Building a shed

We needed a safe space to hold our gardening tools and store our seeds, a shed was undoubtably on the cards. After shopping around online we mentioned we were looking for one to our dad and to our suprise he said he had an old one that he had flat packed and kept down the end of our garden [what are the odds?!]. So, to our delight a wonderful bit of upcycling was about to go underway!

First step [probably the hardest part] was transporting the shed to the allotment itself…we managed to get hold of a friend who owns a large van so we loaded that up and off we went to the allotment. Through the small wire padlocked gate, four of us managed to get all the pieces safely to its designated spot at the very top of the plot and so, the building commenced!

The first adventure we had to undertake was to prepare the area to build the shed. We removed any old rubbish, dead leaves and branches to get it as clear as we could. If you are thinking you need a shed you can upcycle, re-model or even create one from scratch if you are feeling adventurous! There are lot of sites that you can find used sheds such as Ebay, Preloved or Gumtree [https://www.gumtree.com/garden-sheds] – all you need to do is type ‘used shed’ in the search bar and select the area you live in and hopefully a load will pop up near you!

We have listed out the below steps we took to create our shed, we hope you find it useful too;

Step 1: Get a straight base

Create a level area or base. You shed should be suspended to allow airflow under the floor of the shed to keep the shed dry. Do not place sheds directly onto the floor as moisture will rise and it will simply rot. 

Use paving slabs or bricks/blocks to create small platforms in which to place your base. Ensure that these supports are level between each other using a spirit level. 

Step 2: Lift up those walls

After the base or bottom frame has been completed, next step is to raise the walls. If you are using a pack or have a pre-built wall panels use a friend to hold one side whilst you create the first corner. If you are creating from scratch, around each side input uprights onto the base floor and fix these in place – use a spirit level to ensure these are flat. 

Step 3: Lets get those next walls

After creating one corner, follow the steps around until all four walls have been erected. Ensure if using pre-built walls that these are fixed tightly together in order for the structure to remain square/rectangle in shape. If you are building from scratch, after erecting your posts in each corner and a supporting cross beam, you can add some panelling to the sides using feather boards.

Step 4: Roof it!

After the walls are up, attach the roof sections one side at a time fixing these to the walls. Ensure any wall panels are screwed to the floor by securing each section with at least one screw. If building from scratch, use a system of two cross beams running along the shed length to attach boards to – or if you want to be super fancy with a super secure pitched roof – create a simple template to cut each beam at the same 45 degree angle (or what ever angle you think is best) to attach running down the roof – ensure that the beams each overhang the sides to create enough gap for rain run-off and not allow any water to run down the walls.

Step 5: Door and Rain-proofing

Final steps are to hang the provided door or put one together using simple cross bar and frame, you can use felt to waterproof the roof – try not to crease the felt and leave enough to overhang the edges. Any loose felt in which wind can get into will be torn and will not last to ensure that you secure this. Start with the lowest part of the roof working your way up to the Apex ensuring each section has ample covering and nail down with some nice lead based nails. Hang the door and insert a lock to keep all your tools safe at night. 

Step 6: Final Additions

To finish off your shed, cover the excess felt with panels and add a simple guttering system to capture the excess rainwater into a water tank or even ‘rain chains’ – these are really simple to install and are super effective:

Its also a good idea [depending on how organised you are / want to be], to create places designated for your tools and a simple work area or shelving unit. We created really simple shovel and fork ‘hanging unit’ which was a piece of off-cut wood that we screwed in a V-shape into the wall which allows us to slot in the handles of the tools so they just hang freely. We will take some more photos of the internal area of the shed to show you but for now here’s a few photos of the building action for you to enjoy [with the majority of photos showing our dad – the chief builder!]:

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Hope you enjoyed reading this and we wish you luck in the building of your own sheds!

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D O A N G

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