Yay! We're building! Don't get too excited though - it's only a shed... We decided we needed a basic, simple, buy-it-online kind of shed to keep the mower and garden tools in. Just a little 8' x 10' wooden shed. We found one, good reviews, nice wide doors for the mower and ordered it. Which sounds simple but each time we thought about it and put it in our 'basket' the delivery charge came out different - varying from £9.90 to £45.60. Eventually I gave up and rang them, which resulted in a bit more of a discount and free delivery. Result! The shed was delivered around a month ago since when it has rained or we've been busy, so it has sat in the field under a tarpaulin or two.
A week or so ago we got round to building it, but first we needed a base. We have 5 acres of land here yet the delivery men had managed to put the shed EXACTLY where we wanted to build it, so we moved everything a few yards further away. When we ordered the shed we had also, in a rash moment of 'it'll make life easier' bought a Pro Shed Base Kit which is basically a series of plastic grids which clip together and you then fill them with gravel. You still need to level the ground though, so we got busy with a shovel (that was Guy) and Helpful Pointers (me). We clipped the plastic thing together, put it down and filled it with gravel (two trips to Travis Perkins in Monmouth, lovely people).
We then pulled the tarpaulin off the heap of wooden bits and spread them out on the ground to make sure we knew which bit was which. We did. We found the base bits and laid them on the Pro Shed Base Kit only to find the shed was going to be bigger than the base. Which was somewhat surprising, given that we had bought an 8' x 10' base. Hmmm. One of the shed ends was going to be dangling in fresh air. Hmmm. It was at about this point that we discovered we had no fixings at all. Not a screw or a nail in sight. Guy asked me where I'd put them and as I couldn't remember putting them anywhere (which didn't mean that I hadn't, just that I couldn't remember) we searched everywhere. This is a small house, but we still searched everywhere. Twice. Nope, no fixings. I rang the company who suggested we went and bought everything then sent them the bill, or they could post some new fixings. In a week or so. Given the base problem, we opted for them posting the fixings.
And then we piled everything back up again.
The only way to fix the base was to unclip some of the sections and pull it apart, leaving a gap in the middle where it wouldn't be under a crucial base strut. It sort of worked and we uttered what was to become our mantra 'it's only a shed'.
In a week or so the fixings arrived and, at last, we got started last Sunday. With the help of a lump hammer and a bit of teamwork, the walls went up pretty quickly and we got the roof on. We had 3 lumps of roofing felt to cover the roof, 2 black and one grey. 'It's only a shed'. We decided to put the grey one where we wouldn't see it, and we carried on. Black bit on the left edge, grey bit on the right edge, last bit along the ridge and ... it doesn't fit. The roofing felt is a good 8" (that's 20cm to you young people) short and there will be a bit of roof with no felt on. Hmmm. We consider phoning
Shedstore up (let's name and shame) but with the 'we'll post you a bit in a week' attitude we decide to go to B&Q instead. It is now 4pm on Sunday and B&Q just closed.
So we piled the remaining bits back up again.
After an early morning dash to B&Q we have enough felt to finish (£33!!!) and the roof gets done, then the door and the windows which we have helpfully already painted to save cutting in around the acrylic panels.
We have a shed!
There are no door fixings (we are saving ourselves for the excellent instructions on how to fix the lock: 'Fix the lock") and no windows yet. And we'll paint it.
But apart from that we have a shed!
