Sheds UK

Sheds UK: garden sheds and summerhouses made in the UK

Sheds UK is a British garden shed manufacturer that also acts as a supplier and installer of its own products. The company presents itself as a UK manufacturer with 45 years of experience and sells its buildings through its website and Warwick Garden Centre. Its range is aimed at garden owners looking for anything from a standard shed to bespoke designs.

Garden building range

The range is organised into several product families, all hand built and assembled at the customer's home:

• Apex Sheds: built with 15 mm finished pressure treated tongue & groove shiplap, finished with corner trims and barge boards, along with a small overhang to the eaves. The polyester based roofing felt and tanalised floor battens further increase the already impressive lifespan, and the fully box framed door with keyed lock provides excellent security. Joinery made fixed windows allow ample light, and an opening sash can be added if required.
• Pent Sheds: built using the same materials as the Apex sheds, but with a roof that slopes from front to back, making them suitable for corner locations. The box framed, ledged and braced door features a keyed lock with D handle.
• Set sized garden sheds (Dennington range): built with the same shiplap but with smaller framing, designed for those who want a standard size at a budget price. Available in three sizes, with prices from £700.
• Potting sheds: built with the superior range materials, they include opening windows to let plants breathe and a stable style door on the side. They also include a bench at window height.
• Corner sheds: designed to make the most of a garden corner, with the door fitted across the front aspect and the option to upgrade to double doors. Also available as a summerhouse.
• Summerhouses: based on the top quality garden sheds, with glazed single and double doors, conceived as a place to relax in the garden.

Customisation and optional extras

As these are hand built to order, the customer can adapt the finish and components. Options include choosing a colour, upgrading the roof covering materials, a painting service that replaces the standard treatment, adding extra windows, installing double doors or buying a bench seat. The company also offers a superior range and a prestige range, both with tanalised timber, as well as top quality tanalised sheds.

Buying process and ground preparation

The company describes a seven-step process for buying one of its buildings: choose the location in the garden, measure the width and depth of the marked area, choose the design (Apex roof for traditional gardens or Pent for modern gardens), select the options, place the order by phone or email, prepare the site and, finally, receive delivery and assembly. The order is confirmed with the customer and added to the delivery schedule. The company states that the site must have a flat and level base, whether of slabs, concrete or timber battens, and that access must be clear for the assembly team, which completes the installation in a day if adequate parking and a clear route from the vehicle to the base are available.

Materials, durability and quality criteria

The company explains that price differences between apparently similar sheds are due to the thickness of the timber, the type of cladding and its weather resistance. It notes that cheaper models use 28 mm framing, mid-range models use 34 mm and top-range models use 44 mm, which means nearly double the amount of timber. It also distinguishes between 8 mm overlap cladding with a 10 mm floor and sand felt, compared with 12 mm tongue & groove shiplap with a floor of the same thickness and high-performance polyester felt. It adds that lower grade timbers are faster grown and feature more knots and blemishes and are more prone to warping, twisting or breaking. The company mentions the use of timber from FSC managed forests as a sustainability criterion and recommends looking for a durable product if the building is to be kept for at least ten years.

Delivery, assembly and coverage

Assembly is included in the price and no self-assembly price is available; the company warns that self-assembly could invalidate the guarantee, as it can only guarantee its own work and materials fitted to its own specification. Delivery and installation are free of charge in certain UK counties, while other areas, further from the manufacturing facility, require a surcharge. The company states that delivery times range from two weeks in winter and spring up to eight weeks in summer and autumn.