Hi,
As mentioned in my intro post, I'm getting into woodworking and need a workshop to do it in - I've already had an abortive attempt at doing some stuff in our single garage which doubles as a home gym - not enough space and sawdust and exercise don't mix .. so let's build one. To note, I have studied the guides on building a shed with / without concrete and have read a lot of threads on here / another place and thanks to you all who provide your wisdom, input and advice.
I have an existing shed which is rotting so time to take it down and replace it with something better.
Here's a photo of the garden with current shed (3mx2m) in the corner
Here's proposed workshop dimensions with basic boundary detail
Initial thoughts
- Planning wise, I am not in an AONB (that starts 200m beyond my garden!), conservation area, PD rights not removed etc.
- The house itself as you can see is in an urban area and the houses are '60s with horrible low pitched roof and of no architectural value so there's no real special considerations there
- As you can see, I'm going for 5m x 3m to avoid the non-combustible material issue when close to the boundary and 5m x 3m feels about right without it over powering the garden and with a young family, need as much garden as possible as well
- I feel PD height of 2.5m is too restrictive so will be going for PP and will propose a 3m height with 2.3m eaves which according to some online calculator, will give me a 25 degree pitch roof to enable all roofing choices and of course utilise that height for storage
My abilities / time
- I've never done anything like this before and the limits of my DIY to date are boarding the loft. To do this all by myself would be a stretch but I'm willing to give it a go
- I don't want to spend all summer doing this, after the past year, hoping to spend as much time as possible with family / friends etc. so I am prepared to pay others / consider more expensive options to save my own time
- I would hope to get groundworks completed by early September. I can give a day week during the week to it + weekends during Sept / Oct so I would hope to be weather tight by end of October before winter and worse weather kicks in.
- I can probably get a neighbour to help with the odd 2 man lift, but I don't have a big network of family / friends to call on for help close by.
Groundworks
- This is my biggest concern with the build in terms of time / cost. I've already obtained a quote for a concrete pad with 2 course brick and this was £4800 (!). Way more than I was expecting but then this is Bucks
So this lead me to investigate the non-concrete options and I quite like the look of ground screws for offering a quick install and seems a good choice with the beech hedging / clay soil I have.
I'm a big fan of Robin Clevett on YouTube if you've watched him and in this video
you can see him using ground screws to build a substantial garden building. If you look at 06:30 onwards for example, what surprises me is how close the timber ring beam foundation is to the ground.. after all my reading here, I thought that was a big no-no for wood..
So feel free to comment on that and ground screws in general - I know it will give some challenges of rodent proofing, ventilation and potentially floor height, but they don't feel insurmountable compared to the cost of someone providing a concrete pad (access is only 70cm to my garden as well so limits the machinery sizes somewhat).
I think ground screws installed by a company would cost in the region of £1500, be done in a day and I could crack on with the sole plate / ring beam so much quicker.
That's probably enough for the first post. Lots more planning required of course for all the other aspects but I feel nailing the groundwork choice is key to me first to know the cost / effort involved.
Any general comments / suggestions welcome and of course discussion on groundworks!
Thanks all
Mod Edit: fixed the youtube link. Bob