#67 Harbor Freight Portable Garage - Real World Install and Review 

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My tractor lives in one of those. It took me about 4 hrs to put together by myself and I did the same as you with the bottom poles. It is a great value for what it is.

All in all, great job, no blood, no swearing, no tears. If you hadn't put the bottom rails on, can you just imagine how many times all the poles would have come out of their sockets. Lol 👍🏻🇺🇲

Some longevity tips... Add self-tapping screws to each joint and a few wraps of duct-tape to each seam. It will help reduce any snagging on the fluted seams and keep the tubing secure if the tarp ever fails. Add some duct tape to the joints, on the canvas and the joint knuckles, to reduce rubbing wear. Tie lengths of nylon rope across the roof trusses, the length and width, for added snow support and reduced stress on the vinyl tarp cover. (Every 2 feet, making a checker-board pattern, or a series of tic-tac-toe lines.) Buy a reflective 10x18 tarp, and add it over the vinyl top, or add it before adding the final cover. It will help strengthen it, reflect summer heat, and nearly quadruple the life of the original canvas. Add, at each end and optionally across the center trusses, another rope or steel cables. That will create the actual "truss" triangle, needed for greater load-bearing support from wind, rain and snow. It also ensures that the frame will never "bellow out". Lastly, I would add a set of 2x4s, pressure treated and ripped down to 2x2s, to the bottom flaps. Staple them to the 2x2s, after rolling the vinyl around them, inward. (Left unsecured, they will blow inward and outward quite often.) Add a 2x6 across the back wall, if you are not using that as another entrance. (The zipper doors don't have extra material to touch the ground. Same could be done at the front, but it will be a tripping hazard.) Lastly, add a set of anchors, with a hook end, near the zippers. A small zip-tie on the zipper, to secure it to the anchor when zipped-down. Wind will cause the zippers to slide up the "tightly pulled canvas". These typically last 4-6 years... I wouldn't get the warranty, unless you are building it in a snowy area, or unless it's under trees. In 4-6 years, just buy a new one and save the metal tubing to make a car-port with a $30 tarp cover. 😂 Or sell it to a friend for $150, as just a frame.

Great job Ed! Honestly, I’d rather be water boarded than read instructions. Now if I get one of these I don’t have to. 😄

I enjoy your lighthearted down to earth approach to doing your projects!

I like the idea of using the concrete blocks given the current price of lumber - may be the best way to add weight regardless of lumber prices. You can use duct tape to hold the straight tubes together as you assemble the frame to eliminate them from coming apart as you build it out. Good luck with it. Harbor Freight does sell replacement covers and end pieces. You can order an extra door end if you want to be able to access whatever you put in the "back" without moving everything else out.

Great video! The wife and I have been looking at these for a few months now. I have a BX2680, and watching you walk through the setup process was really beneficial. Can't wait to see how everything fits inside. Probably be getting myself one soon. Thanks!

Good idea. I have 4 tent garages set up in my yard. The Shelter Logic 12' x 20' x 8' garages work well. I have 3 more tent garage frames that were freebies for taking away. I'll set them up soon(without ends). Tips: Use a few ratchet straps to pull the frame together and hold it together. When you have equipment in the garage, tie the frame down to the equipment. I've seen several tent garages get blown around. To extend the life of the cover, throw a tarp over the garage. Throw ropes over the tarp and weigh the ropes(I used 25# lifting weights). Do not let more than 5" of snow build up on it. Every snow storm, I have to sweep the roofs. If you want to use the garage in the winter to work, cover it with an old swimming pool insulated cover. Good Luck, Rick

Great video. I have the 10x10 & got the warranty. It survived one summer here in Phoenix. They replaced the whole Tarp & it was different than the one I had. Your video is the only one that really showed how to install the Tarp. Thank you

Thanks! for sharing it looks great, I have smaller version 6x8 feet and I forgot to anchor on ground it moved few feet from wind last night, now I finally had it in place.

Gotta love a Smokey and the Bandit reference! Those things can sure be a struggle without help! Glad you ended up with some assistance in the end. Hope it serves you well!

