I have a weird dugout shed and a possibly dumb idea

We bought a house on a hill several years ago. The shed that came with the house is dug into the side of the hill with its entry facing the street; the roof of the shed is flat and level with our backyard. The shed seemed to be in rough shape when we bought the house so we fenced around it to prevent the kids from walking on the roof. We’ve basically otherwise ignored it since then. It currently contains a handful of summer kid toys and a bunch of spiders. Now, five years later, the kids are bigger and I’m wishing we had more backyard space. If we moved the fence back and could somehow make the shed roof safe to walk on, it would expand our yard size by a lot. We could also really use more storage space; I would love to make the shed less damp and spidery so that we could actually use it. My questions are: Is there a way to make the roof of this shed strong enough that our kids could safely walk/sit/jump on it? If so, how would you do that? Would it need to be done by a professional or could we DIY it? Sometimes I daydream about putting a post on each corner and a little roof on top so that we would have some shade. Almost like a little cabana (see terrible picture). Is this doable? Or would that make the whole thing too heavy? Would fixing the roof (in question 1) also help the shed feel less gross inside? Thanks so much. submitted by /u/ShedHelp12321 [link] [comments]

Mar 23, 2025 - 01:32

I have a weird dugout shed and a possibly dumb idea

We bought a house on a hill several years ago. The shed that came with the house is dug into the side of the hill with its entry facing the street; the roof of the shed is flat and level with our backyard. The shed seemed to be in rough shape when we bought the house so we fenced around it to prevent the kids from walking on the roof. We’ve basically otherwise ignored it since then. It currently contains a handful of summer kid toys and a bunch of spiders.

Now, five years later, the kids are bigger and I’m wishing we had more backyard space. If we moved the fence back and could somehow make the shed roof safe to walk on, it would expand our yard size by a lot. We could also really use more storage space; I would love to make the shed less damp and spidery so that we could actually use it.

My questions are:

Is there a way to make the roof of this shed strong enough that our kids could safely walk/sit/jump on it? If so, how would you do that? Would it need to be done by a professional or could we DIY it?
Sometimes I daydream about putting a post on each corner and a little roof on top so that we would have some shade. Almost like a little cabana (see terrible picture). Is this doable? Or would that make the whole thing too heavy?
Would fixing the roof (in question 1) also help the shed feel less gross inside?

Thanks so much.

submitted by /u/ShedHelp12321
[link] [comments]