ScotlandtheDave
New Shoots
Hi all,
I’ve been lurking for many months while deliberating my new shed design and have changed tack many times, in part thanks to the excellent contributions on here. The time approaches to stop nerding it up and start building, so I’ve broken cover to say hello, bore you to tears and hopefully gather some feedback on my proposed shed design. I will be very grateful for some assistance on a few of the remaining decisions. I hope to learn a lot over the next few months!
Firstly I should state my requirements which may help explain some of my design decisions:
Current state
My 8*6 shed is far too small to be used practically. I currently house 3 pedal bikes, garden tools, and expanding set of power tools, bike tools and paraphernalia and some other junk, plus a full length workbench and vice on one 6ft side. In summary it’s rammed. I have one of the keter storage boxes outside the end of the shed too holding mower etc. It has no electric lighting and it’s cluttered. The current shed doesn’t maximise the space, partly because of the odd shape of space it occupies.
Proposed state
Build a much larger shed occupying the space better with Reverse pent roof planned due to consideration of the neighbours. Proposed size <15sq.m and max height will have to be <2.5m – I’m not interested in pursuing planning permission. Based in Scotland too so I believe my proposal is within planning limits.
Two compartments with separate doors– one large for storing and securing bikes, bench, tools and organised storage for bike bits etc. all in a space where I can work without emptying the place. Maybe even use it for some woodworking projects!
The other compartment will house all garden tools, garden furniture when we buy some and a big weber barbecue during inclement weather.
No windows planned – no need. Security risk from the bike perspective for the main space and no real need for light in the storage area. I’m planning to run electricity in and will engage a qualified spark for this (no part P though thankfully as in Scotland)
Running in mains from the house <10m away to provide light and some double sockets for power tools. May fit a waterproof external socket for running mower and pressure washer too.
Wide doors – modern mountain bikes approach 800mm for bars, so looking at 1m wide doors to get in and out with no problem
I’m 6’2 so would love a 1.85m doorway as I’ve smashed my head enough in the current shed
So that’s what I have in mind so far. Being a nerd with a seemingly endless capacity to overthink things and absolutely hating scenarios where I meet an obvious problem at a late stage I decided to model the proposed shed using google sketchup. It took a fair bit of time to learn the tool and some of its tips and tricks, but I’ll be happy to make most of my major design mistakes in the virtual world
I can pop the file in one drive for anyone interested - I expect after this post it will be a necessity!
Design decisions taken so far:
The space is an odd shape, like an almost right angled triangle with the nose cut off. I have two neighbouring back gardens to consider. The shed itself will face almost exactly due north, so the neighbours are on the east-south-east side and the south side if you were looking out the door. Both gardens are bounded by a 1.83m fence. Originally I wanted to build to fit the space exactly and quickly realised that with no right angles on any side it would have been impossible to build (it was impossible to model!) so stripped the design back to a wall running parallel to the southern neighbour boundary approx. 400mm from the fence and two walls running perpendicular to this. This means the front face of the shed on the north side is angled at 56.5 degrees. The issue is if I build a rectangle in that space I won’t be able to make a footprint very much bigger than what I have currently, which to me seems rather pointless. The space in front of the shed is largely wasted as it’s just grass and a couple of thrown down slabs, which I could build on and use for storing more junk
In terms of neighbour considerations the southern boundary shouldn’t mind the shed approaching 2.5 m as their garden looks onto the current shed and they have 2 young kids, so there is a playhouse in that space anyway – I won’t be blocking light or views. They are easy going too so I don’t foresee a problem. The ESE boundary might be trickier as the proposed shed will block some light from their garden at the very end of the day as the sun is setting. If I put a normal pent roof in this will mean the high point is overlooking their garden (over the 1.8 m fence by approx. 700mm max) and may obscure late day sun slightly. This is why I had the brainwave of reversing the pent to put the high side towards the back of that boundary to appease any potential issues. I don’t know if I’m over thinking this though – I reality it might block a tiny bit of light for the last hour or so of a few of the days per year. I also haven’t approached either neighbour about my plans yet so don’t know if either would be worried. I know I don’t legally have to consider this but I’ve not had a problem with any neighbours so far and don’t want to start!
