Spec me a shed!

Associate
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Hello!

I'm looking to build a shed at the end of my garden. I'm looking at a 10x8 "pent" shed. Reason is - I want the doors opening on the side of the shed so as to minimise the amount of space I need to take out of the flowerbeds. I'd prefer one with double doors.

I'm a bit bewildered by all the options - and it seems there's quite a spread of prices to choose from - anywhere from £500 to £1500 or so.

CAn anyone recommend any must have options? Any particular roof felt? Should it have guttering? Pressure treated or not? That sort of thing.

Also - can anyone recommend a good supplier? Again - a lot of variability in price it seems.

Thanks!
 
Soldato
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As per the rubber roof shed thread just make sure you spec 12mm at least roof timber/ply etc as you can use felt nails - anything thinner and nails poke through onto the inside - use best quality felt -DO NOT use staples to fix the felt - it might seem expensive but you won't have to do it again in a few years time. If you skimp on the sides you can always beef them up after but roof you can't without a lot of pain.

I would recommend guttering or the water would run off roof and splash up side of shed - also put shed on a solid base slightly smaller than shed it self and make sure the battens it's sitting on are treated.
 
Soldato
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Pressure treating is definitely a good thing to have if you can afford the extra. It'll help a lot with keeping the shed rot free, but you still need to add some sort of water proofing finish to the outside as the backs of the facia boards on mine have started to show a bit of wet rot where they haven't been coated with shed preserver.

I got my 10x8 apex shed from Tiger sheds about 7 years ago and it's holding up very well so far, bar the roof felt that blew off. Its the pressure treated "elite" range, which use thicker framing and cladding. It's definitely a decent shed, but they did skimp on a few things. The felt they used was paper thin and ripped off in a storm after a few years and the hinges and locks are the cheapest they could find. Even with constant oiling they rusted up and would bend rather than open. I ended up buying a decent quality 5 lever mortice lock and some ball bearing 100mmx100mm stainless butt hinges to replace them with. The butt hinges are something i'd do straight away as it just makes the door so much nicer to open and they are more secure. They were only about £8 or so from ebay for 2.

The roof, floor and walls all use 16mm, pressure treated shiplap cladding and the framing timber is substantial. The door and windows are proper mortice and tennon constructed frames, rather than some thin framing timber nailed to the cladding like cheaper sheds.

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I think most sheds come with cheap felt, so it's unavoidable. I'm currently looking into using EPDM rubber to replace it with as that is supposedly garunteed for 20 years and said to last 50..

Also add a gutter as thats another thing i'd have expected, but Tiger skimped on. I think most shed makers don't add a gutter either.
 
Associate
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Hello again!

I'm about to buy a shed, finally! A 12x6 Pent shed. Decent enough price. Question is, do I pay about £250 extra to upgrade it to the EDPM option? Seems like a lot of money, and surely I can just re-felt it myself when it comes to it. My garden is south facing, so it will get quite a bit of fluctuation in temperature, but will also be in a relatively shady spot.

Basically - can I get away with felt?
 
Soldato
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It would be around £100 ish for an EPDM kit, so they are ripping you off with that price. Especially if thats instead of the free felt roofing, which they should then be subtracting from the price of the EPDM. The felt they usually saupply is rubbish, so I'd say you will get a few years out of it before it needs replacing, then just buy an EPDM roofing kit then.
 
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It would be around £100 ish for an EPDM kit, so they are ripping you off with that price. Especially if thats instead of the free felt roofing, which they should then be subtracting from the price of the EPDM. The felt they usually saupply is rubbish, so I'd say you will get a few years out of it before it needs replacing, then just buy an EPDM roofing kit then.

Thanks. This makes a lot of sense. I'll go for felt.

For those wondering, I'm going with skinners sheds. Decent price and includes assembly:

https://www.skinners-sheds.com/pressure-treated-pent-shed
 
Soldato
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I'd vote for Tiger sheds, i've got a 6x8 standard range shed from them and it's been brilliant. Much better quality than anything else i'd seen locally and the delivery and service was top notch too.

I'm probably going to replace the roof with some Plastisol cladding when the original felt wears out in a few years as that should last forever compared to felt.
 

Kol

Kol

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Another vote for Tiger Sheds. About to get a second one for the top end of the garden. IMO of course you can get cheaper and naturally build cheaper, but the quality from TS in my experience is higher and also it's worth paying the extra for not having to build it yourself from scratch.
 
Soldato
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Both of mine are on bearers on slabs.

The 10x8 workshop had a bed of compacted rubble then sand to lay the slabs on. For the little 6x4 Tigershed I just cleared the turf and put the slabs straight on the earth. Both had pressure treated 3x2s underneath to raise them off the ground a bit to make sure they never stand in water and allow some airflow underneath.

The workshop is the cheapest I could find but having seen how well the Tigershed is put together I'd definitely pay the extra if I ever need to replace it.
 
Soldato
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I built mine on concrete piers, With a timber frame on top. So if I ever move out I can just demolish the tops of the piers and cover with turf. After 7 years or so it hasn't shifted at all and is still dead level. I dug pretty deep holes and poured hardcore in and smashed it down with a heavy fence post then poured in the concrete with shutters made from old pallets.

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I'm not sure why but there's a tendency to go way overboard on shed foundations.
I've used concrete piers, and also used a timber frame propped up on bricks to achieve the same effect.
Never had any issues.
 
Soldato
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I wouldn't say that was way overboard, it's not like its a steel reinforced full on concrete slab. I have quite a few heavy tools in there like a table saw, pillar drill mitre saw etc, so wanted something a bit more substantial than bricks. Total cost for the concrete and timber was £112, which i didn't think was too bad for a nice solid base. It's no different than concreting in posts for a timber deck.

If the shed is just for a few garden tools, then fair enough.
 
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What sort of base do you guys use for your sheds? Concrete/paving slabs base with bearers or a platform?

Our garden backs onto a park, and the site of the shed will be at the back of the garden. There are some big trees around. So I'm going for a poured concrete slab. Kinda pricey to put in at £600 for 12x6 but I guess with the labour (including pulling out an old tree stump and levelling the ground it's OK. Plus with 2 small kids I just don't have time to do it myself.
 
Soldato
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I used one those plastic clip together shed base kits, you level the area and lay down weed membrane then clip the plastic squares together and fill them with gravel.

Makes a very nice level base and means it's never sitting in water, a lot cheaper than pouring a concrete slab too, it was maybe £60 for the plastic bits and membrane and then i needed 10 or so bags of the cheapest gravel that was on offer in B&Q.
 
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