I'm trying to replace rotten wood on a 6 by 4 wooden shed similar but not exactly the same as this one:
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sides are easy enough to replace - there's only one side that has rotted. Cost of replacing the side is about £25.
But the floor (again one side) has also rotted. This is more tricky. You can't simply buy a replacement floor. My diy skills are not good and I'm stumped. How to replace the rotten floor of a wooden shed (only the end 1/5 is rotten). I think that cutting out the rotten wood and adding good wood to the existing good wood may be the answer but I'm probably talking shit.
Also the support floor to roof beams have rotted at the bottom but again only on one side and only the last 6 inches or so of the beams.
The price of a new (but very basic shed) is £125. The cost of repairing the existing one is about £60 I think (maybe a bit more depending on the cost of repairing the floor). My skills are also very poor indeed.
Would it be easier to buy a new shed for £125 or repair the existing the one for £60 to £70?
The easiest thing would be to buy a new shed from a company that will, for a fee, put it up for you. But the bad news is that getting the shed might not be the end of your worries.
The problem with a replacement shed is that it will come flat packed and you'll still need to put it up. It also sounds like the base for the existing shed isn't great. Either its not giving enough air under it for the wood to dry out or its directly on the ground and subject to year round damp.
Putting a small shed up, for my experience, isn't to difficult but its far better as a 2 man job. Do you have anyone who could give you a hand? I've not had any experience of replacing the floor of a shed but if you are buying a new shed of a similar size that would give you a new floor. But by this time you'd be pulling the old shed to bits and probably be better just using the new shed. Maybe keep some of the old shed for spares if you have storage and it looks similar.
If you do get a shed its worth getting the base sorted with a slight slope to prevent water gathering. Dry set slabs should be fine and there are a number of internet guides to laying paving. Its largely going to be hidden by the shed on top of it so even if you DIY isn't great any mistakes won't be very visible though you'd perhaps risk the shed being wobbly.
My previous shed was on a base of paving slabs with a gentle run off for each end slabs but with the middle slabs perfectly flat. I didn't take into account how strong the wind was in the area I built the shed and storms would result in a big pool of water on the flat center slabs that took days to dry. While it only led to a puddle every now and again it still led to part of the floor rotting. It was a cheaper shed and I suspect more expensive ones would have better protection for the wood.
This all sounds familiar - I did just this last week with a shed... the roof had gone, and so had half the floor, and the back corner affecting two sides.
Well its a close run thing cost wise. However you will be able to repair the shed to a much higher standard of construction than you can buy a new one for.
The way I did my one was:
Strip the roof off (that needed replacing on mine anyway) unbolt the sides from each other and unscrew the sides from the floor (screws were shagged in most cases, so used a mattock to "unscrew" them ;-). Now all the bits come apart.
Using the existing rotten floor as a template I cut some sheets of 19mm WBP ply to match (12x8 shed in my case). Then slid new 2x2" cross bearers (4x2" ripped down the middle) under the sheets and screwed through the sheets to fix them. Now move the new floor aside, and take up the existing floor. In my shed the floor was made from T&G planks that were actually very close to the shiplap used on the outside. So I striped off as many planks as I could that were not rotten to reuse fixing the walls. The original bearers were also reclaimed where ok to fix some uprights in the shed.
I reused the main under bearers - just gave em a coat of wood preserver. Where they had originally be laid on bits of old pallet, I chopped up half a dozen dense concrete blocks to various thicknesses to make level pad stones for then. Set them out level and placed the new floor with cross bearers on it. Then re-fixed the side panels having first chopped off the rotten ends with a circular saw. I then used the reclaimed batten to make new uprights where needed, and nailed the reclaimed floor boards on to replace the rotten shiplap.
In my case it needed a new roof, so I upgraded the joists from the skimpy 1 1/4" square stuff they originally used to 4x2" tanalised (pent roof rather than apex on mine) - taking care to keep the shed square as I went. Finally cut in some sheets of 1/2" OSB for a new roof.
Then used a F-off big blowotrch and some torch on felt to give it one undercoat and one top coat.
End result: one building with much stronger floor and roof than before, and decent felt as well that will last and stay waterproof for years. Total cost about 1/2 to 2/3 the price of a new shed.
"My skills are also very poor indeed so it would be easier to buy a new shed for £125 rather than bodge a repair of the existing one and waste £60 to £70"
At least you are honest about your skills! Tell us what the shed stands on and there will be people along to suggest ways of ensuring the new shed doesn't rot.
OK, how about this: Rather than have a wooden floor which will always be susceptible to rot, have a stone-chip floor instead. Put the shed down on a line of bricks so the sides aren't in contact with the ground and fill the inside with an inch or 2 of some sort of stone/ gravel.
No problems with drainage (you can even do wet stuff in your shed then!) No rot Lasts for ever Cost comparable to 18mm OSB Almost no skill required!
I'm thinking of doing this for my new home-made lean-to / shed thing. Good/bad idea? Any comments?
Depends entirely on the drainage of the ground, it would probably be OK up here but in other places heavy rain produces standing water.
Also I can imagine the humidty in the shed being rather high due to evaporation of damp from the soil/chips. Not good for tools or machinery stored in there...
Thanks everyone for the replies - a lot of things to think about!
The base is concrete and the rot has taken place on one side of the shed where (over the years) leaves had collected (falling from a nearby tree). This is going to be a difficult problem to solve - a daily job for a fair part of the year.
Maybe I will take Bob's suggestion about the risk of a bodged repair although I suppose it's also pretty easy to bodge a new installation too.
The idea of doing away with the floor completely and using stone chips does sound very interesting.
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