Help me decide what shed to buy!

A question about : Help me decide what shed to buy!

Hello All,

I am moving house shortly and will no longer have a garage.

I will need something at least 6x8 to store bikes, gardening stuff etc. Because of the bikes it will need to be good quality and watertight.

My experience of wooden sheds is that they warp and don't last at all long.

So, which of these choices should I go for?
1) Cheap wooden shed (on the assumption that all wooden sheds die after just a few years!)
2) Better quality wooden shed - is it worth it?
3) Plastic shed
4) Metal shed

Help!!

Best answers:

• A shed lasts as long as you look after it. Regular treatment and keep it off the ground.
  If needed use a sacrificial base. What i did was use 3" square timbers. Cut into short lengths/ Treated these with a good soak in some creosote.
  These have been there for 6 years now and still pass the screwdriver test.
  If they do rot, I just cut some more to the correct length, Treat them and replace them one piece at a time.
  Because they are only about 2ft long, I can remove a piece and add a new bit in very easily.
  Shed stays off the ground and doesnt sit in puddles.
  Metal and plastic sheds can suffer from condensation issues.
• Indeed a well planned and maintained shed can last a longtime, i bought a 12x8 workshop shed when i still lived with my parents.
  Before installing it i put down a proper concrete base and treated the shed with a decent quality timber treatment, that shed is now 17 years old and apart from a few re treatments and some new Felt over the years it almost looks as good as it did when it was new.
  I would suggest buying the best you can afford the build quality is very different.
• A shed that's made from pressure treated timber will last a lot longer than one which has just had a coat of preservative slapped on.
  And there's nothing to stop you adding a coat of preservative or water repellant to a treated one, for good measure.
• deff lay a good base down also think about acces and ease of getting in i went for a 6x8 shed but with double doors makes it sooo much easier to get things in and out of. also gerneally you will be putting the shed together yoruself wich i did and i stuck a few extra screws and nails in in various places, gave it a coat of treatemnt before erecting it and a double coat on the underside of the floor before putting it down as you wont have access to that once up.
• Thanks All,
  Good quality wooden shed it is then! Also will look after it as described.
  Can anyone recommend a good value model?
• Homebase have a (high spec) 6x8ft shed for Ј500 seems very expensive but they have a 15% day at the moment knocking Ј75 off.
• Avoid Homebase and B & Q sheds - they are rubbish. We had a Homebase one which despite us treating it as recommended, leaked, the roof bent strangely and dipped badly and it was a complete disaster in 3 or 4 years! It was wet, mouldy and so was everything in it.
  Just bought the cheapest shed we could for our allotment last spring from B & Q - utter rubbish, but all we could afford at the time - I do not recommend it!
  We've also now just moved to a house without garage or shed and have just had a new garden shed delivered and erected this week from Skinners Sheds, cost around Ј900 (gasp!), but we opted for a 10 x 8 and had it lined with the paper stuff that breathes. It is one very tough, solid building and I think it's going to be worth the money in the long run...don't know if you can get to a show site- but they have videos on their website and I suppose they deliver and erect everywhere- not sure.
• So far as I can tell, Skinners Sheds operate only in the South East. They are based in East Sussex, and cover quite a large area including parts of Kent.
  I have one of their sheds left by the previous owner of this house, and one of their wood stores I bought myself.
  Both seem very good and solid, and the shed doesn't leak. I have resorted to dragging the wood store around the patio when it was in the way, and it didn't fall apart.
• I built my own shed from scratch. Cost way more than I thought it would but then it is huge.
  I used the best timber I could afford and anything under the shed that touched the concrete was either treated timber or zinc plated steel.
  It's lasted some strong winds and rain with no signs of wear. So it is worth spending more on a good wooden shed.
  !!!Word of caution!!!
  For the love of god, DO NOT BUY the cheap nasty felt in the DIY shop, it's crap! I bought a roll of the good stuff from Sydenhams (any good merchant sells it) and it was amazingly easy to put on, just do it on a warm day lol.
• I have a Skinners shed that cost over Ј1000- seemed good quality even though they put the door on upside down. We painted it as told to with water repellant paint and it is on a concrete base. One year and one month after installation it is leaking like a sieve. The roof felt was laid with such a small overlap that water has passed through, swelling and lifting the roof timbers and water is pouring through onto the shed floor and contents. The lifting roof planks are pulling the nails through the roof felt making more holes in it.
  Sadly, Skinners seem not to care. I wrote to them, emailed a copy of the letter and photos and heard nothing.. I phoned and left 3 messages on 3 different occasions and the person who answered said she would leave the message on her boss's desk each time. Nothing.
  Today I have finally had this reply after sending a 2nd letter registered post, hand delivering a copy of the letter to the salesman in Hailsham (who just shrugged and said his hands are tied) and emailing it to Skinners too.
  'Having looked into your order we have found your order was delivered and erected in Sept 2013 Please find attached
  Looking at your pictures you may have suffered trapped moisture in the building raising to the roof as condensation water logging the timber and causing the boards to swell and pop. Unfortunately this is no longer under warranty .How ever we can offer you to re call fix the boards and re felt at a reduce cost of Ј95'
  I would save your money and buy a standard shed from B&Q or Screwfix at half the price. Clearly a shed leaking after 13 months is not fit for purpose and sadly the company making them don't care. They are making a false economy on roof felt at their customer's expense.