What Do I Want To Have In My Shed

"What" or more accurately, "What do I want to have in my shed" may seem an easy choice. I mean we have the gardening tools, the dirty boots, the paint brushes, the paint, the wallpapering equipment, The paste table, the overalls, the pinny, the dirty gardening boots, the dirty football/rugby boots and balls, the yard brush, the hand brush, the hand shovel, the nails, the screws, the picture hangers, the seeds, the ......................

HEY, WHERE HAS THE FLOOR GONE

Yes. A big mistake that many people make. Lack Of Forethought

As a designer, when facing a new project I find that it is always easier to START at the END. Now that may not make a lot of sense to you all, but if I have designed something, and it has been manufactured, and then those who ordered it cannot use it properly then there are going to be some very unhappy people around.

Grouping What We Want In Our Shed

Now, if we relate back to our earlier article on Who will Access Our Shed, we categorised our users. This does help us in our prospective contents list. Recapping, we have: The Kids: Our Wife, Husband or Partner: Mum, Dad, Relatives: Neighbours and other Visitors:

Let's start with The Kids.

If we have children, they do have a tendency to have toys, games, paddling pools, footballs, hockey sticks and the like. If we allow them to keep them in our shed, do we also want them to be able to get at them themselves. If the answer is yes, then it is no good putting little Jimmies' football at the back behind those dangerous sharp or toxic objects, or up high where he cannot reach. OK you say, We put it low and at the front.

GREAT.

Wait a moment. Did we say dangerous sharp or toxic objects. Mmm! but if we put those at the back but low, then little Jimmy may still be able to get them and hurt himself.

I know, let's put them up high.

FANTASTIC.

You have engaged the brain and found a solution. However you have now hit on a design problem.

Shed MATERIAL.

Many sheds are made of Galvanised material. They are quite sturdy, relatively easy to assemble and are cheaper but have a tendency to have thin walls. The first time you think that you will put a shelf up, you will find that a straight screw in the supporting brackets will strip the hole you have drilled for it, and become loose. The shelf will not stay up. Aha you say. No problem, I will put in an expanding plug which will open up in the original hole, take the screw easily, and give strength to the supporting brackets. So you mark out the height of the shelf. Place the markings for the screw holes on the shed wall (watch for ribbed/ channelled panels as you have to allow for the depth otherwise you brackets will not stick out enough.)
Right.

Shed position marked
Hole positions marked
Holed drilled.
Expanding plugs installed
Support brackets screwed on.
Shelf attached.

Hey presto. One shelf installed.
Place dangerous items on shelf.
Big pat on the back time.

So you have done it. You have installed the first shelf, so you go outside and lean on the shed wall with a smug look on your face.

"Ouch" You have now got a deep bleeding hole in your hand because there is one inch of each screw sticking out through the thin shed wall and you have just leaned against it.

So to put in shelving if you are not having a thick walled wooden shed then try placing a board on which the shelf can be attached on the inner wall, and screw/ bolt that to the shed wall from the outside where only screw/ bolt heads will be seen.

Next. Our Wife, Husband or Partner:

Do you want your beauties delicate hands and varnished fingernails being ripped to shreds by your saws as they try to get to the washing basket or clothes prop. No you do not, so think on the overall layout for easy access.

Are there items that we need to keep away from prying eyes (I mean we could be talking birthday present) If the answer is yes then we are now talking cupboard, toolbox, bookcase or even old wardrobe.

So, we have put in some type of storage unit listed above. It may require a lock, it may not. We have stored our bits and pieces.

In 4 weeks time, we open our cupboard, wardrobe or similar, and guess what. We find Mould and or damp. What we have done is placed our shed on the grass, Mud, sand or even concrete, but it does NOT have its own floor. Believe me, if you are serious about safety of stored items, then get a floor panel, separate flooring blocks/ slabs or even a shed with a built in floor. It will save a lot of grief later
.

This should keep you thinking so.

Bye for now.

Robin

Should You Buy A Kit Shed?

Do You Buy A Kit Shed?

As you browse the massive amount of literature on today's big "Encyclopaedia Of knowledge" the Internet, you can be put off from the whole decision process because your shell-shocked brain can feel overloaded. That is the reason I hope that my site helps you with this as I break things down in decision sized small quantities.

