I’m thinking of making a garden shed. I have no clue how easy/hard this could be. I just started to use the wood workshop, and I managed to make some slightly wonky shelves with Joe’s assistance! Any advice would be appreciated, as well as any links to websites, online instructions or anything that might help really!
Thanks!
Hannah
Hey, @SRLC and I just built a shed out of reclaimed timber, sheet material & shiplap cladding. To be fair, it’s more of a cabin as it’s solid as anything, but would be happy to share our experiences if needed.
That’s lovely! How much did it cost for all the materials? I love how it all fits together, with the table and chairs too. Very nice.
Thank you.
It’s a mixture between broken down pallets, old wood ripped out of loft conversions and sheet material/shiplap that we bought from the timber yard, so its difficult to put an exact figure on it. We spent roughly £200-300 on sheet material and shiplap, but have used the sheets elsewhere as well, so maybe £150 for the shed in total? Add the felt for the roof, screws/nails, hinges and locks and that goes up to about £250. Again, that’s a best guess.
One thing I do know is I never want to see another pallet again in my life! I’ve broken down about 30 of them for the garden including a 6 foot one that I had to use a carjack on! That’s the timbers you see used on the door. They’re mounted on 18mm ply and edged with some batons. The door alone is about 30kg!
It would be possible to make an entire shed out of pallets as you can use the timbers to build the frame and the slats to clad the shed. That way you’d only need to spend out on things like hinges, locks and nails. Obviously not going to be as sturdy and hard work breaking up and thicknessing the pallet wood, but the materials are free, so it’s a compromise.
Nice work! And fantastic use of reclaimed material - good on you!
Thank you.
I love using reclaimed wood. Even the filthiest, out of shape bit of timber can become something amazing given the right care and attention. Initially the cladding was going to be reclaimed too, but I honestly didn’t have the strength/willpower to dismantle another 20-odd pallets to finish the job!
That is AWESOME!
Best thing I’ve seen made out of my favourite skip dip: loft beams.
That’s seriously substantial form-work that you’ve built. No chance of that blowing down in the wind. Beautiful work!
Yeah, loft beams are lovely. Looking forward to whacking some through my thicknesser and making some fine furniture with them! Wouldn’t be happy putting them through the thicknesser at the space though. Don’t want to upset the woodtechs by missing a nail and buggerimg the blade!
Thanks again. Rather proud of the work as this is the first time I’ve ever done anything more than knocking up a few shelves or an under-sink cabinet.
Stability and security was the most important thing. Can’t make it too easy for the little oiks to get at your garden tools now, can you?!
I’ve got the same issue.
I’ve got some rafters I want to make into a sofa.
But the old space blade issue.
Hmmmmm…
…Thinking cap…
…maybe the cheapest way for me to do this is buy myself some blades for the planner thicknesser?
How do I know what type of blades to get?
This wouldn’t be the cheapest way to do it, those guys are expensive. You’d save money by buying a metal-detector wand.
@boldaslove I have old worn blades in my Makita tabletop thicknesser at the moment, so only use it to thickness garden stuff. Replacement blade is about £40. Will be getting one soon so I can get a good finish on the wood. At the moment the finish isn’t great and the left side of the machine leaves little lines where the blade has nicks out of it.
Not sure what the score would be with bringing it in to use in the space, but if it was cool, could let you use it to take off the first few mm. could then tell
If there was any nails left in it and confidently whack it through the big boy thicknesser to get the decent finish?
At the induction, the @woodtechs told us that the method for reclaimed timber was to buy a cheap set of blades for the hand power planer and take off the outer mm before putting it near any other power tools.
This looks cool. What did you use to paint it? And was it more for weather proofing or style/aesthetics?
Sounds like a plan. Is this work or fun?
Fun. Well, I enjoy it. Dunno if ‘fun’ is an accurate description though. This is the third summer of sorting our garden out. It was a state. Chest high weeds and brambles. Took one summer to clear and flatten it and two to get to where we’re at now. Maybe another 6-8 weeks before it’s finished and we can lay the artificial grass. Can’t wait!
@hannahintech Sorry for hijacking your original post!
Have you had any more thoughts on what sort of a shed you want to build? Dimensions/materials/usage? Let’s see if we can’t get you some solid ideas and advice for your project 
Holler once you’re sanding or staining - I’m often in Dulwich/Peckham for work, if I’m free on the day and you need a general dogsbody, it’d be cool to check it out and learn something in the process.
