Build Your Own Shed

In  How To Build A Shed we discussed the choices to be made in terms of site, size and shape when you are planning to build your own shed. Now we will consider the materials usually used and the most appropriate base or plinth.

These are the most common types of material for building a shed:

• Metal
• Plastic
• Concrete
• Wood

Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, which we will examine in greater detail below.

However, the overwhelming favorite is wood for building most garden sheds.

Click here to check out great plans to build your own shed

Steel or aluminum are durable and generally maintenance-free if clad in corrosion-resistant material during manufacture.  A metal garden shed tends to be visually unattractive and therefore these materials are more suitable for small storage containers or bins.

Plastic sheds have ease of assembly and low maintenance as their positive points, but plastic still tends to break down in prolonged sunlight and sheds made of plastic are as unattractive-looking as are metal ones. Again, plastic is more suited to small containers and bins.

Concrete construction is available from some manufacturers.  It produces sturdy but unattractive sheds. They are not easy to assemble and not easy to adapt to your own design. Concrete is more suited to commercial applications.

Wood is the best and most popular material for building a diy garden shed. It is a renewable resource, it is easy to use and it blends in well in any garden. It should be treated with preservatives or, better still, be pressure-treated during final production.

 

 

The cheapest wall construction is cladding or weatherboard, which looks rather like the typical fence with overlapping horizontal slats of softwood or cedar. These can warp over time and are therefore not very waterproof. Tongue-and-groove is better, with horizontal planks keying into each other at their top and bottom edges. This gives good long-term weatherproofing. The best method is shiplap, which adds an overlapping edge to the tongue-and-groove joint and so provides the best weather protection. Not surprisingly, it is the most expensive option.

Having selected your site and your shed’s shape, size and build plan, your last decison  is to choose a suitable base or plinth.

Ready-made sheds or shed kits almost always come with a wooden floor, made from exterior-grade ply or tongue-and-groove planks. Wooden floors do not wear well, having a life of perhaps 10 or 12 years, and they are not suitable if you will be storing heavy machinery or corrosive liquids in the shed. Small sheds can be laid over a bed of paving slabs or gravel, but inevitably the substrate will shift over time, the shed will distort and you will find the doors and windows hard to operate. Your shed design should take account of this when you decide how you want to build your own shed and, if necessary, it is a good idea to get help and advice from the experts.

A concrete slab is the best solution. It needs to be at least 4 inches deep and about one inch narrower than the shed footprint (more information in our article Building A Shed Base).

This will cost a bit more (perhaps $400 more than a wooden floor) but will last the life of the shed, take all the wear you can throw at it and be maintenance-free. Use a hard-wearing floor paint to keep the concrete dust down.

Our recommended source of good quality blueprints for great sheds and many other yard projects is Woodworking4Home.   Their expert advice and simple approach – that shows exactly how to build a shed – will ensure that you manage to plan and build a beautiful do it yourself shed, one that you can be proud to call your own.

Click here to check out great plans to build your own shed