We recently completed a project for a great customer who had saved a variety of cypress boards that she wanted incorporated in her new home office shed. We used the wide cypress planks to build the desk and shelves, and installed the random width pecky cypress on the ceiling of the 12'x14' shed. Pecky cypress is created when a tree is attacked by fungus, resulting in lens-shaped pockets throughout the wood. Studies have not revealed the exact origin of the fungus or why it attacks only certain trees. The resulting boards have a unique texture that creates a rustic but elegant look.

At the owner's request, we coated the cypress with shellac which brought out the grain of the wood, giving it a richer finish. While we have used shellac on other projects, this was our first opportunity to use the product in one of our sheds and we couldn't be more pleased with the results (and the customer was pretty happy too).

You can see the difference the shellac makes on the raw wood in one coat
The finished ceiling

Shellac is a natural, organic resin that is secreted by the small Lac bug (Laccifera lacca). This bug lives on certain trees indigenous to India and Thailand, feeding on the sap that it sucks from the twigs of these trees. The bug creates an amber colored resinous substance that forms a cocoon to incubate the eggs she lays. This cocoon is the raw material for shellac and is called "sticklac", because it contains resin, parts of the twig and bug remains. The sticklac is washed and then refined either chemically or by hand, to produce the raw material available for sale to commerce. The raw material consists of dry flakes that are then dissolved in denatured alcohol. Once dissolved, the liquid shellac has a limited shelf life.

Shellac was the preferred wood finish for wood floors, and wood paneling up to the mid 20th century. It comes in many warm colours, ranging from a very light blond ("platina") to a very dark brown ("garnet"), with all shades of brown and yellow and orange and red in between. The colour is influenced by the sap of the tree the lac bug is living on, as well as the time of harvest. Historically, the most commonly-sold shellac is called "orange shellac", and was used extensively as a combination stain and protectant.

An interesting feature of shellac is that it resists water-vapor very well. In tests done by the United States Forest Products Laboratory on the moisture-excluding effectiveness of wood finishes (the ability of a finish to prevent moisture vapor from entering the cellular structure of the wood – called MEE), shellac rated above polyurethane, alkyd and phenolic varnish and cellulose-nitrate based lacquers.

Some facts on shellac:

Bungalows typically have great curb appeal, but when set amid entire neighborhoods of historic bungalows they are even better. The shed featured in this Bungalow Shed post is located in a great tree-lined, National Register-listed, Florida neighborhood with 325 contributing buildings, the majority of which are bungalow residences. Like many areas we get the pleasure of working in, the attractive neighborhood is very walkable, neighbors are friendly, and the dogs are spoiled.

The house we were asked to build a shed for is a classic wood-framed Craftsman bungalow with a full-width front porch with tapered piers, a jerkinhead roof with broad eaves supported by outriggers, and an attached porte cochere. The house came with a large, dilapidated modern shed when the current owners purchased it, but which was deemed not worthy of repairing. They came to Historic Shed for a new attractive, traditional looking shed that would enhance their yard and meet the local historic district Design Guidelines.

Designed for the owners by architect Alan Dobbs, the new shed incorporates the siding and trim details, roof-line, and outriggers of the main house while adding traditional elements such as the bead-board carriage house style doors. At 12'x12', the storage shed did not require a permit for construction, but did have to undergo design approval by historic preservation staff.

(Each municipality has different permitting requirement for sheds; ie. Tampa allows storage sheds up to 150 s.f. to be built without a permit, St. Petersburg 100 s.f., and Deland requires permits for all sheds no matter the size. Historic Shed is able to provide the construction drawings and apply for permits when required.)

 

The shed under construction in our shop
The finished storage shed with jerkinhead roof, gable vent, outriggers, and siding to match the main house
Clipped eave detail
Carriage House style door detail

Used for storage, the shed has a plywood interior for added strength and to allow shelves, hooks and other accessories to be easily hung on the walls.

1x6 roof sheathing over exposed trusses and plywood-covered walls

About a month ago we wrote about an 8'x8' shed we built to complement an American Foursquare home in the Tampa Bay area. Shortly after posting, we designed and built a slightly larger hipped roof shed to complement another American Foursquare home, this time in central Florida.  The second shed was similar to the first in many ways due to the similarity between the two Prairie style-influenced homes; both sheds have low pitched hipped roofs with beadboard boxed eaves that define the overall form, lap siding with cornerboards, and both are painted in similar color schemes to complement the main house. 


While we feel a personal connection with every shed we design and build, the new owner's response made this one feel particularly special: 
"LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!
We have had so many compliments on it and several people have asked who did it for us.  I have given your contact information out to several people - hopefully you will get a referral!
Thanks again - we enjoyed working with your company and your husband does QUALITY work."
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