The wife is taking up print making so wants a shed in which to do so. The spare bedroom is not the place to undertake such a potentially messy practice! In a nutshell, are we better buying one or making one? Will be around 8×6′ (or 8×4′ – not there to measure right now). Ideally be insulated to minimise damp as using a lot of paper. Will run power from house t’other end of garden too. Doesn’t need to be super-fancy, just watertight and comfortable for chair, desk, bit of storage and space to hang prints while they dry. Any tips greatly appreciated! Cheers

8′ x 4′ is a coffin, not a shed 🙂

you can adapt an inexpensive off-the-shelf shed with some 25mm polyeurethane insulation between the uprights and roof joists and over-boarding with ply. Maybe adding secondary glazing too.

As stoner says, I always do a few mods during building it also. Use my own fixings and beef up the roof etc to stop the usual sag.

8 x 4 is tiny and unless you heat it damp will be a problem in the winter, insuLatin on it’s own won’t keep it dry.

Whatever budget you have in mind times by 5 if you want a proper use able workspace.

We just built a 12 x 8 at work and it’s already come in at over a grand and that’s using timber bought at commercial rates and clad with recycled wood (over the ply).

Get a non standard shipping container (they do smaller sizes)..
Insulate, put windows and electric in and maybe clad the outside and you could have an awesome setup…

http://www.cubedepot.com/resources/dyi-container-workshop/

http://www.containersandmore.co.uk/useful-resources/news-blog/entry/shipping-container-conversion-gives-sustrans-added-and-portable-office-space.html

Damp + Paper?

Best of luck keeping it dry…Condensation in my shed has been grim this year….

The paper will curl, it will need keeping at a constant temperature which you won’t want to pay for.
Even if you keep the paper wrapped up it will still curl as soon as you unwrap it, if it’s even slightly child or damp. I’m an ex printer so know all about the damn stuff.
I’m not saying you couldn’t do it but the cost might prove prohibitive.

I posted a Colin Furze video a while back of a suitably over engineered shed. Some savings that could be made, but 4×2 studwork allows for 100mm celotex.
Drying room at work, heater and dehumidifier keep boots toe curling dry. Dehumidifier could easily drain out through wall in a shed.

Do you know how much does it costs to run timber?

In my experience you can’t make a shed for the price you can buy one.
However, that’s mainly because you can’t buy materials as crap as they make sheds from 🙂

Agree with others that 8×4 is small. 8×4 with 50mm of insulation is even smaller.

I’d make one, but that’s because I would find it pleasurable. ymmv.

My shed is 9.5 x 4 and its big enough…

Though that’s meters not feet 😀

Do you know how much does it costs to run timber?

About 200W, so at roughly 10p / kWh that’s 2p/hour.

If you can tell me where you get 10p/kWh I’d be very grateful!

Anyway – my top tip that goes against what many sites say, is raise the base off the floor so that air can get underneath.

Mitsumonkey – not a clue, work pay for it, basically a glorified cupboard partitioned off at one end of an agricultural shed. To me, the value of dry boots and chainsaw trousers is priceless. Think that it only has 50mm celotex on the partition wall.

If you can tell me where you get 10p/kWh I’d be very grateful!

I’m currently paying:

Unit Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.5500p/kWh
Standing Charge . 15.65p/day (£57.12/year)

GB Energy which is now Cooperative Energy. Fixed for a year.

Mr overshoot…. That looks brilliant. I just hope my 6x3m shed I’m due to build in a few weeks is anywhere near as good 😕

Thanks Footflaps – Apparently we’ve just swapped to Co-operative Energy, so maybe it’s as cheap. I thought it had been steadily creeping up to about 17p for some reason!

As above, if your carpentry skillz are up to it, and you’re wallet can take it, sourcing timber from a timber yard will result in a twice as expensive andw that is a billion times better. Most off the shelf units seem to be made of kindling.
If it can go in a location against the house, rather than at the bottom of the garden, I would be tempted to take a radiator pipe off the central heating out to it and back. Just to give a nice gentle but constant background heat.

She’s going to have a shed – just a matter of which one.
It’ll be a workspace where it doesn’t matter if printing ink gets everywhere – we just won’t keep paper in there. Looked at some on Sunday which seemed very well made here:

http://www.bentleysgardenbuildings.co.uk/page/garden-buildings/garden-sheds

£800 for a 8×6 – that’s delivered and built. A corrugated roof and not felt, and pressure treated. Very good quality – better than the flimsy efforts the wife looked at in B&Q yesterday which are £400. I can pay more to have to lined with a moisture barrier, before insulating with some Celotex I have and boarding over with OSB.

Another local place does a 10×6 for £700 – we have space for it but not sure if pressure treated…going for a looksy Sun am. We can position the doors and windows wherever we want too.

Whatever we go for I’ll have to build some sort of base to elevate it as it straddles a path, a path border (made of chopped down telegraph poles which will be a bitch to move) and the mud on the other side.

Exciting stuff eh? 😉

Shed bought.
About to Celotex and OSB inside…there seems to be a flow of air inside from under the roof (pent not apex). Does this have to remain or can it be totally sealed up?

I’d let it breathe, allow water out.

I’d let her breathe , but then if she took up printmaking in a shed at the bottom of the garden ,maybe not ….

I’d let her breathe , but then if she took up printmaking in a shed at the bottom of the garden ,maybe not ….

Have you made sure it has dried out enough before you celotex and OSB it, otherwise you will just trap the moisture?

My shed came unpainted and they would not insulate and board the inside until I had painted the exterior and allowed enough time for the wood to dry out. Once painted on the outside the moisture can only come out internally so you might need to allow for this beforehand.

Edit: Too slow as mentioned above

hope you find a solution, but speaking as an ex time served bookbinder and current digital print operator you will struggle to do good work with paper in that type of environment- of course you can, but producing stable work to sell for instance might be tricky. I absolutely endorse the comment from Mitsumonkey above who himself mentioned he was a printer and has experience. Relative humidity is crucial to the stability of paper. Brick garages are frequently used as binding studios and the like and even they struggle to control the paper. Not an easy problem to solve. good luck, print making is awesome btw!