My parents need a new shed and have asked me for help to find something. I live in a flat and have never needed to buy a shed so I have no idea about sheds, so thought I’d ask the beautiful thing that is the STW hive mind for help.

The main area I’m not sure about is the material. The parents have had a quick look round the shops and they think a plastic one is the one to go for as they think it’ll last a lifetime without any maintenance.

I’d prefer to go for a wooden shed as it’s a natural and renewable material and I just really like wood. But parents think it’ll require maintenance eg painting it regularly with protective wood stain or fixing roof for leaks.

Any info on what maintenance would be required to keep wooden sheds in a good shape would be great. I think if they get 10 years out of it they’ll be happy rather than a true lifetime.

thanks in advance.

My wooden shed was here when I moved into the house twelve years ago. I’ve done nothing to it bar replacing the felt a couple of times where a big tree rubbed its way through it. The floor is a bit spongy in places now but the rest of it is fine.

The questions are how much do they want to spend, how big, and is it just for storing some worthless garden tools?

Think it needs to be around 10×8 feet used to store diy stuff; tool box, lawn mower, old paint tins etc the usual stuff your average Joe has. No expensive bikes or anything like that.

They have a budget of around £500. I’m happy to put a little in towards the fund if it’s worth spending a bit more.

I think you’ll be spending more than £500 for a 10×8 shed.

Ours came pre-treated 5+ years ago and is only looking like it could do with a spruce up now.

my mate says tiger sheds are good. I usually build my own.