Sheds--- Steel vs. wood???

I know that many of you guys have put up outside sheds for storage and this is for sure the best place to ask.

I have a large attached garage, but I would like to free up space so I can use my workshop.
I am thinking about a 16' x 20' shed.

The Morton steel building website is incredible, photos, sizes, all custom, all factory standard, etc.
Here are my questions for all that have built sheds.

1. I dont need a power line cause this will be for storage only, like snowthrower, deck furniture, flammable liquids, paint, some tools, 4 wheeler, (basically stuff that isnt used much) Can I just have 4 windows that will give light into the shed if I dont have electric lights? I am thinking of 1 roll up door and 1 entry door.

2. What costs less per square foot, wood or steel?

3. Can 2 guys put up a steel building.

4. How does a steel building anchor to the ground, Treated wood posts? or, steel beams into post holes?

5. Foundations,? I would like to have a concrete slab, concrete is about $90/yard I think.

6. How does the steel siding meet into the slab/gravel/ground so that mice and bugs dont inhabit the structure.?

7 I know that a wood shed of the size I mentioned will be about $4000, this should be all materials. I would like to have galvanized steel roof material if I go with wood. I would have vinyl siding if I build it out of wood.
Okay rifle off the comments.

In 99 we built a 24x36 pole barn, OSB wooden sides & roof - conventional shingles, vinyl siding. One 16 foot door. Works nice for storage, machinery, working on tractors, etc. No dripping or condensation. Does have electricity so I can run a few lights, air compressor, wire welder. You'll really want electricity! Very happy with ours, except it needs to be at least twice as large!

I really dont need electric cause my attached garage is 22' x 50' with 100 amp service, with a 10'x28' workshop inside, insulated too. (basically a nice small woodshop.) (that is packed with misc. crap now)

I would like a shed to free up the workshop clutter and other crap that is in the garage.

I have a metal arch building,50X80. Moisture condenses inside and it rains inside when the steel warms up. Hard to drive a nail in the sidewalls to hang anything on. Chris

What size is that and what did it cost?

I have seen that arch style in the NRA magazines.

What are the details on that picker sheller? I have not seen that model in my area, all New Idea and a random Oliver 73, 83 picker.

There are many ways to build. I like pole construction because one person can do it (slowly). Also, if you get the poles tight into the ground, they support the walls vertically -unlike a frame building that cannot support itself until a complete roof structure is in place. I just built a 40' x 60' barn by myself. Note though that I had a backhoe to use as a crane to sit trusses in. I could of done without if lower, but this has 12' ceilings.

With steel buildings, some are pole construction, some are arch, some are steel frame.

Pole buildings usually get anchored to the ground with pressure-treated poles sunk below the frost line. Code requires 5' deep here. In high wind areas they can get concrete anchors poured around the bottoms if you're not pouring a concrete slab later. In NY 6"X 6" poles are standard. In northern Michigan, 4" X 6". Roof goes real fast if you use trusses, purlins, and 36" wide steel. Steel also sheds snow nicely. Downside is it gets condensation on the underside unless you use a vapor barrier.
I join pole barns to the ground with pressure-treated 1/2" CDX plywood skirting, buried two feet deep. 2' in the ground and 2' above. Then your siding - whatever your choice is. Some compaines like Morton run the steel siding to the ground and bury in gravel. Vertical wood siding looks nice but steel goes up much faster. If you want to use vinyl, it gets trickier since it goes horizontal and not veritcal. Concrete slab can be poured last right against the skirting and poles. If done this way, it's all the anchor you'll ever need.
Other steel buildings are basically made from huge steel culvert pipe. They require a good concrete foundation to sit on.
Obviously there are many others ways to construct barns, sheds, and buildings. Pole construction is my favorite because it does not require a crew of people. I've got a four story barn here that's all pole, and you'd never know it by looking from the outside.

I would use wood and I would build it on a concrete slab. I would lay one course of 8" blocks to keep the wood away from the ground. You can install threaded rod and anchor it in the blocks with the mortar and this will anchor your building. I would still run electric out to the building so you have lights and a few receptacles. You will be glad you did.

So you don't need to do any painting I would cover the exterior with this cedar siding. Hal

I have a 24x26 Carolina carports put up for Me, and I like it alot... Concrete Floor W/ three fr apron in front Two Windows nine ft high, and ten ft rollup Doors eight ft Wide walkin Door with Window..I don't know how I managed without it!Larry KF4LKU

A shed that size I would tend to favor stick built two-by const. It leaves infinite possibilities inside and out, i e plenty of nailing for siding etc. Pole shed is nice too, thats what I have but it has some down sides. My father inlaw put up one of those erector set arch things about ten yrs ago. Its impossible to work with-no mounting or insulating and it caved under snow load.

Without proper ventilation your stuff will rust to pieces. It would be better off sitting outside. That's where Morton can help. Vented overhanging soffets and a continuous vented ridge. Without that, don't even bother. I went one step further with my Morton machine shed. (60x88x16) A black roof and white sides and ends. That way the roof is warm just about all the time and the sides reflect the sun's heat. Keeps the air moving. My disc blades, chisel plow shanks, corn planter coulters, etc. are just as shiny in the spring as when I brought them in the year before.

You will regret not having power to the shed. Low cost 12/3 from a two pole breaker will provide separate light and T-slot receptacle circuits. 240V too for a compressor or heater someday.
A motion sensor light will avoid a lot of fumbling on approach and departure.
Condensation and moisture will ruin wood or steel.
When laying the project out.Leave room and plan the end wall to allow for easier expansion in the future.

