16×10 shed/garage base- options/advice

Arriving in January so need to get the base sorted. No car use, bikes, tools etc.

At the moment I am not going down the concrete slab route as I haven’t priced it but I think it may be overkill, happy to hear otherwise.

I’ve used the plastic grids on a 6×8 and they were OK.

Friend suggested 2 inch of Type 1 whacker plated (2×2 CLS for a edging frame) with slab pads on top.

I can also get composite skids in 1m lengths locally which I thought be might be good to lift the wood shed (which is floored) up off the grounds/slabs.

Not 100% fit at the moment so keen to avoid lots of hard labour but shed/garage is £2k so happy to get a decent foundation in place and get help in if required..

What’s the rest of the construction going to be ?

That would drive me.

Fwiw using a mini mix truck I had a 6m/3m floor for my extension and 7.4/(2.4-1m taper) floor in my shed pored in high strength concrete for about 550 quid.

I threw in some reinforcing mesh and some visqueen. Shed floor will outlast me.

I’ve built 3 concrete bases (deck, summerhouse and shed, all pretty big), aye they may be overkill, but in each case it’s been the cheapest and easiest option for me. I had a fair few 3×2 slabs lying around so used them as ballast, basically built shuttering to the desired size, filled with rubble and slabs to a couple of inches from the edge ant he horizontal surface, then mixed, poured and screeded concrete. I even managed to screed myself (screw one end, and screed, then do it with other end, it’s fairly easy.

each one of them was completed in one day.

It’s a local company supplying the building, so as follows I believe..

16mm tongue and groove weatherboard on side walls.

Floors are 19mm tongue and groove

Roof is made from 16mm sarking with Grade 8 mineral roofing felt.

What sort of cure time are you looking at for concrete? Not the best time of year due to temps (Glasgow) but still doable?

I’d want it mounted on something one piece/solid that won’t move then. Because none of that’s particularly robust and will be susceptible to twisting/warping if anything sinks.

That’s the specs from their (basic) website and written about their sheds. They did say timbers would be bigger on the larger builds but no specifics I’m afraid. Trusted local company but not tons of written info..

Well it’s a catch 22. If that’s what is being built I’d be inclined to go with permiable pads rather than full support as if you sit all that timber direct onto a concrete base it’ll just end up sitting in standing water with the best will of the world even if you undersize it etc

Yeah that was the thinking with the composite skids to get the timber off the gravel/slabs.

Don’t want the building to be junk in a few years time..

Have you considered ground screws? I think I may go with those for the next mega shed / workshop I build. Removes the need for base faff.

I also was going to suggest the ground screws. Quite a few firms now that do it quickly and relatively cheaply as doesn’t involve huge amounts of labour. Look at NoMoreDigging.co.uk and others like it.

My 12×8 shed has been sat on a sized concrete pad for 7 years now, absolutely no sign of any rot. I purposefully sat it on free floating bearers, so that if I really need to, I could jack up each and remove and replace with minimal hassle.

No need after 7 years. 30 miles West of Glasgow.

The ground-screws quote I got was about £800. Not sure how that compares to a concrete base but more than type 1 and pacers, albeit a more elegant solution!

Nobeer, did you get a delivery or make your own mix?

I paid £1k for a 6 x 3m concrete pad in July. Included a fair bit of clearing/ levelling before laying and access is a bit awkward. That was 3 guys mixing on site, the quote for ready mix was too much due it being about 50+ metres from the road.

I really should get a shed for it….

Who are you getting your shed from and do you know what the lead time is?

@rockthreegozy I mixed my own, as round the back there’s nowhere I could really get concrete dropped off.

Bought my mixer 2nd hand about 10 years ago for 60 quid, used it for all sorts, gave it away for free tools a local gardener last year, it owed me nothing.

My shed is about 16 yrs old with no rot. Poured concrete base on a DPC sitting a few inches above ground level. 4x2s laid flat on the wet concrete with a few coach bolts going down into the concrete.

The 4x2s were overhanging the base by an inch. The lowest tongue and groove plank hung below the level of the base so all rain dripped below the base.

Not sure how this would work with a pre-fab shed getting delivered though.

I’d go for a poured base if you can for that size shed. I paid £2,700 for a 20ftx20ft x150mm base but that included quite a muck shift, dpc, rebar, and fibre, as it is used for a car, plus one edge of the slab is on made ground due to the cut and fill I needed, so the base is needing to act as a cantilever there.

OK, I will try get a few quotes for concrete.

Shed is coming from Premier Sheds (Kirkintilloch) and lead time is January. I can probably get something more specific but knowing some companies are six months plus I wasn’t really stressing about an exact date..

Cheers I’ll check them out and see if they’ll deliver down here. I’m on a waiting list for a local place, but that was back in August and I haven’t heard anything. I need to chase them up.