We have a shed!

It has taken us longer to get to this stage than we thought when we first took on the plot. But we are now the proud owners of a customised Topwood Robin shed.

Our new shed

 

We need to give a big shout out to Sandra’s mum, for a generous birthday present donation to the Quest for Veg project. And to our good friends Richard Anderson and Keith Boxall who immediately and enthusiastically volunteered to help build it. One’s a landscaper and the other’s an engineer, so it’s probably one of the best put together sheds going!

Please show Richard and Keith some love by visiting their web pages.

So, we’ve gone from having the dilapidated and rotten shed we inherited, which looked charmingly rustic but was structurally unsafe.

The ivy-covered shed we inherited

Through many months of having no shed. We got wet a few times, and had to hide all our tools, etc or take them home with us.

Caught in a sudden storm

To this: standing in the dry, looking out at the rain!

We were caught in a sudden shower while putting the finishing touches on our bolts

Here’s how it went together

It arrived on Friday morning at around 7.15am – about eight hours earlier than we expected so there was a mad scramble to get down to the plot to meet it. We made a quick phone call to Richard and he helped get the sections on to our plot.

The front section of the shed propped up on our raised beds

 

We were keen to get the shed constructed as soon as possible so it was an early start on Saturday. First job was to finish preparing the ground.

Keith triumphs over a large tree root

We used four treated fence posts as a base to sit the floor on. It took a little while to get these level. But eventually we were satisfied. Then Richard and Keith hauled the first side into place.

Then it was a question of heaving the remaining sides into place and screwing them together – not necessarily a difficult job except for the sheer weight of the panels.

And with the front panel in place, Andrew (who is inside) secured the walls to the floor with screws.

And then it was time to get the roof on.

This was followed by the roofing felt.

There was then just the finishing trim and finally the glass.

And here is the finished shed!

All we need to do now is to wait until the preservative has matured, then we can paint it. In the meantime, we just need to decide what colour(s). If you have any ideas about colour, please post your suggestions below.