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I have to put a shed base in in the next few days. It's going in the garden so no hard base to speak of at the moment. I'm thinking of gravel, then slabs. It'll be an 8ish x 4ish shed.
1. How deep do I dig the soil out and what depth of gravel do I need under the slabs? Should I pop some weed membrane under the gravel or will the lack of light under the shed do the job?
2. Given what I'm asking, how much gravel will I need? And what gravel...type 2 or something like that? Should I slab the whole area or just the corners & centre line to support the bearers?
TIA. 🙂
for that size I'd compact the ground, not too deep gravel for a bit of drainage and put it on fence posts.
dig down fence post width and a half and it'll be near level with the ground.
alternatively dab of dry mix and slabs in the corners, then on wood.
8x4, is a small shed, unless you're talking metres.
going to be fitting a couple of 6x4 sheds this weekend using the compact and laid down fenceposts method. have a 8x6 on the same.
put it on fence posts.
Just laid flat on the gravel? They'd be the bearers I'm talking about wouldn't they?
8 foot x 4 foot .... materials aren't going to be expensive
Is building sand with slabs over not the way to go ?
Is building sand with slabs over not the way to go ?
I wish I knew. 😆
Hence my questions.
Always more than one way to skin a cat.
Both are probably just as good as each other.
If it's on flatish ground I'd build a frame up out of 6x2. Stand it where you want it to go.
Put a concrete building block in each corner (internally).
Lift it until it's level and screw a bit 4x2 to the frame so it's sitting on the block. Pop a few coach bolts through.
Ply on top and it's done.
I've a 20x8 shed in the garden that's never budged.
Don't forget the rebar 😉
As a bare minimum, 16 sheets should be enough for a small shed...
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Little garden shed only needs 6 slabs, 1 in each corner + 1 midpoint of the longer sides. Clear the area, place the slabs with a bit of sand underneath for a flat base, check they sit about level and plonk shed on top.
It's a shed not the shard 🙂
It's a shed not the shard
At the moment, the prospect of getting on with it is a shard in my arse. 😀
Have you considered running a "Shed Base Installation" training course?
FWIW I levelled the ground, covered some pallets with plastic sheeting, sheets of treated wood on top. Job done. Happy shed.
We just built a base for our shed - about 8' x 6' I think. Ours went on lawn, so we cut the sods out to a depth of about 6" and put down some weed stop around the edges. We filled it up with about 2" depth of sharp sand (we had a pile lying about), laid the slabs on top and then filled the gaps with more sand.
As for sand quantity I'm guessing our pile of sand can't have been more than 3 big bags from B&Q. Key word there is 'guessing'.
Ours is a bigger shed but we bought this EcoBase system.
https://www.swiftfoundations.co.uk/ecobase/
Shed sits on top and there's no standing water at all under the shed. Any exposed EcoBase around the outside we just filled with pea gravel.
From some past experience solid concrete bases or slabbed bases can hold water and rot the shed base over time.
Second for ecobase. Brilliant stuff and far far easier than a concrete base.
Ive been looking at those plastic ones. They look quite good. I assume id have to dig the ground out a little to sit them in to hide them a little?
No, I didnt, I just leveled off a base with sharp sand, compacted it down and laid out the base. I did the base a bit wider than the shed so any water coming off the roof drained into the base.
I put a weed barrier under the base.
Only pics I have are with the bikes next to it.
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Ah, I see yours is kinda sunken into the surrounding deck. Mine will be going onto the lawn, with the door opening out onto a patio (which is already around 3 inches below the lawn level, so I don't want it raised too much for when the mower and pub bikes are wheeled in and out. I think I might buy one just a bit bigger than the shed size and like you have, filled in the edges with gravel. Looks quite tidy, thanks. 🙂
I sited the shed on the base and then built the deck around it.
In your case I'd take up the turf to the required depth/size and sink the base into it. Stick a weed barrier down.
I see if I order the correct size from Eco Deck, they supply a weed membrane with it. Woo!
Tidy Spiders. Pics when it's done!
I've put down a few Ecobase's for customers and I think they are a really good option, you can put them straight on grass but they look better sunken to the same level as the turf.