike barn

Being in California, we have the obligatory beach cruisers (we’re not near the beach, but it’s part of your tax return here to show you own a beach cruiser). The beach cruisers used to (2018) live in the garage/shop. When I decided I wanted to change from garage/shop to shop, the bikes needed to
move. We had a good spot on the side of the house, so I built this ‘bike barn’ to store them. Since then it’s accumulated other outdoors ‘stuff’ and still works great. 

I framed it up properly, but didn’t want to anchor it to the house in case it needs to go away at some point. 2x4s on edge with 3/4” ply as a floor. But I also wanted large barn doors and a lifting roof so as to make it easy to get bikes in and out. As a result, I had to add extra reinforcement in the corners, which I beefed up in all three orientations. When it’s all opened up, it racks a little if you lean hard on it, but it’s otherwise very stable. Construction lumber, sided with fence boards, trimmed out with 1-bys, finished with Super Deck. 

The roof is properly framed as a shed roof, and built up to match the house so it’s pretty heavy. I added a couple gas struts to help when opening. My original vision was to have it be self supporting when opened, but that made it a pain to close. I couldn’t quite get the combination of angle, deflection and strut ‘power’ to get it just right. Regardless, it opens easy enough and is supported by a couple swing down braces. The barn doors neat into each other to stay secure and a cane bolt latches into the floor. The roof has a metal strap that hangs down and slides between the two barn doors when closed. A hole in the metal strap allows the deadbolt to pass through before engaging in the other door, so both doors and the roof all stay secured to each other. Not that I expect someone to break into it, but we do live in town….The deadbolt has a keypad on it, so no keys to get into it. 

We use it day after day during the spring ,  summer and fall  and it stay ls nice and dry in the winter. Overall, it’s a great fix and cleared up a corner of the shop.