Ask These Questions BEFORE Buying a Shed For Your Andover Garden
1/ Will It Suit You?
It’s important before you buy a new shed that you do a little legwork to ensure that it will suit you and your needs. … more
2/ Can You See The Building Beforehand?
It’s vitally important to have the opportunity to view any potential building before buying and by doing so YOU can decide whether the price you are paying reflects your expectation of what you feel you will be getting. … more
3/ What Quality Timber is Used
The grade of timber used on many shed and timber buildings accounts for a large amount of the cost, however, this cost is well worth paying if you can buy a building which will stand the test of time. … more
4/ Is Redwood or Whitewood Used?
Essentially most sheds and are made from softwood timber, either redwood or whitewood deal. You will find that decent garden buildings are made using redwood deal and the reason for this is that it is slower growing. … more
5/ Are The Floor and Roofs Made from ‘Proper’ Timber
You will find on most of the cheap sheds that the floors and roofs are made using OSB (oriental strand board), wafer board, chipboard or cheap plywood and this is totally to do with cost. … more
6/ Do You Have The Choice of Size or Style?
You will find that most garden building companies offer a range of set sizes and styles and, whilst, you may find one which ‘will do’ surely it’s better to have a building to suit YOUR needs and your location. … more
7/ Do You Have To Pay Extra For Assembly in Andover?
It can be quite hard work erecting a shed and it’s not everybody’s ‘cup of tea’. And you will find that the cheap building companies claim that it’s easy to build it yourself. But it’s not. … more
8/ How Thick is the Framing?
Crucial to the strength of your new garden building is the size of the timber framing so you need to ensure it’s of a good size. In an ideal world, you should go for at least 2in x 2in (47mm x 47mm) internal vertical frame size. … more
9/ How Tall is Your Proposed New Building?
Before buying always check the height of any building you are interested in and check whether they are INTERNAL or EXTERNAL SIZES, which can vary by up to 6in (150mm) as some companies are a little misleading about this. … more
10/ What Conditions are Attached to Guarantees?
Normally with garden sheds or garden workshops, there will be a standard warranty of at least 12 months, however, you will find some web companies offering 10-year warranties, which sound great. Peace of mind included – that’s got to be good. But like most things ‘if it sounds too good to be true then it usually is’. … more
11/ Are The Buildings Made in the UK or Stockpiled?
When wooden building are made in the UK for each customer the quality can be controlled but if they are shipped in from abroad or stockpiled in open yards then they could be damaged when being moved about. … more
12/ Conclusion and Advice?
It can be quite exciting to buy a new garden building to share with your family or a timber workshop for your hobby, however, it’s important to ask questions beforehand. By using this guide you can ask the right questions and, by doing so, are likely to be happy with your new building and not to be regretting it and thinking – why did I not check. … more
Hi, I'm Robin Antill, founder of 1st Choice Leisure Buildings, and I use my expertise gained over 44 years in the garden buildings industry to understand that each customer is different. With my manufacturing, retailing and customer service experience my articles help people choose their ideal shed, garden workshop, summerhouse, log cabin or garden office needs to suit their requirement and that is key to satisfaction. And what do I do when I'm not writing? You may find me following Grimsby Town Football Club or riding roller coasters - so plenty of 'ups and downs' in my life.
Up the Wall Andover Gardens and Sheds
With the lack of available space for new houses in our towns and cities such as Andover you will find that the gardens are getting smaller and smaller, some having gardens so small you would be hard pressed to swing a cat in them, although you should not be doing this anyway. So if you want quality sheds then you are out of luck unless you go for a very small sheds which can be as small as 4ft x 3ft. So even with this size of shed you can store a certain amount of bits and pieces for the garden nice and dry. Even so the cost to getting on the property ladder is still quite severe and many young people are having to stay with their parents longer than they would have liked, and I am sure that some of the parents feel the same. Many of these households, with the more traditional larger gardens, can have a decent size shed or workshop and are requisitioning these sheds for the offspring to give them some extra space for them to flex out and to relax. Many of these households are also adding garden buildings to the existing sheds as garden sheds tend to be packed to the gills as a matter of course.
I suppose having a smaller garden does make it easier to keep in order as it tends to be only a small garden lawn with maybe a small border of flowers or maybe a few shrubs however even in this situation you do need a shed to store the lawnmower in. A possibility is to share a shed with a neighbour for these sort of things as it not likely to be over used. Many people cover their little garden with paving slabs or timber decking which is more practical but I think it worth the effort to have a little greenery in the garden.
One of the latest ideas to come about is the use of vertical gardens by using the side of the property as a garden, Seems a little far fetched and I would assume this does not include a lawn as it would be very difficult to cut.
Patrick Blanc, a garden designer, has turn the idea of a Andover city garden with a wall garden on its head with his green fingered creations which has be known to climb as high as 80ft. Blanc, who had studied the rain forests and the botanical environment of them, is fascinated by plants which grow without soil, and he has patented his own special way for attaching plants to vertical walls using layers of felt. This means that it’s possible for most people to have their own gardens even when there is not sufficient land for a conventional one.
The Athenaeurn Hotel, in London, and the CaixaForum gallery in Madrid in home to some of these amazing gardens and the garden in Madrid covers a total area of 550 square yards (note YARDS not metres). Blanc, among his many other awards won the prestigious silver medal at the Architecture Academy in 2005.
The traditional vertical garden features the timber arbor and these have been popular for many decades however I think it’s unlikely that Blancs gardens will be appearing in Andover domestic gardens any time soon but it does give gardeners a little room for thought. However, the lack of space for a garden shed might make it a little tricky in maintaining one of these gardens.