"Mike Lyle" wrote

Agreed. But a concrete base is best: apart from anything else, rats
like nesting under suspended floors.


Not with our cats using it as a hidy-hole they won't :-) Actually a point
worth making if you have cats put the shed up high enough so that they can
get under and have have somewhere cool and very private to lounge and theres
no way any vermin are going to try and make it home. We puts our new shed on
3 inch wooden bearers supported by concrete blocks on their edge, works very
well.

Sam

In article ,
(Mike Lyle) wrote:

rats like nesting under suspended floors.

Yes, a neighbour has a tenant! My draft plan is this:

- Lay down chicken wire slightly larger than shed floor
- Erect shed on top
- Bend up chicken wire
- Staple to bottom edge of the walls.


Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com
A useful bit of gardening software at http://www.netservs.com/garden/

In article ,
(the q) wrote:

eventually will rot where they meet they supports from the ground ,
e.g. concrete, slabs, brick etc
the better quality you but the longer it lasts. also if you keep up
the maintenance they last much longer.

So the key maintenance area is the floor/bearers? Do you regularly jack
up the shed and replace/treat the bearers? Or is it as easy as emptying
a can of cuprinol onto the floor and relying on it soaking through?

I notice some sheds are guaranteed for 5/10 years but the small print
requires annual treatment. Can't see the point of tickling the walls and
door with a paintbrush every year except for appearances. And that's not
sheddy :-)

Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com
A useful bit of gardening software at http://www.netservs.com/garden/

Steve Harris wrote:
I'm planning to buy a shed and I'm interested in hearing urglers
stories of their first "row" with their shed :-) And what they'd look
for in a replacement?

You get what you pay for. Most cheap sheds have thin boards and cheap
felting. They bend and twist and the doors either stick or gape open.
Often the roof does not overhang far enough , you want a good 6 inches to
keep the weather off the wood. But the biggest stupidity is that the base
is made of softwood (allegedly treated) because the beams underneath rot.
Ask around for a good supplier - don;'t buy the cheaperst from some bypass
superstore.

One trick is to find someone you know doesn't make sheds - a fencing
manufacturer say - and go and ask him if he does! then when they say no,
ask who makes good sheds. They will be flattered, and you will get
impartial, local, informed information.

My advice would be:
1. Prepare a base on which rainwater does not stand. Be it raised blocks,
sloping concrete, whatever you can manage. Throwing a few blocks onto soil
will lift it up, but they will sink unevenly and distort the shed. If the
floor ends up quite high, make a concrete ramp up to it rather than steps.
2. invert the base and soak it liberally in wood preservative several
times.
3. Build the shed as per the instructions, but buy proper roofing felt and
put it on with adhesive.
4. cross-brace the back and sides to avoid twisting if you can. You can use
wire and turnbuckles if you resent the space taken up by a bit of 2by2
inside. If you are going to store heavy things like paint, constuct the
staging down to floor level, rather than hang shelves on the shed, or the
weight will twist the walls and make doors or windows jam.
5. Fit gutters and a water butt (the sides will last longer)
6. Glaze with polycarbonate, not glass, if children are about. Use proper
putty, it will make the frames last longer.
7. Fit a really good lock, don't rely on the one it came with.
8. Fit a ventillator, so you don't have to leave the window open to prevent
damp.
9. Treat with preservative when new, including the inside and the floor.
10. Get a flip-down doorstay or a hook to hold the door open, so it does not
bang about in the wind.
11. Don't forget to secure the sides to the floor, to ensure it does not
blow away! In very windy areas, you may want to bury angle irons in
concrete and screw the sides to them, or make wire stays.
12. Decorate it. Fit a weather cock, carved wooden animals, fretwork barge
boards, anything. Just make it your shed, rather than just another garden
shed. Quite a good laugh is to wallpaper the inside with newspapers from
the day you bought it, and varnish over them.

Red gingham curtains are traditional.

