Bike shed starting to skew?

[bert_is_evil]

About a year ago I build my own shed for my bike after the tin garden shed I had collapsed in a storm, with my bike in it (sad sad story, still in therapy).

The Shed is 1800mm high, 2400mm deep and 1600mm wide. I've put 100x50 studs at 600mm centres, dwangs at about mid way up. I've attached plywood to the outside of the walls which I've build separately , then joined them all together with coach bolts. The roof is then bolted on top and the whole thing is bolted to the car deck. The door at the front is 1200mm wide and the full height of the shed. It seems solid as a rock and I thought with the plywood fastened to the frames, and being quite small it wouldn't need angle bracing, but I've noticed the door has begun to scrape on the ground when I open it, and is hard to close (I have to kick it really hard). I've used gate hinges as the door is heavy and there is no sign of them dropping at all so that's not the cause - I'm concerned the whole structure is starting to skew although there are no visible signs of this. So if that is the case what is the best approach for stopping it from getting worse? I was thinking of some sort of metal brace nailed from corner to corner on the walls, but I don't have much cash to invest in it, and I don't want to go overboard either. Any suggestions and advice?

[dogsnbikes]

have you adjusted the gate hinges?screw the top one in and the bottom one out that will lift the door of the ground..

failing that sounds like your framing could have still been wet hence why its taken a year to see the signs and cheak your coach bolts haven't loosen as the timber has dried and shrunk

[bert_is_evil]

I think you're right about the wood shrinking - there seems to be gaps developing in some places. I don't think the hinges are adjustable but I will check the bolts are tight tonight. Do you think bracing would be unnecessary and it's just timber shrinkage, so probably wont get much worse?

[The Pastor]

Use a level and see?

[bert_is_evil]

I don't know if it was level to start with really, but I'm trying to find out whether I should have put bracing in when I built it

[vgcspares]

measure from corner to corner at the top of the uprights (or as high as you can reach), if different then it ain't square - you could use steel wire and a small bottle jack to pull the furthest corners together a bit ....

[mashman]

You don't say whether the door is closing properly. Does it look as though the door is closing as it was, within the frame. If that's the case, you may need to check that the door has a diagonal brace across it as over time most heavy gates/doors will drop when opening if no brace exists. I can't remember which way the brace needs to run though i'm afraid.

[BMWST?]

i reckon the shed is twisting at roof level...run diagonal braces from corner to corner,nailed to the wall and at each rafter,after you have got it square again.What runs across the top of the door?,cause that side will have less bracing /strength than the other side ,and thats where you need the strength(to hold up the doors)

[Swoop]

dwangs at about mid way up.
Gah! Bloody south islander's! They are called "nogs".

Could be the wet weather and the movement in the timber. My front gate is happily jamming and I am happily ignoring it.
The other thing may be the top hinge. Any play in that?

[Mystic13]

Pics would be helpful.

But you say the door is scraping.

Bracing the side walls will not likely fix that.
Cross-bracing the roof will not likely fix that.

Plywood sheeting depending on the thickness is a brace.

You say the shed is connected to the carport so that provides further bracing.

If the doors are scraping now at the ends furthest from the hinges then the doors are sagging.

Usually you'd cross brace from the lower end away from the hinge to the top by the hinge but either way is fine.

If it has plywood then it shouldn't be an issue.

What are the doors made of?

If it's a timber frame as per the wall with plywood then you're likely seeing the hinge move.

If one door is scraping badly and the other has lifted then you need to stabalise the front.

If both doors are scraping then it's hinges.

But what we really need are pics to tell you exactly what's happening.

That or get a biker builder local to you to stop by.

It should be a cheap fix.

(Always use adjustable hinges). If they're non-adjustable then you'd need to move them.

I vote give us pics.

Hope this makes some sense.