 |
Apex Featheredge Garden Shed
by LegendaryMrDude
I never realised how much room a garden could take up. Not just out the back of your house, but inside it as well!!! When I moved in to my current flat I took on responsibility for the whole back garden, a monstrous 80ft affair that had't been touched for years. As part of my tennancy I had (foolishly) agreed to return the garden to ... some semblance of normality. And what a job that turned out to be, but that's another story.
Suffice to say that 6 months worth of weekends (and no small amount of money) later, the garden was beginning to look half-way respectable. Unfortunately, the same could no longer be said for the flat itself. What with the lawnmowers, strimmers, spades, shears, forks, twine, weedkiller, watering cans and all the other bits and pieces that turn out to be essential for such a transformation, the flat was starting to look more like the local branch of B&Q than a home! Something had to be done, but I needed all the bits and pieces to keep the garden under control. A shed was the order of the day, and preferably one that didn't cost an arm and a leg, wasn't too big and that I could build myself.
A short visit to B&Q later identified the beastie, an Apex Featheredge self-assembly garden shed. It could be all mine for the princely sum of £99.99. Measuring about 6ft x 4ft it fit the bill as closely as I could have wished for. Spoke to the B&Q man, he went to the warehouse and came back with a shed on a large trolley. I could either take it away with me or arrange for delivery. If I wanted delivery it would cost another £15 and I would have to wait a week (maybe two). What the heck, I only live a 10 minute walk from the store, can I borrow his trolley I'll be back in half an hour...
Luckily my brother was there to help me, otherwise I don't think I'd have made it home in one piece! Trolleys are bad at the best of times, but when they are loaded up with a flat-pack shed they take on a mind of their o
wn. Add to that the gusting side-winds, dodgey pavements, kids on skateboards and everything else, it was actually a miracle that we made it home at all! But make it home we did (and returned the trolley too!).
So now I was left with a flat-packed shed leaning up against the wall of the house... where to start? I cut the bindings and a sheet of paper fluttered to the ground. Instructions! Brilliant! Even better, theyh are all pictures so it has to be simple. I started to go through all the separate parts to the shed, making sure that everything was there, floor, 2 side walls (one with perspex window), back wall, front wall (with door) and two roof panels (complete with roll of roofing felt). Everything looked to be in order.
"What are you going to put it together with?" asked my brother. "Why nails of cour...." I started to reply. You guessed it, no nails.Ho-Hum. Off to B&Q, returning 20 minutes later with several packs of screws and nails of varying sizes (including roofing tacs) and start over again. And so we started building.
After a solid hour of work, all that was left to do was put the two roof panels on and attach the felt. This proved easy enough and at just under 2 hours, we were standing admiring our handy-work At this point I will mention that we were building it pretty much in-situ, up against the garden wall, on the concrete patio. I would STRONGLY recommend you do the same. While they aren't actually heavy sheds, once built they are VERY awkward to move!
What next? At last I could start reclaiming my flat! We started to move everything out from the flat and in to the shed. The move completed, I went to shut the shed door and realised that there wasn't a lock on it. What next? Another trip to B&Q of course, this time to buy a padlock and hasp to secure the door (all it came with was a little rotating catch). This was purchased and fitted in due course... don't spend too much on this
as it's as much a token gesture as anything, the wood is so flimsy as to make forcing the door an easy task.
So at last I could stand back and admire my shed. What a beauty. I started to clear up the rubbish and happened upon the instructions... "This shed is treated with a lightweight timber treatment suitable only for storage, treat with a proper timber preservative" or words to that effect. Noooo, was it never going to end?!?!?
You guessed it... a trip to B&Q later and I was now armed with a tin of Ronseal wood preservative (Rustic Chestnut or some-such colour) and a pair of shed-painting brushes. 2 hours later and the shed was painted (with TWO coats, it's quick drying stuff this Ronseal) and looking a completely different colour. <Phew> Surely this was it, finally? Well, considering we'd bought, built and painted a shed in a single day it was enough for me!
That is until I started moving more stuff out to it... The problem was that the shed was all floor-space. Nowhere to put anything. Shelves. It was lacking in shelf-space... I should buy shares in B&Q, I really should. One, final, trip later (not on the same day I hasten to add) I had shelves in my shed. And hooks, don't forget the hooks.
So is it any good? Certainly it has let me reclaim a LOAD of space in the flat. It now happily houses the strimmer, lawnmower, spade, fork, chears, garden furniture, chemicals, hose and everything else garden related. And I don't need to worry about trapsing grass cuttings/mud/cat-doings into the house any more. It was even good fun building/painting it. But it was a LOT more expensive that the £99.99 purchase price I first budgeted for. Once you've added the padlock, screws/nails, shelves, paint and brushes it probably came closer to double the original price! So beware, shed ownership is more expensive than you think!
Read the complete review |
 |
Rowlinsons Shed
by mreyre
After searching at length through the House and Garden section on dooyoo, I couldn't find a category for SHEDS, but was dying to write a review about the shed I recently bought, so here we go! Back in April, I purchased a shed from Sainsbury's Homebase (who aren't usually particularly helpful: See "Helpful ... Homebase") as it was in the sale, and after living 2 years in our new house without one, "space" was becoming a necessity.
It was a Rowlinsons "Shiplap" Shed, costing around £90. Unfortuanately, Sainsbury's contractors don't deliver on a Saturday, so I had to wait a while to have it delivered (a big bug-bear of mine), and being a teacher, had to wait 'till the summer holidays (ie. now) to assemble the thing.
I was not looking forward to building the shed at all, viewing it as a huge task and like Lego on a big scale. However, once my helper and I got started, we found the instructions really easy to follow, and the shed went up in a flash, with no problems at all. All the "bits" were there, including some extras. It only took us 5 hours from start to finish, including felting the roof and putting the window in, I was completely amazed.
Therefore, if you want a shed which is really straightforward to assemble, go for the Rowlinson Shed (6'x4') from Homebase - it does exactly what it says on the tin! (eh???)
Read the complete review |
