Shed bases made of plastic - are they any good?

[rmwebs]

Hi all,

I've been looking at a shed base and am on a bit of a tight budget, and ideally want to get it done by myself as soon as possible.

I've been looking at these new plastic shed bases, and at first thought they were some sort of feable, weak product but after looking at them and researching them, I'm not so sure now.

If you google 'plastic shed base' you'll find a number of results, for example Homebase and Screwfix both stock them.

The shed I'm building is a 8 by 10 log-cabin style (one of the slot together ones) which I'll be converting into a garden office (all planned out).

What do you think? Would a plastic base be ok for this, or am I really going to have to go for a concrete one?

Another option I saw was basically putting slabs down, and then thick solid wood runners, with the shed's own base on top of this, raising the shed by around 4 inches.

I've been searching for reviews and some pros/cons as to each method but cant seem to find anything other than damn adverts!

Any input would be appreciated,

Thanks!

[damduck-egg]

Don't look as if they would do anything much different from some plastic pallets placed and trimmed in the right places. Like wooden ones they vary from light to heavy duty but also like wooden ones they are often available used and if you are on a tight budget will probably be cheaper than offerings from the DIY Sheds.

G.Harman

[Jeremy Nicoll - news posts]

I have my shed standing on a gravel drive, so although the runners are laid directly on the gravel, it's a surface which drains easily... which I hope will mean the runners last longer.

Rather than laying slabs you might find spreading a few inches of gravel would be easier (though it would need to be edged somehow to stop the gravel squeezing out at the sides).

[NT]

[chris French]

When I did my last shed, I put down some concrete blocks (actually, I think I cut them in half). Bedded on a dry mix sand and cement mixture, and then laid the bearers (treated fence posts) across these.

[Adam Aglionby]

Couple of different plastic shed base tiles:

neat enough idea, spreads the load over large area if its a bit soft, goes in quick, but blocks and bearers aren`t any big time user either and probably 100 quid cheaper if you dont have to worry about sinking.

Cheers Adam

[MM]

If I was building a shed from scratch, i.e. not from a kit, I'd have four main posts, one in each corner, say 2 x 2, and each of these would be placed on a single patio slab, again one in each corner. I'd construct the wooden floor about four inches above the ground. Oh, and I'd dunk the ends of the posts in creocote for 24 hours first, upt to a depth of at least four inches.

The four patio slabs could either rest on the ground or maybe cemented in place, after digging out the ground a little and putting in some ballast.

MM

[Dave Liquorice]

That's what I would do, making sure the block or bricks are suitable for damp conditions and place a bit of slate or DPM between the block and timber bearer.

I don't know why people insist on cast concrete "shed base" or laying slabs over the whole area or similar things. Nothing is going to grow underneath, make sure there is good are flow in a it will be dry. The only slight problem might be rabbits (rural) or foxes (urban) taking up home underneath but they can be kept out with a bit of mesh along the gap.

[chris French]

Yup, I put of DPM roll twixt timber and block. Probably not necessary, but no reason not to.

No, and laying a typical shed straight down onto the slabs never seemed like a good idea. It's just asking for it to rot. Which was the incentive really for the blocks/bearers route for me, as the old shed I demolished had serious rot in the floor and bottom of the walls. (not helped by our very poor draining clay soil, where water would collect where ever it could after rain.)

[PeterC]

I had the advantage of ground that I knew hadn't been dug for >40 years, wasn't very damp and gets little rainfall anyway, so no use for crops. I cleared and levelled it by just scraping then use engineering brick on sharp sand with the bearers on top.

[PeterC]

Yup, keep it dry until we have a fine spell (how soon do you want to do this?). My old shed was in similar condition to yours. I emptied it, freed it from the wall (pent lean-to) and, as it was only 4' wide, tipped it over.

[Bertie Doe]

My 8 x 4 shed got finished last month:-

[MM]

Very interesting, thanks. Any reason why you wanted it so high off the ground? Just wondering.

MM

[The Natural Philosopher]

>>> Bertie

Rats, polecats?

[Bertie Doe]

/ground? Just wondering.

I've been given a couple of tons (or more) of topsoil, from a neighbour who wanted to dig out part of his allotment for use as a carport. A lot of soil needed to be excavated as the slope is 12 : 1. The soil level has been raised and the concrete blocks are no longer visible. The original plan was not to bother with the blocks but simply to bolt the

3" x 2" tanalised, straight into the 20mm/dust cement 'H' base.