Garden Workshop Purchase

[Gill]

Just to resolve this open thread, I successfully bid for a Meade 4.5” reflector telescope tonight on eBay . Okay, it’s not exactly in the Hubble class, but at least it’ll allow His Lordship to pursue his hobby for £60; if he wants to get more serious, he can upgrade to something more suitable next year.

Anyway, the upshot is that it’s put him in a good mood with regard to my hobbies. For years I’ve been struggling to cope with an outhouse scullery workshop which tends to double as storage space. As I’m sure you can imagine, this curtails my woodworking activities dramatically. That hasn’t been too much of a problem because I haven’t had time for hobbies recently, but I’m now hoping to be more active again. Since I’m supporting his hobby, he’s decided to support mine.

So this weekend we’re going shopping for a new workshop ! I think he’s got an 8’x16’ wooden building in mind for the garden, but we’ll have to wait and see. Once we’ve got the new workshop set up, he then wants to knock out the wall that separates the scullery from our kitchen and have a large kitchen-cum-dining room fitted out. No doubt I’ll end up fitting my own furniture and have it all designed around me 8) .

It feels as if Christmas has come a month late . I only hope he’s as good as his word.

Gill

 

[trevtheturner]

Gill,

Good luck with your shopping - sounds like a good weekend coming up :wink: .

Perhaps you have already sourced your new workshop. If not, FWIW, Tudors Garden Buildings in Hereford might be worth a look. About 7 years ago I bought a 16' x 8' garden shed from them at a reasonable price - has double doors at one end and four windows (two opening) along one side. Mine is just that - a garden shed - but insulated and lined it would make a very presentable workshop. At the same time, Tudors had an extremely substantial wooden 'garage' which would have made an exceptionally good workshop. Don't know what they are producing now so, as I say, FWIW.

Cheers,

Trev.

 

[Gill]

Hi Trev

Thanks for the suggestion. I think His Lordship is looking to buy the workshop from a firm in in Solihull that he's dealt with before, but I know he likes visiting Hereford so perhaps we might be able to pop in and see what's available.

Gill

 

[trevtheturner]

Hi Gill,

Good luck!

Trev.

 

[trevtheturner]

Any joy with the new workshop, Gill?

Trev.

 

[Gill]

It's funny you should ask, Trev . I logged on this morning specifically to ask you ask you about Tudors Garden Buildings. I visited them on Monday and received a quote this morning of £1515 (inc VAT and construction) for an 18' x 8' medium duty workshop and £1703 (inclusive) for a similarly sized heavy duty building.

The quality of their products is superb, as you said. There was absolutely no 'give' in the floors of either building. The heavy duty building seemed to be particularly sturdy, being constructed out of slightly heavier material and having roof trusses (at least I think that's what they're called :? ). Remember the film 'The Great Escape' - it looked just like a POW hut.

So now I'm in a quandary. £1500 - 1700 is an awful lot of money to pay for a workshop, especially when I've had a comparable quote from a different company that is for £1000. Mind, that is for a building that's little more than a glorified shed. The real problem is that we'd originally budgeted £1000 for the building. Then there's the cost of the base which is going to be several hundred pounds due to the need to employ people to level the ground and lay concrete. Unfortunately, my other half's arthritis stops him from doing this sort of heavy work himself.

I guess the question I'm asking is, "From your experience, Trev, does the quality of the Tudors buildings justify the premium?"

Gill

PS I'd appreciate thoughts from other contributors, too!

 

[Noel]

Gill, saw an item in one of the WW comics this month.
The company in question was http://www.waltons.co.uk/CountySheds/GroundsmanWorkshop

Noel

 

[Gill]

Thanks for the link, Noel. That firm seems to make slightly smaller sheds (the difference is marginal) that come out at roughly the same price as the other quote I already have from 'Betta Buildings' ( www.ukgardenbuildings.co.uk ). I think the main consideration for me right now is to establish to the mutual satisfaction of both myself and my partner that the premium for the Tudors building is worth it.

Perhaps I might take another long drive and take some photographs to help make a comparison. Will anyone object if I gloat that a digital camera arrived for my birthday? All I need to do now is work out how to hook it up to the computer :roll:.

Gill

 

[Noel]

Gill, off topic for a mo', if you don't have a card reader on your computer, go and get an external one that suits your card format. Saves a fortune on batteries. Speaking of which a set of rechargables is very handy, NmH are good. You'll soon outweigh the cost. Oh, and then you'll need a bigger card 128mb +.......................

Noel

 

[Adam]

Gill,

To add a few thoughts, I looked at purchasing a "shed" and eventually built one myself. I built it much more "heavy duty" and have subsequently found many benefits. Having used 50mm (2 inch x 3) stud timber I found it was easy to insulate by simply pushing in 50mm polystyrene sheets from Wickes. The cheap shed was only 38mm square studs so much more flimsy, and the polystyrene wouldn't have fitted

Most of the companies I looked at offered a moisture resistant chipboard floor - I opted for outdoor plywood. The first thing to go on a shed is normally the floor. It's really worth spending the extra or asking them to offer a higher quality floor if you went with the cheap one.

