Period sheds

plasticpigeon · Jan 15, 2021

I wish to put a shed at the bottom of my garden to put the wheelbarrow, bicycles, lawnmower and other random stuff in. I can grow stuff up it to hide it from view and would maybe put a bug house on the roof. This will not be a work of art just functional. Do people here have any suggestions about whether a wooden or metal shed is better please?

RBailey · Jan 15, 2021

We have a metal shed that is surrounded be a wooden log store and chicken run.
The log store and chicken run have weather and blend in, the metal shed hasn't weathered at all so is a bit incongruous.

Cheers,
Richard B.

Feltwell · Jan 15, 2021

Metal sheds tend to suffer from condensation I've heard. They also get damn hot in summer!

I built a timber garden workshop at my previous house, using corrugated bitumen sheets for the roof. Worked well - insulation made a significant difference, one half was storage and was uninsulated, the other half was my workshop and was insulated, in summer the storage part got hot but no damp issues were ever evident.

As always good cross ventilation - I left the corrugations at the eaves open - makes a difference.

It's on the future Feltwell to do list, a garden shed, but as I've got loads of bricks and roof tiles I'll be using those and going for the "Victorian outbuilding" look.

plasticpigeon · Jan 15, 2021

If I stay here long enough and have the inclination I also plan to make a small outbuilding to house a lathe as an extension to the brick "sheds" behind my house which were a tool store, toilet and coal shed as I have loads of reclaimed bricks and quarry tiles etc. I have almost finished my loft workshop too. Probably a silly time to move. The garden shed will be just functional and at the bottom of the garden. I hadn't thought about condensation but now you mention it I can see that could be a problem. I shall look for a wooden one and paint it to blend in I think.

MatthewC · Jan 15, 2021

Design your own and build it yourself. Unless you will pay for something really good and expensive, the normal things are really quite poor in my experience. I found that I could build a shed exactly the size I wanted/could fit in the space for not a lot more than the not-very-cheap sheds from well known stores. And my shed has a slate roof, after I realised that all roofing felt deteriorates rather quickly (10 years?) and other more modern things like plastic tiles work out to be quite expensive by the time you have also boarded the ceiling for them to lie on. The slate wasn't a lot more.

I have actually done two sheds: one (10' x 8') was my own design and construction from start to finish, and the other was originally a 7' x 5' thing with a flimsy floor and lean-to roof. I bought it in a hurry in 2011 as I needed something for storage, and in 2019 I rebuilt it into 8' x 6' with a stronger floor and a higher ridge roof so I don't bash my head on it (as I did with the lean-to), again with slate. Most satisfying.

Matthew

Flyfisher · Jan 15, 2021

I've never had a metal shed and would definitely go for a wooden one, just for the look of it really, but I'm curious about the condensation risk with a metal shed - does it really happen and if so under what conditions?

I'd expect the temperature of the shed metal to track the ambient temperature, so can't really imagine a condensation risk, or at least not one particularly worse than a wooden shed, which would also track the ambient temperature. For condensation to occur wouldn't the shed metal have to be lower than the ambient temperature? How would that happen unless it was fitted with air-con

Once of my outbuildings has a large metal roller door and I've never noticed it to have any condensation - inside or out. Perhaps I'm not paying attention?

Feltwell · Jan 15, 2021

I don't quite get the condensation thing either, but I 've heard it before - just Googled "Metal Shed Condensation" and it returns lots of hits on how to reduce it, so it's clearly not unknown. I guess it's more obvious than on wood?

All I can think is that the sun hits the roof and one side of the shed, which warms the interior air so it carries more moisture, which then hits the cold spots the sun hasn't warmed and causes condensation? A metal shed will heat up & cool down pretty quickly with the sun.

Flyfisher said:
One of my outbuildings

Now you're just showing off :wink:

Flyfisher · Jan 15, 2021

After I posted that I thought about dew forming so I guess it can happen thought I don't really understand why a metal shed would be more prone to the problem. I tend to agree with you that it's probably more noticeable in a metal shed than a wooden one - a bit like a stone floor feeling colder than a carpeted one, even though they're both at the same temperature.

As for the outbuildingS, sorry about that.

