Home Removal Services Blog

It is inevitable that you will need to repair your garden shed at some point or other. If you have a cute old shed with character, that time is probably nearer than you would like. I would say that typically a well built shed will last 10 – 20 years before it’s in for some major updates.

Many factors are involved in deciding whether to fix or replace your old garden shed, including your budget, how much you like your current shed (in good shape that is), whether it suits your purposes, and whether it suits your house style.

I had to answer these questions for two separate sheds this year – my own tiny falling down pine board lean to shed, and my mothers lovely large cottage style split roof design which had a severe water problem. My mothers shed was actually quite an easy decision. Her shed was quite large, so it would have been quite expensive to replace. Also, it didn’t actually look in bad shape, except for the holes in the roof and floor. As it turns out, I got away pretty lucky. I did have to entirely replace both roofs, but thankfully there was vapour barrier between the plywood floor and the joists, so I only needed to put down a new plywood floor. The cost for materials was about $550.

Our shed was a different story. Our shed was hidden around the side of our house and really out of view of the house or the back deck. It was approximately 3 feet by 8 feet and about 6 feet tall. Like my mother’s shed it had board and batten siding made out of wide planks. We knew both the roof and floor including the joists and sills were rotten. We thought we had a complete rebuild on our hands.

We started to figure out the material cost for a complete replacement. We both agreed that it needed to keep the character and charm of our old one, so the material costs ended up to be a little higher than the bare minimum. The first price was over $500. It seemed a bit too expensive to replace such a small shed, so we started to look for alternatives. That didn’t go so well, and we found that for the size we wanted, anything new was at the very least $500, plus they were either ugly or ugly and small, and made out of resin or lightweight metal, neither of which lends itself to decent shelving.

After a bit more consideration, we decided to salvage the old siding boards and add a new roof and floor. In fact the roof and floor turned into rebuilding a new frame as well, but the extra cost was minimal. The task was tedious but we took the shed apart board by board, built a new floor, framed in new walls and added a new roof. Then we re-assembled the old board siding just as in the original. I believe the total repair cost was $220.00, although we saved a little on roofing materials that we had left over from my mothers roofing job.

In both cases we were dealing with homes that were over a century old and we felt that the sheds really needed to match the older aesthetic of the houses. In both cases we decided to keep the wood that was salvageable and rebuild the roof, floor, and in our case, the frame. We ended up with 2 very pretty sheds and I think we managed to keep both budgets as low as possible. There are many factors to consider when faced with a garden shed in need of repairs. Do your homework and figure out various budgets. The right answer for your garden shed will become evident.

If you have you looked at the building store sales sheets this season, you might have noticed that garden sheds have been enjoying somewhat of a comeback. And the backyard sheds that are most popular are exactly those sheds which are a little more stylish, or a little more purposeful in their function.

Customization is in, and everyone wants their outdoor accessories, and this includes a storage shed in the backyard, to fit with their overall outdoor decorating scheme. Typically in the past there was a pretty big market for siting and constructing (if you could call it that) pre-built garden sheds that clients would buy at their building store. This year though people are looking for a totally unique design, and are looking for entirely custom built sheds to suit their decor.

The customizations that clients are looking for are not entirely aesthetic. There is a much greater awareness for the environment, so in fact many customers are requesting green and recycled materials for their garden sheds. Others are concerned about customizing the the roof pitch and gutter design to maximize rainwater collection. Other requests are for tricky shed placement so the new building fits in with the existing hard and soft landscaping.

Creating a fun story-book backyard seems to be a popular theme this year. The new trend for fun garden sheds are the crooked houses theme, or Winnie-the-pooh house style of sheds. All of these have an imaginative twist, looking like they just came out of an illustrated book of hobbit houses. The best thing about these sheds are they are both functional as well as fun.

The other clients that are looking for customized backyard sheds are concerned about functionality more than style. The green thumb house owners are looking for a place to store all their gardening tools and landscaping supplies, as well as provide a space to do some potting and start seedlings in the spring. There are many others with different hobbies that would like a custom built studio for such things as stained glass, pottery, and painting. All of these are ideal uses for a cute backyard garden shed.

Regardless of what you need a backyard shed for, whether it is to add a bit of extra outside storage space, or whether you need a garden workshop, remember that you shouldn’t be limited to a plain looking press board shed reminiscent of the 80′s. As people discover their outdoor spaces once again, backyard decor has become as important as interior design. Put some thought into the style of your garden shed and you will have a great focal point to base your garden design on.