How To Install A Wooden Shed

Whether you've just placed an order for a new wooden shed, or just wondering how it all goes together, we've created this guide to explain what to expect and how to go about installing a wooden shed within your garden space.

How To Expect Your Shed To Arrive

Sheds from GardenSite are delivered directly to your home in several large pieces strapped together and normally include the following pieces:

Tools Required

For an easier and smoother build, we recommend having the following tools to hand:

Getting Started

The first job when installing your new shed should always be to locate the instructions. Never start out without reading them, even if you feel tempted to. It's very easy to get something the wrong way round or upside down. So have a good read through to familiarise yourself with the methods involved.

Next, start laying out in order, all of the screws and fittings onto a flat surface, but nowhere that'll get in your way during building as you don't want to accidentally kick them and mix them all up, or worse, loose any! After that, you'll want to make space for where your shed is going to be built, then put the sides, roof and floor panels in one area close by. This simple task makes it that much easier to find everything and gives you the chance to check if anything is missing.By this point, you should already have a flat, hard standing surface for where your shed's due to be built on to. A slabbed area, patio, decking, or concrete base are ideal solutions unless you prefer to use a ready-made shed base.

Flooring

The majority of wooden sheds these days come complete with a boarded floor (similar to thick laminate), or at least an OSB floor board supported by battens. The floor will be the first major part of building your should and is pretty simple to slot together. Simply follow the floor instructions and you'll soon be ready to start building the actual shed's walls.

Window, Door and Sides

The next job normally involves putting the hinges on the door, whilst the front shed panel lays flat on the floor. the hinges can be screwed into place. Many people assume that this might be a job you do once the shed is up, but this way is very straightforward. The only thing to remember is to make sure the screw hinges went into the door battens. If you just put them anywhere then the screws will go through the shiplap door wood and show on the inside. This is not good for strength and can cause injuries. Any lock supplied should also be screwed into the door batons.Once the door is secure on the hinges, the front panel can be raised up and placed on the floor. Some wooden sheds will have a ridge on the floor for the wall panels to sit nicely on top of. The same method is used for the other side panels, which would need a second pair of hands to hold the wall panels up, while the other person screws them together.Once the front and sides are installed and screwed in place, it's a case of adding the back and other side and screwing them together. Although this all sounds fairly straightforward and it is, it is important to make sure that your shed is level and that everything fits together nicely. Once happy with the levels the remaining sides can be screwed down into the base. Although don't completely tighten all of the screws straight away, if you do this too soon, the whole structure won't have any give, which is what you need once all the sides are up to make sure everything fits together tightly.

Next, if your shed comes with a window or two, the clear perspex windows can be slotted in. Wooden beading is normally provided which goes around the perspex to secure it in place.

The Roof

The roof section is the most difficult part of building a shed because it involves measuring, cutting and trimming. The saying "measure twice and cut once" is something always worth remembering at this stage.On many wooden shed models, you'll find a wooden baton which goes across the top from the front to the back section. The two roof pieces sit on this wooden bar and fit into the side ridges and overhand each side of the shed to create an apex roof. These easily slot into place and then can be screwed each side to secure.The felt will normally require it to be cut in half, one section at a time can be carried over to the roof and laid flat so it overhangs over both ends equally, it can then be tacked down as instructed. Having step ladders is the only way you can do this effectively. If you find that the felt is a little stiff or has creases, leave it out in the sun it had lost its creases and become flexible.

Don't worry if the roof felt overlaps each other at the apex by several inches. This is normal and the second pieces can be nailed along the sides and on the top where it overlaps the first piece.To finish the roof off, several battens are provided for the front and back to hide the roof felt edge and to create a strip of wood to frame the apex roof. Once these are nailed down all you need to do is cut any excess felt that still overlapped beyond these batons. A very sharp Stanley knife is required here, as roof felt is very thick and the tar can quickly blunt the sharpest of knives.The final job is nailing any other facias and batons (some may go on each corner of the shed to hide where each panel joins) - these really make the shed look neat and tidy.