Can You Use OSB for Shed Walls and Roof?

Essential Tips for Winterising Your Garden Shed Against Strong Winds

The garden shed sitting out in the garden is often exposed to the worse of all the bad weather thrown at it so it’s important to take all precautions to help it withstand these attacks. This means checking for any loose roofing felt, any gaps in the walls as well as ensuring the shed windows are sound. This can be seen a nuisance but if you take a few minutes and think about all the items inside your shed, which its protecting, then it makes sense.

The weather forecast for last weekend included gale force winds and these exposed the smallest defect in the sheds of the UK. This weather would not normally be expected until we are deep into the winter but here they were. With the howling winds shed roofing felt was ripped off and any doors left open were rudely reminded they play second fiddle to nature. Any broken glass allowed wind and rain to invade the inner sanctum of the shed making the contents wet and ruining them.

Winter Maintenance Checklist: Ensuring Your Garden Shed Stays Intact During Gales

You will find that if you keep the shed in good condition and all the apertures, such as doors and window closed, this will pay off in the long run. Back in 1987, when the infamous Michael Fish told Mrs Jones not to worry about an hurricane approaching and was proved wrong the next morning, a large shed which had been supplied by Marina Garden Sheds (forerunner to 1st Choice Leisure Buildings) and positioned on the Hogs Back near Farnham in Surrey, stood fast with no problem. To people who don’t know the area the Hogs Back is part of the Surrey Hills overlooking Godalming, Farnham and Guildford and quite high up.

So take the time now and sort your shed out. If you are unable to do it yourself then you can find plenty of handymen, often advertised in your local newspaper or in shop windows, who can do this work for you. And why they are about it you can get them to add another coat of treatment to your garden shed as this will help to preserve the wood from rotting.

Winterise Your Garden Shed: Shielding It from Harsh Winds and Extreme Weather

However, I do not recommend the use of water-based treatments on sheds, despite what the manufacturers say. I based this advice on my 44 years experience in the garden shed business and recommend the use of oil or spirit based treatments. This, I find soaks further into the timber and helps to protect from beneath the surface. If you have a full pressure treated shed, such as the Platinum garden workshops from 1st Choice Leisure Buildings then these have a treatment against rot designed to last at least 15 years after being installed in your garden. However you can add a water repellent treatment, such as Thompson Waterseal or any good quality treatment, if you wish.

This course of action will enable you to go through the winter with confidence knowing that your garden shed will survive and will do its job of looking after all those valuable contents ensuring, that when spring comes around, you don’t have to replace any storm damaged items. Also if you are fond of urban wildlife it will help these creatures to survive the winter. Having said that they are pretty adept at doing so anyway.

Top Winter-Proofing Tips for Your Garden Shed

The last few years have been quite difficult for the gardener, and in general, due to the recession and gloom in the economy so this means that many people have put garden buildings on the ‘back burner’. This seems quite logical as a garden shed cannot be classed as an essential item. It’s possible to patch up the shed to see out another year or so or even put it off for several more years.

However, it is important that the garden shed does the job it’s meant to do and that is to look after your valuable items used in the garden. It needs to keep these dry as well as stopping various rodents getting in. Sadly a shed which has not seen a lick of paint or treatment will be as good as a ‘chocolate teapot’ if not looked after. Even more so if the shed was one of the cheaply made sheds bought from some of the large DIY stores or on flashy web sites with massive (alleged) discounts.

These cheap garden sheds would have come with either a chipboard or OSB (oriental strand board) floors which, essentially are wood chips or wood shavings stuck together. Now, these are perfectly fine until they get wet. Then what happens is that the boards will absorb the damp and then swell and fall to bits. I do know this as when I started my garden shed company back in 1979, I used these materials. After a couple of winters, I found that some shed roofs had failed and this cost me for replacements. And since then I have only offered roofs made from proper T&G (tongue and grooved) timber or moisture-resistant particle boards such as Caberboard or Egger Board.

The interesting thing to me is, if you look at the specification for these cheap sheds, that these Internet companies described their floor and roofs as solid sheet material. You need to wonder why they do this and not use the proper names if they believe them to be suitable for outdoor use. Is it because it is cheap? Beware as cheap does not mean good value!! You will find that all the garden sheds and summerhouses 1st Choice Leisure Buildings are made from all timber – no sneaky descriptions of materials used in their specifications.

Years Gone By

A little different to back in 2010 where reports showed that £6.8 billion was spent by the British at large which included items such as summer houses, garden sheds and other items relating to their gardens. Research in those years also, by GoCompare, showed that 74% of homeowners will have been taking on some garden project or another.

With 12% having ideas to giving their gardens a complete makeover and other dedicated owners giving up on their holiday to invest in their garden. This has to be good sense as money spent in the garden will last for years whereas a holiday only provides you with memories. About 12% were hopeful garden improvements would increase the value of their home and nearly one quarter were more pragmatic and were concerned about the security of their garden items even when locked away in their garden sheds.

At that time the head of pet insurance at GoCompare.com, John Miles, said that the start of the Chelsea Flower Show is the time homeowners get out into the garden, also confirming that 2010 was a good time to be spending money. He also was offering advice about the security in their gardens and that people should invest in fences for the garden as well as security lights.

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.