There is actually only one (though admittedly quite extensive) but as it's divided into different areas and has more than one door I tend to think of it in the plural. :wink:

Feltwell · Jan 15, 2021

I can exclusively reveal Flyfisher's "quite extensive" multi-doored outbuilding :wink:

LadyArowana · Jan 15, 2021

Feltwell said:
I can exclusively reveal Flyfisher's multi-doored outbuilding :wink:

Sigh, now I feel like I’m working on renovating a hovel, what with other folks here having ballrooms and multi doored outbuildings!

Feltwell · Jan 15, 2021

Join me in the slums LadyA

I just haven't got the balls to get a ballroom.

a twig · Jan 15, 2021

Had a metal shed at the last place, never again, horrendous condensation!

I ended up taking the roof off again and putting roofing membrane on then putting the roof back on so that all the the condensation would be caught by the membrane and then run out through the eaves.

Noisy whenever it rained and a pain in the proverbial to build, steer well clear.

All structures since have been timber with posts etc isolated from the floor to prevent rot

Flyfisher · Jan 15, 2021

Feltwell said:
I can exclusively reveal Flyfisher's "quite extensive" multi-doored outbuilding :wink:

:lol: :lol: :lol:
Close, although it's the single storey 'bungalow' version. The formal fountain has given me an idea though . . . :wink:

Flyfisher · Jan 15, 2021

a twig said:
Had a metal shed at the last place, never again, horrendous condensation!

Fair enough, happy to stand corrected. Are the plastic ones similarly prone to condensation I wonder?
I wonder if the roof felt on a wooden shed helps to reduce condensation?

Anyway, we're talking period property here so surely a wooden shed is the only acceptable choice.
Preferably with an oak timber frame :wink:

a twig · Jan 16, 2021

Plastic not quite so bad in my experience, place before before had a plastic shed, was able to manage moisture just by adding additional air vents in the "gables"

Completely agree, in an ideal world a beautiful green oak frame, pegged joints etc

- my reality though is treated pine frame and feather edge cladding although my wife is requesting an upgrade to waney edge for daughters "summer house" which is due to start construction in the spring

MatthewC · Jan 16, 2021

Flyfisher said:
After I posted that I thought about dew forming so I guess it can happen though I don't really understand why a metal shed would be more prone to the problem. I tend to agree with you that it's probably more noticeable in a metal shed than a wooden one - a bit like a stone floor feeling colder than a carpeted one, even though they're both at the same temperature...

I think that it is to do with the rate of conduction of heat. To convert water (e.g.) from one state to another you need heat to be transferred (google "latent heat"). If I have got this right: you need to remove heat from water vapour to make it become liquid water. Metal is a great conductor so will accomplish that far quicker than plastic, and I guess wood might be far longer still as it is a good insulator (compared to metal).

Are there any physics teachers around? This is all so long ago...

malcolm · Jan 16, 2021

I think that's right. Steel is a good conductor. As it gets cold at night the walls and the air inside get cold and water condenses on the walls. In the morning the air heats up and finds itself to be low humidify so sucks moisture in from outside air. The process repeats every night.

Wood insulates better and is also breathable so less condensation makes it's way onto the walls, and that condensation soaks into the wood and evaporates to the outside.

88v8 · Jan 17, 2021

Wooden sheds are harder to maintain nowadays because of the difficulty in finding real creosote.
If you go for wood, a strong self-supporting floor and lift it off the ground to minimise damp.

As said, metal sheds... condensation, not good for storing tools.

Ivor

a twig · Jan 17, 2021

Allegedly a 50:50 mix of roofing tar and diesel / used engine oil gives a very similar effect to "ye olde creosote" when painted on fences etc

Gothichome · Jan 17, 2021

We have two sheds, one wood and the other aluminum.

This is the main shed, it stores the lawn mower ect. It was built by the mennonites and dropped on my pad. I had to paint and shingle. It is pretty practical as sheds go, I can fit 10ft boards up in the small rafter space. Built some shelving for things. And with lawnmower out I can do minor old house projects when the weather gets bad. Another upside, it matches the Gothic cottage look so looks ‘in period’ to the main house.
The other shed, an aluminum flat pack I hid behind a fence, nothing special it holds most of the gardening stuff. Building that was an exercise in frustration.
Ron

Period sheds

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