Quality of Life Shed Upgrades

[dirtychinchilla]

I'm finally getting a shed. It's only little, 5 x 6 ft, but for the past three years we've just had a bike shed, so this is a major upgrade. It's double the floor space and about 1.5x taller.

I've gone for one from Tiger Sheds as they seem well rated around here, with the backwards sloping roof, so we'll put a gutter on and attach a water butt to that.

Has anyone got any suggestions for minor quality of life upgrades for a shed? I'm thinking a small amount of insulation, good ventilation, a light, and some shelves.

 

[Buffman]

What's the purpose of it? If its just for storing tools/bikes etc there is no point in putting insulation in it as presumably you won't be heating the space.

A light and a load of shelving will be sound

 

[dirtychinchilla]

What's the purpose of it? If its just for storing tools/bikes etc there is no point in putting insulation in it as presumably you won't be heating the space.

A light and a load of shelving will be sound

Just because sheds are often miserable. The main issue I have with shelves I’ve had is that they’re moist inside, which I was thinking might be helped by insulation. That may have been a bit daft, not sure

 

[Richie]

Even with plenty of ventilation you may still get some moisture inside from condensation especially in Winter.

I have tons of ventilation on mine and still got it this Winter because our weather has been stupid - 12 degrees and wet one day then -3 the next. All the air in the shed warms up (and warm air holds more moisture) then the cold comes reducing the dewpoint right down and the warm moist air dumps all the moisture onto the coldest parts of the shed. If the weather was more normal, we wouldnt be getting these large swings in temps in very short periods so the ventilation would cope fine as the condensation would be less (it always has in the past).

Thankfully I have a composite shed so no harm down to the structure and it all seems to gather in the corner next to the door so I just dried it up.... No doubt it will happen again this weekend-ish given its 12°C today and to be 0°C or lower from Wed onwards.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

insulation just delays the transfer of heat

 

[dirtychinchilla]

Potentially, then, it could smooth out this change in temperature situation.

Probably not going to insulate though as I don't want to pay for it and I won't be spending any actual time in there

 

[ANDARIAL]

What about adding one of those condensate bathroom fans if you are getting a lot of damp?
Not used one myself though

 

[dirtychinchilla]

What about adding one of those condensate bathroom fans if you are getting a lot of damp?
Not used one myself though

I'm not planning to have power to the shed, though it could be sensible to put it in. Got someone laying my patio as we speak

 

[ANDARIAL]

DEFINATELY get power to shed if possible
never know when you might want it.Good for lighting so that you can see what you got in there

 

[dirtychinchilla]

DEFINATELY get power to shed if possible
never know when you might want it.Good for lighting so that you can see what you got in there

You're right. I want the guy to run the conduit or whatever under the patio, I'm just not sure I'll ever make the power connection to the house as that's a bit of a ball ache.

 

[ANDARIAL]

Could just put a plug on the end or similar IF its not for high power or infrequent use
Not the best/safest but possible

 

[dirtychinchilla]

Could just put a plug on the end or similar IF its not for high power or infrequent use
Not the best/safest but possible

That's what he suggested, but I don't have much enthusiasm for it. It's probably not very legal, but we've got an external light with an internal light switch. I could just have that always on and then put some sort of split outside so I can switch on the outside lights and the shed light.

 

[sigma]

You need it fully kitted out, insulation, humidity control, air con, false floor, stripper pole and bar.

 

[sovietspybob]

Personally i'd go for...

Paint the inside of it white as it feels a lot nicer and less dingy (i never did this but wish i had)
put up lots of storage be it shelves or a rack with lots of hooks on one wall for garden tools to keep them off the floor
Put in some kind of power for a light, i put a small solar panel on the roof with an old car battery and used 4 LED strips for lighting
If you've got power try some kind of forced ventilation, i put in a fan on a timer which runs a couple of hours a day to keep the air moving and seems to cut down on condensation.
A small shelf to put stuff down on is mega handy, i've got a small one just inside the door and it's been really good even if its just somewhere to put your mug of tea when you're in there.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

Personally i'd go for...

Paint the inside of it white as it feels a lot nicer and less dingy (i never did this but wish i had)
put up lots of storage be it shelves or a rack with lots of hooks on one wall for garden tools to keep them off the floor
Put in some kind of power for a light, i put a small solar panel on the roof with an old car battery and used 4 LED strips for lighting
If you've got power try some kind of forced ventilation, i put in a fan on a timer which runs a couple of hours a day to keep the air moving and seems to cut down on condensation.
A small shelf to put stuff down on is mega handy, i've got a small one just inside the door and it's been really good even if its just somewhere to put your mug of tea when you're in there.

Awesome, love that. I was thinking about painting the inside as I really don't like the colour of the wood, and I thought it might look a bit smarter. The outside will definitely be painted.

I'm making sure my guy is 100% putting in this power conduit. At least I can choose whether to wire it that way.

Edit: the conduit and the cable is going in, woo!

 

[ChroniC]

I have a small Tiger shed.. The biggest issue is floor space. If you do not get a decent set of shelves or screw some wood to the struts to put your tools on, it very very quickly becomes unusable.
A lawnmower and a few bits here and there and you'll struggle walk about.. You need to keep the small light stuff away from the floor at all costs.

 

[Blackvault]

Is this what @dirtychinchilla is hoping for?

 

[dirtychinchilla]

I have a small Tiger shed.. The biggest issue is floor space. If you do not get a decent set of shelves or screw some wood to the struts to put your tools on, it very very quickly becomes unusable.
A lawnmower and a few bits here and there and you'll struggle walk about.. You need to keep the small light stuff away from the floor at all costs.

I'm going to get some shelves from FB marketplace to put in there. It's definitely going to fill up quickly otherwise.

Fortunately, my brother-in-law lives across the road and I borrow his lawnmower, so he keeps it!

 

[Deleted User 298457]

The insulation/ventilation thing is still a bit confusing for me. The external humidity can often be high enough to cause issues - so ventilation just pulls in the humidity. I think moving air is "key", so achieve that by mechanical fan or a vent at the front/rear to draw air through?

 

[Richie]

The insulation prevents the interior of the shed from cooling down as much thereby reducing condensation as the air is warmer and so holds onto the moisture within the air rather than dumping it out.

What you need is plenty of moving air. If you have warm and moist air in the shed and there is a sudden and quick temperature drop with little airflow, the warm air will dump all the moisture onto the cold surfaces. If the airflow is high enough, this warm moist air can leave the shed (pushed out by the cold air) and take a lot (not all) of the moisture with it.

As I said - I have lots of ventilation (vents on the double doors, vents on each side of the side window and vents on each apex at the top) and I still got a lot of condensation on the roof and it ran down a wall into one corner. The issue was how quickly we went from double digit temps to below zero within a few hours as well as there being no real wind to blow through and push the moist air out before it had a chance to dump the moisture it was holding.


TL;DR - Moving air is the key as you say