Now a very definitive decision, that has to be made early, is whether to purchase a ready made shed, which is quick(ish) to install but has no flexibility ( What You See IS What You Get) or buy a Kit Shed which may suit your purpose better.

Now nobody can make that decision for you (unless you have a close friend who has already bought a Kit Shed) but maybe the following thoughts will help.

There are definitely Pros and Cons (nothing of course to do with sex workers, or those people behind bars)

let us get the bad bits out of the way first.

CONS.

1.
Are you capable of reading and understanding plans, diagrams and instructions.
Now before you instantly say YES, please think on who the supplier is, what country they live in, and most important, IN WHICH COUNTRY IS THE SHED KIT MADE.

In this life, there is nothing like personal experience. As a past designer for certain major international companies, I have at times struggled with assembling something because, let us say "The translation of the instructions into some form of English by the manufacturing company" has not been good. Now I do know that there are sometimes no direct translation between languages, but I have seen whole pieces of instructions missing or misleading.

I know how difficult it can be to do this translation as I once in 1985 had to translate some engineering work from French to Swedish backed by English and I only understood English. The Translation Dictionaries worked overtime. (The only thing I think I remember about that was that on mechanical design drawings The word PLUG in English, as in sump plug or coolant plug, means TAMPON in French. The mind boggled at the thoughts of using a Tampax or similar to stop the oil coming out of the sump in the car).

2.
Do you have the tools to assemble the kit, or do you have to buy or borrow more.

3.
Is there anything else you need on top of the initial kit such as A FLOOR.

I can imagine many people purcahsing a kit and the finding that they never thought of buying one with a floor supplied. Putting it on a piece of muddy ground may not be your particular intention.

4.
Do you need help assembling it.

There are often times when an "extra pair of hands" are required. As an inspector and designer/checker I have seen many cases of very simple things designed in such a way that assembly by one person is impossible. Also think about the weight of parts. The nice looking shed will not be much good to you if you have given yourself a hernia.

PROS

1.

It can be much cheaper

This may mean that you can build a larger more suitable shed for the same price as a smaller ready-made shed.

2.

You may have flexibility of design, for example window or door position, height, width, shape.

This can be important at times where the location postion has restrictions to accessibility.

3.

It may be easy to adapt or extend it at a later date

This can be an important factor as your life, hobbies, family circumstances or finaces change.

4.

It is precut before delivery

If you decide to buid your own shed from your own design, just think of the time involved, first of all getting the raw materials, finding room to store them, cutting it to suit, disposing of the waste. Yes all of that and that is before you start assembling your shed.

5.

It comes with a plan.

Again, if you aredesigning from scratch, unless you are an experieced designer, you have to get some sort of guidelines to work from, especially for material types and quantities required.


So there we have it. A difficult decision, but as it happens Mr Experience strikes again. I once buit a shed from a very large used Workmans Site Hut made of wood. (I was employed by a Construction Company who assembled and dissasembled these as needed around their sites.) It was designed in sections so that each part had a flooring piece oppsite wall panels and two roofing sections that leaned in toward each other like a house roof. This meant that the units could be any length by just adding another section. At one end, there was a door section/panel and at plain section/panel and at the other end two plain section/panels. It all bolted together

I used one third of it as a very large Lean-To type shed against my Garage wall. It had opening windows like a house, plenty of height (I am 6feet and 2 incheds tall with broad shoulders) and room to have a full size workbench in (Also purchased from my workplace with a heavy vice on it. With the haevy wood floor panels it was also warmer on the feet than concrete in winter.

Well that is it for today. I hope that this has helped.

Bye for now

Robin

Who Do You Want To Have Access To The Shed

Who

All right, joking apart, we have to get our thinking going in the right way. The majority of people out there, really want to have somewhere as a dumping ground.

Why should those dirty items that we really do not want to see, clutter up the back door area, the under stairs cupboard or even part of the dining room of the house. Why can they not be relocated outside somewhere in a dry place.

Right we are now thinking shed.

It can be cheap, It can be dry, and a very important point. IT CAN BE LOCKED but locked from who?

Let us look at it in two separate parts. There will be those who do need to access the sheds contents, and those who definitely should not have access, so in reverse order.

