(Another!) Shed Workshop WIP

[Philbo]

Hello all,

I'm sure, like many an amateur woodworker that peruse this forum in awe of others, I have always wanted a dedicated place in which to create sawdust.

Me and the wife moved into our house last year, and since day one I had plans for a "workshop" shed in the garden. Unfortunately doing up various rooms on the inside of the house took priority but now that the weather is improving and those jobs are coming to an end (yea right) I can focus on this!

Now, my budget is very tight, and I don't have as much free time as I would like to do a self build, so I have decided to buy a 10x8ft Reverse Pent shed from a local supplier. I have seen them at one of their show sites and they seemed excellent quality.

So, onto the prep work:

My first job was to knock down the wooden framed 6x4ft 'greenhouse' at the back of the garden to make way for the shed:

After an hour or so with a hammer, and a crow bar I was left with this:

This now allowed me to see the condition of the existing concrete base that it sat on. It doesn't seem too bad, uneven due to being added to at some point but nice and solid.

Next was to work on the absolutely awful fencing at the back of the garden. It was uneven, flapping about all over the place (as it was supported by the greenhouse and no posts!), too short and just generally bad (see photo above!)

I started measuring up and decided to replace the sections from the back left corner to just past where the shed was going to go. I ordered up the fencing and a new gate and the following weekend my good old dad came over to give me a hand (I say give me a hand, I actually mean show me how it's done as I had never put up fencing before!)

The garden is on a slope and has some woodland at the back so it gets a fair bit of water running down it, we had to dig out quite a bit of earth in order to get the line we wanted, also we were putting in 4x4 posts so I wanted to make sure that they went in deep enough as we also get quite a good beating from the coastal winds.

So, as it had fallen down anyway, the old fence and gate needed to come out:

That's better:

Initial digging done:

Post holes dug, and posts in:

By the end of the weekend it looked like this (infact we got 4 panels in, I just didn't have a photo!):

The next weekend I gave it a coat of preserver:

For now the fencing is finished enough to allow me to get the shed in but I will be adding a couple more posts and panels in to finish of the back.

Next step will be extending and levelling the concrete base. That was this weekends entertainment, out so I will stick up some more progress for those that are interested below!

 

[mahomo59]

Good work! I know it's necessary...but I hate the million jobs you need to do prior to the one that you actually want to do! However time spent on perpetration is seldom wasted and will all be worth it in the end.

 

[Philbo]

Good work! I know it's necessary...but I hate the million jobs you need to do prior to the one that you actually want to do! However time spent on perpetration is seldom wasted and will all be worth it in the end.

Haha cheers, yea that's exactly how I feel! That fencing seemed like nothing compared to sorting out the base though! I will post details shortly!

 

[Philbo]

Onto the base....

This weekend was very productive and the most knackering I have had in a while!

Once again, my trusty dad came over to help but little did we know what we were letting ourselves in for....

I wanted to leave a gap at the side and back for maintenance of both the fence and the shed but until we got the tape out and measured it I hadn't really appreciated the extra size this would mean adding to the existing base. I mentioned before that my garden is also on a relatively steep slope, meaning the base was much deeper as it sloped down. I think it goes from about 3 inches at the back to 17 at the front.

Once we had measured out the size we marked out with line paint and stated to get level pegs in a mark out the square with string.

We then built all the shuttering luckily I had a load of old paving slabs and blocks lying around that I had been meaning to take to the tip anyway. I also had a brick BBQ that I wanted to get rid of so we knocked that apart and used the bricks as well:

We did of course, want to pour all the concrete at once but in the end we just couldn't. I think we have ended up using close to 80 backs of ballast and however many of cement all carried from the road up through the house via the hill to the back of my garden! this was the only manageable way to do it really as we had to be able to transport the stuff! multiple trips to Wickes and some emergency ballast trips to B&Q were needed!

Luckily we had a cement mixer (I would have given up ages ago without it!) but I can tell you that carrying that lot, mixing the loads and pushing it in the barrow (with a damn flat tyre!) was hard work! My arms are killing me today.

Last night we left it looking like this:

The shed comes with a tounge and groove floor, so the cement will be covered (which is a bit of a shame!) but at least we know it will be solid!

I am back at work today, but my poor old dad is finishing off the last bit as I type! I will post some completed photos of it when I take some later on.

All this for a 10x8 shed...... #-o