Wooden buildings - why?

Having been distracted (as usual) whilst trawling through the news group I noted that someone was building a shed of breeeze block.

How does this compare in cost to building with wood?

It may have the advantage (in terms of building regs) of making an outbuilding qualify as being of 'mainly non-inflamable materials' and thus avoiding the '1 metre from the boundary if over 15 square metres in area' rule.

There are, of course, issues like rendering the outside for a smooth finish but I am starting to wonder if this is a viable solution.

Then again, there must be a reason for so many wooden sheds and workshops.

Cheers

Dave R

Reply to
David WE Roberts
Loading thread data ...

Above all - cost.

Add in that many are put up without any sort of base (or a few old slabs), that they're easy to transport and handle as panels, and can be put together quickly by an idiot - you can see why a more durable option is passed by.

I wonder in fact, if it's part of the reason why timber houses aren't popular here - whilst Scandinavia and North America has them in abundance? OK - so they're major timber producers, but maybe the Brits have seen too many rubbish sheds to consider a timber house viable.

Reply to
RubberBiker

David WE Roberts expressed precisely :

It is not really comparing like with like. A shed would likely be ready made and just need assembling, whereas a built shed from blocks/bricks or what ever obviously has to be built from the ground up. Are we discussing buying the wood and entirely DIYing the shed? Are we discussing self building a shed or getting a brickie in to do it?

A brick/ block shed would tend to have more spent on it anyway - more substantial roof and etc..

I built a 15x15' wooden summer house from scratch around 10 years ago. That cost around £500 in basic materials. I also self built a block work shed of a comparable wall size, but as a lean to, that cost £1,000 about 6 years ago.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

If you're a Greenie timber has many environmental advantages over concrete.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

I built one out of Wickes breeze/concrete block 14 years ago. Main decider was keeping the night-of-the-living-dead locals out. Knowledge wise I started from scratch and took about 10 days from laying the concrete slab, to tiling the roof. Dead easy!. ISTR costs ended up slightly dearer than a wood version I'd priced up on. Offered a perfect excuse to buy a concrete mixer and a diamond blade for the angle grinder :). Render seemed hard work and always looks 'iffy', so left the blockwork bare and painted with two coats of stone paint. To finish off I had fun adding stucco quoin work on the corners. Zero shed maintenance needed since. (I've a pic somewhere)

Reply to
john jardine

If you have the skill to do either yourself, then blocks can work fairly similar in price. Especially if you want a decent quality shiplap etc.

Indeed. Having said that, I remember last time I read through the rules and regs regarding garden buildings, I did an informal survey of the neighbourhood to see what proportion would comply with the requirements. The answer was something approaching zero! ;-)

Roughcast render is quite easy, or for that matter you could clad it in something.

Ease of prefabrication, transport, non skilled assembly etc

Reply to
John Rumm

Well, it's easy to do in wood - just a few 2x4's for the framework, and board over the top of that (I did a small one from scratch with a friend of about 5x8' in size a little while ago, and it was less than a day to get the framework done, board over that, and put a window and door in it)

The wood itself is pretty cheap (running the numbers in my head, a shade over 100 quid, but we did scrounge a door from another project), but the weatherproofing material is what costs...

It works, I suppose, is cheap, easy to do, and the underlying structure will hang in there for long time so long as exterior maintenance is kept up with.

On the downside, it's not as strong as brick and can be something of a fire hazard...

cheers

Jules

Reply to
Jules

Jules explained :

...and, as someone else pointed out, wood is not nearly as secure if valuables are kept inside.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

its quick, its cheap and it's portable. Packflat sheds abound.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

WE have very little wood left to build with, we have plenty of coal clay and limestone.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Yup. You are cutting down forests to build it ;-)

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

workshops.

Recently I've taken to laying a course of blocks on the concrete slab (to get out of the damp zone), and building shed on top of that from

4x2 framework, clad internally with 18mm OSB and externally with feather edge, rockwool as an infill, and roofing membrane under the feather edge.

Has the advantage of being reasonably secure (due to osb lining) well insulated and externally still in keeping with the rest of the farm buildings. The most recent one was 40 foot by 15 foot, and prefabricating the frames took me a day, and another day with the help of a neighbour to errect them and put the roof on.

AWEM

Reply to
Andrew Mawson

Rather 'harvesting a crop'.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

Do you know what standard a concrete block shed would need to be built to if the intention is to upgrade it to accommodation for the house at a later date?

