Exactly what do you look for when you want to buy a metal shed? Or more to the point, what do you want to avoid?

I asked this question to Philip Kandel and his brother John when I visited their Store More trade stand at this year's GLEE Gardening Trade Exhibition in Birmingham.

Store More offers arguably the largest selection of non-timber storage buildings to the trade in the UK. Biohort is one of their renowned brands, will the Lotus shed range be as successful?

What's so special about the Lotus shed?

Firstly it comes with a single base rail as opposed to the sections that you have to construct together, which is common on most value for money metal sheds. This saves time and adds strength to the unit.

How thick is the cladding on the Lotus metal sheds? this has to be an important question. Philip tells me "Many metal sheds are 0.25mm and some are as light as 0.18mm but the Lotus is 0.30mm steel" so you get plenty of bang for your buck here.

The internal frame is constructed of box section steel as opposed to the normal L shape or angled steel which can be sharp if not rolled and finished properly.

Most metal sheds are not designed to be a gymnasium or a workshop, but to be a discrete store for larger items so the height of 1.78m is certainly average or even above.

The door assembly can be extremely fiddly with some metal sheds but particular attention has been paid to this area on the Lotus range. One single formed piece of metal screws onto the door and this feeds into one end of the door rail. Job done!

Finished in an attractive mist green and complete with integral ventilation the Lotus metal shed ia available with a foundation kit or a timber base and in a range of sizes.

The price speaks for itself, but now you know what value you are getting for your money.

Revolutionary metal sheds

Store More have been aware for some years that there have been cheaper sources of light clad metal sheds available from ‘new’ sources. Many of these sheds have been modelled on existing designs and in some cases it can be difficult to differentiate between them when viewing a photograph.

Store More have been sourcing metal sheds from different sources since 1981 and since 2007 they made a fundamental change to their offer, to ensure that there is a minimum tolerated specification.

This specification not only relates to the type, finish and durability of the steel used but also to other aspects including:

  • reliability of supply
  • assembly method
  • packaging
  • assembly instructions

These sheds are the highest specification lightweight metal garden sheds in the market. Apart from the high grade of 0.3 steel and paint finish, they have ventilated gables and all standard buildings have the tallest wall height available.

The frame and base rails are made from solid heavy gauge galvanised steel and the parts and their fixings are simple and straightforward to assemble in the quickest possible time.

With the Lotus range, Store More knew that they were looking for advances in design as well as maintaining the high standards required, at a cheaper price. All their efforts in influencing its development have not, in any way, compromise on quality. Indeed, this new range achieves all their required and desired criteria.

The new range of Store More Lotus metal sheds can now be seen on GardenSite.