I am happy you read the directions with us. This help help the hubs and I with our set up. Thank you

I had one of these canvas covers before. It actually held up pretty well, but in snow country, it required frequent snow removal from the roof. I made a giant Q-tip, out of a pole, and taped rags. Worked OK.

Ed, once again you showed me something that I had been looking at but could not make up my mind. Your instructional video has steered me to probable purchase one. I'm not one to purchase extended warrantee but you make a good point. While we have not had much snow as of the last few years, one good snow (30") could do it in. Last week you showed the Harbor Freight quick hitch hook which I purchased and it solved the clearance issue with the weight box. This week maybe a portable garage. Watching your videos is getting expensive for me. Thanks Jim

I received one of these as a present from my daughter for my birthday August, 2021...just around the time you built your unit. We never got to put it up, weather or heat or schedules never jived. She went into the Navy in December. She'll be coming home on leave at the end of this month. We are finally going to build mine! I think I'm going to try to make a low floor in mine. Also, for more weight resistance on the roof for when a heavy snow might challenge it, I'm going to try to add extra ratchet strapping in the void spaces between roof supports. I've also seem/read that using self tapping screws (not during as you mentioned how you got it together, then it asks you to take it apart for tapping) AFTER assembly, helps immensely. I already bought those too! Now just waiting on my sailor to help me! : )

Thank you for the video. I didn't have the problem of it falling apart, all the joints were very snug.

I have one of the 10x10 ones. It's been up for two years. We had BIG snowstorms last year and there were times when there was two feet of snow on it. It kind of bowed the frame and stretched the covers but it still lasted two years. I bought another one and am going to replace all the damaged parts today. I think it's a heck of a value.

The " pick it up by yourself" was hilarious 😂👍

Thanks Ed....Got my temp home for my BX25D put up today....your video helped Have a safe Day

Love the channel I had one similar but was not very sheltered. I bought the extra tie downs that screw 3’ in the ground. Lasted 2 years before wind did it in. Theses are great inexpensive options but only in sheltered areas. You need to keep the snow off the roof too as it will stretch the tarp and gets worse and loose then the wind has more leverage to flap the tarp

Nicely done for your first time! I have done about 6 of them. The first one took a couple hours. The 6th one took about 30 minutes. They are great for the money but the fabric if exposed to the sun starts rotting about the 2 year mark. The longest I have had one last was about 4 years in the shade. All of my implements are stored in them until I get my post and beam shop done.

Did enjoy the vid. Thanks for taking the time to film assembly. Been looking at one of these. Let us know how it does.

That really does look a lot sturdier than expected. Great job Eddie!

We've had the Harbor Freight Portable Garage for 6+ years or 6 winters. I tried to keep the snow off here in northern Michigan but sometimes it got 8+ inches deep on the roof before I got the time to clean it. But sadly I finally have to take it down. However, the timing is perfect. The garage space will be a garden next spring and the fabric is finally failing. It was a wise investment for my "junk" (I do garage sales and estate sales) and to store firewood. I used the ratchet strap supports inside and placed it where it would be protected from strong winds.

"if i were an impatient man".... I am. And I had that exact thought about 5 times throughout putting it together. 😂

Great Job! Glad you got the insurance. I could have used it on mine. I have had this for Gosh close to 8 years I haven't had a problem other than the dang limbs falling on it. I have gotten a larger tarp and just rigged it to cover completely the tent as for patches. Outside Mold has been a issue I'm in North Fla. I've seen here on YT a guy which really fixed his up with wood walls and lights inside.

A hour. Lol. I’ve been working on it for 2 hours and just have the first step done. Now after watching this I see my instructions are a little different. I think I’ll just follow you. Thanks for the tutorial!

Thanks for the walk-through!

Wow, only $200 and it comes in a box that unloads the contents automatically? What a deal! Way to hang in there Ed...I have a much better opinion of that thing than I did going in. Also liked seeing some family fun. Nice job as always. 👍😎

The tip to use the Cement Blocks C-"Straps" & Concrete Screws was especially helpful. 👍🏼

Nice job Ed👍 Great idea with the blocks and a tap con screws😁👍

i am putting up a 10x10 now, next is the 10x17 you have done great

Really good video, Ed, thanks for sharing.

