Morning all,

Firstly I KNOW there is a thread from a long while back on building a shed / workshop, but more people may have more experience now and be able to shed more pearls of wisdom on the subject!

Plus it's been a bit quiet here for the last few days so I'm hoping this will spark off some debate  

I am about to start building a shed / workshop in my garden.  It will back on to a part of the house (downstairs loo) which has a window - I plan to build a 'storage unit' only about 1.2 metres tall which will house all the garden and 'shed' stuff.  This will have doors to it from the INSIDE of the shed, which will butt up right against the storage unit.  I feel this will maximise the space without building the shed within a few inches of the window!!

My main questions are about what sort of roof to have and whether to have skylights or not.

My current thinking is to have a flat, but sloping roof (pent I think it's called?!).  The main reason for this is that a pitched roof will be very high which may result in concerns from the neighbour...     It would be a compromise in having a pitched roof, since the walls would have to be a bit shorter to accommodate it - don't really want to be ducking as I enter the workshop!

In terms of skylights what are the general thoughts on this?  I could buy a couple of cheapie skylights from screwfix (I think they're about £90ish), I guess as long as they're installed OK they should be fine.  My concern is that I absolutely DO NOT WANT THEM TO LEAK!!!  My father in law (a tad more experience than me...) reckons I should just avoid them because of the risk that at some point they may leak.  I'm a bit more adventurous than him and fancy the idea of natural light coming in through the roof...

Also, if anyone has any advice on flooring that would be great.  I will run joists along the concrete sub floor, and was thinking about a wooden floring on top of that - maybe OSB, or would I be better off with a cheap wooden flooring (ie pine)?

Any thoughts or advice gratefully received.

And please...no mention of butt plugs...!!    8)

Cheers

Gary

As W/S states , osb is not a good idea for flooring, apart from the fact it is not LOAD bearing rated, (wall or floor sheathing , is the only rating it has!!) also if using it for the roof! then the Bitumen impregnated stuff is best!!

RE: sky lights< if you are thinking in terms of opening skylights,i.e; Velux, then NO not an option!, again as W/S staes need a pitch of a min 20°.. , however, if it is just puely light required, then yes, you can , but they will need an upstand with a minimum of 100mm , and "fillet pieces all round, and if you were thinking of felting the roof your self, unless you actually know what you are doing, then it can be a nightmare sorting the upstands corners!!
having said that , i did my sisiters kitchen extension many years ago now, (4 ally framed /georgian wired glass units-plenty of extra light!!) got a proper roofer to do the felt work, and it is still 100% water tight!!
they actually came with a sub frame which is screwed down to the upstand, felted upto and onto, then when the felt is done, the main glass/ally frame piece, clipped down , and hangs over like a square mushroom!!

and in regards to the flooring, .. the GREEN T & G chip board is a better bet, 18mm thick minimum!!! again due to weight loadings!!

and don't forget your electrics, you will need to think carefully about this! where the sockets are going , what  sort of PLUGS!!!!!! , you intend to use etc!!!!!

Here's a couple of shots of my shed I built a while back:

Might be worth checking the planning situation - if it backs onto the house it may count as an extension and that could reduce your scope to build a proper extension later. If it's more than 5 meters away (I think) then it's not counted as an extension.

:-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D