Recovering an Old Harbor Freight Portable Garage

We purchased a Harbor Freight Portable Garage that we used as storage when we first moved here. The tarp covering eventually deteriorated to the point where even copious use of duct tape was not going to fix it. Fortunately, all the stuff inside could be put in the workshop, a utility shed or donated to Goodwill. The 1.5 inch diameter metal tube frame was still in good condition, so we hated to just throw it away. We ended up moving the garage frame to the back of the property and recovering it with metal roofing. We will be storing our chainsaw milled lumber in it for air drying.

10 x 17 ft. lumber drying shed from an old Harbor Freight temporary garage.

A 4 ft. level was helpful for finding and marking where to drill pilot holes to hit the center of the poles. One inch roofing screws with rubber backed washers were used throughout.

A straight and level row of cinder blocks were laid down for the frame to sit on. The 4 corners of the frame were tied to large metal screws that twist into the ground which were used in the original HF garage. Those large screws were covered by the cinder blocks and filled with concrete. The metal starts halfway up the row of cinder blocks...no need to cut the last sheet as 8 sheets fit perfectly.

In the 4 center legs, we put a long carriage bolt through each metal foot and buried the bolts in concrete.

We added 12 braces made out 1 x 4 pine screwed to the metal frame.

The cost of 8 sheets of 17 ft. 1 inch metal roofing and screws was $255. We used 4 bags of concrete which cost about $19. Carriage bolts, washers and nuts were another $4. We already had the cinder blocks and 1 x 4 pine.