Demolition in the heat…

Following on from the success of our Asgard bike shed, back in March I ordered a 18×7 foot metal shed to replace our old wooden one erected by the previous owners of our house. The old shed was actually two sheds – one eating the other one – which meant that part of the roof restricted the available space in the smaller shed. A bizarre arrangement that kind of worked, and kind of didn’t at the same time. I’m replacing it with a traditional rectangle that will hopefully be much more usable.

I considered taking the shed down when we had the skip but there was a substantial amount of wood making it up, not to mention the work in moving all of the stuff and breaking it down. The skip was full, so that was also a bit of a barrier.

The next solution was delegation. Nothing appeals more to people than free stuff. A free shed* was sure to garner some attention. (*free to anyone willing to dismantle and tote it away)

Within a couple of days I had thirteen replies (three from Gumtree, and ten from Facebook Marketplace). I suspect I’ve complained about Marketplace before, but it is a mess of a platform. From uploading photos to basic things like failing to link back from chat conversations to the article for sale, it really is bad. The big but is that almost everyone uses it, and the audience far outstrips Gumtree. Gumtree is a much more user friendly experience and I find the calibre of replies tend to be better.

My first serious inquiry arrived through Gumtree. The person was very responsive and all they had to do was check availability of a van, then they’d get back to me in 45 minutes. Hours passed. Then the next morning came and there was still no reply. In the meantime I had multiple other replies to the ads. I try to hold things over based on the order people get in touch with me, but after that first burn I opened it up to first come, first served. Whoever got to the shed that day could have it. After a few more hours I had a roofer in my garden taking apart the old shed methodically. A few days of carting away later and we are shed free. It does mean the contents of said shed are distributed across the house temporarily.

The shed was far from perfect with a few pieces showing some damp and rotten wood, but it’s a free shed at the end of the day. I have every confidence that the new owner will be restore it to its former glory.

Removing the shed revealed even more problems though. The shed was built on a decking base, but most of the frame was rotten. There was a section of the base which was reinforced with sheet metal which was quite challenging to shift. I tried to preserve as many decking boards as I could, unscrewing where possible, and using the wrecking bar where they wouldn’t shift. It was hard work but after a couple of days I cleared the space. I still had to do something with all the rotten wood. Wood’s combustible, right?

Like every house project, this one revealed problems created by the previous owner. One side of the decking was built on rubble, randomly orientated breeze blocks, and rubbish. The next step involves clearing that out, digging down to make the base for laying the slabs, and filling the junk area. Then comes a layer of Type 1 MOT aggregate and a sand-cement bed.

The tree on the left of the photo above is coming down and the new shed will have guttering and a large water butt for storage. There’s still plenty to do before the new shed arrives.