# Forum Home Renovation The Garden Shed  Wood shed ... with issues.

## WSDsmurf

Arvo all. 
I've tried to find similar on this forum and elsewhere, but no luck yet. 
So can I throw out my shed situation here and see if anyone has any good ideas? 
I have a wodden clad wood shed / office / studio thingy, about 4.5m x 2.5m plus a veranda on 2 posts.   
It appears to be one of those pre-built 'spensive kit type sheds you can buy from various places (like Aaron's Outdoors).
It has wooden door, 2 wooden framed wind out windows... and it might be about 15 years old'ish. 
Now here is where the issues start.
It sits on a cement / brick paving pad (which may have been pre-existing, and might have been used in order to get around having a get a new building permit maybe?).
Unfortunately that means the shed has limited space on 3 sides (~25cm to fence, ~15cm to fence, ~40cm to tin shed).
Worse, the shed appears to just sit on ~ 2x4 treated pine lying horizontally on the pad (skids?) (I've seen much smaller UK sheds built like that, but never anything bigger).  No box structure, not even horizontal timbers to form a box.  Just ~9 horizontal h3 (maybe) bits of treated pine lying on the pad ... no stumps, no footings, no joists as such.
Yellow tongue is then nailed straight to the treated pin 'skids' to form a platform floor.
What I'm presuming are pre-assembled stud walls are then screwed through the yellow tongue, into the skids.
Then the whole thing is clad in 140mm x 10mm treated pine (effectively fence palings) with silver back sarking.
Then a 4 gable roof structure.
Then a pre-assembled corrugated iron sections are bolted on top (sections surrounding the corrugated in C shaped steel ... which plays funny with storm water flow ... but that's another problem).
Then gutters front and back with down pipes (that's the big issue). 
The previous owners then had the interior clad with 4mm (ie flimsy) ply, and a nice looking interior OSB ceiling.
Then had lights, power and even a phone and data line connected.
But due to reasons (probably lack of space/access), it was never painted.
So cladding is twisting and come away from the ~25cm side due to weather (i may have to make friends with that neighbour in order to get proper access). 
But the big issue (and thanks for staying so long :P) ... is the down pipes.
The downpipe at the back corner ... was never plumbed into anything... so it just dumped all the stornwater at that base of the shed.
Which no weatherproofing at ground level.  And no joist-box ... just 45cm spaced cavities between the 'skids'.  
So rain, dirt, leaves, etc, damned up the water underneath ... the yellowtongue has water damage over ~75% ... but has actually caved in at the back corner due to water damage / rot.
And the rot has also taken out a corner section of the stud-wall base plate timber on the same side.
And when exploring... the ~H3 'skids' appear to be okay still ... but may be a tad "soft and squishy" ... so maybe not ok. 
So ... i'm still to pull of some the interior plywood wall cladding to assess how much of the stud wall has gone.
And still to confirm how bad the 'skids' are. 
But what I'd dearly like to know is if there are any better (ie smarter) options than:
1) Remove interior wall ply.  Circular-saw out the yellow-tongue around where it meets the walls.  Replace the yellow tongue (all or just the worst parts).  Remove the stud-wall base plate in the corner (with propping if needed).  Remove bases of studs if needed.  Sister in new stud bases and replacing base-plate. Probably about under $1,500 for bits ... yellow tongue or ply, 2x4's, a35 style pryda mini-hangers, pryda screws, 12mm non-structural ply for new interior walls).
2) Trying to jack the whole thing up (God knows how with not really any space on 2 sides, minimal space on side 3, glass windows, a verandah, and ground level wired in power cabling), in order to remove ground level "skid" pines, and replace with some new beams, elevated just a little (~60mm) on tuff-posts or similar.... leaving the whole thing maybe 60mm higher than before.. ugh, that all sounds hard to me.
3) Knock it over and start again (super spensive) (and i'd never get around to building a whole shed from scratch... its just beyond me ... but fixing one is possible) (plus I like the idea of spending ~$1,500 instead of $15,000 - $30,000 ... which what i gather this one may have cost... and i don't want a tin shed).
4) Other ideas? 
The fence on 2 sides is dilapidated ... so it being partially / wholely removed for a bit is a potential option (subject to neighbours). 
Any ideas?

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## Moondog55

Bad news.
I actually like steel cladding.
Do you feel up to the job of stripping it all down and redoing in a single hit?
Others will jump in but it does sound sad and as if demolition is the answer as it sounds structurally unsafe.

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## joynz

Photos?

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## WSDsmurf

I don't mind the idea of external steel cladding on at least the fence sides (apart from cost... Fence pailings are cheap).   But I'm a big fan of not having steel on the inside  
What's the preferred way of uploading fotos here?

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## phild01

> What's the preferred way of uploading fotos here?

  This link will help how to upload 'photos'.

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## WSDsmurf

I've just been given a fantastic (well I think it's fantastic) idea for jacking it up. 
I was thinking I'd have to jack it up from the exterior, with no space, and multiple jacks and maybe attach beams as jacking points (hard). 
But as it's been pointed out to me, that as I'm planning on taking out the old yellow tongue floor anyway... Do that... Then jack up the stud walls a bit at time from the inside using a single car jack if need be (easier).  Blocking under the stud walls as I go to keep everything square'ish, and keep jacks to just one. 
Disconnect the power, and the verandah first. 
Then maybe even just use pavers to get the skids off the ground (less total rise than tuff-posts... So should have less impact on verandah and power connection points. 
Replacing skids if needed. 
How does that sound?

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## Moondog55

I'd advise on using more than a single jack, it's much easier if you use 2 or more and small hydraulic jacks are cheap enough.
You will need a good bit of timber for the blockings so start collecting scraps and offcuts of square posts if you can. But the drainage is your main problem so you need to get that started as a priority. 
I like the concrete pads sold at Bunnings for this sort of project but even those may not get you the clearance that you need for good underfloor ventilation  https://www.bunnings.com.au/deko-250...block_p1080391
But you could sit them on top of another thick concrete paver to get an extra 50mm

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## WSDsmurf

Thanks. Appreciate that.  Will have a look a the concrete ones.  Was thinking of these plastic ones from Bunnings as they are a lower profile. https://www.bunnings.com.au/tuffbloc...pport_p2410345 
Draining is already sorted.  I have diverted away both downpipes that were causing a problem already.  And the plan is to add proper ground level external flashing with L shaped alu or PVC and sika 11FC when all is done. 
Already have assorted scraps and some 90x90 post bits lying around for blocking.   
Will be starting with maybe 50mm-75mm of underfloor clearance to start with for jacking.  So a jack that can fit that will help matters.  Two jacks will be much better, you're right.  I don't want to tilt stuff too much.  Ideas of cheap suitable jacks will be appreciated by the budget dept.  But I doub't i'd ever get a jack shorter than 75mm ... so I'm still heading for attaching beams to the stud walls as lifting points i gather. 
I'm not aiming for code level underfloor ventilation.  ~60mm airgap from the plastic tuffposts appealed to me because:
1) The shed's on a cement/paved pad.
2) I've got electrical cabling coming in at ground level'ish and a veranda to consider (ah ... im not just going to have to disconnect the veranda am I.   I'm going to have increase the heights of the veranda posts (and my 2 new downpipes by the amount raised also aint I ...) 
Let me know if I'm complete wrong about plastic footings, or only a 60mm raise. 
Photos! 
Shed.  
Cladding that doesn't want to be cladding.  
A small case of a lack of access (and some power).

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## WSDsmurf



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## Moondog55

That plastic should work too/ I didn't know about that one

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