I just bought one love your awsome video thank you for the good video

Looks good Ed. Nice job and should keep everything out of the weather. 👍

I'm going to look into one of those thanks

They have certainly changed the product design over the last 15 years or so. I put one together from HF and it was nothing at all like this one. I attached it to old 6x6's the full length because of the possibility of high winds. The tarp was starting to go bad at 5 or 6 years and so I covered it with an old swimming pool cover. That's been at least 10 years ago and its just now deteriorating bad enough to make some changes. BUT....on a real good note, the frame looks as it did the day it was assembled !! I was laughing pretty good when your tubes were falling back apart.... sorry. LOL

I need this thank you bcs my park way is gravel no grass or concrete so I needed an idea how to hold it down and you brought up blocks THANK YOU

I found any type of tape is your best friend. One strip of tape over the pole ends is enough to keep the poles from slipping out as you go along. Plus you don't have to remove it. Yippy! 👍🏻🇺🇸

Thanks for the video, I’m interested in one at Harbor Freight.

I have done a few of these. Going to give you some advise that I learned. First put plastic on the ground before the wood chips. That will help keep the moisture down which will help your equipment from rusting. 2nd. The wind will lift the cover up and will rub holes in the top. The pieces at the bottom that you bolted make sure they are as tight as you can by stepping on them. Once you have that right install some self tapers into the center of that bracket. I had to fight for warranty because i did not do that the first time. dont know about snow in your area. I use 2X4 ' s in the middle for my snow load. Good luck.

Looks good. I've had the same one for a couple years now and it's been holding up pretty good. I have noticed a few tiny holes starting to tear through the cover so I just got a uv tarp from Harbor Freight and put it over the top to protect it even more. I also used tek screws to hold all the pole joints together and built a frame out of 2x8 boards which I rebarred into the ground and it's been going through some big winds and holding up just fine. Like you, I got the extended warranty and even though it's gonna be a PITA I plan on taking it down and returning it for a new one before the warranty expires then I'm assured of getting a few more years out of it.

I bought the Shelter Logic version from TSC. it came with nuts and bolts for every joint. Maybe that's was why it was a little more expensive. I would invest in some hardware so it doesn't come apart on you in a heavy wind

Snow should be considered with these. Unless you have daily access and are able to keep the snow off, it will fail under excessive snow load. One way to address this is to put 1/4" ply on the roof, either secure with screws or just drill holes in the ply and strap it down using ty wraps. One I have in a snow belt I ran 2X4s down roof rafters and covered with steel roofing. Has been working great going on 4 years now! Keeps my tractor and some tools dry and safe.

we installed 9 of these tent sheds in colorado, The tents will last 2-3 yeaars in our winds. My neighbor covered his in tin, It came apart before the canvas. I was surprised to see em handle 80mph winds. But the tent even with additional tarps will only handle so much wind.

Nice video, thanks

Harbor Freight is the death of me, cant ever go in without spending money! Nice setup

Good video, I at purchasing one of those but wasn’t sure.

I just put up a shelter logic 10 X 10 yesterday by myself. I'm surprised at how much less the HF sheds cost, BUT I'm also surprised that the pcs are not screwed together like the shelter logic is.

I bought one it lasted five years before the cover started falling apart, I just bought another one. Plan on using frame of old one to make a green house.

Nice dogs, they look like they really care for you. love them while you can. lost my Sal almost a year ago and I can't get right still. Now I gotta goto rehab and then it might be time to get another pup..

Very nice review. Thanks!

Good Job! I'll be watching.

