Buyer Beware: The Dark Side of Ten Year Warranties

The Pitfalls of Ten Year Warranties: Don’t Fall for the Marketing Tricks

How long is the Guarantee or Warranty?

1/ Some companies offer 10-year Warranties or Anti-Rot guarantees, HOWEVER, these come with very strict conditions in so much as your new shed has to be re-treated as soon as it arrives. You also have to ensure that is it re-treated every single year afterwards. How you prove that I don’t know. The warranty will be void if you put in on any base where damp could get to it and if any of your shed is touching another building this would also void any warranty.

example of conditions:-“treated annually (internally and externally) with an appropriate high-quality preservative and all glazing units must be sealed (Internally and externally) with silicone or other water tight sealant”.

example of what will make the warranty invalid:- “The building is or has been placed within 2 feet (60cm) of any obstruction (walls, tress, fences etc) which can allow moisture to penetrate the timber.” This means you lose up to about 2ft of your garden to ensure the warranty is valid. What a waste of space!

How Much Space Have You Around Your New Building?

2/ You normally need to allow about 6 -12 inches (15 – 30cm) around the building to allow for the roof overhang. HOWEVER, some companies offering these ‘Ten Year’ warranties insist on 2ft around the building to honour their warranty.

Are the floor and roof covered by warranty?

3/ Most of these cheap sheds also do not cover the sheet (chipboard or OSB board) material floor and roofs, both of which are crucial for the lastability of your shed.

How long has the Company been trading?

4/ It is vital that any guarantees offered are offered by companies which have been trading for a long time, otherwise, you may find, if you need to claim – and you have fulfilled all the terms and conditions – that they are no longer trading.

How To You Find Details Of The Warranties?

5/ On many garden building sites the terms of conditions are very hard to find. And if you find the page with this information then the details of the warranty are towards the bottom of the page. Maybe they don’t want any potential customer to see the conditions and exclusions before they buy. I wonder why that is?

All our Garden Buildings Are –

We at 1st Choice, are very happy to match any guarantees, subject to the same conditions from the cheap shed companies. We are confident in this because we owned and ran one of Surrey’s largest company supplying garden buildings direct from 1979 (pre-Maggie Thatcher) for over 20 years.

We have been involved in garden buildings for over 42 years. We know if the building is put onto a dry base and that the building is treated every year with a water repellent preservative and that the roofing felt is kept in good condition then your new garden building will last for far longer than 10 years. Most of the sheds we built back in the early ’80s are still going strong.

All our timber buildings are made in the UK so you can be sure you are helping the British economy and helping to keep people in work.

Click on any of the following links for more important things to consider before buying!

Read About Quality of Timber Which Should Be Used

Read About What you MUST know about Garden Sheds Floors & Roofs

Read About Range of Styles and Sizes from 1st Choice Garden Sheds and Buildings

Read About Delivery and Assembly Options

Read About Glass and Windows

Not from Lilliput ?? Then Read About Height and Doors

Read About What you MUST Know about Guarantees and Where your Building will be Made

Written By Robin - Expert in Garden Buildings For 44 Years.
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.