We need a small garden shed as our old wooden one (which came with the house) is now residing in a skip. We just want something affordable and simple to put together to hold an electric mower and a few garden tools (no bikes which are stored in a larger wooden shed).

There seem to be a good range of metal and plastic offerings available; would one tyre offer any advantages/disadvantages over the other.

Metal = recyclable at end of life.

Wood = log burner at end of life

All the kindling for our burner comes out of neighbour’s skips – mainly pallets but any wood will do…

^^^ Be careful burning treated timber in a log burner as pre-2006 timber may give off toxic fumes.

NEVER burn any kind of tanalised timber such as old painted timber or boards, which contain formaldehyde resins (i.e. most plywoods, chipboard, and MDF). Tanalised E may be burned in approved industrial incinerators only, but should not be burned in open fires or home wood burners.

From here

Have a good look at the metal ones before purchase – our neighbour has got one. Apparently it was a gift when he moved in from the in-laws; nope, he doesn’t know why, either.

Anyway, it sits on a concrete pad & because there’s no base, when it rains, the water seeps in under the walls & the floor gets soaking inside.
I suppose he could down some kind of rubber seal, but it didn’t come with anything as standard.

Be careful burning treated timber in a log burner as pre-2006 timber may give off toxic fumes.

I’m sure they do, but not in enough quantity to make a difference e.g. one house fire will release 1000s of times more crap than a few fence post offcuts..

That’s fine then, burn away. I certainly wouldn’t put my family at risk but each to their own.

If you go metal, don’t go as cheap as possible.

I built one up for my mum this summer and the metal sheeting is paper thin, Very poor but it was very cheap. Does the job OK but I wouldn’t entertain the idea of having one.

Not secure in any way but mum only has cheap garden tools in hers.

We something similar to this,

http://www.argos.co.uk/product/4349516?storeID=235&cmpid=GS001&_$ja=tsid:59156%7Cacid:444-797-0832%7Ccid:596650041%7Cagid:44226476354%7Ctid:pla-354034947327%7Ccrid:189521436470%7Cnw:g%7Crnd:16871443703730539154%7Cdvc:m%7Cadp:1o1%7Cmt:%7Cloc:9045897&gclid=CjwKCAjw-8nbBRBnEiwAqWt1zaHS7ifJisMwDQo67Ao3XJ12MgiMAu0niJHTHQ7hVYoMYG3JFkOekxoCEqQQAvD_BwE

seems to be fine, difficult to get to excited over it

you are more likely to get condensation in a metal one, a decent one should have some sort of protection against this. Metal and plastic will most likely need stand along shelving, wood you can normally attach shelf brackets to the uprights.

I would never burn ant treated wood unless it was untreated wood I had used a none-toxic preservative one.

I wouldn’t get another metal shed. The floor is always wet when it rains (despite countless attempts to seal around the base) and condensation is awful in it.

Keter plastic here, we’ll impressed, no condensation or leaks, doesn’t seem to be uv degrading – 3 yrs old now, annual wipe down and it looks new

you need to build a decent flat base for it to sit on, you need to use self supporting shelving inside and security wise I suspect you could cut a new door with a decent knife

It sits in a dank tree/bush surrounded corner, the wooden one was rotted thru, the keter just wipes clean

I had to move my metal shed as originally located too close to end wall. Originally nailed down with masonry nails and sealed edges with expanding foam on a concrete base. Once took the nails out still wouldnt move because of the foam. So when finally freed i didnt bother with the nails just went bonkers with the foam – no leaks and the thing seems superglued to the concrete.

those keter store boxes. When collected mine, wickes had to go through the warehouse to find an unwarped lid. Needless to say the lid warped within a few months anyway.

Thanks for the thoughts, I appreciate it. I hadn’t thought about storage boxes/chests, but actually we wouldn’t need a full height shed for what we currently need to store.

There doesn’t seem to be an outright winner amongst the available materials but there are plenty of options so I’ll have a look and see what deals there are to be had.

You can get very very good metal sheds, but they’re not cheap. Look at Asgard metal sheds, for a full size one you’re looking at £1000 roughly, however they are very secure and 100% dry, I don’t get any condensation in mine and it’s classed as a garage for my motorbike insurance.

Hello. quick ressurection rather than starting a new thread…

Just been donated a Duramax metal shed. was thinking I could use it as a log store to free up some space in my garage, maybe house the lawnmower and a few other bits & bobs. Doesn’t really need to be secure.

Anyway my question is about the base, it doesn’t come with one, the manual suggests a 2×4” frame with 18mm ply sheet. Is this really necessary? I have flagged area to position it on, and was thinking I could just use a couple of pallets as a floor? The shed comes with a couple of air vents at high level.

That sounds fine, I have a cheap crap metal shed sitting on slabs with no fixings at all. It moves a little in wind but is stopped by the contents inside and suffers from the mentioned damp issues when it rains. I would just sling some pallets down, screw it to them and let the logs weigh it down. Keep gaffer tape handy for any creases turning to rusted holes in the future.

concrete sheds last a while.

it can be sometimes be possible to aquire a second hand concrete shed, coal bunker, garage etc for nothing. If you dismantle and move it yourself.

the garages are modular and can be built half or quarter size. It is tricky getting the roof resized and possibly the door fitted easily.

but it can work.

I recently put up a 6*4 letter plastic shed for my girlfriend.

Put it on a flattened earth base with sand on top. Didn’t fix it down.

Took 2 of us and an afternoon to build up. Relatively simple, though getting the roof in is awkward.

But it’s dry, well vented and survived a few storms. Looks good too.

A tribute to Ronnie Barker who died on this day in 2005 , 3 Oct