Sheds

What about garden centres too they usually have wooden sheds where you could view the quality but then maybe direct from maker?

 

@CanadianLori 10ft x 12ft is a largish shed but not huge.

This is huge

 

Wow beautiful job @andrews you had alucky find there by the looks of it

 

It is a bit too far to go and look, but if I really had to - having had a scout around online however, it appears that it would be a fruitless venture as they do not have any sheds built up on site (or at least not that I can see), and simply have their piles of stock panels etc that they pick and send.

I have a three garden centres locally, but only one sells sheds as far as I am aware - I will try and get to them at some point for a look.

 

A bit more digging reveals that the directors are one and the same of Waltons Garden Buildings and Mercia Garden Products........... starting to look a bit iffy from where I am sitting.

 

Hi Sheal,

No, and to be honest I am at the point of giving up entirely. It appears that nobody makes what we want without it costing arms and legs, or somehow otherwise being a corrupt deal purely to part us with cash.

Before I go any futher, I am going to explore the possibility of using a spray bitumen or rubber to seal around the base of the existing shed, then if it stays dry I will repair the floor and see if I can't get another year or two out of this one.

 

If you are doing that @Fat Controller then would some of this barrier tape put between layers of bitumen paint help any?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0771TS...t=&hvlocphy=9045580&hvtargid=pla-420159236536

 

I would only be spraying on the outside, which is not rotten - the outside is essentially wrapped in damp proof course, and then the shed is screwed down on top; the water is seeping in either in between the layers of damp proof course, or (more likely) beween the damp proof course and the bottom of the wall. Outside is solid, inside is a hole - 10mm OSB floor.

I am almost at the end of my tether with it, so the only option may well be a massive bodge - - spray along the outside edge with some sort of bitumen or rubber spray to seal any gaps on the outside, then cut out the section(s) of floor that are knackered on the inside of the shed and simply screw down something like 19mm OSB or even planks of a reasonable thickness.

 

OK, I have been digging in the archives - this shed was put up 4 years and 8 months ago, and here are some pics taken at the time when it went up.


This is the frame of the floor - you can see just how bad the patio is underneath (I should have levelled it more, but time was not on my side); the bottoms of the frame are wrapped in DPC, but when it came to the tops I only did the outside. I suppose my thinking was that water wouldn't be able to get in there anyway with the floor on the top.



This is it before the shed body was built onto it. The shed walls fall just on the inside of the DPC line. Further DPC was added around the outside of the frame, and two and a half sides have since been painted with a roof repair paint that was recommended by @ARMANDII. The side nearest the greenhouse hasn't been treated (mainly because we can't get it it), and the hole that I have in the floor is at the greenhouse side near the front.

As you can see, there is a fair old bit of space beside the shed where the patio also looks rough - ironically, I have since repaired that and this is how it looks now


Even more ironically, you can see that I have sufficient slabs to have made similar repairs under the shed; the shed is on the right here, and you can see the overhang at the bottom, and it is this overhang that I think is our problem.

Now, looking back at this has brought back to light a few problems, and I am going to look for the advice of @pete here amongst others. The chocks under the floor frame to level it up did not get much better than shown in the picture sadly, so are they likely to lead to the structure becoming compromised?

Could the DPC being wrapped under the bottom of the frame be a saving grace, or could it have simply held the water against the wood for longer?

If I could cut the top off the floor on the inside of the shed with a view to replacing it, what is the likelihood that the rot has spread to the wood under the walls, and if it is rotten would I be sitting on a bit of a timebomb in that regard?

I have done some sums this morning, and assuming that I could cut the OSB sheet that is the floor on the inside of the shed, and then re-lay new OSB sheeting as well as using more roof repair paint around the bottom of the outside is going to cost me in the region of £250 (this is notwithstanding any roof leaks or damage to the frame under the floor). If this sorts the problem, all well and good - but, having chucked great wadges of money at this shed already I am reluctant to throw more at it if I am on a hiding to nothing.

So, what are your thoughts folks?

 

I think that overhang on the floor is the main problem. Do you have guttering on the shed? I have a metal shed similar to yours and fitted guttering afterwards mainly to store water in a butt, it also prevents rain running off the roof and running down the walls and getting in at the base.

I also used a Damp Proof Membrane (mine has a concrete base). Damp still manages to get inside mine just the same. It's worse at this time of year as the cold tin roof collects condensation inside and it just drips down internally (I wish I never got a metal shed but mine is now 10 years old and provided I store things inside plastic boxes it is acceptable). I also siliconed every screw hole and gap I could find whilst building the stupid flimsy thing.

The other thing I notice from your photos is how close it is to the greenhouse, maybe water is running off the greenhouse roof and splashing down that side of the shed?

I think if you just replace the floor it won't fix the problems and it will fail again pretty soon. The answer could be guttering and downpipes to discharge away from the base on both shed and greenhouse, then somehow fitting bigger bearers and raise the shed so that air can get underneath to ventilate it.

If there is room could you build a better ventilated base away from the greenhouse then lift the shed in one piece across? Easier said than done ! I've moved my greenhouse around the garden like that, firstly taking out some glass to lighten it and with 4 people they can be shifted in one piece carefully.