Dollar for dollar I think stick built with board and batten siding is the best bet. No painting, no ventilation problems, no need to worry about it rusting over the years. I've built a few and they are pretty cheap.
Zach

Your location has a lot to do with may be best. I have a MORTON (3yrs) & a FBI (14 yrs) in North west Indiana. Previous Farm has std frame const bldg. With that said I much prefer a steel pole barn and would suggest you get their construction books (free) for building ideas. In this area 90% of the buildings are steel roof/siding with post and beam structure. As a 69 yr old engineer I find that " THEY ALL COST THE SAME " in the long run. The advice to put in a concrete floor and at least a small branch circuit for lights is good advce. Very important is the Venalation...this is what you can learn from the pros who design and build these for each area/location. A few hours planning and talking to owners, builders, and neighbors will be time well spent in the long run.

I found the picker-sheller about an hour away from home when I was working on a bin crew. Oliver 73-S, sat in a shed for 30 years. Drug it home and washed dirt off and oiled and greased and took it to our tractor club's fall show and shelled some corn with it.
Put the building up in 2003, cost as much as a good pole shed. Wish I had the pole shed. Chris

There are many types of steel construction, and there are many types of wood construction. A true "all-steel" building with steel trusses will be very costly indeed and you may have to pay to have it erected. (The cheap steel buildings you see advertised do not have trusses but are free-standing.) On the other hand, post frame construction is reasonably cheap whether you decide to cover it with steel or wood. Personally, for a building like you describe, I would go post-frame. The main advantage is you don't have to pour concrete footings, which in SE Michigan need to go down at least 42 inches. Two guys can easily put up a pole barn; in fact other than setting the posts and hanging the trusses, you don't need a helper at all.

As for siding and roofing, it's mostly a matter of appearance. I went with T1-11 plywood and shingles to match my house, but steel is much easier to maintain. If you go with steel, make sure you use screws instead of nails; your left thumb will thank you.

Also, with post frame you can opt to pour your slab later. I did mine after the roof was up but before it was sided so the truck had access to pour.

Carter Lumber will spec out a post frame building and will give you a choice of siding and roofing materials.

I would vote for having electric power in that shed. If you don't do it now YOU WILL ADD IT IN THE FUTURE and wounder why you didn't do it when you built the building. Armand

I would prefer wood but I have a steel building and like chris said it will rain in there alot from condensation. My building has concrete rounds under 3 2x6 nailed or screwed together green treated of course. then I poured the floor after I built the building and run the cement to the form which we put on the outside of the building. sealed tight. hope this helps

To help eliminate the condensation or "raining" inside the building, put a layer of house wrap on top of your purlins and under your steel sheets of the roof. This lets any condensation on the underside of the roof flow down to the outside of the building.

The driest building is completely wood with a wood floor. I don't know anything about cost.The downfall to wood is rot and chewing animals. One possible way to keep the rodents out is to pour the footings deep and have galvanized steel sheeting under the siding from an inch or so below the plate to maybe 18 to 24 inches above the plate. They still might chew through the siding but the steel will stop them. This is an idea I've had running around in my mind for an old wash house I have that needs to have the crumbling concrete floor replaced. Jim

A factor for metal vs wood is the difficulty of penetration by animals. For us on the house here in SE Wis it was not chewing animals, but woodpeckers! The house and addition were built with cedar lap siding. I would patch a hole and the woodpecker would have a hole through the patch before it was stained. Finally gave up and had the cedar stripped off and replaced with steel--no more problem.
And yes, I had tried 20 gauge solutions.

I have two post frame buildings. (16 x 20 and 24 x 60) On both of them I put white fiberglass panels along the top two feet of the long side walls. Groove pattern of fiberglass matches that of metal panels. Also have 2 small windows in each building.

During the day I can do normal work in either building with doors closed and no other lighting. At night the moonlight is enough to easily find light switches and see paths around the "stuff".

I have both buildings wired for lights and outlets.

I've built 2 pole barns - 40x40 and a 12x24. Both should have been bigger! If you use wood siding, go up 18in with pt boards on the bottom, to keep the bottom edge of the siding outta the snow. Build it bigger than you need now, ( you will grow into it ) and add electric - very handy to work on things.

You need some old dead trees for those woodpeckers. One of my former co-workers has a pair of these woodpeckers. They raise chicks every year. They're the Pileated woodpeckers.
I had a pair behind me until they filled it with houses. Hal

We built a barn several years ago that had an area for hay storage. Wood framing, metal sides, roof. Moisture would condense on the underside of the roof, run down until it hit a purlin. It would collect on the purlin, then dripped on the hay. Lost about 15 bales of hay to mold from the dripping the first year we stored hay in the barn.

Went to the fabric store and bought a bunch of terry cloth (what towels are made from), cut it into strips and nailed to the purlins. It absorbed the moisture without dripping. Solved the problem, but was a pain to do and would have been expensive for a large building.

Have you considered using a shipping container? Although they might be prohibited by zoning in some areas, they sure seem like a good idea to me. I have 2 40' containers that I use for dry storage, and after several years, I have yet to see evidence of mice or moisture problems in them.

The containers I bought cost less than $3000 each, delivered to my property. I set them on regular used railroad ties, but now have a source for reject concrete ties, and plan to reset the containers on the concrete ties. The building codes people haven't given me any problem about the containers either.

I just don't see how I could build storage buildings with that many cubic feet of capacity and anywhere nearly as secure for that little money. And if I decide I don't need them anymore, I could probably sell them for most of what I have invested.

Just an idea...Good luck!