This gives rise to my remaining challenges to solve:
1. principally spanning 4m safely without skimping on roof joists but not at the expense of headroom,
2. achieving some pitch without breaching the 2.5mmax height and
3. fitting a 1.85m door onto a reverse pent shed with sufficient space to clear eaves and gutters J
I found Trada tables online and it suggests C16 in the region of 6*2, but I don’t know if this is overkill for a shed? I definitely don’t want the roof coming in, but I’m hoping the combination of some sensible trusses plus 18mm OSB? For the roof would help me achieve the span without having to significantly lower the front wall / door height.
Other things I’ve opted for are:
1. I’m opting for this as the shed base. http://www.shedbase.com/probase/ I don’t want to lay a muckle big lump of concrete in the garden and this stuff looks like it will cope with my needs. Costed out at <£300 for the area I need including a bulk bag of pea shingle to fill some voids.
2. EPDM for the roof as I hate roofing felt and being a new build I can hopefully fit this and forget. I also think this will let me use a 1:12 pitch without too much trouble.
3. Cladding wise I love waney edge larch and a local sawmill has assured me they can do a good price on it (to be confirmed) If cost is prohibitive I might only clad 2 edges in it.
4. 75*75 bearers sitting on the probase
5. 19mm treated t+g flooring, possible with a vapour barrier underneath
6. 75*50 wall studs at 400mm centres (not 610 as in the sketchup drawing
7. 11mm OSB lined inside, vapour barrier and cladding on outside
8. No insulation planned for walls or roof
9. 1000mm doors
Budget wise I don’t really know how much most of it will cost, because I don’t yet know what I need.
I’ve costed the base at c. £280 and the EPDM roof would probably be the same again, so I’m expecting little change £2k at least, possibly more if the cladding is pricey. The alternative is to buy off the shelf but to fit the space it would be a full custom job and I am really up for the challenge of building something myself and being proud of the job.
I have looked at a number of the projects on here and they are all very impressive buildings – some of the construction is excellent. This shed will not be in the same league, so I hope you’ll understand my desire to use things like the plastic base. It will be a fairly sizable building, but only used for light duties.
Anyway, as usual I have said far too much, so I thank you for reading if you are still awake and look forward to hearing your feedback.
Thanks!
David
I’ve been lurking for many months while deliberating my new shed design and have changed tack many times, in part thanks to the excellent contributions on here. The time approaches to stop nerding it up and start building, so I’ve broken cover to say hello, bore you to tears and hopefully gather some feedback on my proposed shed design. I will be very grateful for some assistance on a few of the remaining decisions. I hope to learn a lot over the next few months!
Firstly I should state my requirements which may help explain some of my design decisions:
Current state
My 8*6 shed is far too small to be used practically. I currently house 3 pedal bikes, garden tools, and expanding set of power tools, bike tools and paraphernalia and some other junk, plus a full length workbench and vice on one 6ft side. In summary it’s rammed. I have one of the keter storage boxes outside the end of the shed too holding mower etc. It has no electric lighting and it’s cluttered. The current shed doesn’t maximise the space, partly because of the odd shape of space it occupies.
Proposed state
Build a much larger shed occupying the space better with Reverse pent roof planned due to consideration of the neighbours. Proposed size <15sq.m and max height will have to be <2.5m – I’m not interested in pursuing planning permission. Based in Scotland too so I believe my proposal is within planning limits.
Two compartments with separate doors– one large for storing and securing bikes, bench, tools and organised storage for bike bits etc. all in a space where I can work without emptying the place. Maybe even use it for some woodworking projects!
The other compartment will house all garden tools, garden furniture when we buy some and a big weber barbecue during inclement weather.
No windows planned – no need. Security risk from the bike perspective for the main space and no real need for light in the storage area. I’m planning to run electricity in and will engage a qualified spark for this (no part P though thankfully as in Scotland)
Running in mains from the house <10m away to provide light and some double sockets for power tools. May fit a waterproof external socket for running mower and pressure washer too.