Having a more "heavy duty" stud means you can hang much more weight on them, e.g. shelves etc, or can drill a hole for cables without it affecting the strength of them.

From a security point of view, it you have anything of value in it, you need to consider how easy to break in a determined thief with a crowbar would find it.

Are they constructing it as well? If not, it can be worth adding some extra runners under the floor - stops it sagging and you can put a heavier weight on it, also, I cut strips of roofing felt and put these under every runner - this stops any moisture coming up out of the base and rotting the runners.

Adam

 

[ProShop]

Gill,
It does sound a lot of money for a shed that size IMHO, but I haven't seen the one you are interested in though so I maybe off the mark a bit here.

If you bought the cheaper shed and put say plywood sheets on the inside of the frame and sandwiched some insulation in between you would end up with a very strong sturdy shed indeed. The thicker the plywood the stronger the shed, and you would be able to fit shelving securley anywhere you liked. and a similar approach to the door for extra security etc.

 

[frank]

gill i hope you will cut a hole in the roof for the star( gazzier?)spil chuker dont wurk . for him to look at the stars with a nice comfy chair to sit in .

 

[trevtheturner]

Gill,

PM sent. Bet you're having fun with the camera!

Trev.

 

[Anonymous]

Gill

I have "owned" a number of sheds over the years, and have come to the following conclusions:

1 Quality pays in the long term
2 Planed and pressure treated outer skin will still look good years later - in my case 25 years and hardly anything growing on it. (My shed you understand)
3 A heavy frame gives rigidity and space for insulation
4 A strong lining will aid cupboard/shelving attachment and mask some of the noise generated.
5 Avoid chipboard inner roofing if you can - still got the rust marks!
6 Good foundations

Hope this helps

Bob

 

[Gill]

Many thanks to everyone for the sound advice. It's much appreciated.

I paid another visit to Tudors today - this time I was armed with a digital camera. My other half has seen the photos and agrees with me that although their workshops are not the cheapest, the quality justifies the additional expense. We had thought of constructing it ourselves to save a few shillings, but when I checked it out in closer detail it was obvious that the job would be beyond the pair of us.

At the risk of boring everyone, here are some snaps. I’ve placed a £1 coin in some of the pictures to give more of an idea of size.

We reckon that despite the expense, this is the jobbie we'll go for (unless someone here knows of a good reason why we shouldn't).

His Lordship knows a reliable builder who's going to be laying a 6" thick 19' x 9' concrete base for it next weekend.

Gill

 

[Gill]

I rang up Tudor's this afternoon to confirm when my new workshop will be delivered tomorrow. "Errrr..." said the guy on the other end of the phone, "What? I don't know anything about that. I'll call you back"

It turns out that the order for my new workshop has been misplaced . A copy of the order went to the transport department and apparently a lorry arrived at the factory this afternoon expecting to be loaded up ready to make the delivery tomorrow morning. I get the impression that the proverbial has now hit the fan and Tudor's are pulling out all the stops to manufacture my workshop within a week, ready for it to be delivered and installed next Thursday. Let's hope it's worth waiting just a little longer.

Actually, I've been dreaming about the arrival of the workshop over the last couple of nights . Sad or what ?

Gill

 

[Duiker]

Nice one Gill, Nothing quite like a "virgin" workshop! You have all the fun of designing the inside build etc. Just a word of advice from someone who recently had the same fun:

Dont bolt anything down until you have worked in the shed a few times. Things like shelves etc are easier to place a little later on and I found and the placing of tools and equipment was a slow development.

Good luck and dont worry about dreaming of the shed! I woke in my sleep a while back and for a second or two began looking for the chuck key "I had just put down". It doesnt mean you are not "sad" but it does mean you are not alone :lol:

BTW, which camera did you get?

 

[Gill]

Very sound advice, Mick. My aim is to keep as much space in the workshop as possible for assembly and suchlike. Unfortunately, His Lordship and I see space differently; to him, it's an opportunity to introduce a new machine, whereas to me it's something that's flexible and temporary.

The camera is a Fujifilm FinePix A330 3.2 mega pixels. It suits me down to the ground but I wish I was a better photographer. Oh well, I suppose I'll just have to practice by keeping a photodiary of how the new workshop and associated projects develop.

Gill

 

[trevtheturner]

Sorry to hear about the hiccup with your delivery, Gill. I have used Tudors quite a lot and they are usually okay - but a big black mark to them on this occasion. :evil:

Best wishes for next week.

Cheers,

Trev.

 

[Anonymous]

Hope it arrives as promised next week Gill. Damned annoying when a firm let's you down like that :twisted: