On the subject of a garden shed

[Andrew McKay]

Thanks to an excellent suggestion by Andy (Hall) I now have a fairly good idea of the garden shed I'm looking to invest in - it's the Malvern Bewdley Apex 8x6 or something close to it:

Buildings have a special deal on at the moment for this shed - £380 including delivery and erection. Looking around the web that seems like a fair deal.

And as Andy advised, I would highly recommend Berkshire Buildings at the Wyevale nursery east of Reading - they've got a fair sized area with many different products available for inspection.

My previous experience of garden sheds is limited, and I am concerned that being a wooden shed it will get damp in winter, which wouldn't be good for garden tools, bicycles and what have you. So I'm looking for suggestions about what I should and shouldn't be considering as the shed is made habitable.

My initial thoughts are to have this shed installed on top of paving slabs - we have a firm flat area of garden where the shed is going to go, so the amount of ground preparation should be minimal (we are on top of a hill so it never gets waterlogged in our garden). On top of the paving slabs would be wooden bearers which have been treated, then the shed on top of those. Just as an aside, we've got an adjacent section of garden which has had paving slabs on for a good couple of years, no sign whatsoever of movement.

BTW, the purpose of the paving slabs is primarily to keep the wooden bearers out of the wet stuff - if the bearers were laid straight onto turf then they would rot that much quicker (IMHO). I know bearers are generally considered to be sacrificial in terms of re-usability.

Once the shed is up I would then be tempted to give it a damn good dose of creosote substitute on the outside, so as to repel water. Not sure if this is appropriate or not - I'm always suspicious of pre-treated fencing and tend to take the attitude that you can't throw too much preserver at something which is going to be open to all the elements.

Have I missed anything obvious in getting the shed ready for use? Obviously if applying treatment to the inside were recommended this would be a lot easier when it is initially installed as it would be completely empty, but I'm not considering that option presently.

Andrew

[chris French]

In message , Andy Hall writes

Yeah sounds fair to me, we paid 400 and a bit for a 10x6 a few years ago.

We have garden hand tools in ours I can't say I've noticed any ill effects on them. I know store be in the garage, but I once built a little shed-let to store a bike for a couple of years - it didn't seem to suffer any rusting etc. in those years - on modern bikes there isn't actually that much that does rust really anyway. I think as long as it is weathertight, off the ground and with a modicum of ventilation (not hard with a shed...) then things are fine

I did similar, with the bearers resting on some concrete blocks. Has lasted well so far

Yeah, I think the 'treatment' they give to sheds in next to worthless, they all seem to recommend further treatment on site anyway. I used a solvent based Cuprinol preserver, possibly the 'Decorative wood Preserver' certainly the water-based ones aren't any use from the preservative POV. I used a green one to go with the rest of the garden woodwork - the colour has worn well and the shed hasn't rotted away yet :-) If I had had the chance I would have treated the underside of the floor

We also painted the inside of the shed white (with emulsion paint). It's a much lighter and more pleasant place because of this.

If I was buying a shed again, I would try to erect it myself, even if I paid the same price as for erecting. The quality of the shed was fine (in terms of garden sheds anyway) but the erection let it down. Nothing major, but little niggles - things easier to sort out than go to the effort of getting them back to sort it. I

And on the topic of felt, the stuff they used was of fairly cheap quality. And a couple of years later part came off in the wind. Next time I would cover it with a better quality felt over the top to prempt this. - because of course if the felt is going to go it will do it in the middle of a wet winter period of course......

[Simon Avery]

Hello Andrew

Just a thought, and what I've done with my wooden sheds, is to tack a layer of DPM along the underside of the tanalised bearer so that even if the blocks/paving gets wet then the wood doesn't soak up any of the water and induce rot, or even transfer it to the shed itself. The slabs have the added benefit of being able to get a level easier, too.

Also, ensuring any neighbouring vegetation doesn't block the sides means that it keeps good airflow and things underneath stay a lot drier.

I agree.

No point doing the inside, and if you're using creosote it won't be a pleasant place to spend any time in for ages.

[Edwin Spector]

How is the shed held down? Thinking of high winds.

Yup - the previous incumbent of my shed had paved and concreted right up to the wood. Now the shed floor's knackered. Some of the bearers are nothing more than a pile of crumbs.

Edwin Bath.