As a comparison, I bought the HF canopy, which is about the same size I believe, for about $100 a couple of years ago. I assembled it and then used tarps to "close" it in to protect my implements and some other things. Got everything inside and everything was fine. Then one night we received our first snowstorm (we live in southern New Hampshire) and looked outside in the morning and the whole thing had collapsed! Now to be honest and fair, it clearly said on the box that it would NOT hold a snow load, however, I thought it meant that you couldn't let it build up like a roof. I figured that I would have time to get the snow off before the next storm, but I did not. I hope your garage will fare better than my canopy and I look forward to seeing how you arrange your items inside.

Thank you for the very helpful video! You seem really nice!

oh, sure, @ 13:09 & following, your helpers FINALLY show up! :) great video, thanks a lot!

I bought one of the shelter logic ones like 2 years ago and put it up but never was able to get the cover on it as I had no help and it is always windy here. Also our dirt is defective and I couldn't get it secured to the ground. I am ashamed to admit I never thought about using concrete blocks and raising it up. I am absolutely going to do this and see if I can get the blasted cover onto it. Thank you for sharing this!

Skip the first 5 minutes and you get a really good video. Thr idea of securing the supports to cinder blocks is an interesting one.

Nice job buddy. I have had the exact same tent on my property for almost 3 years now.. it’s still perfect I have zero holes in it.. maybe I’ll make a video on it sometime and let you see how it’s holding up. I threw some heavy duty pallets down inside mine then took some OSB plywood and tossed it over them so that I had a nice raised floor that stays nice and dry and keeps the moisture off my equipment.. I also bought 4 of those cheap Orange rachet straps from harbor freight and added 1 strap for each corner to help hold the tent down on a strong wind storm as I didn’t like the cables it came with to hold the entire tent down nice and tight.. so basically I used their screw anchors like they wanted but then used my own rachet straps to strap all 4 corners down from the side rail on the framing down to the screw anchor and when I did that it tightened the whole shed up.. the frame was solid as a Rock and even with some 70mph gusts we had the tent still hasn’t moved an inch 👍🏻

Lost our instructions, so this was a help. Fun to watch too.

Great video!!

Great job let us know if you have any cracking issues with those flat block,,, by the time them flat block get old and crack you’ll probably have a new shed by then anyway,,,, your tap com screws and blocks look like an excellent idea 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

after watching yours and 3 or 4 more i went down yesterday and got me one. and it went up pretty easy but where yours kelp coming a part i use duct tape to hold mine together. and i also found out if you want good duct tape. dont buy it from harbor fright. i guess i watched enough videos and learned a trick or two that each one of yall had trouble with i didn't. so thanks for the video it sure helped me put mine together

The first thing I learned whole assembling one alone was have a roll of duct tape to prevent the poles from slipping out while I pushed the next one in. Duct tape = patience.

Good deal.. I bought one for my tractor couple years. 10x20 at Northern Tool. So far holding up well. That looks like a better design than shelter logic I have seen people mod them with metal roofing. Once my tarp tears I may do that

I think this would mke a really good outside paint shop for redoing old furniture. I already have a nice shed, I could place on the backside of the shed where the wind hardly ever hits (comes out of the southwest mostly in Bama nation) and this would make a good paint shot or even a place to place a table saw and cut wood.

I built one of those years ago and had the same frustration with parts slipping apart. I solved the problem with a loop of rope going end to end on the peek and then wound it up with a stick to pull it tight. You have to get creative when you do a two person job alone.

Subscribed as soon as I heard “send bill to” thanks for the help!!

I had to put mine together by myself. I used duct tape to hold pieces together. That was the best idea I could come up with. You can remove tape later for appearance. I used tap screws later to secure piping after it was all together. I did 3 of them by myself. The first one kept falling apart until I used duct tape. Duct tape is cheap at harbor freight.

I put up a 12' X 20' Shelter Logic "instant garage for exactly the same purpose.

Going to assemble this with the wife tomorrow, doesn't look too difficult but the wife should make it challenging lol

Thanks for the video and info, wife said a month ago I should get the northern tool one to park my 96 truck in. Still debating

Saved me from making the same mistakes. I know I'd have put all those poles together then took then apart to put it together right.

Morning Ed! Nice job! You must be eating your spinach lately - you lifted that whole unit without breaking a sweat. LOL. Nice to see your family, too. Good job my friend!