On Wed, 28 Apr 2004 12:30:02 +0200, martin wrote:

There's a museum in Yorkshire restoring, what was originally a WWII
Horsa glider, that was then used as a chicken shed for 50 years. I
suppose it failed when it lost it's wings.

A fitting home for almost flightless chicken.
--
Tim C.

Robert E A Harvey wrote:
My advice would be:
1. Prepare a base on which rainwater does not stand. Be it raised
blocks, sloping concrete, whatever you can manage. Throwing a few
blocks onto soil will lift it up, but they will sink unevenly and
distort the shed. If the floor ends up quite high, make a concrete
ramp up to it rather than steps.


concrete fencepost with a bearing pad of lean mix concrete under each end is
pretty stable.

pk

"Robert E A Harvey" wrote in message
...
Steve Harris wrote:
I'm planning to buy a shed and I'm interested in hearing urglers
stories of their first "row" with their shed :-) And what they'd look
for in a replacement?

Shed 1 : a catalogue-bought metal affair (Yardmaster, I believe) with
flimsy double doors. This was screwed down to paving slabs. We still have
it, but the doors fail regularly and it's full of minor dents.
Shed 2 : an 8ft by 6ft shiplap shed with suspended floor. This was bought
from a DIY shed and is absolute rubbish. All of the planks warped and it
leaks like a sieve. The roof is too small (not enough overhang) and it's a
favourite hunting ground for our cats. Still in use as a junk store/rat
shelter at the bottom of the garden.
Shed 3 : Built by hubby onto the end of one of the greenhouses. This is made
of treated softwood, tongue & groove timber and a concrete floor. It has
running water, lighting and mains sockets. Double doors for easy access,
seats that convert into double-decker seed tray stands and bags of built-in
storage. It's so wonderful that I confiscated it, leading to...
Shed 4 : Built by hubby from concrete blocks on a concrete base. Slated roof
and rendered exterior with trellis and climbing plants. Blocks,
double-glazed windows and french doors were bought second hand from
Adtrader. http://www.adtrader.co.uk/ (There are always plenty of blocks
either cheap or free due to over-ordering by builders). He spent a year
collecting the bits before building it in a couple of weeks. This one has
sink, h/c water, mains, hi-fi .... and a men-only policy!

As a general rule ... you don't get what you pay for, things are always far
more flimsy than you would build for yourself, and you always end up with
something that disappoints - unless you do-it-yourself.

The message
from "Robert E A Harvey" contains these words:

(snip excellent advice..should be an FAQ.

Just make it your shed, rather than just another garden
shed. Quite a good laugh is to wallpaper the inside with newspapers from
the day you bought it, and varnish over them.

Red gingham curtains are traditional.

Awwwwww. I got my first shed when I was about 6, where I kept my
menagerie and did all the things mothers don't appreciate inside the
house. I wish I'd thought of wallpapering it with newspapers! However, I
did think of the red gingham curtains, which I made from newspapers and
wax crayons, and accidentally set fire to with a candle ..just managed
to beat it out in time to save the shed and inhabitants, but singed my
smocking so they found out :-(

Janet.

(Steve Harris) wrote in message ...
In article ,
(Mike Lyle) wrote:

rats like nesting under suspended floors.

Yes, a neighbour has a tenant! My draft plan is this:

- Lay down chicken wire slightly larger than shed floor
- Erect shed on top
- Bend up chicken wire
- Staple to bottom edge of the walls.


Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com
A useful bit of gardening software at http://www.netservs.com/garden/

I think that should be ok. But I'd still go for a concrete floor if
cost and permanence aren't problems: I don't really trust the floors
they supply.

Mike (also in Chelt, as it happens. If that was your toe I trod on
when looking at the pelargonium plugs at B&Q this week, I apologise
again: it's the vari-focals, you know!)

The message
from martin contains these words:
On Wed, 28 Apr 2004 12:14:54 +0100, "shazzbat"
wrote:
"Steve Harris" wrote in message
...
I'm planning to buy a shed and I'm interested in hearing urglers stories
of their first "row" with their shed :-) And what they'd look for in a
replacement?

