Shed Material List: 10x12, 12x16 and 8x10

A shed material list is the shopping list you take to the lumberyard: every board by size and length, every sheet, every bundle and every box of nails. This page gives the complete lists for a 10x12, a 12x16 and an 8x10 gable shed, exactly as the shed designer prints them.

The 10x12 list is 106 boards, the 12x16 is 137 and the 8x10 is 96. After the three lists you get the totals for all 16 gable sizes and the 4 lean-to plans, then how to read the numbers, what is not on them and what changes them. If you searched for a shed lumber list, the lumber tables are the first table in each section.

Shed material list: how to read it

Every list below comes from the designer, not from a rule of thumb. The designer works out each cut piece of the frame, packs the pieces onto boards of real lengths, and counts sheets, roofing and fasteners from the same drawing. The numbers are the designer’s planning quantities: check them against your own plan and your local rules before you order.

The defaults behind these lists

All three sheds use the same defaults: a 6/12 gable roof, an 88-3/4 inch wall, 2x4 studs 16 inches on center, 2x6 floor joists and rafters 16 inches on center, 6 inch eaves, 30 psf snow, a floor on skids, asphalt shingles and boards no longer than 16 ft. The 10x12 and the 12x16 have one 4 ft door and two 2 ft windows, and the 8x10 has one door and one window. Each preset has its own plan page with the cut list piece by piece.

Four blocks per shed

Each list has four parts, and each part is a separate table so it reads on a phone. Lumber is by size and length. Sheets are the plywood, siding and OSB panels. Roofing is the shingles or metal and what goes under them. Fasteners are nails, screws, connectors and anchors.

Sizes are actual, not nominal

The names on the list are lumber names. A 2x4 is 1-1/2 by 3-1/2 inches, and the section on how the list is built explains why.

10x12 shed material list

The designer’s 10x12 gable shed is 120 inches wide across the door wall and 144 inches deep. It buys 106 boards, and 6.1 percent of the bought length is offcut. Here is the 10x12 gable shed plan with its cut list, and the lists below are its shopping lists.

10x12 lumber list

The 4 pressure-treated 4x6 boards are the 4 skids, each 144 inches long. The 10 pressure-treated 2x6 boards at 10 ft are the 10 floor joists, cut 117 inches each, and the 2 at 12 ft are the 2 rim joists. The 2x8 at 12 ft is the ridge board. The twelve 1x4s at 8 ft are the 8 corner boards and the 4 rake boards, and the two 1x6s at 12 ft are the fascia. Add it up and you get 16 pressure-treated boards, 59 of 2x4, 16 of 2x6, 1 of 2x8 and 14 of trim: 106 in all.

10x12 sheet goods

The 4x8 wall panels cover the floor frame and the wall in one piece. The 2 gable panels include 15 percent for the angled cuts, and the Z-flashing runs along the 20 ft of joint where the gable panels meet the wall panels at the top plate. The subfloor goes long edge across the joists with the end joints staggered, and the designer asks for H-clips between rafters at the unsupported roof edges.

10x12 roofing list

Shingles are counted at 3 bundles per square. The starter and the ridge cap are counted per linear foot with the bundle sizes the designer assumes (100 and 20 lin ft), and it tells you to check the label on the bundle you buy.

10x12 fasteners and hardware

The framing nails are counted joint by joint to the fastening schedule in the model code (2021 IRC, R602.3(1)), with 15 percent spare. The siding and sheathing nails go 6 inches apart on the edges and 12 inches in the field. Your local code and the maker’s label decide the final nail and connector.

12x16 shed material list

The designer’s 12x16 gable shed is 144 inches wide and 192 inches deep, and 192 inches is exactly a 16 ft board, so nothing needs a splice. It buys 137 boards with 4.8 percent offcut. Compare it with the 12x16 gable shed plan.

12x16 lumber list

That is 19 pressure-treated boards, 77 of 2x4, 26 of 2x6, 1 of 2x8 and 14 of trim.

12x16 sheet goods

12x16 roofing list

12x16 fasteners and hardware

The 26 rafter connectors and 4 ground anchors are counted, not weighed: one connector at every rafter bearing and one anchor near each corner.

