Arrow 8x12 Storage Shed

by Stanley Barnes
(Flagstaff, AZ)

We've had our Arrow 8x12 Storage Shed for close to a year now. It's survived three winter storms with heavy snowfall. By that I mean, it appeared there was at least two feet of accumulation on top of the shed. That being said, I have to admit I've had more than my share of anxiety-ridden moments wondering if the thing was going to collapse.

But let me back up a moment to clarify this statement.

We purchased our Arrow 8x12 shed back in August of last year for about $500. It seemed like a good idea at the time as we wanted to free up some garage space in order to set up a workshop for my me and my wife. We bought it with the optional floor bracing so that we could add a plywood base instead of just keep ing it a dirt floor. I'm glad we did this, given that I'm sure we would have had a muddy mess after the winter thaw.

We'd hoped to knock it off inside of a weekend and I'm happy to report that we did. We erected it on the site of an old vegetable garden, so the soil was fairly loose and easy to level and pack. We also covered the ground with a double layer of heavy, black plastic as a moisture barrier. I'm not sure if the instructions recommended this, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Ahhh... the instructions. The booklet was easy enough to follow, but there were times I wished I'd had Steve Austin's bionic eye to zoom in on the miniscule diagrams. Whew!

Then there were "the nuts and bolts". I'm still having nightmares! So many and they just kept coming and coming! "Make it stop!" I kept thinking.

Handling the gum-wrapper thin sheets of metal was an interesting feat as well. I just kept hoping that the original desinging engineers actually knew the structural limits of the materials when the imagined this building. There were times I felt as though we were building a house of cards.

In the end, we got the shed up inside of two days. I'm skeptical, to say the least. Yes, it dents very, very easily. Yes, I fear that it might not survive another heavy snowfall. No, I probably wouldn't buy another one.
But who knows... I may be pleasantly surprised 10 years from now when it's still standing more erect than me.