Moan away - TIA!

I've put a pic of the type of shed you want here :-

http://ourallotment.mysite.freeserve.com/

misc photos

Odd. Lovely little shed with rustic charm appeared, picture stopped
loading and then disappeared.

Other two frames full of blackcurrant milk-shake.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

The message
from (Mike Lyle) contains these words:

I lost the corrugated iron and translucent plastic roof off a big
home-made shed in the hurricane of '89: this was because I hadn't made
sure the wind couldn't get in under the edges. The same happened to
the farmer next door, so I only felt 90% stupid. The next one had a
roof covered with aluminium sheet off a dismantled caravan, and I made
_quite_ sure the edges were firmly folded and nailed, even over the
projecting joists at the lower end.

Other requirements, IMO, a it should look nice, in a sheddy sort of
way; it should be bigger than you think necessary;

No. properly it should be like a Tardis: bigger inside than out. All
proper sheds are Tardi.

admit lots of light
-- through the roof is most efficient; have a wide doorway; be
reasonably frost-proof; have electric light and a double 13A socket
(wiring for these can be powered from a plug in a spare socket in the
house, but a proper job is better; and the light-switch should be a
waterproof one or a bathroom-type cord one).

This is beginning to sound suspiciously like a bungalow.

A short ramp to the door is better than a step. If there are children
about, it's often possible to add a small lean-to extension on the
sunny side for them to hide in and climb on; and I'd have a lockable
cupboard in the shed for any nasty products -- we once had a
terrifying false alarm.

For my money a blackish sump-oil or tar varnish finish looks better
than the green or orangey style they sell you.

Hmmmm. Turboshed. You unremembered the red checky curtings thobut.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

The message
from martin contains these words:

There's a museum in Yorkshire restoring, what was originally a WWII
Horsa glider, that was then used as a chicken shed for 50 years. I
suppose it failed when it lost it's wings.

I remember seeing a section of fuselage of something fairly large -
Lancaster, Wellington or similar, fitted with a shed door. It was on a
croft in or near Grimsheader on the Isle of Lewis.

Unforgets me: we had a new polis - very keen he was - poking his nose
into everything: not what the crofters of South Lochs were used to at
all. He obviously needed something to keep him occupied, and I had found
loads of old ·303 and 30-06 rounds where they had been dumped sometime
after the war. I thought of reporting their location so he would have
something useful to do - they were spread along quite a distance of
shore - but his own eagerness pre-empted any action and was his undoing.

He stopped one of the local Wee Free meenisters and gave his car a
going-over, reporting him for all the defects he found.

New Polis was replaced in very short order with someone much more
laid-back.......

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

On Mon, 3 May 2004 00:13:07 +0100, Jaques d'Alltrades
wrote:

The message
from martin contains these words:
On Wed, 28 Apr 2004 12:14:54 +0100, "shazzbat"
wrote:
"Steve Harris" wrote in message
...
I'm planning to buy a shed and I'm interested in hearing urglers stories
of their first "row" with their shed :-) And what they'd look for in a
replacement?

Moan away - TIA!

I've put a pic of the type of shed you want here :-

http://ourallotment.mysite.freeserve.com/

misc photos

Odd. Lovely little shed with rustic charm appeared, picture stopped
loading and then disappeared.

Other two frames full of blackcurrant milk-shake.

perhaps a punishment for wrong attribution?

The message
from martin contains these words:
On Mon, 3 May 2004 00:13:07 +0100, Jaques d'Alltrades
wrote:

Odd. Lovely little shed with rustic charm appeared, picture stopped
loading and then disappeared.

Other two frames full of blackcurrant milk-shake.

perhaps a punishment for wrong attribution?

Dunno how that happened - unless that poster who never puts attributions
atop his posts is in amongst it somewhere.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

"shazzbat" wrote
He then built
the shed entirely of doors. Sides, roof the lot, everything was doors. They
were all different colours and styles, it was bizarre.

Ah, "the one true shed". May it ROT in peace