8x10 shed material list

The designer’s 8x10 gable shed is 96 inches wide and 120 inches deep. It buys 94 boards, with 6.7 percent offcut. It is the default drawing the site’s guides use, and the 8x10 gable shed plan has the piece-by-piece cut list.

8x10 lumber list

The 3 pressure-treated 4x6 boards at 10 ft are the 3 skids, the 9 pressure-treated 2x6s at 8 ft are the 9 floor joists, cut 93 inches each, and the 2 at 10 ft are the rim joists. The 2x8 at 10 ft is the ridge board. The designer buys trim in 8, 12 and 16 ft, so each 120 inch fascia run goes on a 12 ft 1x6. The four rake boards are 60-3/8 inches each: three fit whole on one 16 ft 1x4 and the fourth goes on an 8 ft board with the 8 corner boards. The list totals 14 pressure-treated boards, 59 of 2x4, 8 of 2x6, 1 of 2x8 and 12 of trim.

8x10 sheet goods

8x10 roofing list

8x10 fasteners and hardware

Shed material list for every size

Totals let you compare sizes before you open a full list. The first table gives boards, boards of 2x4 and shingle bundles for the 16 gable presets, and the second gives the sheets. Shed sizes are width across the door wall by depth, all at the same defaults as above, so a different door count or wall height moves them.

Boards, 2x4s and shingles, 16 gable sizes

Sheets, 16 gable sizes

Siding panels are the 4x8 wall panels plus the 4x8 gable-end panels, so the 10x12 is 12 plus 2. The shed siding guide shows that split for every size. Offcut across the 16 gable sizes runs from 4.3 percent on the 12x12 to 10.5 percent on the 6x6, and it does not simply grow or shrink with size. It depends on how the cut lengths fit the board lengths.

The four lean-to plans

A lean-to has a single sloped roof and walls of different heights. Its tall front wall is 97-1/8 inches, built from 92-5/8 inch precut studs, and with the floor frame that is taller than one 4x8 panel covers. So the front wall gets two 4x8 panels stacked, with a horizontal joint on Z-flashing over 2x4 blocking, and the lower walls take one 4x8 panel each.

The subfloor is 1, 2, 3 and 3 sheets, the roof needs 2, 2, 4 and 4 sheets of OSB and 2, 2, 4 and 4 bundles of shingles. The 10x8 and 12x8 list fewer precut studs because the shorter studs of the low back and side walls come out of longer boards: the 12x8 has 20 boards of 12 ft. At the 3/12 slope the designer warns that asphalt shingles need two layers of underlayment, and its underlayment roll already counts the second layer.

12x20 and larger

The 12x20 gable shed is 240 inches deep. That is longer than the 16 ft boards the designer assumes by default, so its list has 165 boards (86 of 2x4, 29 pressure-treated, 32 of 2x6, 2 of 2x8 and 16 of trim) and the long members are spliced. Its plates are spliced over a stud, its ridge has a joint centered on a rafter pair, its rim joists join over a doubled joist, and each skid gets butt joints with a 4 ft 2x6 splice plate on both faces. Each 20 ft fascia run is two 12 ft boards with a butt joint centered on a rafter tail, a 3/16 inch gap, sealed. The 12x20 gable shed plan lists every splice.

How the list is built

The lists follow a few rules. Once you know them you can read any row and know what the boards are for.

Nominal versus actual sizes

Lumber names are nominal. The Southern Pine Inspection Bureau, citing the voluntary product standard PS 20-20, says that 2x4s and 2x6s are 1/2 inch less than nominal in width, and 2x8s, 2x10s and 2x12s are 3/4 inch less. A 4x4 is 3-1/2 by 3-1/2 inches, and a 1x6 is 3/4 inch thick and 5-1/2 inches wide. The designer draws with the actual sizes: a 2x4 is 1-1/2 by 3-1/2 inches, a 2x6 is 5-1/2 inches wide, a 2x8 is 7-1/4 inches wide. You still order by the nominal name, so the list says 2x6 and the board on the rack is 5-1/2 inches wide.

Studs and wall height

The 41 studs on the 10x12 are 84-1/4 inches long, each cut from an 8 ft 2x4. With one bottom plate and two top plates, which together are 4-1/2 inches, that makes a finished wall 88-3/4 inches high. The designer picks that height so one 4x8 siding panel runs from 1 inch below the floor frame, which is the designer’s own allowance, to the top of the wall with no horizontal seam: 88-3/4 inches of wall plus 5-1/2 inches of 2x6 frame, 3/4 inch of subfloor and that 1 inch makes 96 inches.

