Has anyone ever designed and built their own shed ??

[johnny_t]

I've given up on a railway carriage as they are too expensive (or at least getting it here would be) but have been thinking about a design and build for my own shed.

In principle it sounds OK. Design it too be perfect for what I want, build it in the garage over winter, decent wood, put it up as soon as spring comes. Can't see why it woudn't be cheaper than buying it from one of the sheds either.

Anyone got any hints or tips for this ??

One thing I've been toying with is bulding with treated floorboard T&G to make it easy to go together and solid. Any obvious pitfalls in this ?

 

[Steve]

If you want it to be solid, use breeze blocks and render it. Building it yourself can be a good idea.

There are several bad points about buying a ready made shed.
1. poor quality timber (thin supports)
2. not really that secure or sturdy
3. hard to insulate (should the mood ever strike)

building it yourself, you can use 3x2 or even 4x2 timber as supports, and use the strongest fixings and materials you want, and still make it cheaper than a ready-made shed!

One piece of advice: have a concrete base but build it properly with damp proof membrane and reinforcing. Well worth the extra effort. Also run any power you need to the shed through the base, saves any cables going up the side of your shed.

Floorboard T&G might be too heavy for your shed, and im not sure if they are / can be treated.

 

[petewood]

Don't necessarily agree about a concrete floor, I have built several garden-sized ones which have rigid wooden floors sitting on concrete blocks with a bit of dpm over them and never had any probs.
As for t&g, I don't see why it couldn't be used, a decent frame would easily take this weight and you could also use it for the roof and floor if you wish. Make sure you get it the right way up on the walls though, and make sure it's properly treated (if I were doing it this way I would treat each length before assembly).
You would also need to leave a slight gap between the boards to allow for expansion or the walls may bow, and the gaps may be a bit unsightly unless you use TGV (t&g with chamfered edges).Personally I prefer to use tanalised shiplap for the walls and osb or ply for the floor and roof.

 

[oilman]

I agree with Petewood about the concrete blocks under the floor, 'cos that's what I did. I used rows of them every 18" and with a 12" gaps in the rows. Then I used scaffold planks on the rows of blocks (with dpc on the blocks), then scaffold boards laid crossways on the first boards. What a strong floor? The shed is 20 x 10 and the sides are frames of 4"x2" and for quickness I've put OSB on the sides and the roof, with corrugated bitumen sheets to finish the roof. Look at www.readersheds.co.uk, there are dozens of sheds there, and one of the best is in the style of a signal box.

This shows all you could ever think about. There's a shed load of pictures too

 

[johnny_t]

Oh Sweet Heaven !! That shed site is fantastic, and that's it, I'm definitely building me a shed this winter.

Is it the right approach to just build the individual walls inside and then assemble outside ?

 

[oilman]

Whatever suits, I bought a party tent for £150, put it up in October last year, and then I could do the base under cover and lay the floor then cut all the bits for the frames, then screw it together.

 

[Big_Spark]

I would think that the size of the shed will dictate the size of the sections you make Johnny_t. I would not make a section more than 2m long (6ft6"). This is simply due to safe handling when assembling the shed and also to make life a little easier for you during the assembly phase.

I hope that the project goes well.

 

[oilman]

Look at the gisburn site, you will see some scaffolding in use in the later part of the build. I knocked some up and, boy, did it make doing the roof easy. If it's a big shed, don't try it off a ladder, you will hate it, and even more when gravity gets the better of you.

 

[masona]

Done my shed/summerhouse slightly different by buying secondhand concrete pre-slab at half price, bolted them together, bolted the wallplate on top then roof section and T&G log cabin on the outside of the slab wall!

 

[oilman]

That's a bit mean when a poor ***** tries to chainsaw his way in

 

[petewood]

Is it the right approach to just build the individual walls inside and then assemble outside ?

thats the way i ended up doing most of them (I didn't assemble indoors though).

Make a frame, fix lining - I used to do this first to make sure the panels were perfectly square, turn over and fit insulation and cladding, trim cladding. Repeat for other 3 sides and them fix them together. If you have some help, you can manage quite big panels like this, big enough for most garden sheds or summerhouses.

If you trim the cladding short of the end of the frame you can fix your panels together with coach screws and hide them neatly with a cover trim.

 

[DforDave]

Make a frame, fix lining - I used to do this first to make sure the panels were perfectly square, turn over and fit insulation and cladding, trim cladding.

I have often wondered why people use wood for cladding sheds. What is wrong with using brown PVCu cladding ? I believe it is less expensive than wood and doesn't require maintenance. I might not look as good a wood - but it's a shed! Is there a practical reason for not using PVCu?

 

[oilman]

Wood is an easy material to work, modify, repair, and doesnt need much maintenance if the right species is used eg Larch, Douglas Fir, Oak.

None of these materials are inherently hazardous provided you deal with the dust. PVC on the other hand:

Third, there is simply no future in PVC. Due to a host of health and environmental problems, PVC is being phased out of all kinds of uses, from medical supplies to building materials. Not only is PVC dangerous to manufacture (consider that the deceased Illiopolis workers wore special nail-less shoes so as not to set off sparks when they walked), but it also must be stabilized with heavy metals and slathered with smelly, toxic plasticizers to make it useable.

Vinyl flooring and wall covering have been linked to asthma in children and respiratory distress in office workers. Vinyl blinds add lead to house dust. During house fires, vinyl makes dense black smoke and hydrochloric acid, which can be deadly to firefighters. It cannot be easily recycled.

For all these reasons, PVC has been restricted for use as a building material in some European nations and eschewed by an increasing number of architects and designers in North America. The U.S. Green Building Council is currently considering a credit for "vinyl avoidance" in construction, a move supported by the Healthy Building Network and already accomplished by their Australian counterparts.

From this page. Many other pages are available if you use google "PVC environmental disaster".

 

[DforDave]

PVC on the other hand:

There are usually two sides to every story...

http://www.bpf.co.uk/bpfissues/pvc.cfm

 

[petewood]

What is wrong with using brown PVCu cladding ?

Heathen!