wet shed base

[DogsBody]

Have recently had a new shed installed at bottom of my garden.
the edges of the floor inside are all starting to get wet up to about 3 inches into the shed.
The shed has been built on a base of paving slabs and the base of the shed has 3" tanalised timber bearers.

I believe the water is soaking upwards into the shed but not sure why it is only around the edges.

What can I do to stop this happening ?

 

[DogsBody]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Raising the shed up will be difficult as it has a fence around it on 3 sides.
The whole shed has been pressure treated, the only thing I am not sure about is the floor, they have used rough sawn floorboard for the floor, everything else is definitely pressure treated however.

The moisture is only soaking up around the edges of the shed, the middle of the shed floor is dry.
pea gravel has been put around the slabs, probably only an inch deep though.

 

[DogsBody]

You need guttering - the rain is dripping off the roof, hitting the floor and then splashing up into the bottom of the walls/sides of the base.

When I first got the shed the rain was only light and it was only soaking
up into the front edge of the shed (on the door side) I installed guttering on this side and the issue went away, now the rain is a bit heavier the issue is back, it isn’t as bad, BUT it is soaking up on all 4 sides (not all the way along I might add)

 

[DogsBody]

shed is a 11' x 8' apex, gutter is smaller one (no room for larger due to crap shed design) down pipe is pointing at the pea gravel down one side of the shed, as there is no drain so to speak of that I can direct it towards, the shed is no more damp on that side than it is on the other side.

Jacking it up will be a pain as the 2 8' sides and the back 11' side are the ones up against a fence, and the bearers run along the length of the shed. Although this does sound like the only solution.

If I can find a way to put a polythene sheet under it do you just cut it along the edge of the shed so that it doesn't show or do you staple it to the bottom and hide it with a seperate piece of trim ?

Think I need a visit from a shed expert

 

[DogsBody]

Unfortunately no vehicle access.
Having had a think about it though I can perhaps get access to one of the ends of the shed and jack it up from there, as has been suggested though perhaps going to have to wait for better weather now.

I have been in it again tonight and it looks like about 4 inches pretty much all the way around the edge is damp/wet.
nothing in the middle.

so you guys defo think a DPF will resolve this issue ?

 

[DogsBody]

No Pea gravel along the front edge though and that is still wet, however in the middle where the double doors meet seems to be fairly dry.

I don't mind digging up all the pea gravel and sticking some cement down.
How/where would I install a soakaway ?
I have about a foot between the fence and the shed, and on the other side and at the back about 6 inches, so not a huge amount of room.
the fence is sat on gravel boards, behind the shed the gravel boards have soil/waste behind up to the level of the gravel boards.

 

[DogsBody]

 

[DogsBody]

A lot of sheds I've seen don't have wood lapping to the floor.

Definitely your problem is that it isn't raised off the main ground level, i.e. your patio is the ground level and water will potentially pool underneath shed, certainly not drain quickly away from the edges.

As I said before, my shed is raised above ground level with patio slabs positioned where the joists are. Not a sign of damp.

I'm not sure on the easiest solution but perhaps a couple of palette trolly jacks could lift it up enough? Are you able to get behind the shed? (climbing over it of course).

Will plastic alone resolve your problem? Probably make it better but it wouldn't be the solution I would go for. My last shed was only on patio slabs and didn't have any damp issue and sat there for 10 years. When I took the shed down and removed the slabs, you could see the water had channel underneath washed away a lot of the fine hardcore I'd used - just shows the slabs did the job!

If you could get 6-10 patio slabs underneath (one side at a time) that would probably be easier than trying to get plastic underneath (probably requiring the whole shed to be raised off the ground).

Just my 2p's worth

Sounds like a plan,

The shed has 4 or 5 bearers I imagine how many slabs do I need per bearer to give it enough support ?

Shed is 11' long

I don't think the bearers are close enough to put 2 onto one slab (I will measure this though)