Wood Shed Teardown in Boise: How Long Shed Removal Takes

Last month we were measuring an old, weathered wood shed in a Garden City backyard when the homeowner asked us something. It's what we hear on almost every shed removal job in Boise: "So how long is this going to take?"

It's a fair thing to ask. Maybe you've got a dog to keep inside, neighbors to give a heads-up, or a day off work to plan around.

Most of the time the honest answer is a few hours, not a few days. A few things can stretch that out, though, and it helps to know what they are before we pull up.

How long a wood shed teardown in Boise usually takes

Picture a regular backyard wood shed with a plywood floor, stud walls and a shingle roof. We're usually in and out in one morning or one afternoon.

That's the whole job. The roof comes off, the walls come down, the floor gets pulled, and every piece gets carried out of your yard.

Small ones go quicker. A little lean-to tucked behind a house in the North End can be gone before your coffee gets cold.

The bigger barn-style sheds with lofts are another story. You see a lot of those on acreage out in Star and Eagle, and they can eat up most of a day.

One thing we won't do is leave you with a half-torn-down shed overnight. Once we start, we finish.

What slows down shed removal in Boise

Size matters, sure. But it's rarely the part that catches people off guard.

The big one is what's still inside. Old paint cans, a mower that quit in 2015, twenty years of stacked garden pots. All of that has to come out before the walls can come down. We'll haul it, and a lot of it ends up donated or recycled, but it adds time. Some folks clear it out themselves the weekend before. Either way's fine with us.

Then there's getting to it. A shed sitting in a wide-open yard in Meridian is a pretty easy day. One wedged behind a fence with a single narrow side gate isn't, because every board leaves your yard in somebody's arms.

What it's sitting on matters too. Skids and cinder blocks come up fast. Posts set in concrete take a while longer.

You'd think a rotten shed would come apart faster. Sometimes it does. But when one's leaning or the walls have gone soft, we take it down slowly so nothing falls the wrong way, especially if it's right up against your fence or your neighbor's.

And if somebody ran power out to it years ago, that line has to be dealt with before we touch a wall.

Heads up: If your shed has electricity, get the circuit shut off and the line handled by an electrician before teardown day. It's one of the few things that can push our start time back, and it's easy to sort out ahead of time.

How soon can we get started?

Honestly, the teardown is the quick part. Getting on the calendar is where most of the wait lives.

It starts with a free estimate at your place. We walk around the shed with you and look at what's inside, how we'll get it out and what it's sitting on.

The price is based on the size of the shed and the work involved. You get a firm price before anything gets touched, and no surprise fees show up at the end.

Once you say yes, we can usually get you on the schedule within a few days. If we've got an opening, we'll sometimes knock it out the same day we come out to look.

Spring is when everybody calls. The snow melts, people all over the Treasure Valley look out the back window, and that old shed finally has to go. If you can wait, late summer and winter tend to have shorter lines.

Does the weather change things?

A little.

Boise summers are hot and dry, which is actually good for this kind of work. The wood's dry, the yard's not muddy, and we start early so we're not ripping off shingles at 3 p.m. in July.

Winter's slower. Frozen ground can lock blocks and skids in place, snow adds weight to the roof, and icy shingles don't come off easy. We still tear sheds down in January. It just might take a bit longer than the same shed in June.

Wind is the other one. When it really gets going out in Nampa or Caldwell, we're careful with roof panels so nothing ends up in the next yard over.

What your yard looks like when we leave

The shed's gone. Every board, shingle and scrap gets loaded up and hauled off.

We also run a magnet sweep over the whole area before we leave. Nobody wants to find a roofing nail with a bare foot next spring.

What's left is usually a rectangle of pale grass and packed dirt. People are almost always surprised how much bigger the yard looks.

What you do with that spot is up to you. A garden bed, a new shed, a patio, or just more lawn for the kids.

The bottom line

Most wood shed teardowns around Boise take a few hours. The whole thing, from estimate to empty yard, often wraps up the same week. The things that really decide how long it takes are what's inside the shed, how easy it is to get to and what it's sitting on.

Yes, we'd like to be the ones taking yours down. But if you're just trying to figure out how much of your Saturday to keep open, call us at (208) 279-2738. We'll come out, take a look and give you a straight answer.