The yard’s 92-5/8 inch precut stud makes a 97-1/8 inch wall with the same three plates, as Hamshaw Lumber, a New Hampshire yard, says on its precut stud sheet. The designer uses it for the tall front wall of its lean-to plans. The frame shed walls guide shows a wall built stud by stud. Studs are not the only 2x4 pieces: plates, jack studs, cripples and rafter ties are in the cut list too, so the 59 boards of 2x4 on the 10x12 are more than the studs.

Board lengths and splices

The designer buys framing lumber in 8, 10, 12 and 16 ft, plus the 92-5/8 inch precut stud for lean-to front walls. When two ways of packing a material come within half a percent of each other in waste, it takes the shorter boards.

Trim is bought in 8, 12 and 16 ft only. Every corner, fascia and rake piece is cut whole from one board, with no joint in it, and short pieces share a board when they fit with the saw kerf between them, as long as that buys no more length than one board per piece. A run longer than 16 ft is two boards with a butt joint centered on a rafter tail, a 3/16 inch gap, sealed. That matches LP’s trim and fascia instructions, which call for butt joints with a 3/16 inch gap and say not to use scarf joints. LP lists its trim in 16 ft lengths; the 8 and 12 ft boards are primed pine, which one Home Depot store sold in 8, 12 and 16 ft on Sep 30, 2026, with no 10 ft length.

A framing member longer than 16 ft, such as a plate or a ridge on a shed deeper than 16 ft, is spliced over a stud or a rafter pair instead of bought long. That is why the 12x20 above has splice notes. The longest board is an input in the designer. Set it to 24 ft and the 12x20 has 151 boards, with 20 ft boards for the skids, rim joists, plates and ridge, and only the fascia keeps its butt joint. The designer warns that lumber yards stock those lengths and big-box stores often sell them online or by special order.

The 1/8 inch kerf and offcuts

Every saw cut removes wood, and the designer allows 1/8 inch for it. It sorts the pieces of each material longest first, puts each on the stock length that wastes the least, and adds 1/8 inch between cuts on the same board. Take the 10x12: each rafter blank is 75-11/16 inches. On four 16 ft boards the designer puts two rafters and a 27 inch window header ply, which uses 178-5/8 inches of the 192 with the kerf. Two more share 12 ft boards with the 51 inch door header plies, and the last 10 go one to an 8 ft board, with 20-5/16 inches left over. The waste percent is the bought length minus the cut length, divided by the bought length. It measures offcuts only. It does not measure a board you reject at the store.

The 10x12 floor is a clean example. The 10 joists are 117 inches long, and each one goes on a 10 ft (120 inch) board with 3 inches left. The 2 rim joists and the 4 skids are 144 inches, which is exactly a 12 ft board.

Pressure-treated lumber for the floor

The floor frame is the pressure-treated part of the list: the skids and the floor joists and rim. Preserved Wood, in its guide to AWPA use categories, lists UC4A as ground contact for general use, and that is the grade the designer labels “ground contact”. The 2021 IRC, R317.1.2, says wood in contact with the ground that supports permanent structures for human occupancy has to be approved pressure-preservative-treated wood suitable for ground contact, and R317.1 asks for treated or naturally durable wood where floor joists are closer than 18 inches to exposed ground. A storage shed may sit outside the letter of the occupancy wording, but ground-contact lumber is the right grade for skids either way. On the designer’s skid floor the frame sits 5-1/2 inches above the pad. The subfloor plywood on the list is not pressure-treated, so ask your building department whether it wants treated plywood there, and remember that the locally adopted code is what counts.

Siding panels

The siding is 4x8 panels. The designer covers the wall plus the floor frame, a band of the wall height plus 7-1/4 inches, which is 96 inches on the default 88-3/4 inch wall, so one 96 inch panel covers the band. It counts one panel per 4 ft of wall, rounded up, and does not subtract the door or the windows.