Thanks I have a 10" × 20" coming 02/13/24 to go up. Need to see before I start.

The enclosure will be perfect for your implements/attachments, the warranty is a wise decision, you never know what can happen especially if it covers everything. 👍🏻🙋🏼‍♂️

Also put ratchet straps on the cords before installing cover and doors. I spent an hour trying to pull the cord back through the door curtain when I pulled it to hard with the ends slip into the canvas. What a pain. Remember put ratchet straps on cords first. It was alot easier after that.

FYI - just bought my second one of these (2023). New one is a bit nicer - all the roof joints are drilled and come with bolts and lock nuts.

I have one of these, but I'm trying to get pallets to make a floor since I have it in my driveway and I don't want to put holes in it. I'm using it for a couple of motorbikes and lawn equipment. I plan on getting a couple of ramps to ride the bikes in and out on. Also I don't want the water from snow to freeze stuff to the ground. I do already have electrical inside via extension cord and power strip with lighting. I am also using a buddy heater connected to a 20lb cylinder for heat. I use a fan to blow the heat around since the buddy heater can be inefficient at moving the heat around. The reason for heat and electrical is I plan to do some work on the bikes during the winter and I'd like to stay warm.

You could drill holes at every joint and either put bolts or a codder pin or something similar.

Nice video! Whooooman. Get those anchors into the corners too tho. The wind has a lot of power to chuck those bricks around.

Cover the outside with flex-seal for a long lasting solution

i used tape to hold ends together while building so it wouldn slip apart

I think the blocks were the best idea!!

A nice little portable garage for 200 bucks, don't get no better than that Ed. I'm a lot like you, I don't like leaving my implements out in the weather either. Take care of your tools, they will take care of you.

I just put one of these together. Definitely can do it by yourself. Hardest part honestly was fitting the tubes through both end tarps. Maybe mine was just manufactured poorly but the slots that those tubes go through were extremely tight. The main cover tarp was much easier to do this.

Great video.

We don’t need no stinkin structions. Nice video Ed.

Funny Guy. And Thanks for Keeping it Simple.

Lol reminds me of putting my daughter's trampoline together solo..🤣 tubes kept coming apart... thanks duck tape

I really like this temporary building!!! Good idea about a tarp down under the chip (per Ross). THAT was lucky Jess & Dave showed up to help. Will you place your items on pallets inside?

Nice job, Ed. Hope that warranty proves to be a waste of money and you get many years of service from the garage.

You won't believe it, but I also have a temporary need for shelter for my implements that won't fit in the building I now have (tractor is the sole occupant) until my "Full-tilt, Boogie Blow-out" Barn is built with multi-story racking for implements! Headed to HF! Only issue I see is anchoring that baby to the ground. I think you need more weight or in-ground anchor depth with your solution. I would hate to go retrieve my shed from my neighbor's front yard after one of our infamous Texas Spring storms!

GP Outdoors needs at least 1 of these if not 2 :)

I think I would dig under the blocks to make them flush with the ground. Actually, I think I will use those 36 inch screw into the ground shed hurricane anchors. I used them on my shed and they weren't very expensive or difficult to put in.

I got one and love it. I used sheet metal screws to hold all the pieces together and to make it more sturdy.

This was a oddly satisfying video. 😂

I had no luck with mine. My blew away for the last time and I threw that thing in the trash and built one out of wood and concreted it in the ground and no more marry Poppins crap going on with it flying in the air... I even used bricks just like you did with the post and I anchored it to the ground.

I put one of those things up the other day. I found the connections where the pipes go together we're a little flimsy I wrapped duck tape around all the connections so they didn't come apart so easy. I went to put the canvas on the front and back . The sewed area the tubes go in was sewed too small. I called the help line and some girl assured me the tubes did not go through those I ended up removing all of the second stich so the tubes would fit. I actually got the roof on all by myself . The thing is actually fairly sturdy. Only problem is the experts on the help line need to know their products better and I should have made them send me new front and back pannels.