I've got the offer of help from the firm's jobbing builder, where his work is slack, and have been intending to have a one floor extension off the kitchen but cannot afford to do more than build the carcase initially.

Applying for pp is not a problem but speccing the work such that it can meet future regs may be.

AJH

Reply to
andrew

Thanks for all the responses so far - although I am still seeing benefits for both routes :-)

I am planning to build everything myself, much as described above. I had not considered a course of blocks but it is an interesting thought. The concrete floor is intended as the floor to the shed. This is why I am wondering about a DPC under the concrete, and how ties in with laying the slab all at one go. Mixmate quote (snipped) is:

"Thanks for your enquiry, I would assume you have been looking at our website,and would like to give you the following quote which is based on 1.5 m3 concrete:

Delivery only £187:50 Remember you only pay for what you use 1 hour given for placement.

Mini Dumper £40:00 we will operate and place where required.

We do not charge for part loads. "

By the time you have included the feather edge, 2*4 (or 3*1.5), roofing membrane, insulation and OSB the walls are getting quite complex but also quite good. Much better than the average store bought shed.

I am still wondering if a block wall will be cost effective; I will have to price it up. I presume the timber frame option (as described above) will be warmer than a block wall. However the block wall should last forever. A 4" insulated wood wall will take up as much space as a block wall (but not as much as an insulate block wall).

I have a solid fuel stove - not sure about the regulations for having a stove in your garden shed or workshop but a block building will be less inflamable.

I am rapidly reaching the point of too many decisions.

Cheers

Dave R

Reply to
David WE Roberts

Regulations have just changed again, and now you are not allowed a veranda without applying for building regs.

This renders most sheds in neighbouring gardens outside the curent regs.

Oh, and you can't sit on the roof, either.

I think this is to prevent someone for example building a 15 sq metre single storey shed with another 60 sq metres of 'veranda' around it, and with a sun deck on top of all the 75 square metres . [Otherwise known as 'taking the p*ss'.]

I am pretty sure I could exceed the stated dimensions without anyone noticing or complaining in the short term.

However we intend to rip the back off our house and replace it with glass doors at some point in the next couple of years at which point the building regs man will be round quite a bit. Don't want a suspiciously non-regulation shed there to greet him each time he visits the site :-)

Reply to
David WE Roberts

It would need a proper foundation, proper DPC, and allow for the walls to be insulated to modern standards (even if you don't do that bit now). There is nothing to stop you having a single skin block wall for example and then dry lining it later to meet the required level of insulation. Building it as an uninsulated cavity may be an option and then injecting CWI when converting to an extension.

It only needs to meet the regs as they stand when you are starting the job. If the regs change in process of doing the build then you usually have the choice of complying with either version.

Reply to
John Rumm

In this case then certainly include the DPC - there is no real downside in doing so. You may want to blind off the hardcore layer (with a thin layer of compacted sand) before laying the DPC to ensure it does not get penetrated by the hardcore.

Its worth getting a few quotes. A friend of mine recently did a shed base, and wanted the concrete delivered, placed and laid for him (about

0.9m^3). He paid about £220 in the end, but some quotes were near double that.

Indeed. This is the best argument for building your own vs prefab wood sheds - you won't save money but you will get a far more substantial building.

Yup - you can a thinner timber frame wall for a given u-Value

That would nudge me toward block built....

Let us know how the costings work out for blockwork.

Reply to
John Rumm

Quick Google, and at

formatting link
there are various thermal blocks, and the prices are quoted per sqaure metre for most products.

A very simple calculation:

two walls 6m long by 2m high = 24 square metres two walls 2.5m long by 2m high = 10 square metres.

Total is therefore 34 square metres (rear wall will be higher for sloping pent roof, but no blocks required for window and door space).

Given that the price for 100mm blocks starts at £8.34 per square metre and goes up to £16.76 per square metre for high strength blocks this is looking pretty cheap - £285 (+vat) up to double that for the blocks.

If I went for the 200mm blocks at around £20 per square metre we are looking at less than £700 + vat.

This looks relatively good compared with timber - I was expecting to pay around £800 for all the wooden bits although I haven't drawn up a detailed materials list and priced that.

More detailed work required, but both options are looking possible.

Style may well come into it, though.

Cheers

Dave R

Reply to
David WE Roberts

Shiplapped timber?

Adam

Reply to
ARWadsworth

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.