Every man should have owned at least one garden shed in his life time anand at the age of 64 I am taking the plunge and I must admit to feeling a childish excitement in anticipation. Now I know that there is more to just going down to your local shed supplier, selecting the shed of your choice, having it delivered and erected and then filling it with all the junk , future useful items. I need to have a firm base for said shed, I propose having paving slabs laid, which is where I have run into a slight conundrum, sheds it seems are measured in imperial, my shed will be 6' x 4' but simple paving slabs are metric and are 600mm x 600mm. So my questions are will 6 slabs be an ample base for the above sized shed? How should the slabs be laid as the area is currently grassed? What about lighting, I cannot run a cable across so what portable lamp or will I really not need one? Anything else I heed to consider?
Why not just lay concrete? What i did with my summerhouse/shed/bedroom is have it raised then only have the posts raising it in concrete and it's been stable for years even living next to a train station that shakes the ground.
Had thought of concrete but as it is a shared or common garden there is some council rule that forbids its use in this situation.
@Kronos , I'd put down a base that's slightly bigger than the shed, personally - a 6x4 base for a 6x4 shed isn't going to be ideal. Make sure that the shed sits on bearers (wooden beams) on the base rather than directly on the base itself, as this will allow air to circulate under the shed and keep it off the ground away from water - this will prevent rotting.
Gravel is another option for a base, mark-out the size of the shed and cut/dig a 6 inch hole and fill it with fairly course gravel, you could even hire a whacker plate and have fun compacting it down.
You definitely need to consider foundation, I don’t put much pariculalry heavy in mine but it sagged and because of small movement of the supporting structure made the shed a little rickity as it is no longer squared, concrete next time for me.
Floors on off the shelf sheds can be greatly improved by over skinning or completely being replaced by 3/4" OSB. It's served our cheap B&Q one well over many years and many (5) house moves.
If your doing slabs go a bit bigger than the footprint of the shed, I think pro's put down a membrane with sand on top. The sand gets raked perfectly level then the slabs are layed and left over sand goes in all the crevices. I'm hoping to get a shed this year and am planning on putting a solar panel or two on it so it can power itself.
Slabs will be laid on a bed of concrete sand/cement mix which should be fine. I noticed the quite poor floors of the B&Q sheds which do not compare to the much sturdier construction of the specialist supplier.
Just been looking at solar lights as advised elsewhere and definitely the way to go. Not sure that I need to slab bigger than the footprint to be hones but as yet I am undecided on that one.
Kronos- may I welcome you to the Lordly world of Men...and their Sheds. It's a bit like becoming a Kingsman, except neither Oxfords not Brogues are de rigueur As Lance from The Dectorists was heard to mumble about women in his previous life....."I'll never undersand Men and their 'obbies" But first, a word of caution - once the enclave is assembled, and the first items are entered within.... you'll regret having a little one. So rule one - Get the biggest one you can manage Next- and this is just as important - will little scrotes and the scum of the earth try to break in? If so, it might be best to have one with a window and never leave anything interesting it it, so they can shine their fetid little dank lights into your domain and then sod off to half inch someones elses prized items. Base - Concrete slabs DO work, but they also wobble after time and then your shed leans and starts to missshape and won't last long. A concrete slabbed based needs to be ulta solid and that's in heavy rain, dry dry summer and in frost. Although you cant replicate the weight of a shed and it's heavenly contents, you could lay the slabs way in advance and let them settle a while. Check them on a lazy Sunday, and also at 1am on a Thursday with a lazer light so all the neighbours a) know you mean business b) respect you for all eternity c) talk about you in hushed tones. Willyou have guttering? And if not, where will the rain fall too? This is less imprtant with an Apex (high middle, sloping both sides) and more important with a Penta (angled only one way so one side it higher) as the rain on this area will accumulate and go only one way. And if you have guttering... a water butt?
\\ pretends he doesn't spend some entire weekends looking at sheds there are a few specialist shed websites, that allow you to build and design your own. Clearly they are some serious dough but they're helpful to picture what you want, right? The quality of the roof felt is ESSENTIAL. as with a house, a weak roof is a weak house.
Thank you at 64 years of age it has been a long time coming. I have always had a little one, titter yea not. 6' x 4' is all the space I have but feel it is plenty. Decent padlock and bolted hasp will make life difficult but I may well not bother with a window as I intend to install solar lights I am sticking with slabs which will be properly bedded and should not move. No to guttering and a water butt.
It's probably worth replacing some of the screws securing the bolt & hasp (and the door hinges) with carriage bolts, because otherwise it's trivial to unscrew your security hardware in seconds. A closed shackle padlock will resist bolt cutters much better than a standard padlock. But the tricky thing about shed security is that you want to make your shed secure, but not look too secure - if it looks like Fort Knox then would-be thieves will think that there must be something inside that's worth investigating... Our shed has been broken into twice in the last six months: the first time they crowbarred the hasp off and the second time they used bolt cutters to go through the padlock like it was butter. They were after bikes, I think, but they don't live in our shed.
I will definitely change screws for bolts and I have a decent padlock which has been lying around the house for many a year and finally it is going to earn its keep.