On a gable shed the gable panels meet the wall panels at the top plate, and the list carries Z-flashing for that joint. LP’s panel siding instructions ask for Z-flashing and a 3/8 inch gap at horizontal seams, and the model code (IRC R703.5.2) allows a 1 inch lap, a shiplap or Z-flashing at horizontal joints, over solid blocking or sheathing. On a wall taller than one 4x8 covers, you pick one of two in the designer: 4x8 panels stacked with a horizontal joint on Z-flashing over 2x4 blocking, the default, or 4x9 panels. The designer flags 4x9 as usually special order, and it only works while the wall plus the floor frame stays within 108 inches, a wall of 100-3/4 inches or less.

What is not on the list

The list is for the shell of the shed. These things are not on it:

• The door leaf, hinges and latch. The designer lists the framing for the opening, with jack studs and a header, and no door.
• Window units. The window openings are framed, and the glazed units are yours to buy.
• Paint, primer and caulk.
• House wrap or building paper behind the siding.
• Flashing over the door and windows. Drip edge is on the list, and so is the Z-flashing for the horizontal siding joints.

The base is on the plan’s takeoff sheet as its own foundation block, not in the tables above: 2.1 cubic yards of compactable crushed stone for the 10x12 pad, before compaction, a roll of landscape fabric, and the deck blocks when you choose a block foundation. Delivery is yours to arrange.

The shed siding guide covers the wrap, flashing and paint that go with the panels. The designer frames the door opening and stops there, so the door itself is a separate build, covered in the shed doors guide.

What changes the list

All four changes below are on the 10x12 with its two windows. The designer changes the counts when you change an input, so open it with your own numbers: 10x12 with 24 inch studs is one example.

Stud spacing

Studs at 24 inches instead of 16 cut the studs from 41 to 32. The 2x4 list becomes 25 boards at 8 ft, 12 at 10 ft, 5 at 12 ft and 10 at 16 ft, 52 in all instead of 59, and the total drops from 106 boards to 99. The framing nails fall from 14 lb to 13 lb. Sheets and roofing do not change. Whether the siding you picked allows 24 inch studs is a question for its install sheet.

Metal roofing

Metal replaces the shingle lines and nothing else. Instead of 5 bundles of shingles, the starter, the ridge bundle and the roofing nails, the 10x12 lists 8 metal panels with 36 inches of coverage cut to 6 ft 3 in, 2 metal ridge caps of 10 ft, and 1 bag of 250 screws (about 120 screws). The underlayment, drip edge, OSB and all the lumber stay the same. The designer tells you to buy closure strips to match the panel, and the maker’s sheet decides the underlayment and the screws.

Wall height

Raise the wall to 120 inches and the siding changes shape. With the floor frame the wall is 127-1/4 inches, more than a 4x9 covers, so the panels become 24 sheets of 4x8, stacked two per 4 ft of wall, with 7 pieces of 10 ft Z-flashing for 64 ft of joint: 44 ft where the panels stack and 20 ft at the top plate under the gables. Siding nails go from 12 lb to 22 lb. The studs are 115-1/2 inches, and the 2x4s are bought mostly as 10 ft boards (34 of 69). The board total goes from 106 to 116, and the offcut from 6.1 percent to 4.7 percent. Open the 120 inch wall in the designer to see the whole list.

Block foundation

With deck blocks the 4 skids of 4x6 become 4 beams of 4x4, both pressure-treated and 12 ft long. The ground anchors leave the fastener list, and the foundation is 11-1/2 inches tall instead of 5-1/2. The takeoff adds a line for 16 precast concrete deck blocks. The how to build a shed floor guide walks through both floors.

Should you buy extra?

The designer already adds the spare it states: 10 percent on shingles, 15 percent on nails and screws, and 15 percent on the gable-end siding panels. Lumber has no spare. The list counts each board you need once, and the waste percent shows what is left as offcut. It does not count for a board with a bad crown, a split end or a cut you make twice.

That leaves a judgment call. A reasonable approach is general practice, not an engineering rule. Sort through the pile and reject bad boards. Buy one or two extra of the piece you cut most, which on these lists is the 2x4. Check the return policy on uncut boards and full sheets, so extras are not a loss. Pad the shingles, nails and gable panels last, because the designer has already padded them.

The how to build a shed guide walks through the build in order, and the shed designer recomputes every list on this page for your own size.