Gardening

TimOopNorth’s greenhouse is coming on nicely.

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Dreamhouse / greenhouse

No I meant the garden bench actually … !!

Good blossom this year. We need to move this tree elsewhere in the garden since the garage behind it needs to go.

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After three years of trying it looks like I might finally get one or two apricots this year.

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IME, the single-sheet felting which comes with new sheds nowadays is often very budget quality and if I may suggest it could be looking out some better quality stuff, especially if the access to the rear edge could be problematic due to the narrow gap. But be careful as the rooves aren’t designed to carry the heavy load of an under-bed of slaters’ felt plus a robust top-sheet, as I discovered after a year or so.

Also, be mindful (I’m sure you are) that water butts over-spill in heavy rain and you want run-off which avoids any ground timber.

My sheds are on bricks which, it seems, is just enough for a fox cub to get under !!

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My plan is to use breeze blocks of the heavy solid concrete type and lay 3x3 posts across them (with a bit of DPC in-between), although this seems to be frowned upon these days, but i think the promoted ways of have a concreted or slabbed area simply makes life very easy for the shed assemble guys, the block & post foundation will cause them a bit more faff and giggling to centre the base. In the past i’ve used block & post without any issues, the sheds have lasted years, and meanwhile my old 8x12 shed is on very flat council slabs and that base has long since rotted out.

…I feel the need to anchor a couple of additional posts each side to prevent a strong wind from blowing the narrow 12 x 4 shed over!

The supplied felt is quoted at 40kg (?) but the pent roof would be a doddle to re-felt, i have a roll of heavy duty quality in the garage, although onduline sheeting is an option to buy with the shed but increases the price by £205 which i think is a lot (would cost less than £100 to buy), but i think felt will do my shed okay. I can fit the guttering & down pipe myself. Water-butt will have overflow to pre-dug soak-away area + visual checks after prolonged rainfall.

What i wonder is breathable membrane option - to have or not to bother?
The shed quality i’m looking doesn’t have this as an option because although the framework is ‘tanalised’ the cladding is not - to have the cladding tanalised + breathable membrane raises the cost by £330.
For what is a tool-shed this may be nice but the total price gets up to around the £2k, so expensive … but maybe worth buying for the long term plan (?) :thinking:

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FWIW, I agree that laying a concrete plinth/base for sheds if your ground is pretty solid is overkill. I have a legacy concrete base and also a compacted ground area with shingle and loose-laid slabs with bricks over (ensuring airflow), and a small shed on top (50mm square joists for floor). Sheds don’t have to be 100% level as the wood dries over time anyhow (which also means any lapping/T&G opens-up too eventually). The only issue I found is to ensure the door-end is levelled as best possible and, ideally, not on the weather-side of the shed.

If you are going to promote fairly highly from ground (via the blocks?), perhaps some chicken wire would protect against foxes and kitties getting underneath?

With my felting, we lapped on the bottom edge of the roofline with slaters’ felt to protect against splash-back and lipped the heavier & less flexible top-sheet about 15/20mm** in to the gutter (akin to a sarking arrangement). Of course, be mindful of the potential need for longer clouts if you double sheet. ** taking care to avoid longer overhang which could get caught by the wind.

If the shed is being built for you, better to get them to allow for gutter (with drop!) when nailing the felt.

Haven’t come across the breathable membrane option – unless this would be 2nd line of defence behind the laps/T&G (?) on the sides as, as above, all timber moves eventually and opens-up IME. I’ve stripped the sides of mine in places and used some spare breathable roofing felt (which was ~£60 for a 1m x 50m roll) and then used feather-edge to replace the lapping.

If you are going to paint the shed (?) I don’t see the point of getting the timber tanalised.

This is a good point, would be nice to paint the inside white, and have pots of old white primer, undercoat, and topcoat that are well over 10 years old but still very good to use - and at no addition cost. Best to do this first thing after erected - before the ‘stuff’ moves in.
Then fit out a few shelves, not sure if it needs a light + power or not yet.

The outside perhaps leave a year and paint in homely sage colour, being clearly visible from kitchen window sage would look more easy on the eye :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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It would be interesting to know what the ‘breathable membrane’ aspect is about. I assume it’s not for under-felting(?) and if it is for behind the laps/T&G, that would mean you couldn’t paint the insides of the shed.

If you think it may need power and there’s none nearby(?), perhaps better to plan this now e.g. whether any trenching for armoured cable can be hidden underneath? IIRC, you may also need a Consumer Unit in the shed nowadays?

The shed i’d buy will come without it, and the T&G cladding will not be tanalised either. So the economical option is to paint. This will add to weather protection + won’t cost any extra, + aesthetically pleasing.

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It’s always a case for “a few bucks more” …there is a even better shed.

Their top of the range “Beast Shed” fully tanalised with chunky 3"x2" framework and 20mm T&G in the size and style i need is £3300 :money_mouth_face:

The shed i’m thinking about is far more basic 38x50mm tanalised framework with non-tanalised 12mm T&G = £1600

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Maybe overkill, but I got fed up with re-felting and when I had the garage roof replaced I asked the installers whether there were ever any offcuts of the box section metal sheets. Apparently it is easier for them to give away than recycle, the next day I found a pile of three and four foot lengths in the garden.
Luxury shed roof is now sterling board, a couple of coats of bituminous paint and metal sheet.
To be fair both my sheds are two by two frame and 100 year old reclaimed cedar boards.

I’ve had a Honda Petrol lawnmower for over 20 years but some recent changes in our gardens means I have less grass now and wanted to replace it with something a little bit more manouvreable and wanted something less petrol-y too.

I struggled to find consistent reviews of cordless electric mowers and many comments seemed to concentrate on non-important aspects of the machines or these seemed more like product placements on cash hungry websites, when all I wanted to know is how well they cut the grass!

Last year I just plumped for a cheapish Worx jobby, if only for a stop gap, as it was handy and on discount. No doubt it is very handy, light and manouvreable, battery charge is good too. However, it’s not all that at cutting the grass, which is kind of the point of course. On what is already perfectly neat, fine grass which happens to be a bit long it is OK but it’s not great on all the bobbly, slightly less neat bits and it mixes between cutting and flattening. It could be it’s very lightness is part of it’s undoing as the Honda takes no prisoners. Either way, I need to look again.

Now it could be I’ve just been spoiled by what is obviously a fine bit of kit in the Honda, but I wondered if anyone has a cordless leccy mower they could wholeheartedly recommend. Further, if anyone has a Ryobi jobby, could you let me know what you think as I have other tools of theirs which are quite decent and have batteries already!

I have had a Greenworks cordless mower for a few years and it has been fine on my medium size lawn - I’d buy another one. I have now bought in to the Greenworks system with strimmer and hedge cutter as the battery and charger can be shared at a significant cost saving. On that basis it may be worth you sticking with Ryobi but at least I can assure you that cordless mowers can work!

Eco lawn mover, works automatically, doesn’t need batteries: :goat: :smiley:

Edit: …and cheese, burglar deterrent, free manure too, so many benefits! :+1:

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Meh!

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Cheesy

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Free fertiliser as well!

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Ahh you have added it in the edit…

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I use a mains powered electric mower which has been great although at 17 years old it’s starting to look a bit tatty. It’s a mulching mower, which I would recommend to anyone - it still amazes me that after mowing there is not even the slightest trace of visible cuttings.
Not sure what I’ll do when it dies. Running a lead from the shed is no trouble so I don’t see the point of using battery power.