Long, narrow garden shed

awec

Yes, another shed thread. 😊 This idea has been rattling around in my head for a while as I consider how best to use our garden space, so I'm looking for feedback to see if I've overlooked something that makes this a dumb idea or not feasible.

We have a long, high east facing wall along one side of our garden. The wall is about 2.5m high. Our garden is about 6.5m wide and about 12m long, standard new-build semi-D garden really.

We have a standard 3x2.5 metre shed today that is butted up against this wall, but the problem is the shed blocks light due to how far it sticks out from the wall. The height of the shed is not an issue by itself, since the wall is taller than the shed is, it's more the depth of it. The shed has a pent roof rather than a gable. The shed is big for the garden, we probably could have gone down 1 size when buying, but was hard to know at the time.

I was considering getting rid of this shed and building a custom long and narrow shed along this wall. This way, the shed would unlikely ever cast any shadow of it's own, and the wall would be the only sun blocker. It would also give us more usable garden space overall.

I was thinking of going as narrow as 1.2m deep, which would mean a length of 6.2metres required to get the same square metres as the current shed. However a 6.2 x 1.2 shed is going to have very different usable space compared to the current one, so maybe I'd need to go bigger? The shed is used purely for storage, bikes, tools, paint, lawnmower, kids crap etc.

Obviously, 6.2metres is very long and I wouldn't get timbers of this length. Would it be better to build it as 2 separate units adjoining? It'd probably need 2 entrances anyway for ease of access.

The existing shed is only a few years old, so I would look to reuse most of the existing materials which should reduce the cost significantly.

I am fairly handy, do most maintenance things in the house myself, but I've never built a shed. It doesn't look complicated?

Thoughts? Feedback? Things I should consider?

Maybe have at least 2 sets double doors on the long side?

An 80cm access path through 120cm wide shed leaves 40cm for actual storage along most of the length. If you have (say) 180cm wide double doors, you can use basically the full depth of the shed for that length plus maybe 30cm either side. So 2 sets of double doors would give you 480cm etc. An additional door on the corner would allow you bring in longer items if necessary. And because you don't need walk-through space, you can make the shed itself even narrower than your proposed 120cm without losing any actual storage space.

If the wall you'll have it against, you could just have a lean-to attaching directly to it? Could save some material cost also.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119506422#Comment_119506422

I considered using the block wall and building it as a sort of lean to, but the block wall has pillars on my side, and I'd need to go around those. I would need to figure out a way to stop water running down the wall too, I guess flashing but awkward going around pillars?

The other issue is the wall is a retaining wall, so the lowest 1/3ish of it sometimes has damp spots as I don't think the builders properly sealed it.

I was considering doors on the end, food for thought! 80cm walkway sounds like a lot, but maybe that's what's required, if so I think 120 wouldn't be wide enough and might need to go to 160.

Lumen

Obviously, 6.2metres is very long and I wouldn't get timbers of this length

Timber in 5.4m is commonly available.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119506930#Comment_119506930

Yea, but that's less than 6.2. 😁

I was thinking maybe I'd build it as 2 separate units, just joined together.

Another option is to build as 2 separate units, and put a section in the middle with a bench to sit on, be nice for morning coffees in the summer in the sun!

My biggest worry is the 1.2m depth. What do people think about this? Is this likely to be a bit too narrow?

A standard door is around 80cm wide— this the space you need to walk through comfortably. A kitchen chair is about 50cm wide— probably about the space you need to walk through uncomfortably. This gives you a maximum of 70cm useful storage space (of your 1.2 metres) on one side, and about the same at the far end (which you don't need to walk through).

It sounds like you'll have to compromise no matter what you do— big side doors allow a narrower shed but may ruin the look of the thing; end doors look nicer but mean you need a wider shed, cutting out some of the light in your garden; the existing shed works fine as a shed but is too imposing in the garden.

Would it improve things if the existing shed was moved down to the very furthest corner of the garden? (Assuming it's not already there of course).

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119507326#Comment_119507326

Yea it's already in the corner, but it is orientated so that the shorter side is against the wall rather than the longer side, and therefore juts the 3 metres out into the garden. When we moved in, we really needed a shed urgently, and I didn't have much time to figure out where was best to put it, so it went there!

The area beside it's current location is the sun trap in our garden, but it loses light earlier than expected as eventually the shed starts to cast shade in it. Garden faces N, shed is in the NW corner, sun trap is the NE corner.

I could look at rotating it 90 degrees, maybe this is the easiest option, though realistically this will still require disassembly and reassembly to some degree..

Alternatively, I go for a 1.6 metre depth, which gives 80cm walking space and 80cm storage.

Lumen

This is internal width we're talking about, right?

1.4m is the minimum I'd consider, that being 80cm for access (minimum entrance door opening) and 60cm for storage (long span racking depth).

If you're putting a door at the end, an extra 20cm should give enough for framing the door, but you'll probably need an outward opening door and therefore security hinges (which aren't more expensive).

An outward opening door on the "corridor" side means you can store stuff at either end, but you'll need the height for that, and it might be trickier to get long things in.

The difference in usefulness between 40cm and 60cm shelving is enormous (50% extra obvs).

Have you considered owning less crap? 😀

awec

@Lumen yes, internal space.

I did a mockup of what I had in mind, I measured some standing shelves I already have and the deepest set is 450mm deep. I was thinking 2 doors makes it easier to get away with narrower, as I don't need a walkable corridor spanning the entire length, it could basically be 2 small rooms.

This is 1200mm internal, with 800mm doors.

thejaguar

In my opinion, 1.2m would be too narrow. Going to 1.4m or 1.6m would make the space much more usable. Obviously that depends how it impacts on the rest of the garden.

To me, a 1.2m shed is like a wardrobe in the garden. Which, now that I type it, doesn't seem like such a terrible idea 🤔

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119509822#Comment_119509822

Yea, this is 1.6, I admit it does look a good bit better:

The current shed is 2.5 external width, a 1.6 internal shed is likely to be like 1.7 external, so I'd need to figure if gaining 700mm ish is worth all the effort, vs just rotating the existing shed.