Equipment Sheds Storing Medium Sized Equipment
How much weight will my shed hold up? Well, that depends a lot on how it was built and the materials used to build it. For our purposes, we will say that medium equipment is heavier than a standard lawn tractor, and lighter than a standard farm tractor. Within this category would fall such items as industrial commercial grade zero turn mowers, heavy duty full size adult all terrain vehicles, and small tractors designed for using pull behind equipment. If you want to park something larger and heavier inside, you probably need to upgrade to a metal structure with a concrete floor.
If you plan to use your shed for small to medium sized equipment, like lawn tractors or 4 wheelers, you may want to consider a little extra bracing or blocking, and you will also want to think about how you distribute your load.
Extra blocking
If the equipment is pretty heavy, like a small tractor, parameter blocking under the floor joists will give some serious added stability to the structure.
Load distribution: Flooring
Depending on how your building was manufactured, you may need the added support of an extra layer of 3/4 inch plywood over the existing flooring. This will help to spread the load evenly across all the joists and will go a long way toward preventing sagging. If you use this method, placing the plywood in the opposite direction of the existing flooring will help even more.
Load distribution: Placement
If you park more than one piece of heavy machinery in the shed, keeping them on opposite sides of the building is a wise decision.
Ramps
You will need a ramp for moving equipment and machinery into and out of the building. With heavier pieces of equipment, your standard ramp may not be enough to accommodate the extra load. Consider adding extra bracing, and another layer of plywood to accomplish this.
Check with your shed builder
For load bearing details ask your dealer for the specifics, for equipment weight, check your owners manual.
