New Garden Shed and Soft Ground

Hi,
Looking to get an 8ft (L) x 6ft (W) wooden shed in the corner of the back garden, so will give a bit of background before asking question.

Wood will be pressure treated and shiplap style with the floorboards made using Tongue and Groove boards (as per the supplier). Steel roof too.
Supplier said the shed will be put on around 10 x 4 inch solid concrete blocks.
Shed will be used to store lawnmower and other gardening tools, a gas BBQ, a bike or two, garden furniture in the Winter and whatever other bits and pieces we add. We don't have a garage on the house, so we need the shed.

The garden is in a new build estate and the bottom left corner of the garden where the shed will go, gets less sun than the rest of the garden and the ground is typically alot more moist than the rest of the garden when it rains. Its often pretty soft. We are only in the house since June and while July was wet (in Ireland) it never had any pools of water in the bottom corner but the ground was jusy always soft, so not sure what it would be like in Winter.
Also, I feel like there is a very slight slope into the bottom left corner of the garden.

Maybe I am overthinking it, but if putting 10 concrete blocks and a shed with whatever is stored in it on top, is there the potential for it all to sink in light of the soft ground down that corner of the garden?

Is there anything (cheap and basic from a DIY perspective) I can maybe do to firm up the ground down there? Should I dig up some soil and put some sort of stones underneath to help with drainage, or put some hardcore down etc.
Anything else I should consider before getting shed place there.

Thanks

Pic attached for reference - tree will need to ne moved to accom shed.

 

I'd look at concrete slabs rather then blocks. Get the biggest ones you can handle although I suspect Health and Safety has restricted the size you can get

 

Thanks for your reply. I presume you mean concrete slabs in terms of an alternative to concrete blocks? And not as a way to firm up the ground there, which I think is the main issue.

4 inch concrete blocks would be 4 inches off the ground, whereas I think a typical concrete slab would be less than half that height off the ground.

Thanks

 

Concrete slab with a concrete block on top.

Agree you need to spread the load over as larger area as possible.

 

Thanks, just so I understand. For a wooden shed you are suggesting:
Concrete slabs on the lawn (make sure they are level) and then put 4 inch concrete blocks on top for the shed to sit on top?

Genuine question, will the concrete slabs help with firming up the moist soil?

I presume just standard concrete slabs will do? Like per the link below

Kilsaran Classic Grey Natural stone Paving slab (L)400mm (W)400mm | DIY at B&Q

 

No: what the slabs do is spread the weight of the shed over a larger area.
I would use a couple of those per concrete block.
There isn't much you can do to firm the soil up.
The alternative would be to dig out soil and then hardcore and concrete on top for each contact point.

 

Without actually being there and digging out the soil its difficult to say how compacted it is, but if it is reasonably firm the only thing you can do is spread the load, so the more blocks on top of slabs you use the less weight is on any one point.
Likewise the larger the slabs the more you spread the load on any point.

 

Thanks both.

In terms of how compacted the soil is, it was previously farm land (presume it had cows or sheep grazing), it is a new build estate so you can imagine the amount of machinery and footfall on the soil.

It is just that one area that seems to be particularly moist and soft when sticking a fork into the ground.

I may look into the slab idea, price up the slabs etc. Those I linked are only a few quid each. Presume the slabbed area should be slightly wider and longer than the shed area?

 

Often new build gardens are very compacted in most of the areas, what might be making it feel soft is they usually spread 6ins or so of topsoil before laying turf.

 

I wish they laid turf, it seems they put a couple of inches of topsoil down and threw a load of seed down.

A neighbour who moved in a few months before me, got a professional gardening outfit in to do a bit on his garden. They took a load of crap soil out he was saying and he got cleaner top soil in from them.

 

Rats, Rabbits and Foxes will dig under a shed and move in if it is not on a slab or concrete base first. My sheds are like this with wooden posts for the floor to sit on and allow flow of air underneath, your concrete blocks will be fine for that task.

 

Think the simplest and easiest way would be to put down some treated "railway" sleepers.
Would think they will spread the load well enough and look more nautual.

How many would depend on the way the beams run on the sheds floor, though probably three would do.
Should be easy enough to level them by cutting out some of the turf /soil as needed.

 

Unless you cover the entire base area, you will get vermin under there, also you get splashes of rain water off the ground up onto the lower part of the shed floor/walls which will rot faster, I bet you don't know how I know this lol.
We(that's the royal "we" as I'm still on enforced light duties) have just painted our corner shed with oil based wood treatment this morning, note the wax based ones are not worth buying.

 

My shed is over 50yrs old and it's on just timbers laid in opposite direction to the floor bearers.
Must admit things have rotted a bit over the years but not the actual shed, just the bearers, it has a gap for air flow underneath of about 4inches.
The worst I've ever had living under it is hedgehogs, and they are very welcome.

The shed itself is still sound enough, but timber was better in those days.
Even modern treatments are not what they were IMO.