Shed base - pads?

[Tim Watts]

Has anyone used those ^^ or something like them?

I'll be building a small shed (DIY build, not prefab crap) later this year. Maybe 2.

I don't want large quanities of concrete - particularly not a solid base[1], so I thought about 4 concrete pads and span with timbers a la decking.

This keeps the shed floor dry and leaves a gap to store ladders underneath.

However, the Swift pads above don't even use concrete (apart from the top stone pads). Just a mesh filled with 10mm gravel.

Just wondered if they were likely to work or not. Otherwise I was thinking to set 1 ft cubed blocks of concrete into the ground at the corners with either a raised pad on top or a metal "leg" with timber bracket on top (I think I've seen something like this for decking).

How would you do it (with minimal concrete/digging)?

Cheers,

Tim

[1] I'm spending all my time getting rid of bloody concrete pads and bases in this garden.

The old greenhouse (gone) had a base 3m x 2m x 20cm thick!

Similar for the old knackered shed.

Then misc pads about the sixe of a wooden bench seat. Why???

[Dave Liquorice]

To store what, 16 tonnes of assorted machine tools or a wheelbarrow and spade?

Level the ground. Compact it (hire a whacker plate) if leveling meant that some of the ground was "new". Place 30 cm slabs at suitable intervals for the joists and span support. Mortar a brick on top(*), ensuring tops of bricks are level with each other in all directions to save having to faff about with thin packing pieces later. Possibly mortar a bit of slate onto the top of the brick as a DP layer.

(*) You seem to want a bit more height to store ladders underneath. So maybe a two course, four brick column. Personally I'd not store ladders where tea leaves can easily get at them. Useful things ladders for getting access to windows 1st floor windows "safely" left open. Maybe not yours but a neighbours...

[Tim Watts]

On Tuesday 06 August 2013 12:54 Dave Liquorice wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Good question. Bikes and/or garden tools. It really is a shed - not a "workshop". That's later. The shed is a dry run (smaller) for that later project. However, I do intend to build it "well" and not have to rebuild it for a very long time :)

I have slabs - I like that idea.

My ladders are not long enough for that. Mostly steps. But it's a good point. Probaby a good idea to chain them to a bolt through the shed base rafter too.

[michael adams]

Not necessary, provided they're all chained together.

All chained together, they'd be impossible to move or use, without first cutting the chain. And if a thief is going to have to cut the chain anyway, the fact that its attached to a secure bolt or fitting wouldn't really make any difference.

A secure bolt or fitting comes into its own for securing objects than could otherwise be easily be carried away.

michael adams

...

[Tim Watts]

On Tuesday 06 August 2013 12:54 Dave Liquorice wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Combining ideas, and eventually deducing the search term "adjustable riser", I found these:

Look rather interesting. Got the advantage that if the pad sinks for any reason one can tweak it up a bit.

I'm thinking your slab, well bedded, and one of these times perhaps 6 (corners plus midspan).

And I can choose the height I want for underside storage. As it happens the shed would be on sloping ground so one side will still be close to the ground, even with 6" of gap under the other. And these things are a *lot* cheaper than the Swift Plinths that come in at £50 + VAT each + £60+VAT delivery.

That would reduce groundworks to very little.

[GB]

When I were a lad, we had a cedar garden shed, propped up on bricks and similar bits in various places. It were old when I were a lad. And it lasted until last year, when we finally demolished it, and I'm now pretty old.

I don't know what work was done to compact the soil under the bits of brick holding the shed up. My guess is not much. I don't recall much sagging, but if one corner did drop a bit it wouldn't have mattered much, and we probably wouldn't have noticed.

You can over-engineer these things, you know.

[Tim Watts]

On Tuesday 06 August 2013 14:25 GB wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Hehe.

Over engineered is what I have now, with ruddy tons of concrete everywhere...

I'm happy with a cu-ft with a bit of metal sticking up or something on a well bashed base...

[Bill]

In message , GB writes

When I were a lad, Dad helped me put about 6 piles of bricks down, then we put the shed up on top. It was still fine when we left that house over 20 years later, taking the Myford etc. with us.

But we had a lot of hassle with pets and their friends and enemies liking it under there. We had a cat with kittens, the occasional rabbit, foxes and whatever else. I must have had to re-do the wire netting skirt about 3 times over the years.