Hello,
I currently have as a workshop a cheap Yardmaster metal shed. With some mod ifications (interior boarding, polystyrene in the roof, etc) it's served me adequately for the last five years or so, but I really want to expand. In particular, I've just inherited a lovely old metalworking lathe, and there' s no way I can set it up in the present space. So, time for a new shed.
What I have in mind is a timber structure - CLS frame, OSB interior lining, bit of rockwool between the studs, and feather-edge or possibly shiplap bo ards on the outside. Not sure of the roof, I guess a ridge with the shallow est pitch I can reasonably get away with (don't want anything too dominatin gly high) and decent felt, but I'm open to ideas.
Seems simple enough, but then I heard about building regs. Apparently if yo u're over 15m^2 (which I will be, there's no point otherwise) and within a metre of the boundary (which I also will be - the garden is long but narrow and I really need to use the full width) then you're not allowed to build in wood under the BR exemption.
I did do some very rough costings for a blockwork shed or a prefab concrete a couple of years ago - I can't remember the details but I know it came ou t pretty pricey (then again, I haven't done even rough costs for timber, bu t it surely must be less). Also I'm a crappy bricklayer but I can shoot scr ews into softwood all day and come out with something reasonable at the end . So I want to stick with the wooden structure if I can.
I've never done anything involving Building Regs before. If I talk to the g uys at the council, are they likely to say "sure, go ahead", "Yes, but here are many onerous rules to follow", or a flat-out "no, you can't build it i n wood because of the Great Fire of London"? This is in Southampton, if it matters. The proposed site is at the bottom of my garden, surrounded on all sides by the bottoms of other people's gardens in a typical Victorian semi s layout.
Separately, assuming the wooden plan is a goer, I don't really know what to do about the floor. The current shed sits on a base of paving slabs laid b y the previous owner, rather like a patio. I'm not sure exactly what's unde r them; the edges are raised about 6" with some cement visible so they're n ot just flat on the ground, but I don't know how much structure there is. T his patio is too small for the new shed; I would need to either extend off one side of it or demolish it and start again. Such groundworks are complic ated by the lack of access to the garden except through my hallway and livi ng room.
I like the idea of a concrete floor, especially since I will be fitting the lathe and in due course probably a table saw and other large tools. I'm no t quite sure how to start off a wooden building from that, but I'm sure the re's a way. So smash up the existing plinth and use it as filler in a newly laid one? That's a lot of concrete though (5m x 7m x however thick). I'm i magining a great big hose being laid through the house from a lorry outside and pumping it in, but I've no idea if such a system even exists, let alon e can be had at reasonable cost. The other option is to get a mixer (there' s a guy at work hires out a Belle Minimix) and do it with barrows and shove ls - I have no real experience, but I'm not sure that's sensible at this si ze.
So maybe I go for a suspended wooden floor after all - any advice on how be st to do it? Bearing in mind one side of the shed would be over the existin g slabs, and the other over what's currently grass. Frame and joists of tre ated 4" timbers and sturdy floorboards over?
Anyway, any advice on the job is welcome. And apologies for any Google wier dnesses in this post - I used to post to uk.d-i-y regularly years ago, but I no longer have a news account or a reader installed.
Cheers,
Pete