Plain answers for your first shed

Shed World is an independent guide to garden sheds. Build or buy, what to put it on, which timber lasts, what size you need and what it all costs, explained with real quantities and prices so you can get it right first time.

A small apex timber shed with a ledged door, standing on a paved base beside a garden fence
Photo: Bob Harvey, CC BY-SA 2.0

The Shed Review Guide

A free PDF for checking any shed before you pay for it: cladding, framing, floor, roof, treatment and base.

One e-mail with the guide, then an occasional article. Unsubscribe any time. What's inside

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Start with the base

Most shed problems start underneath: rot, sticking doors, a floor that bounces. This is the cheapest base that still lasts.

Treated timber bearers laid across a grid of grey gravel, ready for a shed floor
Photo: Guywall, CC BY-SA 4.0

Step-by-step gravel shed foundation

Cost, 8×6 ft
£140–£240
Time
1–2 days
Skill
2 of 5

A pegged timber frame, weed membrane and 75–100 mm of angular gravel. Eight steps, a materials list that works out your quantities, a cost table and the questions people ask halfway through.

Read the guide

Latest articles

All articles by topic
  • Bases

    Step-by-step gravel shed foundation

    Frame, membrane, gravel, bearers. Quantities worked out for your shed size.

    12 min readRead

  • Costs

    How much does a shed really cost?

    The price on the label, plus the base, delivery, treatment and the bits nobody mentions.

    9 min readSample listing

  • Materials

    Shiplap, overlap or tongue and groove?

    What the cladding names mean, and which one keeps the rain out for longest.

    7 min readSample listing

  • Sizes

    6×4, 8×6 or 10×8: a size you won't outgrow

    Measure what you'll store, add walking room, then check the garden can take it.

    8 min readSample listing

How Shed World works

Think of us as the neighbour who has put up a few sheds and will tell you what they'd do differently.

Advice first
We answer the question you searched for before we mention anything to buy. Plenty of the answers involve spending less.
Numbers shown
Quantities, measurements and price ranges, with the working, so you can check them against your own garden and your local yard.
Paid in the open
We earn from affiliate links and say so on every page. Products only appear where they help, and example picks are labelled.

Check a shed before you buy it

The Shed Review Guide is the list we wish we'd had the first time: what to look for in a listing, what to ask the seller, and what to check when it arrives.

  • Cladding, board thickness and framing size, decoded
  • Floor, bearers and roof felt: where cheap sheds cut corners
  • Which base suits your ground
  • A printable checklist for delivery day
Get the free guide