Wide doors – modern mountain bikes approach 800mm for bars, so looking at 1m wide doors to get in and out with no problem
I’m 6’2 so would love a 1.85m doorway as I’ve smashed my head enough in the current shed
So that’s what I have in mind so far. Being a nerd with a seemingly endless capacity to overthink things and absolutely hating scenarios where I meet an obvious problem at a late stage I decided to model the proposed shed using google sketchup. It took a fair bit of time to learn the tool and some of its tips and tricks, but I’ll be happy to make most of my major design mistakes in the virtual world
I can pop the file in one drive for anyone interested - I expect after this post it will be a necessity!Design decisions taken so far:
The space is an odd shape, like an almost right angled triangle with the nose cut off. I have two neighbouring back gardens to consider. The shed itself will face almost exactly due north, so the neighbours are on the east-south-east side and the south side if you were looking out the door. Both gardens are bounded by a 1.83m fence. Originally I wanted to build to fit the space exactly and quickly realised that with no right angles on any side it would have been impossible to build (it was impossible to model!) so stripped the design back to a wall running parallel to the southern neighbour boundary approx. 400mm from the fence and two walls running perpendicular to this. This means the front face of the shed on the north side is angled at 56.5 degrees. The issue is if I build a rectangle in that space I won’t be able to make a footprint very much bigger than what I have currently, which to me seems rather pointless. The space in front of the shed is largely wasted as it’s just grass and a couple of thrown down slabs, which I could build on and use for storing more junk
In terms of neighbour considerations the southern boundary shouldn’t mind the shed approaching 2.5 m as their garden looks onto the current shed and they have 2 young kids, so there is a playhouse in that space anyway – I won’t be blocking light or views. They are easy going too so I don’t foresee a problem. The ESE boundary might be trickier as the proposed shed will block some light from their garden at the very end of the day as the sun is setting. If I put a normal pent roof in this will mean the high point is overlooking their garden (over the 1.8 m fence by approx. 700mm max) and may obscure late day sun slightly. This is why I had the brainwave of reversing the pent to put the high side towards the back of that boundary to appease any potential issues. I don’t know if I’m over thinking this though – I reality it might block a tiny bit of light for the last hour or so of a few of the days per year. I also haven’t approached either neighbour about my plans yet so don’t know if either would be worried. I know I don’t legally have to consider this but I’ve not had a problem with any neighbours so far and don’t want to start!
This gives rise to my remaining challenges to solve:
1. principally spanning 4m safely without skimping on roof joists but not at the expense of headroom,
2. achieving some pitch without breaching the 2.5mmax height and
3. fitting a 1.85m door onto a reverse pent shed with sufficient space to clear eaves and gutters J
I found Trada tables online and it suggests C16 in the region of 6*2, but I don’t know if this is overkill for a shed? I definitely don’t want the roof coming in, but I’m hoping the combination of some sensible trusses plus 18mm OSB? For the roof would help me achieve the span without having to significantly lower the front wall / door height.
Other things I’ve opted for are:
1. I’m opting for this as the shed base. http://www.shedbase.com/probase/ I don’t want to lay a muckle big lump of concrete in the garden and this stuff looks like it will cope with my needs. Costed out at <£300 for the area I need including a bulk bag of pea shingle to fill some voids.
2. EPDM for the roof as I hate roofing felt and being a new build I can hopefully fit this and forget. I also think this will let me use a 1:12 pitch without too much trouble.
3. Cladding wise I love waney edge larch and a local sawmill has assured me they can do a good price on it (to be confirmed) If cost is prohibitive I might only clad 2 edges in it.
4. 75*75 bearers sitting on the probase
5. 19mm treated t+g flooring, possible with a vapour barrier underneath
6. 75*50 wall studs at 400mm centres (not 610 as in the sketchup drawing
7. 11mm OSB lined inside, vapour barrier and cladding on outside
8. No insulation planned for walls or roof
9. 1000mm doors
Budget wise I don’t really know how much most of it will cost, because I don’t yet know what I need.
I’ve costed the base at c. £280 and the EPDM roof would probably be the same again, so I’m expecting little change £2k at least, possibly more if the cladding is pricey. The alternative is to buy off the shelf but to fit the space it would be a full custom job and I am really up for the challenge of building something myself and being proud of the job.
I have looked at a number of the projects on here and they are all very impressive buildings – some of the construction is excellent. This shed will not be in the same league, so I hope you’ll understand my desire to use things like the plastic base. It will be a fairly sizable building, but only used for light duties.
Anyway, as usual I have said far too much, so I thank you for reading if you are still awake and look forward to hearing your feedback.
Thanks!
David