Those Without Access

The Kids: In most of our lives, we often encounter those little fingered people that are always getting trapped or injured whilst being in those places where they should not be, or playing with those items that they must not have. Our own children, grandchildren, nephews and nieces are very precious to us. Kids however, can cause the biggest headaches as they try on Uncle's boots, go for a walk, and then leave them out in the garden (or even a friends garden) where they can get wet, damaged or dare I say it LOST. Worse still, Mummies very expensive sharp secateurs for cutting the prize roses. Try to imagine all the things that are out there in the garden or house that can really damage their health. Hedging Shears, Weed killer, Meths, Paraffin/ Kerosene, Insect Repellent, The Lawn Mower, Pruning Shears, Saws.......... The list can be massive, so there we are, uncontrolled access to them is a definite NO NO. I know this from personal experience.

When I was about nine or ten, a freind and I when into my Dads shed which along with the coal bunker, was aattached to the house. I managed to reach a clear unmarked plastic bottle that contained a pale clear ORANGE liquid. I took a small swig, and nearly choked. As it turned out I was all right because I had spat it out and I washed my mouth out with water, but when I asked my Dad at night after he had come home from work, what it was he said ANTIFREEZE. I learnt my lesson, but not everyone will be that lucky.

So we want to keep out the children (yours and perhaps other peoples).

This means a good lock.

(There we are, in that one tiny little selection process we have already defined a design feature that is a must for us.)

Those With Access

Now, who do we want to have the access (and you really need to think carefully here).

Obviously, ourselves: I mean are we getting this shed for us or somebody else?

Our Wife, Husband or Partner: This can be a difficult one as you may not want the better half sampling your home made wine till it has finished fermenting, or perhaps your partner is not ready to understand why you have those naughty magazines in the cardboard box.

Mum, Dad, relatives: Again another difficult one. Close relatives have a nasty habit of arriving unannounced, and start interfering with the run of things, with the old "Oh, I'll just do this for you" and then the shed door is opened and your slowly drying, newly painted stand or model is ruined as the dust blows in from the windy garden or it is knocked over.

Neighbours and other visitors: Often, you can find peace and quiet in the shed. It can be your sanctuary. How annoying if the door is opened and your next-door borrowing-neighbour or the brother-in-law who still hasn't returned your petrol can comes in.. Think.... a lock on the inside of the door can be a bonus.

This should set your mind ticking over with some basic thoughts.

Bye for now.

Robin

So You Think You Want A Shed?

SHEDS.

You may love them, or hate them, show them off, or hide them, but a shed is one of the most misunderstood things that occur in our lives. Many people go out and get a shed, and then within weeks, find that it is not suitable for their ever changing needs. A change in hobbies, or family size can render early shed selection inadequate for the newly created situation. Forthought and advance planning always helps but lets face it, the first thoughts are, "Well it is only a shed so anything will do!" Bang a generally instant disaster, but how doers one go about having a useable shed that meets unknown requirements. Let us see.....

There are certain main features that have to be considered when thinking about a shed, covered by those old favourites of teaching, Who , What, Where and When.

• Who will use it (Him, Her, Kids, The Gardener?)
• What is it for (Wood, Bikes, Toys, Gardening, Tools?)
• Where is it going (Next to The House, Garage, Bottom of the Garden?)
• When will it be used (Occasionally, Often At Night?(

The Shed may be a sanctuary for one to hide in, a treasured place for proud possessions, a dumping ground for everything that cannot be hid elsewhere in the house. The uses are endless, and in this we can be grateful that there are many varieties of SHED.

It is with dismay, that I note that the local Gardening/ DIY shops seem to have a passion for selling Galvanised Boxes with no actual floor, and pass them off as SHEDS. They are I suppose what passes as a storage shed, but far beyond the luxury of wooden walls, with opening full glass windows, warm dry wooden floors, enough room to "swing a cat" with some height for those of us over 6 ft, (one point something metres) Shelves, a Workbench and Electricity with dare I say it, HEATING and LIGHTING.

Yes, I have had all those wonders in my shed but, I have to add that that shed was extremely cheap, and again, the luxuries where relatively inexpensive.

So where do we go from here.
Well, we will venture into the Who , What, Where and When. and from there look into how each will affect your decisions.

Perhaps from this a more rational decision as to what will be suitable can be made and thus lead you to the right design for your forthcomong needs.

See you soon.

Robin


Note. All opinions printed here are the personal choice of the author an experienced designer and not necessarily the views of others.