- Plan your shed base
You must have a sturdy base for your shed, otherwise the frame won’t stand properly and could stop the door from opening. Decide whether you’re going to have:
- A concrete base laid on hardcore
- Concrete slabs on sharp sand
- Treated wood beams on hardcore or shingle
- An interlocking plastic system
- Treat wood with preservative To help your shed last as long as possible, you should coat all the wooden parts with timber preservative before you put it together.
- Put the shed floor together Some will need more assembly than others, but you need to make sure that the floor panel is attached to the joists; follow the manufacturer’s instructions for the correct spacing.
- Put up the shed walls
- Mark the centre point of each wall on its bottom edge, then do the same for the shed floor so you can line them up together.
- Stand the gable end on the base and line it up. Check that it’s vertical with a spirit level – you might need someone to support the panel while you do this. Use a temporary holding batten to keep it in place.
- Fix a side panel to the gable end panel with countersunk screws, then add the second side panel in the same way.
- Fit the roof
- If the shed comes with a support bar, put this in position before you put the roof panels in.
- Nail the roof panels in place, ensuring there’s a parallel and equal overlap at each end.
- Roll out some roofing felt from front to back, leaving a 50mm overlap at each side. Secure it with clout-headed felt tacks at 100mm intervals.
- Apply mastic sealant to the outside corners, then fix each corner trim with 30mm nails.
- Add the fascias and finials, predrilling 2mm holes to avoid splitting the wood. Nail them through the felt into the shed using 40mm nails.
- Add the shed windows
- Slide each windowsill into the tongue and groove cut out, then put the window cover strip in position, fixing it to the vertical framing.
- From inside the shed, put the glazing sheets into the window rebates, making sure the bottom edge of the glazing sheets sit on the outside of the sill.
- Fix the window beading on the top and sides with 25mm nails.
- Fix the walls to the floor Before you do anything, make sure you check that the centre marks on the walls line up with the marks on the shed floor. Then fix the wall panels to the floor with 50mm screws, aligning them with the joists. And that’s it! But if you’re not confident in building a shed yourself, there are plenty of professionals available who will be happy to help.
Isle Of Scalpay
Scalpay is an island in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Scalpay is around 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) long and also rises to an elevation of 104 metres (341 feet) at Beinn Scorabhaig. The area of Scalpay is 653 hectares (2.52 sq mi). The major settlement on the island goes to the north, near the bridge, gathered around An Acairseid a Tuath (North Harbour). The island is peppered with little lochans. The biggest of these is Loch an Duin (Loch of the Ft) which has a small island in it, with the remains of the ft still visible. Eilean Glas, a little peninsula on Scalpay's eastern shore, is residence to the first lighthouse to be integrated in the Outer Hebrides. Scalpay's nearby neighbor, Harris, is simply 300 metres (980 feet) away across the narrows of Caolas Scalpaigh. In 1997, a bridge from Harris to Scalpay was constructed, changing a ferry solution. In 2001, the island had 322 people, whose major employment was fish farming as well as prawn fishing. By 2011 the population had actually declined by 9% to 291 whilst during the exact same period Scottish island populations in its entirety expanded by 4% to 103,702.
