DIY Bike Shed

RoyMi6 · 18 Mar 2017 at 15:43

We don't have any outside storage and as such we currently keep bikes and garden equipment in the house.

Obviously I'd like this to change!

Looking at bike sheds online and it seems to be most reputable sellers are based in England and as such we're looking at £100 upwards just for delivery.

As such I feel I can probably build something for less (factoring this in)

Never built something from my own design before but it's quite specific in size (800mm x 2200mm) with 12mm tongue and groove and built entirely from 38mm x 63mm treated timber with a 12mm exterior ply floor.

Anything I need to be considering? It obviously doesn't need to be the most sturdy building in the world but I would like to keep my bike relatively safe and keep things dry.

EDIT: Added cladding and had re-calculate some of the lenghts of the joints to ensure the roof fitted on top!

Check fittings in VR - because why not!

RoyMi6 · 18 Mar 2017 at 19:35

Yeah, sketchup.

It's going to get a second pass for polish. I've missed a couple of caveats by skimping on the tongue and groove model (i.e. it needs covers on the corners to cover the exposed lapping joints)

RoyMi6 · 18 Mar 2017 at 23:12

Alarm and vents, noted!

Welding something like this seems a bit extreme considering I've got no experience with. Using it as a bit of a practice project for a garden shed / sun house in the future as well.

RoyMi6 · 18 Mar 2017 at 23:23

I think I've worked out all the trim required (i.e. the corner pieces).

For things like locks I'll need to have a look around to see what the dealio is with them - never really had a good look at a shed before to understand how they work and can't just be unscrewed! Guess I'll find out tomorrow!

RoyMi6 · 19 Mar 2017 at 09:50

Yeah, the base hasn't been through in drawings. I was just going to put it on a couple of treated timbers to lift it off the ground.

I considered the openings on the ends but the plans is that the door width is the same as the bike itself so it can easily put in and out on a daily basis.

Either way I'm going to have to faff around with doors

RoyMi6 · 19 Mar 2017 at 11:53

It's not just a bike going in there. It's a compromise to serve as storage for a lawn mower, tiller, strimmer etc so door in the end would make getting that kind of stuff much harder.

RoyMi6 · 20 Mar 2017 at 11:18

IvanDobskey said:
I bought something similar to that for around £100. It came flat pack but was pretty easy to put together. Had it quite a while now and it has lasted well.

Oh? Link?

RoyMi6 · 20 Mar 2017 at 12:30

One of the things I plan on storing there is a gazebo that takes up more room length-ways when packed (creating something that has 2m internal dimensions)

I had seen this and considered buying two for the wood alone but the first review put me off it entirely

RoyMi6 · 20 Mar 2017 at 15:05

Ah nice! That's actually a good fit... lawls - postage is £40 on top for us bumping it up to £200.

Still, food for thought!

RoyMi6 · 10 Apr 2017 at 11:55

Fairly pleased how it's turning out. I ran out of cladding for the doors (miscalculation) and clout nails for the roof (lost a bag) so picking up those today to finish it off.

Because of the way it's been designed it's each panel (including roof) can come off via screws from the inside so it's nice and easy to move around.

£250 for a totally bespoke, over engineered shed to our exact requirements. Pretty happy with it!

RoyMi6 · 11 Apr 2017 at 10:00

Cheers - it's 38 x 63 mm for the framing.

For anyone else doing this kind of thing, I'd look at what kind of hinges you want to use more in depth before designing anything.

I'd had to move and reinforce the door frames and supports within the doors to give me the right anchor points.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but when I looked at another shed it doesn't bother with the added supports I've adopted on the final build - they attached it just to the cladding.

RoyMi6 · 16 Apr 2017 at 18:27

Madwelsh said:
That's great, I was going to ask whether you were any good with cutting etc/ diy in general, looks like you are, well done, look forward to the finish.

I'd consider myself "DIY capable, but ambitious"

The roof rubber is a good idea but got that stuff pretty cheap.

Now it's in place you can see why I needed specific dimensions.

I need to be able to get my bike past, and the doors open fully. Full distance is 165cm at the shortest place so I was literally taking the roofing felt into my calculations!

Now I just need to sort out how I'm going to make the lock work!

I think I'm also going to leave it on the posts I used to move it - planning on getting the side of the house paved but this storage was actually the priority as we have no outside storage at all at the moment so doing rooms inside was like playing chess, moving everything around all the time.

RoyMi6 · 16 Apr 2017 at 19:31

amigafan2003 said:
I'll give it 3 months before any bike stored in that disappears.

They'd find better value for money taking the shed, it cost more!

RoyMi6 · 20 Jun 2017 at 19:55

We live in a safe enough area and the bikes not worth much. Just needed it out the house along with some other stuff. Put on a lock as a deterrent.

Got the roof sloping away from the house as when we moved in we had quite a lot of damp from various problems with various out houses and raised land. Have it sloping away from the house is definitely me overcompensating for previous problems but as I'm such a fair weather cyclist it's not something that is going to bug me much